Non-destructive aluminum weld quality estimator
First Claim
1. An aluminum welding system comprising:
- a welding machine configured to weld a workpiece with an aluminum nugget;
a measurement device configured to electrically measure a plurality of attributes of the aluminum nugget a plurality of times during a welding process; and
a processing device programmed to continuously output, during the welding process, a weld quality signal representing a real-time quality of an aluminum weld based at least in part on the attributes measured and control the welding machine according to the weld quality signal continuously output during the welding process.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An aluminum welding system includes a welding machine configured to weld a workpiece with an aluminum nugget and a measurement device configured to measure an attribute of at least one of the aluminum nugget and a welding process. The system further includes a processing device configured to output a weld quality signal representing a quality of an aluminum weld based at least in part on the attribute measured. A method includes measuring an attribute of at least one of an aluminum nugget forming a joint of a workpiece and a welding process, determining a quality of an aluminum weld based at least in part on the attribute measured, and outputting a weld quality signal representing the determined quality.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An aluminum welding system comprising:
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a welding machine configured to weld a workpiece with an aluminum nugget; a measurement device configured to electrically measure a plurality of attributes of the aluminum nugget a plurality of times during a welding process; and a processing device programmed to continuously output, during the welding process, a weld quality signal representing a real-time quality of an aluminum weld based at least in part on the attributes measured and control the welding machine according to the weld quality signal continuously output during the welding process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14)
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11. An aluminum welding system comprising:
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a welding machine configured to weld a workpiece with an aluminum nugget; a measurement device configured to electrically measure a plurality of attributes of the aluminum nugget during a welding process; and a processing device configured to generate and continuously output, during the welding process, a weld quality signal representing a real-time quality of an aluminum weld based at least in part on the attributes measured and control operation of the welding machine based at least in part on the weld quality signal continuously output during the welding process, wherein the processing device includes a dynamic neural network configured to update the real-time quality of the aluminum weld represented by the weld quality signal and wherein the real-time quality of the aluminum weld represented by the weld quality signal represents a real-time likelihood that the quality of the aluminum weld meets at least one predetermined criterion. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification