Control system for depositing powder to a molten puddle
First Claim
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1. A material deposition system comprising:
- an energy source orientated to form a molten puddle on a workpiece;
a nozzle coupleable to a source of flowable weld material and having a discharge opening orientated to deposit the flowable weld material to the molten puddle;
an imager orientated to capture an image of a weld area including the molten puddle and the deposited flowable weld material; and
an image processor coupled to the imager including;
first image processing to extract a profile of the molten puddle from the image of the weld area; and
second image processing to extract a profile of the deposited weld material from the image of the weld area.
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Abstract
An imaging system for controlling powder aiming in a molten puddle. In the imaging system of the present invention, an image processor extracts a first image of the molten puddle and a second image of a powder envelope from a composite image of the weld area. The first and second processed images provide feedback for process control.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A material deposition system comprising:
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an energy source orientated to form a molten puddle on a workpiece;
a nozzle coupleable to a source of flowable weld material and having a discharge opening orientated to deposit the flowable weld material to the molten puddle;
an imager orientated to capture an image of a weld area including the molten puddle and the deposited flowable weld material; and
an image processor coupled to the imager including;
first image processing to extract a profile of the molten puddle from the image of the weld area; and
second image processing to extract a profile of the deposited weld material from the image of the weld area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A material deposition system comprising:
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a laser to form a molten puddle on a weld area of a workpiece;
an imager orientated to capture an image of the weld area on the workpiece; and
a processor coupled to the imager and configured to process the image of the weld area to isolate a profile of the molten puddle and calculate a scaled position of the molten puddle relative to a datum. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for welding control comprising steps of:
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heating a workpiece to form a molten puddle in a welding area;
depositing a weld material to the molten puddle in the welding area;
imaging the welding area; and
processing an image of the welding area to extract a profile of the molten puddle and a profile of the deposited weld material. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
calculating a bias between the profile of the deposited weld material relative to the profile of the molten puddle.
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26. An article formed using the method of claim 17.
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18. A method of welding control comprising steps of:
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heating a workpiece to form a molten puddle in a welding area;
depositing a weld material to the molten puddle;
imaging the welding area;
processing an image of the welding area to extract a profile of the molten puddle; and
calculating a bias of a position of the molten puddle relative to a reference datum. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 27)
adjusting operating parameters relative to the calculated bias to adjust the position of the molten puddle relative to the reference datum.
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20. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of adjusting the operating parameters includes adjusting at least one of a laser position for heating the workpiece, nozzle position for depositing the weld material, or feed parameters of the weld material.
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27. An article formed using the method of claim 18.
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21. An imaging system for welding applications comprising:
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an imager;
an image processor to extract a molten profile from an image and calculate a scaled position of the molten profile relative to a datum. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. An imaging system for welding applications comprising:
an imager and an image processor configured to extract a profile of a molten puddle from an image and a profile of deposited weld material from the image and calculate a bias between the profile of the deposited weld material and the profile of the molten puddle.
Specification