【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】3162-2026: China’s first batch of independently developed intelligent welding robots for offshore flexible manufacturing put into use

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Let’s give praise and support to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. Your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement**********************【Ten Years of Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】A continuously updated summary post is available; feel free to join the discussions at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html *****************It is understood that this equipment system is one of the key technological projects related to intelligent manufacturing within CNOOC’s 14th Five-Year Plan. The integration of this equipment system was completed in August 2025, after which it entered the testing and acceptance phase. After nearly 10 months of on-site debugging and engineering validation, the system’s various performance indicators met the design requirements, enabling its successful industrial deployment. This equipment system is specifically developed for complex and customized heavy welding applications such as module nodes on offshore oil and gas platforms, TKY pipe nodes, as well as reinforcement rings and crush rings for deep-water jacket structures. The system is designed for a service life of 20 years, with a maximum load capacity of 30 tons. The core software and process libraries are 100% domestically developed. The system boasts high environmental adaptability and operational flexibility, enabling it to effectively address prominent challenges such as the poor accessibility for welding large marine engineering structures in complex spaces and the difficulties in achieving precise control. According to Chen Xin, the leader of the research project on intelligent flexible manufacturing robots at CNOOC Engineering, the company has introduced the engineering concept of \"transforming customized products into standard products, and extending standard products into standard components.\" Intelligent welding robot systems have been developed for these standardized components. The project team overcame numerous industry-related technical challenges, including the identification of variable-section welding grooves, complex path planning, intelligent matching of welding process parameters, and adaptive adjustment. As a result, more than 10 domestic technological innovations were achieved, such as AI-based visual inspection of welds, intelligent 3D laser vision alignment, and intelligent multi-layer, multi-pass welding sequencing. The robot can be started with a single button press; it automatically completes the welding of product components, and features functions such as intelligent correction of welding trajectories, intelligent sealing, and intelligent filling using four wires on both sides. During the debugging phase, the project team conducted intensive testing and verification in actual equipment settings as well as in typical welding scenarios. They carried out nearly 1,000 welding experiments in total, and created a process database comprising over 500 parameters such as welding electrical parameters, weaving parameters, and arrangement logic. This improved the equipment’s ability to adapt to real-world operating conditions as well as its stability during continuous operation. Currently, the equipment can handle steel sheets with a maximum thickness of 70 millimeters, and the success rate for single welds exceeds 98%. This results in a comprehensive efficiency improvement of over 40% compared to traditional welding methods, while also significantly reducing the consumption of welding materials and the cost per unit of time spent using the equipment. Meanwhile, this technology has given rise to 4 patents, and its core technical indicators have reached international advanced levels, filling the technological gap in the field of intelligent welding equipment for offshore engineering in China. Leveraging the CNOOC Engineering Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base, the company is advancing the use of welding robots while simultaneously improving its portfolio of supporting intelligent equipment. Liu Ruifeng, the person in charge of the modular structure prefabrication workshop at CNOOC Engineering’s Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base, explained that thanks to the introduction of intelligent welding robot systems for flexible manufacturing, the project team also developed its own intelligent grinding robots, which have been put into use. To date, more than 500 steel sections have been ground using these robots. By leveraging intelligent visual positioning and real-time force control compensation technologies, it was possible to overcome the challenges associated with automating the grinding of large, complex-shaped steel sections, resulting in a 15% increase in grinding efficiency. At present, CNOOC Engineering’s Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base has established automated production capabilities that cover processes such as flexible welding, grinding, and spraying. In the future, CNOOC Engineering will focus on developing a new generation of intelligent manufacturing, accelerate the adoption of new intelligent industrial models, and speed up the creation of a new batch of intelligent manufacturing bases represented by smart factories. It will strive to advance ocean engineering manufacturing in terms of intelligence, sustainability, and high-end capabilities, thereby contributing to ensuring energy security and the autonomy and control of the industrial chain.