Research on Four-Point Air Bending Process and Contour Detection Method for JCO Forming Process of LSAW Pipes

Abstract

Aiming at the forming efficiency and roundness of the longitudinal submerged arc welded (LSAW) pipes in JCO (J-shape to C-shape to O-shape) forming process, this paper proposes a four-point air bending process. Compared with the traditional three-point air bending process, The new process can provide a more uniform bending moment, does not need to crimp the edges of steel sheet, shorten the residual straight segment length, and lengthen the forming length in single pass. The mechanical model is established to analyze the static equilibrium conditions and elastic−plastic deformation. The process is simulated by using the software package ABAQUS, to find the maximum punch spacing, and further determine the formulation principles of other process parameters. In addition, a contour detection method for the LSAW pipes in forming process is proposed based on machine vision (planar-array CCD camera produced by Gray Point Corporation, Vancouver, Canada). This method can not only quickly detect the contour of each pass, but also splice the detected contours together to obtain the overall contour with the given splicing algorithm. According to the measured contour, the bending angle, radius, and roundness can be calculated, to correct the punch reduction in the next pass and improve the forming accuracy of the pipes. Finally, an experimental system is designed to verify the proposed four-point bending JCO forming process and contour detection method. The result shows that the error between the contour detection method and CMM (coordinate measuring machine) is less than 0.5% for the overall contour, the two experimental pipes require 13 and 15 passes respectively, the roundness of pipes are less than 1.1%, which is much better than that of traditional three-point bending JCO forming process.

Keywords

• LSAW pipes
• four-point bending
• JCO
• machine vision
• contour detection