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A carbon efficiency approach for laser welding environmental performance assessment and the process parameters decision-making

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Abstract

As a new generation of manufacturing technology, laser welding is widely applied in the fields of automobile, aerospace, etc. with its compelling advantages of high flexibility, quality, and energy density. However, the environmental performance of the laser welding process is not clear so far. There is a lack of systematic analysis of the laser welding process that takes all the energy sources and material consumption into consideration to reflect the actual environmental impact and evaluate the process parameter for decision-making. In this study, a parameterized model linking the carbon emissions and laser welding parameters is established. Based on this, a carbon efficiency evaluation approach is proposed to reveal the trade-off between carbon emissions and the added manufacturing value for decision-making on the premise of ensuring the welding quality. To verify the effectiveness of this approach, the carbon efficiency of the laser butt joint welding process is analyzed as an illustration. The results show that the parametric carbon emission models offer a feasible evaluation of carbon emissions of the laser welding process, with an accuracy of approximately 93.6%. The carbon emissions of the cooling system are 1.78 times that of laser devices. Thus, it dominates the carbon emissions of the laser welding process rather than laser devices. While ensuring the processing quality, increasing the welding speed is the most key way to improve carbon efficiency. The reason for it is that the carbon emissions of auxiliary facilities, e.g., cooling system can be reduced significantly as the reduced welding time. Furthermore, the standby time used, e.g., clamping and taking-off of workpieces, etc., is another key factor affecting the carbon efficiency. Thus, shortening the standby time can also improve the carbon efficiency of the laser welding process.

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Data availability

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The data used in this paper is not available as it pertains to an ongoing research.

Abbreviations

A s :

Effective absorptivity of the substrate

A w :

Effective absorptivity of the wire

C c :

Heat capacity of coolant

C e :

Price of electricity

C gc :

Heat capacity

C j :

Price of material cost

C l :

Labor cost

C0, C k,i :

Fit coefficients

C s :

Heat capacity of the substrate at constant pressure

C w :

Heat capacity of the wire at constant pressure

CE :

Carbon emissions of laser welding system

CE cl :

Carbon emissions of coolant

CE co :

Carbon emissions of cooling system during operation

CE cool :

Carbon emissions of cooling system

CE cs :

Carbon emissions of cooling system during standby

CE gc :

Carbon emissions of compressed air

CE gas :

Carbon emissions of gas devices

CE gs :

Carbon emissions of shielding gas

CE laser :

Carbon emissions of laser devices

CE lp :

Carbon emissions of laser devices during processing

CE lsb :

Carbon emissions of laser devices during standby

CE mo :

Carbon emissions of motion system during operation

CE motion :

Carbon emissions of motion system

CE ms :

Carbon emissions of motion system during standby

CE we :

Carbon emissions of electricity consumption of wire feeding system

CE wire :

Carbon emissions of wire feeding system

CE wm :

Carbon emissions of wire consumption

CEF dw :

Carbon emission factor of deionized water

CEF elec :

Carbon emission factor of electricity

CEF gs :

Carbon emission factor of shielding gas

CEF tw :

Carbon emission factor of tap water

CEF w :

Carbon emission factor of wire

d :

Thickness of the substrate

I k :

Current flowing through the motor k

I r :

Rated current

k :

Forming coefficient

K :

Heat capacity ratio

L s :

Substrate latent heat of melting

L w :

Wire latent heat of melting

m j :

Mass of material

N :

Production of the laser welding system

p 1 :

Pressure before compression

p 2 :

Pressure after compression

P co :

Average power of cooling system during operation

P cs :

Average power of cooling system during standby

P gc :

Power to compress air

P lp :

Laser output power

P ls :

Laser output power used to heat and melt the substrate

P lsb :

Average power of laser devices during standby

P lw :

Laser output power used to heat and melt the wire

P me :

Effective output power of the joint motors

P ml :

Loss power of the joint motors

P ms :

Total power of motion system during standby

P w :

Average power of wire feeder

Q f :

Flow of coolant

Q gc :

Gas flow velocity

Q gs :

Flow of shielding gas

R :

Revenue of stitches

s :

Cross-sectional area of the weld fusion zone

t co :

Operation time of cooling system1

t cs :

Standby time of cooling system

t g :

Aeration time of gas devices

t lp :

Processing time of laser devices

t lsb :

Standby time of laser devices

t mo :

Operation time of motion system

t ms :

Operation time of motion system

T 0 :

Initial temperature of the substrate

T coolant :

Cycle time of coolant

T k :

Output torque of motor k

T r :

Rated torque

T s :

Melting temperature of the substrate

T w :

Melting temperature of the wire

∆T :

Temperature difference of coolant

v l :

Welding speed

V :

Molten volume of weld bead

V add :

Added manufacturing value

V dw :

Volume of deionized water in one replacement cycle

V g :

Volume of the welding gap

V s :

Molten volume of substrate

V tw :

Volume of tap water in one replacement cycle

V w :

Molten volume of welding wire

w k :

Angular velocity of the motor

η :

Photoelectric conversion efficiency of laser devices

η c :

Carbon efficiency

ρ c :

Density of coolant

ρ gc :

Density of compressed air

ρ s :

Density of the substrate

ρ w :

Density of wire

μ k :

Linear coefficient

δ :

Butt joint gap

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Funding

This work was supported by the International Cooperation and Exchanges NSFC [grant number 51861165202]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51805066]; the Scientific and Technological Innovation Leading Talents Program of National “Ten-thousand People Plan” of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China

    Zhuo Huang, Huajun Cao, Dan Zeng, Weiwei Ge & Chengmao Duan

Authors
  1. Zhuo Huang
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  2. Huajun Cao
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  3. Dan Zeng
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  4. Weiwei Ge
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Contributions

Zhuo Huang: investigation, conceptualization, methodology, writing original draft, visualization. Huajun Cao: funding acquisition, project administration, resources, supervision, validation. Dan Zeng: review and abstract writing, validation. Weiwei Ge: experiments, data analysis. Chengmao Duan: experiments.

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Correspondence to Huajun Cao.

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Huang, Z., Cao, H., Zeng, D. et al. A carbon efficiency approach for laser welding environmental performance assessment and the process parameters decision-making. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 114, 2433–2446 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-07011-8

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