Automatic circumferential welding apparatus

Claim 1

An automatic circumferential welding apparatus comprising: a guide arranged close to abutted ends of cylindrical objects; a welding head driven along said guide and equipped with a welding torch so as to apply arc welding along a circumference defined by said abutted ends while moving in a clockwise and a counter-clockwise direction around respective semicircumferential paths around said circumference; a welding power supply for supplying welding current to said welding torch; means for moving said welding head along said semicircumferential paths around said circumference and said welding torch in a direction perpendicular to said circumference; position detecting means for detecting the positions of said welding torch as it travels along said semicircumferential paths; control means for storing positions detected by said position detecting means, said control means comprising a memory for storing welding conditions established for the stored positions; and a control box having operational keys, a display unit connected to said control means, a travel direction control means for directing the welding direction of said welding head, mode selecting means for causing said welding head to be moved in at least a teaching mode wherein the welding head is taught positions to be traveled during a welding operation or a regenerative mode wherein the welding head is caused to be moved to the taught positions, a memory control means for causing said memory to store positions taught in said teaching mode, a moving means activation means for selectively activating said moving means, and a reference point setting means for moving said welding head to reference points in plural welding directions and resetting said position detecting means.