igm  offers portal gantry systems for welding large-scale components, customized for individual applications. Portal gantry systems range from a track gage of 3 to 25m with vertical tracks of up to 6m positioning range. One or two robots may be mounted on a portal; since the portal axis is controlled by the robot control system, it may also be used for positioning during execution of a welding step. The standard portal design includes a double-sided rack drive with AC servo motors, stable wheel house with integrated edge guide control on massive rails, moving control cabinet, power source, and a control console, if requested.

For special applications,   igm  produces customized constructions for your individual needs. The applications are for example gas bottles machines, straight line machines or complete production lines. In these flexible systems more than just the welding technology is required: loading, conveying, stretching, bending, cutting, measuring, manipulating, editing, storing, unloading, controling. Complex manufacturing tasks require flexible solutions.  igm  has experiences over many years in engineering and realisation of full automatic manufacturing lines for various piece parts sub components. For additional production requirements we provide handling devices, we develop special purpose machines and take care of your whole project from order placing up to final commissioning as a main contractor. Basic concepts of flexible manufacturing lines: FMS for a single work piece type and a single robot cell FMS for several work piece types and a single robot cell FMS for a single work piece type and several robot cells FMS for several work piece types and several robot cells Components of manufacturing lines Loading- / unloading stations Roller conveyors Conveyor carriage Buffer stations Storage places Line control The whole fabrication line including the robot cells is controlled by one single host computer. Graphic information on the display makes operation and monitoring easy. Work pieces of totally different shapes and dimensions are handled by specially designed pallets. The innner side of these pallets is designed to clamp the piece parts while the vertical outer side represents the patente clamping device on the positioner's face plate. A built-in sensor monitors the correct clamping. The conveyor carriage with a satellite carriage and a scissor-table conveys the parts to the robot station, where they are clamped automatically. In each feeding-station the main conveyor is pneumatically indexed with the aim to assure a correct position in relation to the rails of the satellite carriage. 

The workpiece periphery holds, positions, and moves workpieces. The external axes are fully integrated in the control systems as NC axes and, in addition, feature manual control functionality. External axes may be included in workpiece manipulation during execution of welding steps. Using the teach pendant, they are programmed together with the robot axes. A variety of different rotary modules is available, as a single axis or combined with up to three axes with a load capacity of up to 25.000 kg.  

This tactile sensor is used to determine the workpiece position or its components and individual parts by gaging the surface of the workpiece. In each case, the successional part of the program is shifted according to determined deviations.  igm  - robots with sensor shift Sensor shifting may be applied for correction of an arbitrary amount of individual points, entire sections of a welding program or entire programs. Combination with arc seam sensing is feasible. The control system supports shifting, rotating, and tilting of a program, depending on position change. Function principle of the gas nozzle sensor A control voltage is applied on to the gas nozzle and then a various number of searching runs are performed. As soon as the gas nozzle comes into  contact with the work piece , it is discharged and the robot stops immediately. This  discharge is recorded  on-line by the respective  sensor board  in the control cabinet and subsequently the robot moves to the next searching run. After having completed the search runs, the robot controller is  shifting  the respective  program part accordingly . Sensor program shifts may also be  nested , that means, additional search sequences and blocks to be shifted may be programmed within an other block to be shifted. The sensor shifting feature can be used to correct any number of  single points , complete  sections  of the welding program, or  complete programs . Different possibilities of program shift By a system-specific control algorithm, tolerances of the work piece (determined during the first search runs) are taken into account by immediately shifting the next search path. The sensor is therefore  perfectly suited also for  small work piece components  which have  extreme tolerances . Due to the particular structure of the software, only the number of search runs definitely required for the exact definition of the position, is to be programmed. This means, if a part can be shifted in one direction only, one single search run on one reference point will be sufficient. To shift a program in parallel to the space co-ordinates, 3 search runs will be necessary. The program can be shifted, turned and tilted in accordance with the position deviations of 3 reference points, ascertained by 6 search runs only.

All robot functions may be controlled by the outstanding teach pendant K6 without an additional keyboard. The resistant plastic housing makes for an extremely light weight of 1.3 kg; The lightweight teach pendant includes a 8.4” touch screen, an USB plug on the back is provided for memory sticks. The pushbuttons may be easily used and operated even when wearing protective gloves; the pushbuttons as well as the optional joystick are designed for heavy use. igm  robot console The teach pendant may be used by right and left handed persons and may also be operated in awkward positions. Following operating languages are currently available by default and can be changed anytime at runtime: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Finnish, Czech, Hungarian, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Turkish, Polish As a key element of the RCE control system, the unique teach pendant K6 assembles all the control functions of the RCE control system.  No additional keyboard is necessary. The industrial design award winning  lightweight  teach pendant is made out of a high resistant plastic mould and a keyboard panel at topside with an embedded LCD touch screen. The sensible buttons are palpable to enable the operator to touch and feel each button even with working gloves on, compared to a touch screen display. The revolutionary and  widely favoured shape  of the teach pendant allows a  right hand and left operation as well as many other holding positions. A clear and simple  display of each axis button  allows the operator a distinctive movement of each axis without pushing the wrong axis button my mistake. A  courser block offers easy navigation  in the RCe software menus and replaces any necessary mouse. Joystick for teach pendant K6, type K6-JOY This heavy-duty joystick can be optionally mounted directly to the teach pendant K6 and allows to  move the robot in a quick and simple way.  There are available 3 modes for the joystick selectable by push-buttons on the teach pendant: Robot movement in world mode Robot orientation change in world mode Tracks movement with robot TCP keep in position All 3 channels of the  joystick are speed sensitive . This means, moving the joystick slightly, the robot will move slowly. Moving the joystick more, the robot moves faster Software for RCE controller, type K6 igm  programming method The RCE software is designed specifically for arc welding, allowing an  extremely specialized control  of the welding process, while at the same time our software engineers strive for  ease of use .  igm  takes great pride in the fact that our robotic welding systems are quite possibly the most  "User-Friendly"  in the industry. igm  robot programming software has been specially developed for the application arc welding. All implemented functions aim to facilitate the programming task and to accomplish the needs of the robot programmer for extreme quick and comfortable  step program generation. The  welding seam parameters  (such as voltage, ampere, welding speed, oscillating data, end crater) may either be programmed manually at each welding step of a work piece program, or defined in a separate welding data library. Any work piece program can call up these welding seam definitions from this  welding data library . To safe time in programming, any work piece program also can call up any kind of auxiliary program as a subroutine. Tree-menu concept of RCE software The RCE robot software is based on a  tree-menu concept , which means that all the step program menu points are all included on only one page, but menu points may be compressed or decompressed to hide or display the submenus as required. Different background colours and  "softkey buttons"  for the adapted menu features makes the operating and programming very easy. Some screenshots of the RCE software below shall illustrate some examples how easy and convenient programming and operating is. Diagnosis features of the RCE control system As all the software commands, messages and help text is all clearly written in text messages, also the error and status messages are written in a text message. The message history can be easily saved on a USB stick along with a complete status of the entire RCE control system for a detailed diagnosis by  igm  engineers. All the service features are available in the service menu and easy to understand due to the simplicity of the text messages. Software features for teach-in programming Welding Data Library This feature enables the robot programmer to establish individual and re-usable welding seam definitions, stored in a separate welding parameter library. Each welding seam definition can contain travel speed, torch angle, wire feed speed, arc voltage, oscillation frequency and pattern, seam tracking parameters, end crater fill parameters for both single and multiple pass welds and other parameters. Once the weld seam definition is established it can be recalled and used where required in the part program. Multilayer Welding This feature provides maximum flexibility when multiple pass welding is required. The programmer can off-set the weld torch for each weld pass by jogging the robot to the desired location, cover pass in reverse direction and apply start and end deviations along the weld path. The torch angle and weld parameters can be changed for each cover pass. Different crater fill routines can also be added for each of the weld passes. End Crater Filling In addition to the weld parameters, the robot can be programmed to back-up a distance. The software also enables the weld parameters to be sloped over the distance and time programmed for. Welding Start Ignition Using this feature, the programmer can choose any combination of the following methods, to ensure ignition reliability at the start of a weld:  Ignition Retry      - repeated ignition attempts  Move&Init  - at the beginning of the seam or during movement  Special welding parameters for the ignition phase   Creeping Start  - reduced initial speed  Rewind  - program restart, by repeating the last two steps Mirroring of step programs A freely definable range of steps or complete program can be mirrored over a selectable axis. Minimum two points must be taught for the definition of the mirrored plane. Workstation Shift A Workstation Shift (Station-Shift) is required to "transfer" a robot program from one workstation to another work station. It may be performed either by any X, Y, or Z track or also rotational peripheral axes. The work station shift may be combined with a mirror function. Program Jumps This feature enables conditions to be checked within a program. In the case certain conditions are not met the robot can be programmed to jump automatically to another part of the program or set an alarm (to warn of a certain condition). Typically digital I/O settings will activate or deactivate this feature. Program Stop Recovery In the case of a program stop (or the robot stops itself due to a process problem), such as the need to replace the contact tip, the robot will automatically create an temporarily interrupt step. Then the operator can move the robot away manually. By pressing a single button on the teach pendant, the robot will return to the interrupt step immediately. Digital I/O Function Functions are used to arbitrarily set or reset digital 24 Volt outputs or to check and monitor digital 24 Volt inputs. Within a function, outputs may be set and - simultaneously - individual inputs may be checked. Sensor Program Shifting The sensor program shifting feature works in 1D, 2D and 3D with the following sensors: GNS, TSP, TAF and ELS. Arc Seam Tracking Sensor The arc seams tacking sensor AST is tracking the welding seam position during welding in 3D. Online Welding Seam Tracking This sensor enables to track and measure the welding seam during the welding process and is utilised by sensor type: iCAM  

Extremely effective, compact laser cameras are used, designed for tracking different welding seam types, for identifying and measuring detected gaps, and for compensating volumes. Synchronized laser scan technology The camera is based on synchronized laser scan technology, featuring high speed stability, large and programmable workspace, deep visual range, and robustness regarding ambient light and reflections. Impassivity against high frequencies and magnetic fields makes it an ideal device for many industrial processes under rough conditions. The  igm  laser camera iCAM is mounted on the wrist axis of the robot. It measures the position and volume of the weld groove online and adjusts the robot movement and the welding parameters accordingly. For the purpose of welding in narrow workpiece ranges, the camera can be automatically deposited and readopted during the welding program.This  igm  developed laser camera iCAM offers as an outstanding feature the complete integration into the robot control. Thus programming is done with the  igm  teach pendant K6 without the need for an additional PC. The user benefits from the wide range of languages, European as well as Asian ones, being supported by the robot software. By means of the logging function the whole joint geometry can be displayed, indicating gaps and volumes. A live view of the measuring field is given by grey scale value image. Optionally the camera can be mounted to a rotation device, integrated in the robot controller as sensoraxis.   Features of the laser camera, type iCAM extreme compact design - best accessibility for arc welding, optionally integration with sensoraxis user interface completely integrated in K6 control software, also in offline mode automatic control of exposure and laser power, adaptive sontrolled ROI (Region of Interest) Ethernet interface (100Mbit) and serial interface (RS422 galvanic separated) 6 predefined + 1 user joint types, 240 user definable profiles languages supported: English, German, Chinese, Swedish, French, Dutsch, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Finish, Russian, Korean

The RCE control system is based on a standard PC with current processor technology. The complete control system for the six robot axes and up to ten external NC axes is included in a compact control cabinet connected to the robot, the teach pendant, the operating cassette, the external axes, and the power source by cables, pluggable on both sides. The RCE system includes fully digital servos controlled through EtherCAT. Concept of RCE control system The control system is a fully digital controlled system. This means there are only digital signal processors (DSP) involved in the entire control system and not any analogue electronic component. All the components of the control system, such as control cabinet, welding power source, each axis and the teach pendant are linked by a digital bus system.    A full digital robot control system brings the following advantages: No influence by any environmental disturbance like inductive fields of welding cables Quickest response time by fastest bus connection > smooth motion of robot Absolute reproducibility of welding result > highest consistency in welding quality Easy diagnosis possibilities of the entire robot control system > less skills and no special instruments for diagnosis are necessary By using modular drive technology and standard PC components a high reliability is guaranteed and the ability to remain constantly at the cutting edge of technology. Standard scope of supply of the control system RCE: Control cabinet RCE Teach pendant K6 Operating panel BK UPS battery buffer system Robot welding software RCE

This tactile sensor is used to determine the workpiece position or its components and individual parts by gaging the surface of the workpiece. In each case, the successional part of the program is shifted according to determined deviations.  igm  - robots with sensor shift Sensor shifting may be applied for correction of an arbitrary amount of individual points, entire sections of a welding program or entire programs. Combination with arc seam sensing is feasible. The control system supports shifting, rotating, and tilting of a program, depending on position change. Function principle of the gas nozzle sensor A control voltage is applied on to the gas nozzle and then a various number of searching runs are performed. As soon as the gas nozzle comes into  contact with the work piece , it is discharged and the robot stops immediately. This  discharge is recorded  on-line by the respective  sensor board  in the control cabinet and subsequently the robot moves to the next searching run. After having completed the search runs, the robot controller is  shifting  the respective  program part accordingly . Sensor program shifts may also be  nested , that means, additional search sequences and blocks to be shifted may be programmed within an other block to be shifted. The sensor shifting feature can be used to correct any number of  single points , complete  sections  of the welding program, or  complete programs . Different possibilities of program shift By a system-specific control algorithm, tolerances of the work piece (determined during the first search runs) are taken into account by immediately shifting the next search path. The sensor is therefore  perfectly suited also for  small work piece components  which have  extreme tolerances . Due to the particular structure of the software, only the number of search runs definitely required for the exact definition of the position, is to be programmed. This means, if a part can be shifted in one direction only, one single search run on one reference point will be sufficient. To shift a program in parallel to the space co-ordinates, 3 search runs will be necessary. The program can be shifted, turned and tilted in accordance with the position deviations of 3 reference points, ascertained by 6 search runs only.

Single wire and tandem processes may be used with a robot by exchanging the welding torch. The exchange process includes threading the torch through the hollow shaft and tightening it by a rotary motion. The hose packets always stay connected with the torches during the exchange processes. All welding media may be centrally passed through the hollow shaft. This design continues to support a significant advantage of the  igm  concept: No passing of hose packets outside of the robot's wrist axis for maintaining full torch movement. Automatic torch exchange system The  igm  welding robots can be equipped with an automatic torch exchange system, integrated into the hollow shaft of the wrist joint axis. Due to the hollow shaft in the wrist joint, the various torches (with hose packages coupled) can be fed through. Fixing is assured by a rotation movement.  This unique arrangement offers the following advantages: All media are lead through the robots wrist joint Torch can rotate almost 720° Flexibility of robot arm remain Extreme slim design Combination single wire - TIME TWIN possible Short changing time - approx. 10 s only

All robot functions may be controlled by the outstanding teach pendant K6 without an additional keyboard. The resistant plastic housing makes for an extremely light weight of 1.3 kg; The lightweight teach pendant includes a 8.4” touch screen, an USB plug on the back is provided for memory sticks. The pushbuttons may be easily used and operated even when wearing protective gloves; the pushbuttons as well as the optional joystick are designed for heavy use. igm  robot console The teach pendant may be used by right and left handed persons and may also be operated in awkward positions. Following operating languages are currently available by default and can be changed anytime at runtime: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Finnish, Czech, Hungarian, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Turkish, Polish As a key element of the RCE control system, the unique teach pendant K6 assembles all the control functions of the RCE control system.  No additional keyboard is necessary. The industrial design award winning  lightweight  teach pendant is made out of a high resistant plastic mould and a keyboard panel at topside with an embedded LCD touch screen. The sensible buttons are palpable to enable the operator to touch and feel each button even with working gloves on, compared to a touch screen display. The revolutionary and  widely favoured shape  of the teach pendant allows a  right hand and left operation as well as many other holding positions. A clear and simple  display of each axis button  allows the operator a distinctive movement of each axis without pushing the wrong axis button my mistake. A  courser block offers easy navigation  in the RCe software menus and replaces any necessary mouse. Joystick for teach pendant K6, type K6-JOY This heavy-duty joystick can be optionally mounted directly to the teach pendant K6 and allows to  move the robot in a quick and simple way.  There are available 3 modes for the joystick selectable by push-buttons on the teach pendant: Robot movement in world mode Robot orientation change in world mode Tracks movement with robot TCP keep in position All 3 channels of the  joystick are speed sensitive . This means, moving the joystick slightly, the robot will move slowly. Moving the joystick more, the robot moves faster Software for RCE controller, type K6 igm  programming method The RCE software is designed specifically for arc welding, allowing an  extremely specialized control  of the welding process, while at the same time our software engineers strive for  ease of use .  igm  takes great pride in the fact that our robotic welding systems are quite possibly the most  "User-Friendly"  in the industry. igm  robot programming software has been specially developed for the application arc welding. All implemented functions aim to facilitate the programming task and to accomplish the needs of the robot programmer for extreme quick and comfortable  step program generation. The  welding seam parameters  (such as voltage, ampere, welding speed, oscillating data, end crater) may either be programmed manually at each welding step of a work piece program, or defined in a separate welding data library. Any work piece program can call up these welding seam definitions from this  welding data library . To safe time in programming, any work piece program also can call up any kind of auxiliary program as a subroutine. Tree-menu concept of RCE software The RCE robot software is based on a  tree-menu concept , which means that all the step program menu points are all included on only one page, but menu points may be compressed or decompressed to hide or display the submenus as required. Different background colours and  "softkey buttons"  for the adapted menu features makes the operating and programming very easy. Some screenshots of the RCE software below shall illustrate some examples how easy and convenient programming and operating is. Diagnosis features of the RCE control system As all the software commands, messages and help text is all clearly written in text messages, also the error and status messages are written in a text message. The message history can be easily saved on a USB stick along with a complete status of the entire RCE control system for a detailed diagnosis by  igm  engineers. All the service features are available in the service menu and easy to understand due to the simplicity of the text messages. Software features for teach-in programming Welding Data Library This feature enables the robot programmer to establish individual and re-usable welding seam definitions, stored in a separate welding parameter library. Each welding seam definition can contain travel speed, torch angle, wire feed speed, arc voltage, oscillation frequency and pattern, seam tracking parameters, end crater fill parameters for both single and multiple pass welds and other parameters. Once the weld seam definition is established it can be recalled and used where required in the part program. Multilayer Welding This feature provides maximum flexibility when multiple pass welding is required. The programmer can off-set the weld torch for each weld pass by jogging the robot to the desired location, cover pass in reverse direction and apply start and end deviations along the weld path. The torch angle and weld parameters can be changed for each cover pass. Different crater fill routines can also be added for each of the weld passes. End Crater Filling In addition to the weld parameters, the robot can be programmed to back-up a distance. The software also enables the weld parameters to be sloped over the distance and time programmed for. Welding Start Ignition Using this feature, the programmer can choose any combination of the following methods, to ensure ignition reliability at the start of a weld:  Ignition Retry      - repeated ignition attempts  Move&Init  - at the beginning of the seam or during movement  Special welding parameters for the ignition phase   Creeping Start  - reduced initial speed  Rewind  - program restart, by repeating the last two steps Mirroring of step programs A freely definable range of steps or complete program can be mirrored over a selectable axis. Minimum two points must be taught for the definition of the mirrored plane. Workstation Shift A Workstation Shift (Station-Shift) is required to "transfer" a robot program from one workstation to another work station. It may be performed either by any X, Y, or Z track or also rotational peripheral axes. The work station shift may be combined with a mirror function. Program Jumps This feature enables conditions to be checked within a program. In the case certain conditions are not met the robot can be programmed to jump automatically to another part of the program or set an alarm (to warn of a certain condition). Typically digital I/O settings will activate or deactivate this feature. Program Stop Recovery In the case of a program stop (or the robot stops itself due to a process problem), such as the need to replace the contact tip, the robot will automatically create an temporarily interrupt step. Then the operator can move the robot away manually. By pressing a single button on the teach pendant, the robot will return to the interrupt step immediately. Digital I/O Function Functions are used to arbitrarily set or reset digital 24 Volt outputs or to check and monitor digital 24 Volt inputs. Within a function, outputs may be set and - simultaneously - individual inputs may be checked. Sensor Program Shifting The sensor program shifting feature works in 1D, 2D and 3D with the following sensors: GNS, TSP, TAF and ELS. Arc Seam Tracking Sensor The arc seams tacking sensor AST is tracking the welding seam position during welding in 3D. Online Welding Seam Tracking This sensor enables to track and measure the welding seam during the welding process and is utilised by sensor type: iCAM  

The working radii of  igm  welding robots are between 1500 mm and 1900 mm, depending on type. This is the length of the swivel arms (550 mm or 750 mm each) plus the usual eccentricity of the first main axis, 400 mm. Extending this by lengthening the arm isn't always effective, since both reach and accessibility are essential when welding complex work pieces.   The ability to plunge inside the component is therefore a significant criterion. Long robot arms obstruct such movements since they make large compensatory movements over external travel axes necessary. Improved movement is always achieved when more axes are used. The priorities are accessibility, reach-over of components, the joining crashing and overlapping of working ranges by multiple robots in one system. Additional priorities include the prevention of compensatory travel over floor track systems, i.e. shorter floor track systems. This also results in significant space savings, smaller footprint and thus lower investment costs. Since the rotating base can swivel ± 180°, any number of positions within working range can be approached from different directions. When using 2 robots on one station, the additional axes enable the dangers of collision to be more easily prevented. This means that both robots can weld seams which are in close proximity, or even that their working ranges overlap. For example, one of the robots is able to weld the inside of a U-shaped component, whilst the other is welding the outside.     Features Significant features of the RTE 499: Diameter of area of movement: 5, 200 mm Curved rotating base to reach around interfering contours of the workpiece All media (power, water, wire, sensor cables control cables) are passed through the rotating base Swivel range ± 180° Fully integrated in the control system as 7th axis  

The basic device is mounted on the robot periphery in an upright or suspended position. The external axes of the track systems are fully integrated in the control system as NC axes, significantly extending the working area of the robot.  A variety of different rotating and linear units are available, either as single axes or combined with up to three positioning units. It is also possible that several robots share a track axis. The positioning range of a longitudinal axis is up to 100m.