CS Wind Offshore is a leading player in the renewable energy sector, manufacturing complex large-scale steel structures, including foundations and substations. With a commitment to innovation and sustainability, the company focuses on delivering high-quality foundations, substations, and other critical infrastructure to support the growing demand for clean energy.
The offshore wind industry demands robust, large-scale steel structures capable of withstanding harsh marine environments. Foundations, such as monopiles and jackets, along with substations, are essential components that must be manufactured to the highest standards of quality and safety. However, the welding of these massive steel structures presented significant challenges for CS Wind Offshore. Traditional welding methods, relying heavily on manual labor, were time-consuming, inconsistent, and exposed workers to hazardous conditions.
Manual welding of large steel structures also introduced variability in weld quality, which could potentially compromise the integrity of the structures. Additionally, the increasing scale of offshore wind projects required faster production rates to meet tight deadlines, something that manual welding struggled to achieve.
To address these challenges, CS Wind Offshore invested in the Inrotech-Column-Boom robots, which are specifically designed for longitudinal welds on wind foundations.
“We currently have 6 Inrotech-Column-Boom systems. These systems run fully automatic, working around the clock without fatigue, performing welds faster and more accurately. Since there’s no need to program the robots before each weld, the setup time between each task is minimized, leading to faster job completion. “says the operator, Anders Heunecke Jacobsen, CS Wind.
The Inrotech-C&B begins by scanning the tulip groove to be welded, conducting a detailed analysis to identify its key features and significant points. The robots then analyzes these scans to determine the most optimal welding parameters and the appropriate distribution of weld passes.
The WeldLogic system generates a comprehensive set of welding parameters for the entire process, including welding speed, weaving amplitude, and bead position. Should the groove geometry change during the weld, due to deformation, WeldLogic technology detects these changes and automatically adjusts the welding parameters accordingly.
This allows CS Wind Offshore to allocate more resources and manpower to other tasks, optimizing time management for several welding processes. These efficiencies are critical for enabling the robots to contribute effectively to CS Wind Offshore’s construction of large foundations, which will support offshore wind turbines in the future.
