Development of Automatic Gantry MIG Welding System

Automation plays significant role in keeping welding technology alive for metallic jobs and in tune with today’s demands for productivity, quality weld, lesser resources and cost effective. In addition, the automated welding system ensures the protection of workers from hazards and fatigue. This paper presents the development of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based control system for automatic gantry Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding system with laser seam tracking for alloy steel pipes, plates, etc., The developed PLC control system can control motion of the torch, laser sensor output, arc view camera, welding power source parameters, speed of welding, rotation angle and positioning to preset parameters. Experimental results show that PLC based Automatic MIG Welding Machine improves productivity, weld quality, safety, reduced labor intensity and bring huge economic benefits.