Method for creating weldment inspection documents

• US 20100169053A1
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Inventors: Velankanni, Anand, Martis, Jeffrey A., Hansen, Donald J.
• Application Number:
  US12/346,070
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169053A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 31/12 relating to investigating the properties, e.g. the weldability, of materials
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 31/125 Weld quality monitoring

Abstract

A method for creating a weldment inspection document for identifying a plurality of weldment zones in a part accesses a representation of the part and selects weld zones in the representation of the part. The weld zones are marked with indicia concerning the location of and other information regarding weldments in the weld zone. A plurality of these representations are stored in a document depicting a weldment inspection sequence for the part.

Claims

1. A method for creating a grouping of weldment inspection pages as a document providing an inspection sequence with respect to a part that is made in a manufacturing process comprising:

accessing an editable representation of the part,

selecting a first weld zone from the editable representation of the part,

marking the first weld zone with indicia concerning the location of and other information regarding at least one weldment in the first weld zone,

storing the first weld zone with the indicia and other information as a first weldment inspection page,

repeating the selecting and marking steps with respect to a second weld zone for the part and storing the second weld zone with indicia and other information as a second weldment inspection page, and

ordering the first weldment inspection page and the second weldment inspection page as a weldment inspection document providing a weldment inspection sequence for the part.

2. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of

accessing a first representation of the part, and

converting the first representation into the editable representation of the part.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first representation of the part is a three-dimensional representation.

4. The method of claim 3, further including the steps of

selecting a third weld zone from the editable representation of the part,

marking the third weld zone with indicia concerning a location of a component finish type in the third weld zone, and

storing the third weld zone with the indicia and other information as a third weldment inspection page.

5. The method of claim 4, further including the step of providing an index for the first weldment inspection page, the second weldment inspection page and the third weldment inspection page.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the ordering step includes providing the weldment inspection document on a perceptible medium.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the part is a frame for an off-highway machine.

8. The method of claim 7, further including the steps of:

accessing an editable representation of a complementary part,

selecting a first weld zone from the editable representation of the complementary part,

marking the first weld zone of the complementary part with indicia concerning the location of and other information regarding the at least one weldment in the first weld zone, and

storing the first weld zone with indicia and other information of the complementary part on the first weldment inspection page.

9. A method for inspecting a part based on a weldment inspection document with respect to weldments located on the part that is fabricated in a manufacturing process, the weldment inspection document providing an inspection sequence including at least a first inspection page with identifications of a first weld criteria in a first weld zone and a second inspection page with identifications of a second weld criteria in a second weld zone, the method comprising:

identifying the first weld zone through reference to the first page in the sequence of inspection pages of the weldment inspection document,

determining whether the first weld zone on the part meets the first weld criteria provided on the first inspection page,

identifying the second weld zone through reference to the second page in the sequence of inspection pages of the weldment inspection document,

determining whether a second weld zone on the part meets the second weld criteria provided on the first inspection page, and

transferring the part to a location for further processing if the first weld zone criteria and the second weld zone criteria are met.

10. The method of claim 9, further including the step of failing the part when either first weld zone criteria or the second weld zone criteria are not met.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first weld criteria includes an identification of weld location and associated weld type.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the second weld criteria includes an identification of weld location and associated weld type.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the second weld criteria includes an identification of a component finish type in the second weld zone.

14. A physical computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions for creating a weldment inspection document from a grouping of weldment inspection pages provided in an inspection sequence with respect to a part that is made in a manufacturing process according to the following steps:

accessing a three-dimensional electronic representation of the part,

converting the three-dimensional electronic representation to an editable representation of the part,

receiving via a computer interface input from a user selecting a first weld zone in the editable representation of the part,

receiving via the computer interface input from a user indicia concerning the location and other information regarding weldments in the selected first weld zone,

repeating the receiving steps until indicia regarding weldments in remaining weld zones for the part are identified,

storing the weld zones with the indicia concerning the location and other information for the weld zones in the part as a plurality of weldment inspection pages, and

receiving via the computer interface input from a user commands for ordering the plurality of weldment inspection pages in a predefined weldment inspection sequence for the part.

15. The physical computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the receiving user indicia step further includes marking at least one of the identified weld zones with an identification of a weld type.

16. The physical computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the receiving user commands for ordering the plurality of weldment inspection pages step includes storing the weld zones on a fixed medium as a weldment inspection document.

17. The physical computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the part is a frame for an off-highway machine.

18. The physical computer readable medium of claim 17, further including the steps of:

accessing a three dimensional representation of a complementary part,

converting the three-dimensional electronic representation of the complementary part to an editable representation of the complementary part,

receiving via the computer interface input from the user selecting a first weld zone in the editable representation of the complementary part,

receiving via the computer interface input from a user indicia concerning the location and other information regarding weldments in the selected first weld zone of the complementary part,

repeating the receiving steps until indicia regarding weldments in remaining weld zones for the complementary part are identified, and

storing the weld zones with indicia concerning the location and other information of the complementary part on respective weldment inspection pages for the part.