Robotic Pipe Welding | Novarc Technologies

Spool Welding Robot

The world's first collaborative welding robot

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The Spool Welding Robot (SWR) is a welding cobot designed specifically for pipe, small pressure vessel, and other types of roll welding. Companies that have invested in the SWR have increased their pipe welding productivity to 200-350 diameter inches per shift on carbon steel pipes, and 569-998 diameter inches per shift on stainless steel, and have dropped their repair rate to less than 1%. This is making our customers more competitive when bidding on jobs, and it has increased margins on contracts they’ve already won.

The SWR has the smallest footprint in the industry and when you combine our proprietary Welding Vision System with the insights provided from NovData™, you get a world-class solution that will make you more competitive in your market.

Pneumatic Manipulator with Adjustable Height: Easily move the arm between joints within 15 ft of base // Approach a full range of pipes from 2” to 60” at different heights

Slender design & compact head: Only 1.6” clearance around the pipe is required

Easy-To-Use Human-Machine Interface (HMI) allows operator to: Select the pre-programmed welding procedure // Tune the weld and motion parameters // Get access to the pass tracking feature and see the graphical representation of weld joint build-up during the weld

A light and durable pendant. Operators easily start, stop and change motion and weld parameters. Includes: 6.5″ resistive touch screen // Hardwired safety rated E-stop // Easy-to-find rocker switches, push buttons and joystick

Laser Camera: Tracks the seam in real time – no prescan // Point Laser: Maintains the contact to work distance

Welding Vision System records every weld in real time

Three-axis robotic arm: Imitates all roll welding motions // Moves torch up/down, left/right while creating weave motion

Power Source: Different power source options available (Lincoln Power Wave R450, Miller Auto-Continuum™ 500)

EWR 2: Saves shielding gas while providing better gas coverage.

Spool Welding Robot Advantages

3-5x improvement in carbon steel pipe welding productivity and up to 12x on stainless steel pipes
Less than 1% repair rates
Average ROI of 6-18 months
Accountability and Traceability for your QA/AC team through our Welding Vision System
Easy access to detailed operations reports through NovData™
Smallest footprint in the industry
Extend the careers of your welders

Spool Welding Robot at a Glance

Massive Productivity Gains

Our customers are achieving significant productivity improvements with their SWR, which is making them much more competitive when bidding on jobs and increasing the margin on jobs they’ve already won. With the SWR you can:

Achieve 200-350 diameter inches per shift on carbon steel pipes, and 569-998 diameter inches per shift on stainless steel pipes
Maximize arc-on time with our non-stop root-to-cap process
Produce full penetration X-ray quality welds
Reduce dependency on scarce, highly-skilled pipe welders

Don’t take our word for it, hear it from our customers:

“Our old way of welding stainless would be to TIG weld with using an ID purge. A 16” schedule 10 weld would take 2-1/2 hours or so to get a purge set up and then weld out. We now can do a 16” schedule 10 weld in 12 minutes that will pass RT.” – David Ray, Fabrication Shop Superintendent at W.W. GAY Mechanical Inc.

Read the full case study

Smallest Footprint in the Industry

The SWR has the smallest footprint in the industry of only 4’ x 4’. It is small enough to fit anywhere in your shop without the need to change your current shop workflow. We work closely with your team to create a custom layout that would meet the unique needs of your shop.

Integrates with 2-5 positioners for maximum arc-on time
Flexible layout to accommodate a wide range of spool sizes and configurations
Position anywhere in your shop (against the wall, in the corner, or in the middle of the shop)
Lower than 1% repair rates

“We looked at a few other options when looking for welding solutions. The edge that Novarc has is the footprint of the equipment, we have a lot more flexibility with the SWR.” – Martin Cartier, Director of Ganotec-Muga Fab.

Read the full case study

Improved Weld Quality

In North America repair rates at pipe fabrication shops are around 3-5%. The SWR brings this down to less than 1% by producing consistent, high quality welds every single time. If you’re currently producing 6,000 welds per year with a 3% repair rate, you’re likely spending around $180,000/year in repairs. By reducing the repair rate to less than 1%, you can put the repair costs back onto your bottom-line. Here’s what you should expect from your SWR:

Lower than 1% repair rates
Consistent high quality welds every time
Meet key quality test requirements such as Radiography test, Charpy Impact test, Hardness test, Bend test, Tensile test, and more
Weld to ASME B31.1, ASME B31.3, EN 13445 and EN 13480 standards

“We have shown more than half a dozen of our customers around the machine. It’s a powerful message to our clients that we are investing in a piece of technology that’s going to make the work we do for them less expensive, higher quality, and take fewer hours. People really respect businesses that invest in their business rather than do other things with the cash they generate.” – Paul Hebson, VP & General Manager at Vancouver Drydock.

Read the full case study

Welding Vision System

Novarc’s Welding Vision System records every weld in real time to provide accountability and traceability for your QA/QC Managers. Here are some highlights:

Enhanced view of the groove, puddle and stick
Every weld is recorded in real time with key weld parameters embedded on screen
Improve weld quality by analyzing recorded videos in parallel with the weld parameters saved by NovData™

“The quality side of it is definitely the data aspect; the ability to tie in the weld data and video logs with our BIM information was a very big bonus. Being able to go in and have that level of inspection is really not achievable with the conventional methods.” – Wade Eno, CEO of RoboFab.

Read the full case study

NovData™

Novarc’s comprehensive production monitoring software, NovData™, brings further traceability into your production by automatically creating in-depth production reports. Here are some highlights of NovData™:

Track and Improve your pipe welding productivity with the daily operations reports automatically generated every day
Bid competitively on projects by applying cost savings gathered from daily operations reports
Manage and track the critical weld parameters for accurate troubleshooting and enhanced quality control practices with the log reports automatically generated for each weld

“Novarc’s machine brings a new level of quality and consistency with every weld as well as an embedded video of the weld into the BIM model.” – Pitt Meadows Plumbing & Mechanical Systems Ltd.

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Advanced Welding Features

Non-stop root to cap welding without the need to shut off the arc
Tack Fusion™, Root Save™ and Repeat Pass to accommodate tacks and fit-ups
Capable of welding stringers and multipass joints
Automatic Positioner Switch Assembly (APSA) switching the welding cable and voltage sensing lead between positioners automatically based on operators selection of positioner

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Semi-Autonomous

Semi-automated seam tracking using a laser scanner with 0.3 mm accuracy (for carbon and stainless steel pipes up to 0.75” in thickness and more than 4” in diameter)
Automatic stick-out distance control (tip to pipe distance) with 0.1 mm accuracy

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Collaborative Welding Robot (Welding Cobot)

Collaborates with a junior operator
Equipped with a powerful built-in safety system eliminating the need for hard fencing
No need for a special programming language to operate
Fast and easy set-up

SWR Options

Your Choice of Power Source

Lincoln Power Wave® R450
Miller Auto-Continuum™ 500

Integrates with Multiple Positioners

The SWR can easily be integrated to work with multiple positioners including Team Industries, Profax, Preston Eastin, Triofab, and Chapel Welding)
Novarc can integrate with one or more positioners based on your needs (up to five)
Possibility to integrate with your existing positioners

Dual Torch

Flexibility to meet specific customer requirements (Flux-cored and Metal-cored for fill and cap passes)
Flexibility to switch between fill and cap passes

BIM Software Integration

The integration allows users to plan their complex construction projects from 3D models, define the properties of pipes and welds in spool assemblies, and track the completion of all fabrication procedures

NovCare Preventative Maintenance Packages

Our comprehensive Bronze, Silver, and Gold NovCare packages are designed to address your training, maintenance, and troubleshooting requirements at any stage of the Spool Welding Robot life cycle

EWR 2

The EWR 2 Net uses a patented function with fast-acting solenoid valves to regulate the gas flow in real-time and in synchronization with the welding current

Novarc Academy

At Novarc, we are committed to providing our customers with the best support and service, and that is why we created the “Novarc Academy”, a library of videos and courses providing an easy to follow, step-by-step explanation of how to operate, troubleshoot and maintain the Spool Welding Robot.

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