Development of an Automatic Welding System for the Boiler Tube Walls Weld Overlay
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
I have read your paper titled:"Development of an automatic welding system for the boiler tube walls weld overlay".
In my opinion the paper can be very good. The plan and results are propper.
My overal merit about paper is high. However, due to the lack of discussion I have to propose major revision.The article in so valuable journal as Metals must include scientific discussion.
General remarks:
- Please check the style of your references. It should be listed as it is stated in template:https://www.mdpi.com/journal/metals/instructions - You have presented 21 references. Only three of them have been published in last three years. In my opinion it is not enough. The science is developing each years. The number of articles increased. I think that there are some more of the newest proceedings, which can be use as a scientific background for your experiments. Eg. http://www.imim.pl/files/archiwum/Vol1_2020/31.pdf - I propose to add kaywords, which will increase the visibility of article in scientific databases. I propose to add one about tube walls/boilers. Introduction: This section is well written, and I have minor suggestions here: - I propose to move Figure 1 to line 21. It will be more readable if Figure is located after its mention in the text.
- Please add some ino bout other materials used on tube walls. Mechanical Design and Working Principle: - Line 104 - Solidwork or SolidWorks? - Figure 2 - please add range of dimensions. These kind of walls can by very big, and it will be more readable for potential readers. Weld Overlay Methodology: - Please be consequent about spaces and units. In line 138 I can find "14 mm" and in the same line "100mm". Mathematical Analysis of the Automatic Welding Mechanisms: - Please add references to presented equations. Weld Tracking System:
Control System Design: This sections are clear, and I have no suggestions. Experimental Results: - Why have you chosen these range of parameters? This information should be marked in the paper. - I propose to change the name of this section to "Results and Discussion" and ofcourse add part with scientific discussion. Please compare your results to results rom literature. Mark the biggest advantages of your experiment, what can by achieve during using of your proposal. Conclusions: - I propose to list main conclusions in point.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We would like to thank you for your valuable time and professional follow-up. Our appreciation for your careful review and valuable recommendations. We made our best to include all your recommendations and carried out some additions and restructuring to our manuscript entitled “Development of an automatic welding system for the boiler tube walls weld overlay”.
Kindly find the highlighted revisions in the body of the manuscript in addition to the attached description of the performed modifications.
We hope that manuscript is acceptable for publication in Metals with the current content and format.
With my best regards,
Prof. Tian Songya
(Corresponding author on behalf of all authors)
College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Hohai University, Changzhou 213022, China.
Tel: +8613584348416, Email: [email protected]
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
provided paper deals with a vital issue of automatic welding process control. The paper present an attempt to solve real life engineering problem in the field automated cladding. There is a device as well as steering unit described. As the engineering level is on an adequate level, the scientific soundness is quite low, especially looking on scope of the Metals journal. In my opinion the manuscript is a technical report with limited scientific content, rather then a research paper. The largest part of the article is devoted to kinematics and sensor system. The control methodology using ANFIS engine is quite common in many applications. Authors didn’t point on any details of control unit novelty and the performance increase in comparison to conventional control system is not shown. The novelty of proposed solution is not emphasized and really hard do find when reading the manuscript. Moreover the quality of this new approach is impossible to assess. There are only process parameters provided, but no baseline method, that can be compared is mentioned. There is even no comparison to a method that is used now in such application. From the technology and material point of view there were no results provided that can be used to evaluate cladded layer geometry, mechanical properties, material structure/microstructure (characterization in general). Without all mentioned above parts, in my opinion, the paper is not suitable for publication in the Metals journal.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We would like to thank you for your valuable time and professional follow-up. Our appreciation for your careful review and valuable recommendations. We made our best to include all your recommendations and carried out some additions and restructuring to our manuscript entitled “Development of an automatic welding system for the boiler tube walls weld overlay”.
Kindly find the highlighted revisions in the body of the manuscript in addition to the attached description of the performed modifications.
We hope that manuscript is acceptable for publication in Metals with the current content and format.
With my best regards,
Prof. Tian Songya
(Corresponding author on behalf of all authors)
College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Hohai University, Changzhou 213022, China.
Tel: +8613584348416, Email: [email protected]
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Some minor concerns are in the attached file.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We would like to thank you for your valuable time and professional follow-up. Our appreciation for your careful review and valuable recommendations. We made our best to include all your recommendations and carried out some additions and restructuring to our manuscript entitled “Development of an automatic welding system for the boiler tube walls weld overlay”.
Kindly find the highlighted revisions in the body of the manuscript in addition to the attached description of the performed modifications.
We hope that manuscript is acceptable for publication in Metals with the current content and format.
With my best regards,
Prof. Tian Songya
(Corresponding author on behalf of all authors)
College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Hohai University, Changzhou 213022, China.
Tel: +8613584348416, Email: [email protected]
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
Your efforts are appritiate and the paper has been improved due to my comments. As I pointed in first round, my overal merit in this work is high. Congratultions.
I propose to publish this paper.
Best regards,
Reviewer.
