Abstract: This robot system includes: an automated guided vehicle that includes a support surface and automatically travels; a robot cell including a seat surface to be mounted on the support surface, a ground contact portion protruding downward from the seat surface so as to contact with a ground, an articulated arm, and a robot controller that controls operation of the articulated arm; and a switching mechanism that performs switching between a transferable state in which the seat surface is mounted on the support surface and the ground contact portion is separated from the ground, and a placed state in which the seat surface is separated from the support surface and the ground contact portion contacts with the ground.

Abstract: A power supply system includes a movable power supply device including a first power storage device, a robot including a second power storage device, and a controller, and the controller performs control for conveying the first power storage device to the robot by using the power supply device, on the basis of information about an amount of power stored in the second power storage device.

Abstract: A power supply system includes: a robot including a power storage device; a movable power supply device; and a controller. The power supply device includes a first electrical connector which is electrically connectable to a second electrical connector of the robot and which is electrically connected to a power supply source via a wire, and the controller performs control for electrically connecting the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector and supplying power to the robot, on the basis of information about an amount of power stored in the power storage device.

Abstract: A traveling robot includes: a traveling body including a truck and a drive unit, the truck including front and rear wheels and a floor frame, the drive unit being configured to rotate the wheels; a support mechanism configured to raise or lower a holding tool configured to support a mounting plate; and a picking robot configured to load a cargo onto the mounting plate or unload the cargo from the mounting plate. The drive unit is mounted on the floor frame, and the floor frame includes a projecting portion projecting forward from a portion on which the drive unit is mounted. The support mechanism is attached to a front end portion of the projecting portion. The picking robot is provided at the projecting portion, is arranged between the support mechanism and the drive unit in a front-rear direction, and is arranged on or behind an imaginary vertical line passing through a front axle.

Abstract: An equipment and method for charging a secondary battery are provided to quickly and surely charge a secondary battery (secondary batteries) while preventing the secondary battery (batteries) from overcharging or insufficient charging. Special charging voltage Es is applied to a secondary battery for a predetermined time, and then the applied voltage is switched to equilibrium voltage Eeq for establishing equilibrium cell potential of the secondary battery in its fully charged condition, wherein the special charging value Es is larger than the equilibrium value Eeq. Electric current i is detected while application of the equilibrium voltage Eeq. If the detected electric current i is larger than standard electric current J for finishing charging, the above detection and charging are repeated; otherwise, charge of the secondary battery 1 is halted.

Abstract: An equipment and method for charging a secondary battery are provided to quickly and surely charge a secondary battery (secondary batteries) while preventing the secondary battery (batteries) from overcharging or insufficient charging. Special charging voltage Es is applied to a secondary battery for a predetermined time, and then the applied voltage is switched to equilibrium voltage Eeq for establishing equilibrium cell potential of the secondary battery in its fully charged condition, wherein the special charging value Es is larger than the equilibrium value Eeq. Electric current i is detected while application of the equilibrium voltage Eeq. If the detected electric current i is larger than standard electric current J for finishing charging, the above detection and charging are repeated; otherwise, charge of the secondary battery 1 is halted.

Abstract: A high pressure injection nozzle member is formed of a super hard alloy or a hard material of carbide series mainly composing of a tungsten carbide as, wherein the tungsten carbon is composed of grains each having a diameter of less than 1 .mu.m. At least one kind of carbide or solid solution of carbide selected from Ti, Ta, V, Cr, Mo, Hf, or Zr by a weight % of less than 10.0% is added. A binding material essentially consisting of at least one of iron group elements by weight % of 0.2 to 2.0% may be further added. The super hard alloy or a hard sintered material has a high abrasion proof property and has a hardness more than about HRA 94.0. Nitride or nitride solid solution may be utilized in place of carbide or carbide solid solution. The nozzle member is particularly suitable for an abrasive water jet.

Abstract: A tube is formed from a polycrystalline silicon carbide having a density of from 3.18 to 3.21 g/cm.sup.3, a maximum impurity content of 20 ppm, and imperviousness to fluids by a process which comprises precipitating the silicon carbide on the surface of a rod-shaped graphite structure by a chemical vapor-phase synthesis method and thereafter removing the graphite structure. A water-jet nozzle of high resistance to abrasive wear can be produced by using this tube as an inner tube thereof to form the flow path for a water jet to be ejected therethrough.

Abstract: A high pressure injection nozzle member is formed of a super hard alloy or a hard material of carbide series mainly composing of a tungsten carbide as, wherein the tungsten carbon is composed of grains each having a diameter of less than 1 .mu.m. At least one kind of carbide or solid solution of carbide selected from Ti, Ta, V, Cr, Mo, Hf, or Zr by a weight % of less than 10.0% is added. A binding material essentially consisting of at least one of iron group elements by weight % of 0.2 to 2.0% may be further added. The super hard alloy or a hard sintered material has a high abrasion proof property and has a hardness more than about HRA 94.0. Nitride or nitride solid solution may be utilized in place of carbide or carbide solid solution. The nozzle member is particularly suitable for an abrasive water jet.

Abstract: A composite structure is manufactured by joining a first material, preferably made of a magnetically permeable material and having a first joining surface in which a recess having an overhang surface is formed, to a second material, preferably made of an electrically conductive material and having a second joining surface to be joined to the first joining surface of the first material. On the second joining surface is integrally formed a protrusion having an outer configuration substantially corresponding to the inner shape of the recess. The first and second materials are firmly mechanically joined to each other by, for example, a casting method, a rolling method, a pressing method, or a method utilizing plastic flow of the second material.

Abstract: A radiographic test is conducted on a welded portion of a pipe or the like to form a radiographic image, which is introduced into a computer. Volumetric defects and planar defects in the radiographic image are emphasized and extracted by separate methods to obtain a volumetric candidate defect image and a planar candidate defect image. The candidate defect images are then combined to form a single image in which defects can be easily identified. Features of defects in the images are measured, and a set of interference rules is applied to the measured features. Each inference rule gives a degree of certainty that a defect is of a certain type. The degrees of certainty determined by a plurality of the rules are collated to obtain a total degree of certainty, and the type of a defect is inferred from the total degree of certainty.

Abstract: A composite structure is manufactured by joining a first material, preferably made of a magnetically permeable material and having a first joining surface in which a recess having an overhang surface is formed, to a second material preferably made of an electrically conductive material and having a second joining surface to be joined to the first joining surface of the first material. On the second joining surface is integrally formed a protrusion having an outer configuration substantially corresponding to the inner shape of the recess. The first and second materials are firmly mechanically joined to each other by, for example, a casting method, a rolling method, a pressing method, or a method utilizing plastic flow of the second material.

Abstract: A method of producing an anchor bonded composite plate. Anchor cavities are formed in a base plate by placing a forming plate with a circular hole therethrough over the base plate at a selected anchor cavity location. A punch placed through the circular hole then applies a punching force to the base plate, thereby forming in the base plate an annular mound with a concentrically punched hole. The mound is next pressed with a leveling plate to cause the material of the mound to flow inside the punched hole forming an anchor cavity with an overhanging internally tapered surface. A cladding plate with a plurality of anchor holes is then placed on the base plate with its holes aligned with the cavities of the base plate. An anchor pin is inserted in the thus aligned openings and is plastically deformed to mechanically bond the plates together. The cladding plate and the base plate may be made of an aluminum alloy and a hard steel, respectively.

Abstract: A composite structure is manufactured by joining a first material, preferably made of a magnetically permeable material having a first joining surface in which a recess having an overhang surface is formed, to a second material, preferably made of an electrically conductive material having a second joining surface to be joined to the first joining surface of the first material. On the second joining surface is integrally formed a protrusion having an outer configuration substantially corresponding to the inner shape of the recess. The first and second materials are firmly mechanically joined to each other by, for example, a casting method, a rolling method, a pressing method, or a method utilizing plastic flow of the second material.

Abstract: A composite bar structure is composed of at least outer and inner members extending parallelly in the longitudinal direction of the structure and joined mechanically at an interface therebetween in an interlocked. The structure is fabricated by forming a plurality of projections on the inner member over the entire interface, preparing the outer member in a tubular shape to readily encompass the inner member, relatively positioning the members to place the inner member within the outer member in telescoped state, and applying a constrictive compression force on the outer member so that it undergoes plastic deformation and reduction in diameter, whereby the projections bite into the inner surface of the outer member. The members are thus joined tightly to form the integral composite bar structure.

Abstract: In the manufacture of welded pipes, edge buckling or waving of the strip is prevented by heating. In one method, during the process for bending the strip into a tubular form, the edges of the strip are heated so that tensile stress exerted thereon is reduced to a minimum and, thereafter, before the edges are abutted against each other, the strip is wholly heated so that the compressive stress exerted on the edges is reduced to a minimum. According to another mode, during the process for bending the strip gradually into a tubular form or during the process in which the edges of the strip are held in abutment against each other, the strip except its portions of the edges is substantially or partially heated so that the strip except its portions of the edges is subjected to compressive stress while the portions of the edges are subjected to tensile stress, and under these conditions the edges are welded together.

Abstract: An apparatus for continuous production of seam-welded steel tubing is proposed. The apparatus includes a series of shaping rolls for shaping a strip taken out from a strip coil into a tubular intermediate product, the roll series including a finpass roll group. The tubular product is subjected to seam welding under the action of a seam welder. Before arrival at the welder, a substantial main part of the preformed tubing with exception of opposing edge zones thereof is subjected to heating by a heater compensate for excess compressive stresses induced in the edge zones, while these zones are subjected to cooling by a cooler for avoiding otherwise formation of disadvantageous edge wavings which would otherwise occur.

Abstract: A process of continuous production of seam-welded steel tubing is concerned.A steel strip is taken out from a strip coil and conveyed to a tube-preshaping step including a plural of shaping roll stand positions. In the preshaping step, the strip is laterally rounded up gradually from band strip to a rough-shaped tubing until the side edges are brought into a mutually abutting state ready for seam-welding. The preshaping step is divided into a plurality of local regions. In these local regions, substantially body portion with exception of corresponding marginal edge zones of the tubing stock is separately subjected to heating. The heating width and heating intensity at these regions are increased stepwise as the tubular stock advances from upstream to downstream for avoiding conventionally appearing edge wavings and buckling undulations in the material of the steel tubing.

Abstract: For reducing the diameter of any axially limited part of a metal tube, that part is heated externally by an annular heater while at least the adjacent part or parts of the metal tube are being cooled and held at a temperature sufficiently low to limit the free thermal expanison of the heated part. On cooling, the part that has been heated becomes less in diameter than the other portions of the metal tube. The complete length of the metal tube can likewise be reduced in diameter by moving the annular heater and the metal tube relative to each other in the longitudinal direction of the tube from one end to the other while at least the adjacencies of the part being heated are being cooled as by water. The same method is adaptable for the fabrication of wear-resistant dual wall pipe for the transportation of fluids, as is also disclosed herein.

Abstract: In the manufacture of welded pipes, edge buckling or waving of the strip is prevented by heating. In one method, during the process for bending the strip into a tubular form, the edges of the strip are heated so that tensile stress exerted thereon is reduced to a minimum and, thereafter, before the edges are abutted against each other, the strip is wholly heated so that the compressive stress exerted on the edges is reduced to a minimum. According to another mode, during the process for bending the strip gradually into a tubular form or during the process in which the edges of the strip are held in abutment against each other, the strip except its portions at the edges is substantially or partially heated so that the strip except its portions at the edges is subjected to compressive stress while the portions of the edges are subjected to tensile stress, and under these conditions the edges are welded together.