Coded and electronically tagged welding wire

• US 6,267,291 B1
• Filed: 06/21/1999
• Issued: 07/31/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hsu, Christopher, Blankenship, George D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Frech, Karl D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor, Larry D
• Application Number:
  US09/336,574
• Time in Patent Office: 771 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/449, 235/494, 235/462.13, 219/60.R, 219/61, 219/121.13, 219/130.5, 219/137.R, 219/137.PS
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 35/40 Making wire or rods for soldering or welding processes involving a single technical art, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. B05D, B21C
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/1062 with computing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 1/125 by magnetic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07758 arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2019/06253 for a specific application
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/084 sensing magnetic material by relative movement detecting flux changes without altering its magnetised state

Abstract

Information pertaining to characteristics of metal welding electrode wire and which characteristics are useful in connection with adjusting welding parameters in an arc welding process and/or selecting between operating modes in a welding system are encoded on welding wire and/or on other memory components such as bar code labels and tags, RFID cards and tags, IC cards, and Touch Memory buttons, and the memory device is scanned prior to and/or at the point of use of the welding wire for enabling tracking of product distribution, manual and/or automatic selection of an operating mode for the welding system, manual and/or automatic adjustment of welding parameters in a given operating mode, consumables inventory, and the like.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an electric arc welding process having a plurality of operating conditions and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece, including:

a) providing a stored source of coded information pertaining to variations along the length of a welding wire to be used in an electric arc welding process;

b) scanning the stored source for extracting coded information therefrom pertaining to variations along the length of the wire; and

,

c) controlling at least one of the plurality of operating conditions of said process in accordance with the extracted information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said operating conditions include first and second operating modes for the process and said extracted information includes one of first and second codes respectively pertaining to said first and second operating modes, said method including:

d) operating said process in said first mode in response to said extracted information being said first code; and

,

e) operating said process in said second mode in response to said extracted information being said second code.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said stored source of coded information at least one of a bar code, RFID component, an IC component, and a semi-conductor memory chip.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said stored source of coded information is magnetically imprinted on the welding wire.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said stored source of coded information is one of an RFID component, a semi-conductor memory chip and an IC component.

6. The method according to claim 1, including:

d) comparing the extracted information with preselected information; and

,

e) controlling said at least one operating condition based on said comparison.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said operating conditions include first and second operating modes for the process and said extracted and preselected information respectively provide first and second codes, said method including:

f) operating said process in said first mode when said first and second codes are the same; and

,

g) operating said process in said second mode when said first and second codes are different.

8. The method according to claim 1, including:

d) providing said coded information on a component mounted on a container for said wire; and

,

e) scanning the component on said container for extracting information therefrom pertaining to the wire.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said component is one of a bar code, RFID tag and a semi-conductor memory chip.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said welding process is a surface tension transfer process having operating parameters including arc current wave shape, and adjusting the arc current wave shape in accordance with the extracted information.

11. A system for controlling an electric arc welding process wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece comprising, a stored source of coded information pertaining to variations along the length of said wire, a code scanner to scan said source and output a signal indicative of coded information thereon pertaining to variations along the length of wire said wire, and a controller operating the welding process in accordance with said signal.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the outputted signal is a first signal, a memory device providing a second signal indicative of desired information pertaining to a welding wire, and a comparator for comparing said first and second signals, said comparator outputting a first control signal when said first signal and said second signal are the same and a second control signal when said first signal and said second signal are different.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein said welding process has first and second modes of operation, and means responsive to said first and second control signals for respectively shifting said process between said first and second modes of operation.

14. A system according to claim 11, wherein said stored source of information is one of the welding wire, an RFID component and a semi-conductor memory chip, and decoding means for receiving and decoding the outputted signal.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein said welding process has a plurality of operating parameters, said coded information including information pertaining to at least one of said parameters, control means for controlling the operation of said process, and said decoding means outputting a control signal to said control means indicative of said information pertaining to said at least one parameter.

16. A system according to claim 11, wherein the outputted signal is a first signal indicative of an actual characteristic of said wire, a memory device to provide a second signal indicative of a desired characteristic for the wire, and a comparator for comparing said first and second signals and outputting first and second control signals respectively when said first and second signals are the same and different.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein said process is selectively operable in a first mode and in a second mode, means responsive to said first and second control signals for shifting operation of said process between said first and second modes for said process to operate in one of said first and second modes when said first and second control signals are the same and to operate in the other mode when said first and second control signals are different.

18. A system according to claim 11, wherein said welding process is a surface tension transfer process having operating parameters including arc current wave shape, said coded information including information pertaining to at least said arc current wave shape parameter, and said outputted signal being indicative of said information pertaining to said arc wave shape.

19. A system according to claim 18, further including control means for controlling said process, and means for outputting said signal to said control means for adjusting the arc current wave shape.

20. A method of controlling an electric arc welding process having a plurality of operating conditions and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece, including:

a) scanning the advancing wire for coded information pertaining to variations along the length of the wire; and

,

b) controlling at least one of the plurality of operating conditions in response to the information extracted from the wire.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said operating conditions include first and second operating modes for the process and the information extracted includes one of first and second codes respectively pertaining to said first and second operating modes, said method including:

c) operating said process in said first mode in response to said extracted information being said first code; and

,

d) operating said process in said second mode in response to said extracted information being said second code.

22. The method according to claim 20, including:

c) comparing the extracted information with preselected information; and

,

d) controlling said at least one operating condition based on said comparison.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein said operating conditions include first and second operating modes for the process and said extracted and preselected information respectively provide first and second codes, said method including:

e) operating said process in said first mode when said first and second codes are the same; and

,

f) operating said process in said second mode when said first and second codes are different.

24. The method according to claim 20, wherein said process is a surface tension transfer process having operating parameters including arc current wave shape, and adjusting said arc current wave shape in response to the information extracted from said electrode.

25. A system for operating an electric arc welding process having a plurality of modes of operation and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece comprising, a memory device with a stored coded information pertaining to variations along the length of said wire, and a scanner to scan said source and outputting a signal indicative of coded information thereon pertaining to said wire.

26. A method of controlling an electric arc welding process having a plurality of operating conditions and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece, including:

a) providing a stored source of coded information pertaining to welding wire to be used in an electric arc welding process;

b) scanning the stored source for extracting coded information therefrom pertaining to the wire; and

,

c) controlling at least one of the plurality of operating conditions of said process in accordance with the extracted information, wherein said stored source of coded information is magnetically imprinted on the welding wire and further wherein said scanning is for extracting coded information on said wire in the form of at least one code segment of one of a pulse count, a pulse width, a pulse frequency, and a binary value.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different pulse counts.

28. The method according to claim 26, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different pulse widths.

29. The method according to claim 26, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different pulse frequencies.

30. The method according to claim 26, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different binary values.

31. A method of controlling an electric arc welding process having a plurality of operating conditions and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece, including:

a) providing a stored source of coded information pertaining to variations along the length of a welding wire to be used in an electric arc welding process;

b) scanning the stored source for extracting coded information therefrom pertaining to variations along the length of the wire;

c) controlling at least one of the plurality of operating conditions of said process in accordance with the extracted information;

d) providing said coded information on said welding wire; and

,

e) scanning the advancing wire for extracting coded information therefrom pertaining to the wire.

32. A method of controlling an electric arc welding process having a plurality of operating conditions and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece, including:

a) scanning the advancing wire for coded information pertaining to variations along the length of the wire; and

,

b) controlling at least one of the plurality of operating conditions in response to the information extracted from the wire wherein said coded information includes at least one code segment of one of a pulse count, a pulse width, a pulse frequency, and a binary value.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different pulse widths.

34. The method according to claim 32, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different pulse widths.

35. The method according to claim 32, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different pulse frequencies.

36. The method according to claim 32, wherein said coded information includes at least two code segments having different binary values.

37. A system for controlling the operation of electric arc welding apparatus wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece comprising, means for scanning said wire and outputting a signal indicative of coded information thereon pertaining to said wire, and control means for controlling the operation of the welding apparatus in accordance with said signal, wherein said coded information includes code segments and the outputted signal is representative of at least one code segment, and a decoder for receiving and decoding at least one code segment.

38. A system according to claim 37, wherein said welding apparatus has a plurality of operating parameters, said at least one code segment including information pertaining to at least one of said parameters, and said decoder outputting a control signal to said controller indicative of said information pertaining to said at least one parameter.

39. A method of controlling an electric arc welding process having a plurality of operating conditions and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece, including:

a) scanning the advancing wire for coded information pertaining to the wire; and

,

b) selecting one of the plurality of operating conditions in response to the information extracted from the wire wherein the coded information is in a semi-conductor memory chip in electrical contact with a remote end of said advancing wire.