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DAIHEN - Japan , IFR-Partner
New arc welding robot series called "Friendly Series"
December 2012
Development background
With the acceleration of the recent globalization of production, conventional manufacturing regions such as Europe and the United States have been changing the way when they invest for manufacturing equipment, shifting from enhancing their production capability to upgrading quality, improving efficiency and saving power. Each country is hoping to improve quality and efficiency in its "monozukuri" (manufacturing). On the other hand, in developing countries such as China and South-East Asian countries, production lines have been getting more automated due to a shortage of manpower caused by a greater number of industrial products and steep rise in labor costs. As a result, demand for robots has been rapidly increasing. These developing countries are facing the challenge to make mass production improved stable quality to meet growing market needs.
However, in production sites that have been supporting monozukuri, the number of welding engineers has been decreasing since more and more young people are trying to be stay away from welding jobs. At the same time, the number of highly-skilled welding engineers has been decreasing as they get older. Therefore, welding level must be kept in high- level to improve productivity and quality at production sites. Against this backdrop, DAIHEN has been working to develop arc welding robots that can achieve highquality welding with friendly operation and released the new lineup of arc welding robot series, the "Friendly Series", adopting our know-how as a leading welding company. With the Friendly Series, we have developed arc welding robots that enable anybody to achieve high-quality welding in an easy operation, focusing on operability in arc welding applications. With this series, we offer the optimal solution to developing countries that have been rapidly growing in welding automation, and thus contribute to the development of monozukuri.
Also, we are planning to incorporate high-value added functions and welding peripherals in the Friendly Series by taking advantage of our unique arc welding technology in order to meet more complicated and advanced needs for all of our customers.
Main features of the new series
1. Excellent product line-up for various arc welding scenes
- This series has a wide range in weight capacities from 4 kg to 210 kg. It can be used for a wide range of applications from single-robot welding to multiple robotic welding combined with coordinated control.
- This series does not only provide a good selection of robots but also welding peripherals. It will offer a total solution for arc welding applications.
2. New robot controller with improved welding performance
- Improved performance due to advanced control technology
- Improved bead appearance due to optimized response time at welding start point and also reducing arc start failures. - Energy and space saving
- Can reduce amount of stand-by electricity up to about 58% in power-saving mode.
- Has a space-saving controller that has about 20% less volume and about 21% less weight (compared to the conventional equipment) - Reliability improved
- The number of electrical parts has been reduced by about 30% by using newly-concept cables and connections. This can improve maintenance ability.
- Easier to connect to the welding machine and external axes, such as a positioner, compared with conventional equipment.
3. New teach pendant with simple operation
- You can teach the robot very easily with this new teach pendant, which is 27% lighter than the conventional one (960g). It is 40% smaller than the conventional type, so you can handle it easily even in a narrow space.
- Easy teaching with the touch panel and jog dial
- It has a touch panel so you can access the parameters in just one touch.
- You can operate the teach pendant intuitively according to how much you turn the jog dial. - Smooth backup feature
- The teach pendant is equipped with a USB memory slot so you can save and up-load various data easily.
4. Friendly operations and quality management enhanced!
- Friendly for thick plate application
- All conditions required for multi-pass welding are displayed as a list, so you can edit them directly using the touch panel or jog dial. This can drastically reduce the time needed for teaching and adjustment for multi-pass welding. - Welding condition guide functipon
- Anybody can teach the robot the with optimal welding conditions easily
with just one touch by just entering parameters such as the joint, plate thickness, welding speed and leg length.
- This function is pre-adjusted with the welding power sources of the various models of the Welbee Inverter series and D series. - Welding recorder function (optional)
- Changes in the welding current, welding voltage and wire feed torque are indicated in graphical interface. This function is effective for identifying welding conditions and troubleshooting.
- Monitoring data is automatically Backed up when a welding failure occurs. This function will help you to identify the cause of troubles and manage the quality of customers' products.
