2010 1st International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry

Delta Centre-Ville
Montréal, Canada, October 5-7, 2010 1

Robotic Penstock Welding

Bruce Hazel and Jean Côté
Institut de Recherche, Hydro-Québec, Varennes, Canada

Abstract – In the hydraulic business, the steel penstock liner
sections involved in construction projects are typically welded
manually on site. Confronted with a scheduling conflict with a
critical project, Hydro-Quebec (HQ) teamed up with LAR
Machinerie (LAR) to robotize the penstock welding. HQ’s
SCOMPI® portable robots were put to the task. The robot’s
curved track provides good accessibility to the entire joint. A
welding procedure was developed that allows the joint to be
welded completely from the inside. To obtain satisfactory joint
preparations, a unique cutting system was designed that uses a
pair of oxyacetylene torches, coupled with a pair of 2D laser
cameras for seam tracking. The resulting high-precision
preparation allows the root pass to be performed from the inside
without back gouging. This robotized technique has been
employed in five different construction projects involving
penstocks.
Index terms – Construction, Cutting, Laser, Penstock, Robot,
Seam Tracking, Welding.
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper presents the partnership created between LAR
Machinerie and Hydro Quebec to introduce robotics into the
on-site construction of penstocks. This collaboration was
initiated in 2002 at HQ's Sainte-Marguerite river generating
station (SM-3). The penstock construction project was on
schedule until a shifting foundation caused the headrace tunnel
to develop leaks, consequently requiring major rework [1].
Searching for the fastest and most affordable solution to bring
the project back on schedule, HQ put out a call for tenders.
LAR was awarded the SM-3 embedded penstock construction
contract and decided to employ the Scompi robot.
Scompi [2] is a robot which was developed at HQ's
research institute, IREQ, and which is used primarily for
hydropower-generating applications. It is a portable, 6-axis,
multi-process, track-based robot that can be used to repair
turbines, refurbish gates and weld penstocks.
and tack welded. The joints were then welded by robot-welder
teams for a total of 840m of welded joints and 14 tons of
welded metal. Once this was completed, the penstocks were
covered in cement.
B. Others Penstock Projects
Given the rapid and successful completion of the SM-3
project, the robotic penstock construction technique was again
employed in the construction of four new HQ generating
stations, namely Toulnustouc in 2004, Eastmain in 2005,
Peribonka in 2006 and Eastmain-1A in 2009. At each site,
new innovations were introduced to further improve
productivity and quality of the welds.
III. ROBOTIC WELDING
The first major obstacle encountered was in positioning
and accessing the joints given the very limited work space
around the penstock segments. Several methods for welding
the segments were tested, such as welding the complete joint
from the inside and using overhead welding procedures.
Initially, this resulted in unacceptable weld quality and
mounting frustration. Since then, two key innovations have
been introduced to obtain satisfactory robotic welding inside
the joint: in-place oxyacetylene cutting and root pass welding
using the Surface Tension Transfer® (STT) process.
A. In-Place Robotic Cutting
One of the factors limiting the productivity of all robotic
welding projects is the quality of the weld preparations. Fitting
large segments to within tight tolerances is a difficult task. A
breakthrough was achieved when a twin-torch oxyacetylene
system was mounted to the robot to perform on-site weld-
preparation cutting. A customized, laser-based, seam-tracking
and alignment system, shown in Fig. 1, was developed to
obtain welding preparations of unparalleled precision.

II. PENSTOCK INSTALLATION

LAR was responsible for transporting the steel penstock
liner sections, installing these sections in the tunnel and
welding them together. Quality control of the welds (100% x-
ray) was subcontracted by HQ to a third party. Though the
Scompi robot was well suited for the welding task, the novelty
of the project posed its own challenges in areas such as
obtaining welder acceptance and training, developing a
welding procedure and meeting an aggressive schedule.
A. SM-3 Project
The SM-3 project involved installing embedded penstocks
for water intake in place of the original bare rock galleries.
This meant assembling two 300m long steel-cased penstocks, Fig. 1 Laboratory setup showing a Scompi robot mounted on a convex track
each with a diameter of 4m and a wall thickness of 50mm. above two concave plates which are being cut. In the lower frame, the laser
Each 50 ton segment was brought in on long haulers, fitted, sensor’s cross pattern is visible in front of the two cutting nozzles.

978-1-4244-6635-1/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE


First, two penstock sections are fitted close together with
a spacing of approximately 10mm. Afterwards, the robot is
mounted on a track with a radius matching that of the penstock
and which is installed on the inside of one section, near the
joint. The two cutting nozzles are mechanically adjusted to
angles of 50o to obtain the desired V groove preparation. As
the robot moves the cutting assembly along the joint, a pair of
2D laser displacement sensors [3], arranged in a cross pattern,
monitor the geometry of the seam. The 800-point profile of
each laser sensor is analyzed in real time and the location of
the penstock sections’ edges are extracted [4] in sensor
coordinates. The robot controller implements a five degrees of
freedom feedback loop that maintains the torch assembly at
the proper height, and perfectly centered and orthogonal to the
seam. The cutting is performed from bottom to top in two 180o
circular arcs. To prevent overheating of the robot and laser
sensors, three vortex tubes [5] are used for cooling.
B. Root Pass Welding
The STT process [6], introduced by the Lincoln Electric
company, is used to weld the full penetration root pass, with a
solid wire, and without back gouging. STT is a new approach
to what is known as Short Arc welding. It is primarily selected
for applications that require low heat input and will work in all
positions. The STT process uses sophisticated electronic
technology to eliminate spatter.
C. Robotic Joint Welding
The remaining section of the joint is then welded with a
metal core electrode using the Lincoln refined pulse
RapidArc® process [7], which provides excellent arc stability
at lower arc voltage with reduced spatter and fumes. Similar to
cutting, welding is performed vertically, moving upwards
along two 180o circular arcs. Fig. 2 shows a typical welding
setup.
Fig. 2 Welding setup inside the SM-3 penstock, showing the Scompi robot
installed on its concave track. A fumes extraction device is attached to the
robot.
2
The joint is filled one layer at a time. At each layer, the
robot moves the welding torch along the seam at the proper
height and superimposes a trapezoidal weaving pattern. The
weaving amplitude is adjusted to the width of the layer being
welded. The dwell time is optimized to obtain adequate
penetration on the sides, while the excursion time is
automatically set given the travel speed. Through the arc
adaptive control [8] is used to maintain the desired torch tip to
work piece distance.
The welding parameters, such as deposition rate, travel
speed and arc length, are automatically varied as the welding
position changes from flat to overhead to maximize
productivity while maintaining layer thickness.
IV. CONCLUSION
Employing Scompi robots to weld the penstocks more
than doubled productivity and greatly improved the quality of
the welds. In addition, features such as a fumes evacuation
device at the torch and the use of metal core wire greatly
improve the health and safety conditions for the welders.
V. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to extend their gratitude to LAR
Machinerie and to the numerous colleagues and collaborators
who contributed to the work, most specifically: Claude
Larouche, Daniel Fortin and Thierry Bertin-Maheux.
REFERENCES
[1] L. W. Busque, “Using Robot Welders to Fix Leak at Sainte-Marguerite
3” Hydro Review, pp. 22-26, 2005.
[2] Fihey, J.-L., Hazel, B. and Laroche, Y., ‘The Scompi Technology’,
Proceedings of the Int. Forum on Situ Robotic Repair of Hydraulic
Turbines, 11-12 Nov., 2000, Harbin, China.
[3] R. G. Dorsch, G. Haulsler and J. Herrmann, “Laser Triangulation:
Fundamental Uncertainty in Distance Measurement”, Applied Optics,
vol. 33. no. 7, Mar. 1994.
[4] X. Jiang and H. Bunke, “Edge Detection in Range Image Based on Line
Approximation”, Computer Vision and Image Understanding, vol. 73,
no 2, pp 183-199, Feb. 1999.
[5] G.J. Ranque, “Method and Apparatus for Obtaining from Fluid under
Pressure Two Currents of Fluids at Different Temperatures,” U.S. Patent
1,952,281, Mar. 1934.
[6] B. D. DeRuntz, “Assessing the Benefits of Surface Tension Transfer
Welding to Industry”, Journal of Industrial technology, vol. 19, Aug.
2003.
[7] Lincoln Electric. RapidArcTM-High Speed GMAW Welding, NX-2.80
01/05, Available:
http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/nx280.pdf
[8] H. Fujimura, E. Ide and H. Inoue, “Joint Tracking Control Sensor of
GMAW,“ Transaction of the Japan Welding Society, vol. 18, no. 1, Apr.
1987.