- Surge in orders for LNG carriers has led to an increase of demand for pipe welding.

- With K-PAW being adapted to the shipbuilding for the first time in history, pipe welding job became three times faster than before, significantly boosting productivity. 

- SHI plans to accelerate the development of AI-based automatic welding operation system as well.

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) announced on June 19 that it has developed its own Keyhole Plasma Arc Welding (K-PAW) equipment and adapted it to the production site for the first time ever in the shipbuilding industry. 

Plasma welding is a method that uses the high temperature generated at a high speed by the plasma arc. Meanwhile, keyhole plasma arc welding is a method that can significantly accelerate the welding process by automatically welding the first layer of the pipe after penetrating the work piece with plasma arc, creating a keyhole and forming weld beads.

SHI has been relying on manual welding work as using automation technology for welding was complex and sophisticated. In particular, pipes can be welded only on one side, unlike general plate-shaped materials, and thus welding the first layer of the pipe by forming the first weld bead is crucial. Therefore, there were challenges of maintaining high quality of the product as well as securing experienced workers.

Against this backdrop, SHI developed its own K-PAW technology to overcome such challenges and its importance is even more growing with more orders received for building LNG carrier, a flagship vessel of SHI, leading to more stainless steel pipe welding jobs.

During a recent on-site K-PAW application pilot test, observed by Sung-an Choi, Vice President of SHI, the accelerated pace of welding work was verified as welding a 24-inch pipe, which typically takes 66 minutes (4 times of welding) using manual TIG welding method, was completed in just 20 minutes (2 times of welding) using K-PAW.

SHI is highly expecting that K-PAW will dedicate to significantly enhancing the productivity of pipe welding jobs.

“Developing K-PAW is all the more meaningful in a sense that it allowed the successful implementation of an automatic welding system, which was one of the biggest challenges in the shipbuilding industry,” said Doo-jin Choi, head of the Robotics Project Team at SHI. “By developing an AI-based automatic welding operation system by the end of the year, SHI plans to accelerate on-site automation that will reduce the need for human workers.”

[Technical Terms]

- TIG Welding : A method of melting and welding a material using arc generated between the electrode and the material using a tungsten electrode. While the melting area is large, the penetration depth is shallow.

- Plasma Welding : This method uses a high-temperature plasma arc which is created at a high-velocity after being forced through a nozzle to melt materials and weld. This method can increase penetration depth compared to TIG welding method, therefore enables keyhole welding.