Development of Intelligent Electrofusion Welding Machine with Real-time Recognition of Conductive Plastic Heater Characteristics

This study deals with the development of an electrofusion welding machine that is capable of joining plastic pipes using a recently developed electrofusion fitting. This fitting has built-in conductive plastics that are used to weld the joint together as a heating element. In order to explain the mechanism of the new machine, 1) the resistance characteristics of the heating element were explained, 2) the method of electric welding that uses the electrofusion fitting was described, and 3) the method of power supply based on controlling the firing angle was explained. A control system for an intelligent electrofusion welding machine was proposed. This system has the ability to recognize the diameter of an electrofusion fitting using a lookup-table based on the difference of resistance curves according to fitting types, and it is able to weld the fittings regardless of the ambient temperature. A new algorithm was developed to control the power of electric welding through the recognition of feature points from the resistance curve of the heating element. In order to evaluate the performance of the developed welding machine, tests involving the welding of 16 mmand 20 mm-type fittings were carried out. Examining the welding results, we concluded that the proposed welding machine will offer high productivity and reliability in the field of electrofusion welding.