Every four years the international trade world of joining, cutting and surfacing meets in Essen. From September 16 - 21, 2013, more than 1,000 exhibitors from 40 nations presented their innovations at SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN. At the huge exhibition stand Carl Cloos Schweisstechnik GmbH presented their versatile processes and new solutions for manual and automated welding. "The exhibition was a great success. As the most important platform of welding technology major industry trends are demonstrated here," summarised managing director Dr. Robert Buchmann.

Automation solutions for different industries
One of the top highlights of the CLOOS exhibition stand was the fully-automated chained robot welding system. Here, QIROX robots, welding technology and the QINEO power sources, workpiece positioners and handling systems work optimally synchronised. CLOOS automated robot systems are used in different industries, such as agricultural industry, construction machinery, railway and industrial vehicles. Automation solutions tend to apply systems with automated workpiece identification and loading and unloading processes. Due to the automated workpiece loading and component recognition there are no additional set-up times and an optimum degree of utilisation is achieved.

The new 6kg QRH-280 welding robot is part of the automated welding system. This small, light and highly dynamic robot is perfectly suitable for the CLOOS cell solutions. The compact design saves production area and guarantees a very good accessibility to fixtures. This is particularly advantageous for customers in the automotive and electrical industry and medical engineering because they often dispose of a limited production area. Thanks to the lower mass and smaller lever arm the robot achieves higher speed and thus a better positioning accuracy.

User-friendliness in focus
Due to the further development of the operating modules the user-friendliness is more and more focussed on. The new MasterPlus operating panel offers a very easy, quick and intuitive control of the QINEO power sources. 5 quick memory places guarantee fast access to the most important jobs and easy handling just like the car audio system. The Master operating panel is designed for robust application during production and is suitable for right- and left-handed operators.

Another trendsetting innovation by CLOOS is the wireless operation of the welding power sources. The installation of the QINEO Data Manager software on a tablet PC allows central operation and monitoring of several power sources via a WLAN connection. Thus local operating panels at the individual power sources are no longer necessary. The touch control bases on the same operating concept as the CLOOS Premium operating panel. The complete analysis and administration software also allows graphical evaluations of the welding data and the characteristic curve management.

A multitude of live demonstrations
The CLOOS process competence is at the forefront in welding and cutting of various ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Live demonstrations presented the wide range of processes for welding different materials of different thicknesses. Trade visitors could experience the complete QINEO welding machine models during manual demonstrations.
Many visitors tested the welding simulator of the CLOOS cooperation partner WeldPlus. With the new technology trainees can learn on a computer how to weld without being affected by fume, flashes and pungent smell. Virtual welding offers great opportunities to modernise the education of welders.