The world's first U-ribbed welding integrated production line officially put into operation

On April 20, 2019, a joint U-ribbed welding integrated production line jointly developed and invested by Lixin Company and China Railway Baoqiao was put into production. It is used to produce U-rib plate units of the Hubei Jiayu Yangtze River Bridge. The design requirements were met, and the rapid production, high-precision assembly, and high-quality welding of U-rib units were achieved, marking that the manufacturing process of U-rib units will reach a new level.

Industry-leading integrated U-rib welding technology

     In response to the lack of current U-rib plate unit manufacturing technology, Lixin Company, as the inventor of U-rib internal welding technology, has been devoted to the development of the U-rib integrated welding integrated technology since the introduction of the world's first U-rib internal welding system in 2016. Baoqiao has jointly built the world's first U-rib positioning-free internal welding integrated production line, realizing the upgrade of the manufacturing technology of U-rib plate units, further improving production efficiency and product quality, and once again becoming the industry leader.

     The U-rib combined welding integrated production line completes the two processes of assembly and internal welding at the same station, eliminating the need for the tack welding process in the existing manufacturing process, which not only improves production efficiency and reduces production costs, but also eliminates the production of tack welding processes. A series of hidden quality hazards, greatly improving the product quality of U-rib units, reducing the defects of stress concentration of steel bridge decks, will play a positive role in the progress of modern bridge construction technology.

Outstanding technical advantages

     Compared with the existing U-rib plate unit manufacturing process, the U-ribbed integrated welding production line has the following technical advantages:

1. Cancel the tack welding process, reduce production costs, improve production efficiency, and lay the foundation for the realization of U-rib full penetration technology;

2. Complete the two processes of assembly and internal welding at the same station, the equipment is highly integrated, saving production space and transfer costs;

3. Eliminate the hidden quality hazards caused by the tack welding process, reduce the defects of stress concentration of the steel bridge deck, and prolong the service life of the bridge;

4. The U-rib double-sided welding can be performed without opening the groove, which reduces the difficulty in processing and assembling the groove;

5. The penetration rate of U-rib fillet welds can stably reach 100%, 80% and 75%, meeting the design requirements of different penetration rates;

6. The pre-tightening force of the assembly can perform secondary correction of the U rib during the internal welding process to ensure the straightness of the U rib and eliminate side bends;

7. High degree of automation and easy operation, reduce manual assembly errors, and achieve rapid and high-precision assembly of U-rib units;

8. According to the design requirements of the bridge, orthotropic plate units of different specifications can be produced, and the product line has a wide range of applications.