Hitachi, Ltd.

Takashi Yamade

Seishi Watahiki

Shinichi Kurita

Yasuzi Sakuma

Masayoshi Yamaguchi

A plasma welding method has successive steps including pre-heating of members to be welded, tack welding of the members for tentatively fixing these members, keyhole welding for completely welding the members to each other, and finish padding. These steps are automatically conducted by a single plasma welding apparatus operative in accordance with a programmed sequence including data concerning the optimum conditions of operation in each step in relation to the conditions such as sizes and materials of the members to be welded. The apparatus has a welding torch, a welding head on which the welding torch is mounted for rotation, a controller adapted for storing the optimum welding conditions for successive steps of the welding process in relation to the conditions of the members to be welded, a power supply system for transmitting welding current and welding speed signal to the welding head in accordance with a command provided by the controller, and a gas supply system for supplying a plasma gas at a rate determined in accordance with a command from the controller.

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Hitachi, Japan

Takashi Yamade