Three-dimensional measurement system for pipe assembly process

In shipbuilding processes, the fabrication of connection pipe between two arbitrary pipes positioned at a distance in a huge steel block is one of the most difficult and inefficient processes. In this process, the measurement of the three-dimensional relative position of pipes is dependent on manual operations in most shipyards, and results in a very tedious and inefficient procedure. So, a proper measurement system should be developed to improve the productivity and the accuracy of assembly. This paper describes the research and development of a new pipe measurement system for pipe connections including the conceptual design, the establishment of measuring procedures, the design and fabrication of a measurement system, and a system calibration with an artificial neural network algorithm. Finally, the accuracy and productivity of the proposed system are also presented in this paper after implementation of this system for actual application in shipyards.