Samsung Heavy Industries develops a laser high-speed welding robot

Recently, South Korean shipbuilding giant Samsung Heavy Industries announced that it has developed a laser high-speed welding robot for maritime applications, aiming to significantly improve the productivity of building liquefied natural gas ships (LNG ships).

The new technology is designed to rapidly weld the membranes used in cargo holds of LNG carriers. These membranes are made of thin layers of stainless steel and are in direct contact with ultra-cold liquefied natural gas.

Comparative tests have shown that the traditional plasma arc welding (PAW) method takes about 5 minutes to weld a 2-meter-long membrane plate, while the new laser welding robot can complete the task in just 1 minute.

The laser high-speed welding robot developed by Samsung Production Technology Research uses a swing welding method that rotates the laser beam at precise intervals and speeds. The technology also has a defocus function that can adjust the focus, and laser displacement can automatically locate the curved welding position.

The integration of this advanced welding technology is expected to greatly improve the efficiency of shipbuilding companies in building LNG ships.

The company plans to start full-scale production using the technology after completing application testing on an LNG cargo tank (MK-III) with French engineering company GTT and receiving final customer approval later this year.

Choi Du-Jin, head of Samsung's Heavy Manufacturing Technology Research Center, said: "The laser high-speed welding robot will become a core technology to maintain overwhelming competitiveness in the critical process of LNG carrier cargo hold construction. In the future, we plan to apply it to high-speed welding of cargo holds for ultra-low temperature liquid hydrogen carriers."

Officials show that Samsung Heavy Industries maintains a global leading position in the field of high-tech shipbuilding, with a 1/3 market share in the drillship, LNG carrier and FPSO markets. The company developed and built the world's first Arctic shuttle tanker and LNG FPSO, and opened up new markets through innovations such as the development of LNG FSRUs, various ships in polar regions, Arctic icebreakers and container ships. In the field of offshore facilities, it has also successfully delivered the world's largest semi-submersible offshore drilling platform. If this laser high-speed welding robot is applied on a large scale by Samsung Heavy Industries in the future, this technology is expected to accelerate its penetration into the shipbuilding industry.

Editor: Huang Fei