Systems, methods, and apparatuses for monitoring weld quality
First Claim
1. A system for training students learning a welding process, the system comprising a plurality of welding stations, each welding station operable to accommodate one student and including an electric arc welder with a monitor for monitoring the electric arc welder as the student uses the electric arc welder performing the welding process by creating actual welding parameters between an advancing wire and a workpiece to form a weld, said welding process being defined by a series of rapidly repeating wave shapes of command signals for said welding parameters, each wave shape constituting a weld cycle with a cycle time,wherein said monitor comprises:
- logic for segmenting each of said wave shapes into a series of time segmented states;
logic for selecting a specific wave shape state;
logic for reading a selected weld parameter occurring in said specific wave shape state at an interrogation rate over a period of time repeated during the welding process to obtain a data set for said selected weld parameter;
logic for calculating a quality value of at least one quality parameter for said selected weld parameter from said data set for each period of time;
logic for comparing each quality value to an expected quality value to determine if a difference between said quality value and said expected quality value exceeds a predetermined threshold;
logic for weighting said quality value with a magnitude weight based on said difference, and weighting said quality value with a time contribution weight based on a time contribution of said state to its wave shape, if said difference exceeds said threshold; and
logic for determining a quality score for said weld based on all of said quality values, including any weighted quality values, obtained during said welding process.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An arc welder including an integrated monitor is disclosed. The monitor is capable of monitoring variables during a welding process and weighting the variables accordingly, quantifying overall quality of a weld, obtaining and using data indicative of a good weld, improving production and quality control for an automated welding process, teaching proper welding techniques, identifying cost savings for a welding process, and deriving optimal welding settings to be used as pre-sets for different welding processes or applications.
323 Citations
50 Claims
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1. A system for training students learning a welding process, the system comprising a plurality of welding stations, each welding station operable to accommodate one student and including an electric arc welder with a monitor for monitoring the electric arc welder as the student uses the electric arc welder performing the welding process by creating actual welding parameters between an advancing wire and a workpiece to form a weld, said welding process being defined by a series of rapidly repeating wave shapes of command signals for said welding parameters, each wave shape constituting a weld cycle with a cycle time,
wherein said monitor comprises: -
logic for segmenting each of said wave shapes into a series of time segmented states; logic for selecting a specific wave shape state; logic for reading a selected weld parameter occurring in said specific wave shape state at an interrogation rate over a period of time repeated during the welding process to obtain a data set for said selected weld parameter; logic for calculating a quality value of at least one quality parameter for said selected weld parameter from said data set for each period of time; logic for comparing each quality value to an expected quality value to determine if a difference between said quality value and said expected quality value exceeds a predetermined threshold; logic for weighting said quality value with a magnitude weight based on said difference, and weighting said quality value with a time contribution weight based on a time contribution of said state to its wave shape, if said difference exceeds said threshold; and logic for determining a quality score for said weld based on all of said quality values, including any weighted quality values, obtained during said welding process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for training students learning a welding process, the system comprising a plurality of welding stations, each welding station operable to accommodate one student and including an electric arc welder with a monitor for monitoring the electric arc welder as the student uses the electric arc welder performing the welding process by creating actual welding parameters between an advancing wire and a workpiece to form a weld, said welding process being defined by a series of rapidly repeating wave shapes of command signals for said welding parameters, each wave shape constituting a weld cycle with a cycle time,
wherein said monitor comprises: -
logic for segmenting each of said wave shapes into a series of time segmented states; logic for selecting a specific wave shape state; logic for reading a selected weld parameter occurring in said specific wave shape state at an interrogation rate over a period of time repeated during the welding process to obtain a data set for said selected weld parameter; logic for calculating a quality value of at least one quality parameter for said selected weld parameter from said data set for each period of time; and logic for determining a quality score for said weld based on all of said quality values obtained during said welding process, and wherein said selected weld parameter is at least one of a count of said measurements taken for said selected weld parameter in said period of time, a mean voltage voltage in said period of time, a root mean square voltage RMSV in said period of time, a voltage variance Vvar in said period of time, a mean currentcurrent in said period of time, a root mean square current RMSI in said period of time, and a current variance Ivar in said period of time,wherein voltage =a sum of voltages measured in said period of time/said count of voltage measurements,wherein - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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Specification