Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Utility Patent
1998-07-15
2001-01-02
Ryan, Patrick (Department: 1725)
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
C219S132000
Utility Patent
active
06169267
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a command and control device, and in particular, to a command and control device for a coupling-welding machine for metal pipes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A coupling-welding machine for metal pipes (or coupling machine for brevity) is known to comprise a device which enables the movement of the machine to be commanded and controlled within the pipe, and the welding heads carried by said machine to be activated. The device comprises a remote commanding unit external to the pipe in which the machine is located, and connected to a microprocessor unit associated with the machine to control the execution of the numerous operations which the machine performs. These operations comprise: moving the coupling machine within the pipe, aligning the machine with one end of the pipe, clamping appropriate known parts of the machine to the end of that pipe and to a pipe brought close to that end, positioning the welding heads in predefined positions within the pipes to weld them together, providing power to at least one welding cable, and providing the necessary shielding for the gas generated during said welding. All these operations must be constantly monitored to ensure that they are properly carried out. This is done by the microprocessor control unit associated with the coupling machine, said unit being controlled by the remote commanding unit external to the pipe. This latter unit carries a plurality of analog or digital visual display devices positioned on an interface on which there are also provided keys, levers or similar command members by which an operator can control and suitably intervene in the operation of the coupling machine.
The connection between the control unit and the commanding unit is usually made by a bundle of electrical connectors (enclosed within a single tubular sheath of a certain diameter) connected to the various interface members.
A coupling machine of the aforesaid type has to be able to operate in any weather and temperature condition. It has however been found that the use of such connections presents various problems if the temperature of the environment in which the machine operates falls considerably below 0° C., for example below −45° C. Under these conditions, if the sheath becomes bent during the machine movements, its contained electric cables break because they become fragile at very low temperature. This results in considerable problems for the operators who have to replace them.
Moreover, the bundle of connection cables between the control unit and the commanding unit is of considerable weight and large overall size, considerably penalizing its movement and replacement, particularly (but not only) when the aforesaid breakage problems arise.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,000 describes a device for controlling a coupling machine, of the type comprising a commanding unit and control unit of microprocessor type in which these units are connected together by a serial connection (or at least two cables enclosed in a single sheath). With this solution an external microprocessor holds in its memory all the machine operating steps (program). Other microprocessors are associated with the machine, these also containing said operating steps in their memory. This control system, defined as distributed processing, partly solves the weight and size problems of the aforesaid arrangements in that the said cable bundle is replaced by only two electric cables. This known arrangement is however still affected by low temperature. In this respect, if the sheath containing these cables is bent, the cables can easily break because of their fragility induced by said temperature. Moreover, this known arrangement uses a large number of components to the detriment of its cost. The arrangement is also of poor reliability precisely because of the large number of components.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide an improved command and control device for a metal pipe coupling machine.
A particular object of the invention is to provide a device of the stated type in which electric cables specifically provided for the purpose are not used for connecting together the commanding unit and control unit, so overcoming the problem of low-temperature breakage of the connection cables used in arrangements of the state of the art.
These and further objects are attained by a device in accordance with the accompanying claims.
According to the invention, the connection between the commanding unit and control unit is made via the cable (normally provided in the command and control device of a coupling-welding machine) by which the battery energy source carried by the coupling machine is powered. This cable, of relatively large diameter, and normally available commercially, is able to flex without breaking, even at very low temperature (−50° C. and beyond).
REFERENCES:
patent: 5148000 (1992-09-01), Tews
patent: 5276305 (1994-01-01), Hsien
patent: 5433484 (1995-07-01), Ewen et al.
patent: 5529656 (1996-06-01), Ewen et al.
Dey Anjan
PSI Pipeline Service S.A.
Ryan Patrick
Steinberg & Raskin, P.C.
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