On November 3, China's first set of intelligent welding equipment specially designed for pressure steel pipes in ultra-deep vertical shafts was officially put into operation at the Songyang Pumped Storage Power Station in Zhejiang. The equipment was independently developed for the extreme working conditions of narrow and deep shafts in deep underground engineering, filling the gap in automated welding of high-strength steel pipes in ultra-deep vertical shafts and marking another key step forward in the independent development of China's ultra-deep underground engineering equipment.

The intelligent welding equipment put into operation this time is equipped with an outer circumferential seam welding robot and an inner circumferential seam automatic horizontal welding machine, and is fitted with 5G control, laser weld seam tracking and a welding expert database, enabling automatic identification of weld seam positions and matching of welding parameters. With this equipment, pressure steel pipe installation can achieve integrated operations covering the entire process of hoisting, welding, flaw detection and anti-corrosion. The welding speed can reach 30 to 50 centimeters per minute, welding efficiency is improved by more than 65% compared with traditional manual welding, and the one-time pass rate of weld seams reaches 99%.

At present, this set of equipment is operating in the diversion vertical shaft of the Songyang Power Station in Zhejiang, the deepest vertical shaft in China's pumped storage sector. The diversion vertical shaft has a total depth of 637 meters, equivalent to the height of more than 200 stories. The vertical shaft is lined with steel pipes, and between the outer wall of the steel pipes and the rock wall, after deducting the shotcrete layer, the width left for welding operations is only about 45 centimeters. The commissioning of this intelligent welding equipment means that ultra-deep vertical shafts have formed a complete intelligent construction solution covering excavation, support and welding.