A welding apparatus includes a housing having facing surfaces in the axial direction, and a welding head turning gear and first to third ring gears inside of the housing. A guide surface is formed on the facing surfaces. The welding head turning gear is coupled to a guide member, and the first to third ring gears are supported by the welding head turning gear and the guide member. Since a roller provided to the guide member rolls on the guide surface to rotatably support the first to third ring gears with respect to the housing, the welding apparatus can be lighter in weight and more compact compared to a conventional welding apparatus.

A pipe processing tool that is configured to deform the end of a pipe so that the circumferential shape of the end of the pipe generally matches the circumferential shape of an adjacent pipe end. Matching the circumferential shapes of the pipe ends is advantageous during a pipe attachment process. The pipe processing tool can include a deformation ring with a plurality of pipe deformation members. Each pipe deformation member faces radially inward and is actuatable in a radial direction toward and away from the center of the deformation ring in order to permit engagement with the pipe. Each pipe deformation member is individually and separately actuatable from the other pipe deformation members so that the circumferential shapes of the pipes can be altered by controlling suitable ones of the pipe deformation members.

The invention described herein generally pertains to a system and method related to influencing a direction of an arc within a welding operation. Within a hot wire welding operation, an arc is generated between an electrode and a workpiece and a welding wire is energized while being supplied to a puddle formed by the electrode in order to deposit the liquefied welding wire onto the workpiece. A welder system and/or method is provided that controls a direction of the arc based on at least one of a polarity of the welding wire (via a power supply that energizes the welding wire), a location of the welding wire in proximity to the arc, a synchronization and/or de-synchronization of a polarity of the welding wire with the electrode, an activation and/or a de-activation of energizing of the welding wire, or a combination thereof.

A system and a method for separating a tubular component is disclosed, which for constructing a supporting structure, having a longitudinal pipe with pipe ends which are open on both sides. The system has a mobile transport module comprising a receiving platform having a pipe clamping device for clamping variable pipe diameters which receives and mounts the tubular component so that a first pipe end of the component, having a vertical longitudinal axis which detachably and securely engages the pipe clamping device. The invention further relates to a separating arrangement mounted on a supporting structure that it is deflectable at least vertically, to provide secure joining to the pipe end of a tubular component that faces away from the first pipe end. The tubular component is seated on the transport module and vertically securely engages the pipe clamping device.

A pipe processing tool that is configured to deform the end of a pipe so that the circumferential shape of the end of the pipe generally matches the circumferential shape of an adjacent pipe end. Matching the circumferential shapes of the pipe ends is advantageous during a pipe attachment process. The pipe processing tool can include a deformation ring with a plurality of pipe deformation members. Each pipe deformation member faces radially inward and is actuatable in a radial direction toward and away from the center of the deformation ring in order to permit engagement with the pipe. Each pipe deformation member is individually and separately actuatable from the other pipe deformation members so that the circumferential shapes of the pipes can be altered by controlling suitable ones of the pipe deformation members.

The present disclosure provides a method of all-position plasma welding process for titanium alloy pipeline, which may be used for welding a titanium alloy pipeline made of TA2 or TC4, with a wall thickness of 316 mm, and a pipe diameter of 108 mm or more. When the wall thickness is 39 mm, a keyhole type technology may be used for one-time welding formation, and when the wall thickness is 916 mm, grooving treatment needs to be performed for the pipeline, and the keyhole type technology is used for backing welding, and then filling welding and covering welding are performed using filler wire welding through a melt-in technology. The method includes following steps: S1: performing pre-welding treatment for the pipeline; S2: clamping the pipeline; S3: setting welding parameters; S4: starting the welding.

Cutting tools for pipe cutting frames are disclosed. Example split frame pipe cutting tools include a frame and a slide tool configured to position a cutting edge in contact with the workpiece to performing cutting or boring on the workpiece, the slide tool comprising: a radial advancement mechanism configured to provide radial advancement of the cutting edge based on circumferential advancement of the slide tool by the frame; and an axial guide rail; a recirculating bearing carriage configured to slide in an axial direction along the axial guide rail and to couple the cutting edge to the axial guide rail; an axial advancement mechanism configured to advance the cutting edge in the axial direction with respect to the workpiece by translating radial advancement by the radial advancement mechanism to axial advancement based on a cutting template coupled to the radial advancement mechanism.

A method for repairing a defective circumferential weld joint between two pipe sections in a pipeline is described. A weld excavation machine is used to remove a weld defect. The machine comprises a weld excavating tool and a tool guiding apparatus. The machine may be modular in form allowing the machine to be dissembled into discrete portable parts. The method includes arranging the tool guiding apparatus in fixed relation to the pipeline, guiding the weld excavating tool around the pipe and along the weld joint by means of the tool guiding apparatus and using the weld excavating tool to remove material from the defective weld region. An excavation may thus be formed having parallel vertical walls. The excavation is then filled with weld material by means of a welding apparatus.

A friction stir welding device includes a pair of workpiece surface plates between which a gap extending along a welding line between workpieces is formed; a welding device body including a rotatable friction stir welding tool protruding upward from the gap; and a linear guide mechanism and a moving device for the welding device body. The moving device has a configuration in which a pair of pin racks extending in a direction along the gap are disposed at symmetrical positions on both sides in a width direction with a position immediately below a tool movement path of the friction stir welding tool as a symmetrical axis, and pin gears that individually mesh therewith are provided in the welding device body so as to be rotatably driven. Respective sets of a pin rack and a pin gear are alternately brought into a strong meshing state during the movement of the welding device body by causing the locations of pins and teeth thereof to deviate from each other by a half pitch.

A support ring supports a welding ring to guide welding bugs around a coated pipe section. The support ring has a tubular body to support the welding ring, the body having substantially circular curvature around a longitudinal axis. At least one grounding extension connected to the body is offset longitudinally and radially outwardly with respect to the body and the longitudinal axis. This allows the grounding extension to lie radially outboard of a parent coating of the pipe section while the body encircles a cut-back end zone where the parent coating has been cut back. Pipe sections abutting end-to-end for welding can each be fitted with these support rings. This enables welding rings to encircle both of the cut-back end zones and allows effective grounding connections to be made without enlarging the cut-back end zones.