"Previously, 6 workers could only produce a maximum of 8 steel cage sections a day; now, one worker operating the equipment can turn out 20 sections a day, while ensuring the dimensional error of each section does not exceed 5 millimeters!" On May 12th, inside the steel processing workshop of the East Urban Expressway Project, Zhang Wei, leader of the project's steel work team, pointed to a high-speed operating device and showed reporters the construction transformation brought by intelligent construction equipment. This "efficiency tool" is exactly the newly introduced intelligent steel cage rolling welder of the project. Its application not only achieves a leapfrog improvement in pile foundation construction efficiency, but also marks a key step for the project in the field of standardized and intelligent construction.
![steel bar welding machine]( "steel bar welding machine")
Solving Pain Points of Traditional Construction, Intelligent Equipment "Takes Office" to Address Difficulties
The East Urban Expressway is an important part of the city's "six horizontal and eight vertical" transportation network, with a total length of 18.6 kilometers. It involves the construction of 328 bridge pile foundations, requiring the processing of steel cages with a total length of over 4,800 meters. "At the initial stage of the project, we were faced with a tricky problem - traditional steel cage processing relied entirely on manual binding, which was not only inefficient but also prone to quality fluctuations," Chen Ming, the chief engineer of the project, told reporters. In the traditional process, workers first need to cut and butt-weld the main bars, then manually wind the stirrups and bind them point by point. This not only consumes a lot of labor but also often leads to difficulties in steel cage docking due to human operation errors, and even requires rework.
"Last winter, one of our teams worked overtime continuously for a week to meet the construction schedule, and finally completed the processing of steel cages for 30 pile foundations. However, during the acceptance inspection, it was found that the spacing deviation of the main bars in 4 steel cage sections exceeded 15 millimeters, so we had to remanufacture them. This not only delayed the construction period but also caused material waste," Chen Ming admitted. As the project enters the critical phase, the traditional construction mode can no longer meet the schedule requirements, and the introduction of intelligent equipment has become an inevitable choice.
After multiple inspections and comparisons, the project finally selected 2 intelligent steel cage rolling welders. This equipment integrates multiple technologies such as mechanical transmission, numerical control programming, and hydraulic control, and can realize the fully automated operation of steel cages from main bar positioning, stirrup winding to welding forming. "It only took 5 days from the equipment's arrival and commissioning to its official operation. The manufacturer also sent professional technicians to conduct on-site training, and now our workers can operate it proficiently," Liu Kai, the project's equipment manager, introduced. To ensure the efficient operation of the equipment, the project also specially built a standardized steel processing workshop, dividing it into a raw material area, a processing area, and a finished product area, realizing the assembly line operation of "raw material - processing - transfer".
![small cage making machine]( "small cage making machine")
One-Click Operation Enables "Precise Intelligent Manufacturing", Improving Both Quality and Efficiency
Inside the steel processing workshop, reporters saw that the main body of this steel cage rolling welder is composed of components such as a fixed rotating disk, a movable rotating disk, a welding robot arm, and hydraulic supports. The touch screen on the operation platform clearly displays parameters such as the diameter of the main bars, the spacing of the stirrups, and the welding speed. As operator Li Meng pressed the "start" button, the equipment immediately entered the working state: the fixed rotating disk drove 12 main bars to rotate at a constant speed, the movable rotating disk moved backward synchronously, the straightened stirrups were automatically spirally wound around the main bars, and the 6-axis welding robot arm accurately positioned each intersection point and completed the welding in an instant. Sparks flickered in an orderly manner inside the protective cover, and in less than 20 minutes, a 12-meter-long steel cage with a diameter of 1.5 meters was processed. "Look at the spacing of these stirrups. The set spacing is 200 millimeters, and every measured point is 200±2 millimeters, which is much more accurate than manual binding," Li Meng picked up a tape measure and showed it to reporters. She had engaged in manual binding work for 6 years before. Now, after transitioning to operating intelligent equipment, not only has her labor intensity been greatly reduced, but her work efficiency has also been significantly improved. "In the past, after a day's work, my arms were sore and swollen. Now, I can complete the work by sitting in front of the operation platform, and I can also monitor the processing progress in real-time through the screen. I feel very confident."
According to statistics, since the equipment was put into use on April 20th, the steel cage processing efficiency of the project has increased by more than 3 times compared with the traditional process. The daily processing volume has increased from 8 sections to 24 sections, and the processing of steel cages for 186 pile foundations has been completed cumulatively, saving more than 600,000 yuan in labor costs. At the same time, as the equipment adopts carbon dioxide shielded welding technology, the welding strength is 20% higher than that of manual binding, and the qualified rate of supervision sampling has increased from 92% to 100%, completely solving the problem of steel cage docking errors.
"Last week, we carried out the lowering operation of the steel cage for pile foundation No. 5 of Bridge No. 3. When docking the 6 steel cage sections, the axis deviation was only 3 millimeters, and it passed the acceptance inspection at one time, which was difficult to achieve in the past," Zhao Gang, the person in charge of the project's quality inspection, said. Intelligent processing provides a "solid support" for quality control. Each steel cage section has a unique number, and information such as processing time and parameter settings can be traced through the equipment system, realizing "quality traceability and responsibility accountability".
![rebar cage machine]( "rebar cage machine")
Green Construction Achieves Results, Promoting the Intelligent Transformation of the Industry
In addition to the improvement of efficiency and quality, the application of the steel cage rolling welder has also brought significant green benefits to the project. "In traditional manual binding, the stirrups need to reserve an overlapping length of 10-15 centimeters, and each steel cage section wastes at least 0.5 meters of stirrups. However, the intelligent equipment adopts a continuous welding process, which does not require overlapping and can be cut directly, saving 0.3 kilograms of steel per section," Chen Ming calculated for reporters. Based on the project's total processing length of 4,800 meters, a total of 1,200 kilograms of steel can be saved, reducing material waste by 1.2%.
At the same time, the equipment adopts a closed welding protective cover and is equipped with a fume collection device, which effectively reduces the impact of welding fumes on the environment. "In the past, the processing workshop was full of welding slag and fumes, and workers had to wear thick masks. Now, almost no obvious fumes can be seen in the workshop, and the air quality has improved a lot," Zhang Wei said. The project also collects and treats the waste welding slag generated by the equipment in a centralized manner, realizing the recycling of resources and practicing the concept of green construction.
The practice of the East Urban Expressway Project has also provided valuable experience for the promotion of intelligent equipment in the field of infrastructure construction in the city. The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau said that in the next step, they will organize the person in charge of key projects in the city to visit and learn from the East Urban Expressway Project, promote the application of more intelligent construction equipment in projects such as bridges, tunnels, and high-rise buildings, and help the construction industry transform from "labor-intensive" to "technology-intensive".
"It is expected that by the end of June this year, we will complete the construction of all pile foundations, 20 days ahead of the original plan," Chen Ming said. The project will continue to explore intelligent construction technologies, and plans to introduce equipment such as an integrated steel bar sawing, threading, and grinding machine and intelligent tensioning equipment in the future to further improve construction efficiency and quality. It strives to build the East Urban Expressway into a demonstration project of intelligent construction in the city and deliver a "high-quality, efficient, and green" transportation artery to the citizens.
