China Deploys First Intelligent Welding System for Ultra-Deep Vertical Shafts at Songyang Pumped Storage Power Station

IT Home November 3 news, according to CCTV reported today, Three Gorges Group confirmed that China's first set of intelligent welding equipment for pressure steel pipes specifically for ultra-deep vertical shafts was officially put into use at the Zhejiang Songyang pumped-storage power station. This equipment was independently developed for the extreme working conditions of narrow deep wells in deep underground engineering, filling the gap in automated welding of high-strength steel pipes for ultra-deep vertical shafts.

According to CCTV reports, this set of equipment is configured with an outer ring seam welding robot and an inner ring seam automatic transverse welding machine, equipped with 5G control, laser weld tracking system, and a welding expert database, capable of automatically identifying weld positions and matching welding parameters. With the help of this equipment, pressure steel pipe installation can achieve full-process integrated operations in stages such as lifting, welding, flaw detection, and anti-corrosion.

The equipment is currently operating inside the water intake vertical shaft of the Songyang power station. The total depth of this vertical shaft is 637 meters, equivalent to the height of over 200 floors, and is the deepest vertical shaft in the domestic pumped-storage field. The vertical shaft uses steel pipe lining, and between the outer wall of the steel pipe and the rock wall, after deducting the shotcrete layer, the width left for welding operations is only about 45 centimeters.

In terms of welding performance, the welding speed of this equipment can reach 30 to 50 centimeters per minute, the welding efficiency is improved by more than 65% compared to traditional manual welding, and the one-time qualification rate of the weld seam reaches 99%. The welding quality of pressure steel pipes (IT Home Note: steel pipe structures that withstand high-pressure water flow in power station water intake systems) is directly related to the operational safety of the power station.

After this equipment was put into use, the ultra-deep vertical shaft formed a complete intelligent construction solution from excavation and support to welding, marking new progress in the autonomy of ultra-deep underground engineering equipment in our country.