Robots performed 54 million precision welds for LHC

ABB SAYS two of its robots performed a total of 54 million precision welding operations, helping build the two accelerator rings in the Large Hadron Collider in Europe.

The two IRB 140 robots were part of a laser welding system designed to manufacture thousands of stainless steel alloy tubing assemblies for the most complex scientific instrument ever built.

The Large Hadron Collider will smash matter together in an attempt to recreate the conditions present during the beginnings of the universe, one billionth of a second after the Big Bang.

The particles are beamed in opposite directions through the two 27km accelerator rings in a tunnel 50 to 150m beneath the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Each tubing assembly is 15 to 18m in length, comprising of an unusually complex arrangement of components welded to extremely demanding specifications. On one detail alone, the tubing assembly required 0.3mm diameter spot welds every one millimetre in axial length.

The 30 micron diameter welds had to be positioned within an error margin of ten to 15 microns.

According to the system designers, this was one of the most precise and demanding application of a standard robot ever devised. By using a combination of precision tooling, skilled robot programming and high-performance robot hardware, it was able to perform at the levels of accuracy and repeatability required.