Development of automatic welding system applied in subsea pipeline laying

In order to explore deep water oil and gas fields in South China Sea area, an automatic welding system applied in subsea pipeline laying has been developed, which has several features such as GMAW process, two welding carriages with dual torch, narrow gap and internal line up clamp fitted with copper backing rings. The welding carriage is specially designed for offshore application, so it is compact and lightweight. The control system of the automatic welding station is constructed on the CANOpen bus and Ethernet technologies, so the flexibility and reliability of the system are greatly improved, and the pipeline welding process also can be monitored remotely.