Demonstration of Intelligent Welding Machine for Polyethylene Pipe

Abstract Electrofusion (EF) welding is one of the most common connection methods for polyethylene (PE) pipe, as well as thermoplastic pipe and reinforced composite pipe. Conventional EF welding generally adopts constant-voltage welding mode. The welding machine outputs a constant welding voltage to heat the resistance wire within specific welding time. In our previous study, intelligent welding machine was designed to ensure the quality of the EF joint, based on the study of the temperature field in EF joint. In this paper, three experiments were used to show the difference between the intelligent welding machine and traditional welding machine. The intelligent welding machine can actively adjust the welding parameters to ensure the quality of EF joint even it was given the wrong welding voltage and welding time. Compared with the traditional welding machine, the intelligent welding machine can automatically control the maximum temperature and the depth of melting region in EF joint during the welding process, and this method applies for EF joints with various diameters or design welding parameters.