PEMAMEK CUSTOMER MAGAZINE 2012
Robotised submerged
arc welding
PEMA WeldControl
Heavy-duty robot
welding stations for
the marine industry
PEMANEWS
Competitiveness from partnership
Dear Reader,
Pemamek was established in Loimaa
in 1970. We continue to operate there.
Over 40 years, our operating environment has undergone great upheaval.
Through this process of change, we
have constantly increased and developed our business.
Today, our company is the world’s
leading supplier of heavy-duty welding automation solutions. We intend to maintain that position. But
in a changing world, this cannot be
achieved by continuing with the old
ways. The future belongs to those
companies that can best meet the
individual needs of their customers.
We are applying the latest robot- and
automation technology to our products. Automation solutions tailored
to customer needs are our core field
of expertise. Our strategic partners
are also the best in the world in their
own fields.
But in the future, you won’t get very
far with just a palette of products even if the quality of that palette is
top-class.
In recent years, we have single-mindedly moved from equipment sales to
long-term partnerships with our customers, from individual devices to
turnkey deliveries. We are the guarantors of usability and availability.
The customer is always the expert
in its own field. We know about automation. Without exception, the
end-results are excellent when we
combine these skills and develop the
required solutions together. We call
this ‘partnership’.
For us, this means adopting new operating practices and the constant
development of activities. Service
does not remain static but should
keep reproducing, time after time.
Right from the start. Always with the
same high quality.
Partnership requires flexibility and
persistence. It is a product of work
carried out together over the years
and of the deep trust that has evolved
as a result. Partnership involves not
only the development of solutions
but also life-cycle maintenance and
other life-cycle-related services.
I am sure that, through co-operative
development, our services can get
even better.
With best wishes,
Pekka Heikonen
President and CEO
Contents
Editorial..................................................................................................................................................... 2
Robotised submerged arc welding.......................................................................................................... 3
PEMA WeldContr ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Perspectives on the future....................................................................................................................... 8
Heavy-duty robot welding stations for the marine industry.................................................................10
Manufacturing automation for power station boilers............................................................................12
Panel lines and welding stations............................................................................................................14
Newsflash................................................................................................................................................16
2
PEMANEWS
Robotised submerged arc welding can improve the productivity of the welding of heavy work pieces, even if the work pieces
have so-called double curvature saddle surfaces, corners or short welds.
Robotised submerged arc welding
– quality and productivity for the production
of more complex work pieces
As a method, submerged arc welding is not among the newer ones: it was first
introduced back in the 1930s. Some claim that the Soviets developed it for the
manufacture of their T-34 tanks, others that it was developed around the same
time by Union Carbide Company of the USA. Whoever is right, it is an effective
and highly productive method for heavy-duty welding.
Submerged arc welding is renowned
as a method whose deposition rate,
welding speed and metallurgical
weld quality are high. It is arc welding in which the arc flame burns between the constantly feeding welding wire and the work piece, hidden
under granular flux. The flux protects
the weld pool from air contamination, removes impurities, forms the
weld bead and provides the weld
pool with alloying elements. Some of
the flux melts forming a layer, which
later solidifies into the slag over the
weld. Inert shielding gas is not needed.
Up until recently, the submerged arc
was considered an effective way
to weld mainly long and straight or
circumferential joints, not really a
method for robotised welding and
more complex shapes. The devices
have been bulky, clumsy and labo-
rious to focus on the welds. Typical
welding positions have been flat and
horizontal-fillet welds.
PEMA has, however, been able to
show that robotised submerged arc
welding can improve the productivity of the welding of heavy work
pieces, even if the work pieces have
double curvature saddle surfaces,
corners or short welds. Robotisation
significantly increases the flexibility
3
PEMANEWS
The submerged arc welding of a saddle surface in a robotised PEMA welding station.
of the welding station in relation to
the shape of the pieces to be manufactured.
Equipment configuration
A robotised submerged arc welding
station is always configured based
on the requirements of the application in question. A heavy-duty gantry-type station or a robot column &
boom significantly extends the field
of movement of the robot. The wire
feeding device can be located in the
robot’s wrist flange, upper arm or
base. Typical wire diameters are up
to 4mm. Twin-wire welding is also
possible.
Flux handling
The central dropping of the flux
leaves available all six of the robot’s
degrees of freedom. Dropping in
front of the welding torch removes
one degree of freedom.
The use of a fixed powder vacuum is
limited to straight welds with open
ends. Thanks to a spring- or compressed air mechanism, it is also possible to weld curved surfaces. The
collection of the flux and slag in a bin
under the welding station enables
the full utilisation of all the robot’s
degrees of freedom, and even the
welding of corners, for example, is
easy. The loose flux and the slag from
the welds are recovered, the slag is
separated from the flux which is then
reused.
4
Seam searching and tracking
Seam searching can be carried out
in the same way as in the MIG/MAG
welding process, using the voltage at
the tip of the welding wire. An alternative is optical seam searching and
tracking, a fast and precise (±0,2 mm)
method, which enables seam tracking and the adjustment of the welding process during welding, based on
a possible change of gap geometry.
Without seam tracking, the robot
cannot detect possible deformations
or unknown variations in gap geometry that take place during the weld.
Optical tracking limits the trajectories of the robot and the monitoring
device requires a little room in the
equipment set-up.
Power source
The power source is an important
component in all welding stations.
The Lincoln PowerWave AC/DC 1000
SD is an optimal solution for heavyduty welding. One feature of the
equipment is the easy change of
polarity in direct-current welding
(DC+ - DC-), alternating-current welding either in square-wave or sinewave form, controlled adjustment of
root penetration and deposition rate
through frequency and phase shift,
and efficient prevention of magnetic
arc blow.
The control software for the power
source is easily updatable, so the
Also complex geometry work-pieces can
have top-quality welding seams by means
of robotised SAW.
equipment can start to use the latest features as soon as they become
available. For the PowerWave power
source, typically good arc ignition
is an important feature in robotised
submerged arc welding.
The future of submerged arc welding looks good. The method and its
utilisation are constantly being developed, although the process itself
has remained the same in principle
for decades. At present there is no
more effective process for welding thick scantling. A deficiency has
been, however, that the use of this
highly productive method has been
restricted mainly to long and straight
welds.
Through robotisation, the good productivity of submerged arc welding
can also be efficiently utilised with
more complex work-piece geom-
PEMANEWS
PEMANEWS
Benefits of robotised SAW
• Increase in overall productivity
• Operator free to carry out other tasks while
the robot is welding, for example to prepare
the next work-piece
• Welding of more complex work-piece
geometries compared with conventional
welding mechanization solutions
• Elimination of time-consuming realignments,
for example in multi-layer welding, leads to
increase of arc ratio
• Simultaneous, syncronised movements of
the robot and the work-piece handling
device during welding
• Excellent repeatability – good for multi-layer
welding
• Increase in safety-at-work
Lincoln Electric Power Wave AC/DC SAW
Using AC/DC SAW
The challenges of
robotised SAW
Positive Current Level = Penetration
Waveform Control Technology
• control penetration
• control bead shape
• eliminate arc interactions which can cause arc blow.
Waveform Control Technology capability provides
precise control over:
• AC Frequency
• Balance (Percentage of time in the positive polarity portion
of one Cycle)
Current, Voltage, or Power
The waveform may be varied to:
Cycle Balance = Penetration/Deposition
• Flux recycling and slag handling
Negative Current Level = Deposition
• Offset (Negative Amplitude)
Effect on Penetration from Balance
Effect on Penetration from DC Offset
Current, Voltage, or Power
Current, Voltage, or Power
+ 840
(+) Offset = More Penetration
0
(-) Offset = Less
Penetration
50% DC+
Penetration
8,8 mm
30% DC+
Penetration
6,1 mm
etry. Robotisation is, however, just
one of the directions of development
for submerged arc welding, and certainly not the only solution for the
effective automation of welding. In
• Finding the right solution to each application
(work-piece geometry – corners or straight
welds, i.e. a bin or suction solution)
• Seam searching and tracking
• Optical tracking stands for higher
investment cost
• Without tracking, the robot is blind and
PEMA boiler manufacturing
- 840
70% DC+
Penetration
9,8 mm
• Robotic welding requires accurate
prefabrication
automation
840 DC+
500 DCPenetration 9,3 mm
500 DC+
840 DCPenetration 7,1 mm
can not react to changes in gap geometry
range: taking place during the welding process
• stationary welding machines
Bending of hoses and cables may cause
• gantry-type welding •machines
• panel conveyor lines wire/work spot displacement
favourable applications,
• fin-barrobotisaprefabrication
• Keeping flux on the welding spot and large
tion can achieve very
good
results,
• tube
prefabrication
weld pool restricts welding
but of course there• automatic
is still reason
to
material feeding
use other methods too.
5
PEMANEWS
PEMA WeldControl
- new control devices and user interfaces
PEMI control devices and user interfaces have been renewed. The state-of-the-art controls
based on touch-screens help users to exploit the features of the column and booms as
extensively as possible, and significantly boost the efficiency of both the welding process
and the handling of work pieces.
WeldControl 100
PEMA WeldControl 100 is a modern
and efficient user interface for welding column & booms. It collects together the controls of the column &
boom, the welding power source, the
work piece positioning equipment
and the management of welding values into one clear and easy-to-use
package.
WeldControl 100 has a touch-screen
on which welding values can be illustratively monitored in graphic form.
Control of PEMA column & booms can
also be connected to the factory’s local area network (LAN).
Basic settings
The basic settings for the welding column & boom and its related
equipment can be easily configured
by the user based on the configuration of the work station. The settings
and the selection of functions for the
work piece-positioning equipment
connected to the column & boom are
done by means of indicative icons.
Seam tracking and powder processing done with submerged arc welding are also easy to control.
WPS editor
The built-in WPS editor (WPS = welding parameter settings) controls the
parameters of all the most common
welding processes and stores information about work pieces and welding consumables. Fast selection of
the stored parameters from the WPS
memory is done by means of a table.
The same initial and final parameters
can easily by utilised. The WPS editor
can control all modern welding power sources.
Welding values
WeldControl 100 offers many ways
6
Graphic user interface of the PEMA
WeldControl 100 on a 12” touch-screen.
Separate remote control for the main
movements and cross-slide of the column & boom, visible on the right side of
the screen.
to display measured welding values,
such as real-time and averaged displays, heat input and weld metal output, and a graphic display of welding
values using a trend curve.
Production data and diagnostics
Data gathering is a standard feature
of the control of WeldControl 100. It
stores general information about the
utility ratio of the machine, such as
up- and down-time, and metres and
times welded by each welding head.
The control gathers and stores welding setting values for each work piece
as well as the averages of measured
welding values. The information can
easily be examined graphically and
numerically using a computer’s internet browser. The computer can be
WeldControl 100
Control equipment and connections
• Graphic user interface, 12” touch-screen
to control the movements and functions
of the column & boom
• Separate remote control for the main
movements and cross-slide of the
column & boom
• Fieldbus connection for PEMA rollerbeds
and positioners
• Ethernet connection for production
data and remote diagnostics
connected either directly to the column and boom or an Ethernet connection can be created. The gathered
data can be stored in the browser for
later use if needed. Back-up copies of
the WPS tables can also be made using the browser.
User levels
There are three levels of user rights
PEMANEWS
for the creation and maintenance of
welding parameters: operator, welding engineer and maintenance.
At the work station, the operator selects the WPS and work piece-specific settings he will use, and he can
change the values only within limits
set in the WPS editor. The operator
can fine-tune the welding values using the touch buttons.
The welding engineer creates new
WPS tables for the device.
A user with service codes also has
the user codes and, if necessary, carries out the equipment settings.
PEMA WeldControl 500 Premium
PEMA WeldControl 500 Premium is
the most advanced control system
for welding column & booms on the
market. It can be used to manage
the welding parameters and movements of the column & boom and
work piece positioning equipment
using the same user interface. The
system also enables diverse data
gathering and graphical and numerical displays of the information.
The PEMA 500 Premium control system includes ready connections to
accessories such as a monitoring
camera or laser seam-tracking device. Its basic features and functions are similar to the WeldControl
100, and additional features such as
multi-layer functionality and adaptive welding elevate it to a class of its
own. 500 Premium meets even the
most demanding requirements for
productivity and quality.
Additional features
The multi-layer function of the PEMA
500 Premium user interface is based
on the measurement of the shape
and volume of the welding joint. Alternatives are a fixed adjustable layer
chart, automatic filling based on the
gap width and height, and simultaneous use of a fixed and automatic
layer chart. In simultaneous use, the
base layers have a fixed share, the
seam filling stage is adaptive and
surface layers are welded based on
the fixed chart. A fixed chart is used
The user interface and control system
of the PEMA WeldControl 500 Premium
is a PC-based 19” touch-screen, which
controls the movements and functions of
the column & boom and its related workpiece positioning equipment.
when welding the underside of a
metal plate.
In adaptive welding, the welding values are automatically adapted to the
changes taking place in the gap, such
as manufacturing inaccuracies. This
feature can also be utilised in multilayer welding.
The user interface’s WPS editor has its
own view of the forming and display
of welding parameters. In multi-layer
use, for instance, one WPS page contains all the parameters required to
weld the piece. Management of the
configuration of the welding heads
also takes place using the WPS editor.
Many auxiliary devices of welding
such as a seam tracking devices,
monitoring camera and auxiliary
software can be directly controlled
from the PEMA 500 Premium user
interface. A system formed in this
way is easy for users to operate and
visualise.
Through job rotation management, it
is easy to automate tasks that occur
repeatedly.
WeldControl 500 Premium control
gathers both general information
about the utility ratio of the machine
and production information about
WeldControl 500 Premium
Control equipment and connections
• PC-based user interface and control system,
19” touch-screen to control the movements
and functions of the column & boom
• Separate remote control for the main move ments and cross-slide of the column & boom
• Adaptive welding and multi-layer
functionality
• Automatic management of job rotation
• Can be combined as a welding cell with
PEMA rollerbeds and positioners
• Management of the integration of welding
power sources
• Can be positioned either on a base or at the
end of a jib
• Ethernet connection for production data and
remote diagnostics
each work-piece. The functions are
harmonised with the control of WeldControl 100, but in addition to the
connected computer, it can also be
checked from the control user interface.
The control systems for the PEMA
WeldControl range of products are
also used in other PEMA welding solutions, such as manufacturing automation for shipyards and industrial
boilers. The default languages for the
user interfaces are Finnish, English
and also the local language.
7
PEMANEWS
Perspectives on the future
Pemamek and Lincoln Electric arranged a joint welding automation seminar on 21st-22nd September, 2011 in
Loimaa, Finland. The occasion also celebrated PEMA’s 40
years in heavy welding automation business.
Opened by Pekka Heikonen, CEO of
Pemamek Oy Ltd. and Steve Sumner, Lincoln Electric’s global marketing and product development
director, the two-day technologyfocused seminar discussed future
trends, solutions and opportunities
to increase productivity by means
of modern welding technology, and
enjoyed demonstrations of latest
welding machinery and automation
stations. Over 120 attendees around
the world participated presentations,
demonstrations and the evening programme of the event.
Long history gives wide perspectives to look into the future
The seminar started with a talk about
the future challenges in the welding
industry in the global operating environment by professor Reijo Tuokko
from the Department of Production
Engineering in Tampere University of
Technology.
Jukka Rantala, Pemamek’s sales
and marketing director, told PEMA’s
40-year-long story from the back of
a rural garage to the world’s leading
heavy welding automation manufacturer. Jukka also described how the
company is able to increase customer
productivity now and in the coming
years.
Solutions for shipbuilding and
offshore, mobile machinery,
and civil construction industries
The rest of the presentations focussed on welding technology and
automation. Harri Kartano from PEMA
talked about plate joining and stiffening automation for shipbuilding
and offshore as well as civil construction industries. Mike Flagg described
Lincoln Electric’s latest engineering
solutions in seaming welding applied
8
The seminar presentations brought up ideas about how leading-edge welding and
automation technology applications can help to improve productivity. Pictured professor
Reijo Tuokko talking about the future challenges in the welding industry.
to improve the productivity of panel
lines. PEMA’s heavy-duty robotised
welding automation design philosophy and real world solutions were
presented by Mikko Savolainen, and
Lincoln’s welding processes and productivity enhancements for automation by Steve Sumner.
Volvo’s Krister Ericson talked about
experiences and development outlook in heavy welding automation
of Volvo construction machinery, and
set-up and benefits of Lincoln’s production monitoring as well as Weld
Score systems were presented by
Keith Sheffer.
In late afternoon, the seminar moved
to tour PEMA’s modern factory shop
floor for presentations and demonstrations of utilization of work-piece
handling equipment, a robot station
for SAW and MIG welding, use of
heavy robotised welding station with
a positioner, a flat panel and block
production line, and use of Lincoln’s
Weld Score in MIG welding.
The day was concluded with a renaissance dinner in the King’s hall of the
historical Castle of Turku. As guests
of Duke John of Finland and his wife,
duchess Katarina Jagellonica, the
participants not only got a taste of a
typical mid-16th century evening meal
but also some court ways and manners.
Industrial boiler manufacturing,
wind energy, and process and
nuclear industries
The second seminar day was
launched with a talk about complete
manufacturing systems, i.e. PEMA’s
automation solutions for boiler and
mobile machinery manufacturing by
Harri Kartano. Next, Mike Flagg pre-
PEMANEWS
sented how productivity and speed
can be increased by means of single wire sub-arc using Lincoln Power
Wave AC/DC, the next generation of
welding for membrane wall panel
systems. PEMA’s Anssi Mäkelä told
about PEMA’s latest welding automation solutions for heavy tubular workpieces common in the wind energy
sector as well as process and nuclear
industries. Harm Meelker talked
about Lincoln’s Multiple Arc Welding
system, its operation and consumables for tubular work-pieces like towers and vessels.
In the afternoon, Teemu Tolonen
presented PEMA’s latest advanced
welding automation control systems,
operator-friendly interfaces and ease
of programming. Steve Sumner explained waveform control and the
benefits of Lincoln’s control technology, how it impacts the arc and how
optimised waveform has contributed
to real-world applications.
The seminar presentations were
completed by Dr Alan Thompson
from TATA Steel Europe, a tier one
industrial member of the UK Nuclear
Advanced Manufacturing Research
Centre (NAMRC). He described how
welding research is carried out in the
NAMRC, and how they are going to
utilise their heavy PEMA multi-wire
column & boom to benefit the research programs.
The seminar participants were invited to have a mid-16th century dinner with Duke John
of Finland and his wife, duchess Katarina Jagellonica in the historical castle of Turku.
Demonstration of a PEMA robot station and Lincoln’s Weld Score monitoring system.
After the talks, the participants
joined in another factory tour demonstrating a PEMA welding column &
boom station, utilisation of a PEMA
advanced welding automation control system, a wind tower manufacturing line with Lincoln’s Tandem
PowerWave AC/DC, a membrane wall
panel welding machine, and a tube
prefabrication line for membrane
wall panels.
Finally, the seminar was closed with
a programmatic barbecue dinner on
the factory shop floor to celebrate
PEMA’s 40th anniversary.
Summary
The objective of the seminar was
to present ideas about how lead-
PEMA’s 40th anniversary barbecue dinner was held on the factory shop floor.
ing-edge welding and automation
technology applications can help to
improve productivity. In conclusion,
there’s no need to wait for the future
to bring better or completely new
technical solutions. The technology is
already here. It is just a question of
deciding to make the most of it.
9
PEMANEWS
I.P Huse AS uses Europe’s largest robot welding station to manufacture the winch drums for the anchor-handling
vessels of oil-drilling platforms.
Heavy-duty robot welding stations
for the marine industry
As recently as a few years ago, robot welding stations on the market were meant only
for thin plate thicknesses. PEMA has now brought the benefits of robotics to heavy
production too.
I.P. Huse
I.P Huse AS, a company located on
the island of Harøy off the coast of
Norway, halfway between Bergen
and Trondheim, is the world’s leading
designer and manufacturer of large
winches for anchor-handling vessels.
From its state-of-the-art workshops,
the company, which is specialised in
heavy equipment, delivers winches
and deck machinery for oil production vessels and platforms, and other
similarly demanding offshore industry applications. The main customers
are shipbuilders, shipping companies
and oil companies. The company
works in close co-operation with
Rolls-Royce Marine, and employs
about 130 people.
Europe’s largest robot welding
station
In early spring 2011, PEMA and I.P.
10
Huse concluded a contract for the
design, manufacture and delivery of
a heavy robot welding station. The
station was delivered and commissioned on November 2011. The largest robot welding station in Europe
is being used to manufacture winch
drums for the anchor-handling vessels of oil-drilling platforms.
This was a question of the turnkey
delivery of a robot welding station.
The delivery included two YaskawaMotoman welding robots on PEMA
X-Y-Z-type three-axis robot positioners, a heavy two-axis PEMA workpiece positioner for handling winch
drums and two sets of Lincoln Electric PowerWave MAG welding equipment. The greatest diameter of work
pieces to be welded is 6 metres and
they can weigh up to 35,000 kg. The
method used is multi-layer welding
in which the size of the welds varies
between a5 and a13.
The station is controlled by means of
a parametrised offline programming/
control system and user interface
belonging to the PEMA WeldControl
300-series. The delivery also included a safety system, operator training
and the commissioning and start-up
of the station.
Jiangsu Rainbow Heavy Industries
Jiangsu Rainbow Heavy Industries
Co., Ltd (RHI), which was established
in Nantong, China in 2003 employs
more than 1,500 people. The company is specialised in the design, manufacture, sales and maintenance of
cranes, marine equipment, offshore
structures, parking halls and other
steel structures.
For a long time, RHI has worked as
PEMANEWS
Simulation helps in the
development of more
effective solutions
RHI welds the end- and side plates of
MacGregor hatch covers used on cargo
ships with a heavy portal-type PEMA
Vision robot welding station.
With the parametrised PEMA Vision System, RHI’s robot operator can generate a
five-hour unmanned robot welding programme from his user interface in just 15
minutes.
A Yaskawa-Motoman robot on two XY-Z-type three-axis robot positioners
efficiently multi-layer welds a winch
drum work-piece on a PEMA work-piece
positioner.
a key partner in Asia for the Finnish company, Cargotec, and its subsidiaries MacGregor and Kalmar. RHI
has also developed its own branded
products for the crane and parking
technology market.
nal robot axis, 6-axis welding robot
and a patented PEMA WeldControl
200-series Vision2D software system. The delivery also included a
PEMA fume extraction system, rails
and gear tracks, the required welding
programmes, as well as installation,
commissioning, training and a full
service package.
PEMA Vision robot welding station
The first heavy portal-type PEMA Vision robot welding station was delivered to RHI in autumn 2011. The
station is being used to weld the endand side plates of MacGregor hatch
covers used on cargo ships.
The delivery included a complete
PEMA VRWP-5500/1 robot welding
portal, including a Yaskawa Motoman
MH6 welding robot with a DX100
controller. The power source is a Lincoln Electric PowerWave 455M for
MAG welding. The portal comprises
a welding gantry with three exter-
’For us this a significant breakthrough
into the Chinese heavy metal industry
market,’ says Jukka Rantala, Pemamek’s Sales and Marketing Director.
’An increase in cost efficiency often
requires raising the level of automation. Thanks to its high arc time and
good utility ratio, our user-friendly
PEMA VRWP robot portal significantly
improves the productivity of the production of steel structures.
For its customers, PEMA carries our weldability analyses in virtual welding systems as part
of its development work for customer-specific
welding automation solutions. These analyses use 3D models of actual work-pieces of
the customers. A simulation model of production equipment or an entire production line
is made, in which the customer can see the
manufacturing process for its product. This
top-class robot software makes use of simulations of individual welding station throughput
times, reach and weldability. Simulations can
also be successfully exploited at the product
development stage, in the optimisation and
certification of robot weldability before production test runs done on actual work pieces.
PEMA uses software particularly developed
for production simulation and layout design
in wider factory-level simulations, such as in
production throughput time checks and in the
optimisation of overall layout plans for production lines. A virtual factory is built for the
flow and analysis simulations of the manufacturing process. Special production events
can be combined to simulate the operations
of an actual production line by feeding workstation sub-process data into the system process. The impact of equipment shut-downs,
possible interruptions in logistics and production bottlenecks can thus be indentified and
eliminated as early as the design stage.
A 3D simulation model of a heavy PEMA robot
welding station used in welding the chassis and
platforms of Multiva tractor trailers. The model has
two work stations.
11
PEMANEWS
Manufacturing automation for
power station boilers
- quality built into the production process
PEMA is the world’s leading supplier of production lines for membrane wall-panels.
Indian TBWES and Brazilian HPB SIMISA decided on PEMA lines, because productivity
and quality produced were important foundations of key decision-making.
Improved productivity for megaprojects in India’s energy production
Founded in March 2010, TBWES is
a joint venture company between
Thermax Ltd and Babcock & Wilcox
Power Generation Group Inc. (B&W
PGG). Thermax is an Indian supplier
of energy and environmental solutions and B&W PGG, an operating unit
of Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W)
from the USA, is the world’s leading
manufacturer of the power generation industry.
TBWES designs, manufactures and
delivers super- and subcritical power
station boilers of more than 300 MW
to the growing Indian power generation market. The company combines
Thermax’s expertise in the integration of energy and environmental solutions and B&W’s renowned experience as a supplier of state-of-the-art
power generation technology and
a world-class project management
specialist.
Five production lines to India
In spring 2011, PEMA concluded a contract for the design, manufacture and
delivery to TBWES of a membrane
wall-panel production line and four
tube prefabrication lines. The lines
will be used for the manufacture of
components for supercritical power
boilers in a new production plant in
Pune, India. At present, the plant’s
annual boiler production covers the
needs of about 3,000 MW of power
generation capacity. The lines were
delivered at the end of 2011.
- In the production of supercritical
boilers, there is absolutely no room
to compromise on quality, says Rajeev Sondur of TBWES. ‘It must there-
12
Representatives of TBWES at factory tests at PEMA in November 2012 in front of the
second welding station of the panel line. Rajeev Sondur is second from the left.
fore be built into the production
process. In PEMA panel lines, this is
how things are: the need for operator training is small, and the process
controls all operations from the integrated handling of material flows to
the dispatch of the completed panels.
The entire process needs only one
operator at a time.
The line includes two PEMA 3000/6
membrane wall panel welding stations, which can weld 25m-long and
up to 3m-wide membrane wall panels
with 12 sets of Lincoln Electric PowerWave AC/DC 1000 A SD submerged arc
welding equipment. The line includes
complete panel transportation tracks,
a fin-bar calibrating line, an automatic tube and fin-bar feeding system
for feeding bars to the panel line for
welding between the tubes, and the
required buffer stores for sub-panels.
The panel transportation track is able
to perform all panel-handling tasks:
it includes in- and out-feeding roller
conveyors for two welding machines,
cross-transport conveyors for panel
sideways movement and buffer storage, and hydraulic flip-over arms for
the panels for welding on the other
side.
Thermax already have three PEMA
panel lines in other production plants.
The first of these was commissioned
in 2004.
- In tests that we have just concluded, we achieved 30% greater speed
PEMANEWS
than our previous production lines,
says Sondur. - The productivity of the
new line is better than a two-sided
MIG/MAG panel line with a total of
20 welding heads. This is achieved
by Lincoln Electric PowerWave technology and PEMA’s advanced control
system. The investment costs for the
submerged arc welding line are a little higher than for the MIG/MAG line,
but because the quality produced is
impeccable, the investment payback
period is shorter. The challenges involved with production lines are always the same – the use of space
must be reduced whilst productivity
must be improved.
The prefabrication lines included in
the overall delivery consist of three
PEMA automatic tube cutting, endbevelling and end-buffing (ATCEP)
lines with integrated conveyors. The
delivery also includes a PEMA automatic end-bevelling and end-buffing
line (ATEP).
HPB SIMISA’s PEMA 2700/6 welding station with six Lincoln Electric PowerWave AC/DC
1000 A SD submerged arc welding power units.
- In my opinion, PEMA’s way of taking account of the customer’s ideas in
product design is good. In machinebuilding, feedback from end-users
should never be underestimated,
says Rajeev Sondur.
Breakthrough on the South
American industrial boiler market
HPB-Simisa Sistemas de Energia LTDA
was established in January 2010 to
provide technology solutions to the
Brazilian thermal power industry. The
joint venture company owned halfand-half by the major Brazilian sugar
and ethanol producers, HPB Engenharia e Equipamentos Ltda:n and SIMISA
– Simioni Metalúrgica Ltda, built a
state-of-the-art industrial boiler plant
at Sertãozinho in the state of São
Paulo in 2011. HPB SIMISA decided to
safeguard sufficient production capacity for its high-quality membrane
wall-panels by ordering a PEMA
2700/6 welding station with six sets
of Lincoln Electric PowerWave AC/DC
1000 A SD submerged arc welding
power units. Conveyor systems were
constructed by HPB-Simisa to PEMA
designs. The equipment was delivered to Sertãozinho in spring 2011.
The PEMA membrane wall-panel line is controlled by the PC-based PEMA WeldControl
100-series control system. HPB SIMISA.
On the left, the tube cutting, end-bevelling and end-buffing ATCE for the TBWES delivery,
on the right the welding stations for the membrane wall-panel line.
13
PEMANEWS
Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding’s two PEMA PBW two-sided welding stations with magnetic beds.
Panel lines and welding stations:
state-of-the-art turnkey deliveries to China and Brazil
Each PEMA panel line and welding station is designed
and built to boost the competitiveness of customers’ steel
production. Both production volumes and quality increase
when production line deliveries are tailored and tuned to
meet all requirements, all the way from basic design to
commissioning. PEMA’s close co-operation with shipbuilders and offshore yards all over the world has enabled the
development of products and their delivery reliability to
reach world-class levels.
Yangfan/Zhejiang East Coast
Shipbuilding Co.
Zhejiang East Coast Shipbuilding is
located in Zhoushan, in the middle
of May Island in the Yangtze River
delta. This super-modern shipyard
covers an area of 74.5 km². Its annual
production exceeds 1 million DWT:
typical products include car transportation vessels, container ships,
chemical tankers, multipurpose vessels and special vessels.
PEMA delivered to the yard a panel
line almost 400m long, which con-
14
sists of two PEMA OSW-M one-sided
welding stations for the extension
of plates. The stations can weld two
seams at once. The line also includes,
among other things, a PEMA SWP
stiffener welding portal, whose 24
welding power sources can simultaneously weld six stiffener profiles to
metal plate on both sides with four
wires. The shipyard built the welding-floor type conveyor, side-shifting conveyors, steel structures for
the block transportation trains and
the panel rotating station based on
PEMA’s designs: PEMA’s delivery also
included key components and the supervision of installation. The largest
panels to be welded are 16 x 30 m.
Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding
Jiangnan Shipyard was established
in 1865 in Shanghai, and was located just south of the city centre until
the near the end of the first decade
of the 21st century. In 2009, the yard
was moved to Changxing Island in
the Yangtze River delta to the north
of Shanghai. It is said that this stateof-the-art, still growing shipyard will
be the world’s largest when it is
completed. It builds, repairs and refurbishes both merchant and military
vessels: the size of the dry docks is
enough to build an aircraft carrier.
PEMA delivered to the yard two PEMA
PBW two-sided welding stations with
moving magnetic beds and a PEMA
SWP stiffener welding portal, in
which 16 welding power sources can
simultaneously weld four stiffener
profiles on both sides with four wires.
PEMANEWS
Qingdao Wuchuan Heavy Industry
Qingdao Wuchuan Heavy Industry
based in Shandong Province builds
merchant, military and offshore vessels and steel structures at a yard
opened in 2009, the surface area of
which is 72.5 km². The company is
part of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.
The yard has now installed a PEMA
SMP stiffener profile mounting and
tack-welding portal, in which eight
welding heads simultaneously tackwelds 20m-long profiles to metal
plate. The line also includes a PEMA
SWP stiffener welding portal, whose
24 welding power sources can simultaneously weld six stiffener profiles
to metal plate on both sides.
The first panel line delivery for the
Brazilian offshore industry
In autumn 2011, PEMA delivered its
first panel line to Brazil. This line
delivered to an as yet unannounced
offshore customer consists of a PEMA
OSW-M plate extension station with a
magnetic bed, a PEMA flip-over station for turning panels measuring 18 x
18m, a PEMA PBW portal for welding
the other side of metal plate, a PEMA
Ultrasonic testing portal for inspect-
A PEMA OSW-M one-sided plate extension station in operation.
ing welds with ultrasonic technology,
a plasma cutting and marking portal
for the plasma cutting and marking
of metal plate, a PEMA downdraft
cutting table, a PEMA SMP stiffener
profile mounting and tack-welding
portal, two PEMA WMP longitudinal stiffener mounting portals and a
PEMA SP portal for the manual welding of longitudinal stiffeners. The de-
livery also included a load-out station
for lifting blocks for transportation,
all necessary conveyors, and transportation trains for moving completed blocks on to the end of the line.
This state-of-the-art and flexibly operating line will manufacture block
structures for the needs of Brazil’s
constantly growing offshore industry.
The PEMA SWP stiffener welding portal delivered to Qingdao Wuchuan Heavy Industry, whose 24 welding power sources can
simultaneously weld six stiffener profiles on both sides.
15
Newsflash
PEMA fit-up stations for the
wind energy industry
Appointments
A series of positioners for the
production of railway carriages
Rauno Takala, Area Sales Manager
Rauno has long experience of the welding industry, having moved to Pemamek
from Esab Oy. At PEMA he is in charge of
domestic sales.
Sakari Kojo, Project Engineer
Sakari previously worked at Jukova Oy in
such roles as work supervisor, project engineer, site manager and project manager.
At PEMA, he is working as a project engineer focusing on installation supervision.
The first new-generation PEMA fit-up stations developed for the manufacture of foundation and tower structures for wind farms
have been delivered to Belgium and Turkey.
The stations comprising fit-up rollerbed lines
equipped with hydraulic aligning and the PEMA A-series standard rollerbeds significantly
improve the efficiency and quality of the
production of heavy towers and foundation
components.
The Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant (TVSZ)
in the Leningrad region of Russia is one of
Europe’s largest ongoing investments in the
machine building industry. The production of
freight cars began in January 2012. The factory ordered nine PEMA APS 3500 Skymaster
positioners to streamline its welding process
and ensure the quality of the manufacture of
car components.
A submerged arc welding station for
offshore production
Edison Chouest Offshore and PEMA
conclude a service support agreement
Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) of the USA
is one of the world’s most diverse and dynamic marine transportation companies and
also owns six shipyards. In spring 2011, PEMA
and ECO signed a service support agreement,
which will guarantee the constant availability of PEMA panel lines, robot welding stations and welding portals at four shipyards.
The agreement covers software support, line
and station maintenance and servicing and
spare parts services.
AS E-Profil of Estonia manufactures anchorhandling winch and crane components for
the offshore industry. The company decided
to automate its manual welding process and
switch to submerged arc welding. In future,
the work will be done by a PEMA 5 x 5 MD
special welding column & boom equipped
with a set of Lincoln Electric PowerWave AC/
DC 1000 A SD submerged arc welding equipment, and four PEMA APS 3500 Skymaster
positioners.
PEMANEWS is the customer magazine of Pemamek Oy Ltd.
P.O. Box 50, 32201 Loimaa, Finland, tel. +358 (0)2 760 771
fax +358 (0)2 762 8660, www.pemamek.com
Jussi Suominen, Area Sales Manager
As well as having been an entrepreneur,
Jussi also has work experience from Metso Automation Oy and Kone Corporation,
where we worked as a project engineer
and project marketing manager. At PEMA,
Jussi is working as an Area Sales Manager
focusing on international sales of project
applications.
Tommi Reponen, Application Manager,
Production Automation
Tommi has solid work experience in the
shipbuilding industry and especially in robotics and control systems, gained from
his time at STX Finland. At PEMA, he is
working in the Technology Department,
handling development and sales support
functions for production systems.
Dmitrij Trofimov, Area Export Manager
Having graduated from university in the
UK, Dmitrij is a citizen of both Finland and
Russia. He has previously worked at Canon and Hilti, among other companies. At
PEMA, he is in charge of sales to Russia
and the CIS.
Matti Lahtinen, Application Manager,
Robot Automation
Matti previously worked with industrial robots and automation solutions at Yaskawa
Finland Oy. At PEMA, Matti works in the
Technology Department in tasks related to
the sales support, development and implementation of robotics projects.
Kari Ahonen, Sales Manager
Kari has a Masters degree in Engineering
as well as an IWE (International Welding
Institute) degree and a special vocational
qualification in foreign trade. He has previously worked at Nokian Tyres, Konecranes
and Kojair. At PEMA, Kari is working in
global project sales.