Virtual welding system

• US 9,836,994 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2015
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kindig, Michael A., Leach, Jason, Aditjandra, Antonius, Postlehwaite, Deanna, Bennett, Matt
• Primary Examiner(s): Utama, Robert J
• Application Number:
  US14/690,564
• Publication Number:
  US 20150228203A1
• Time in Patent Office: 960 Days
• Field of Search: 434234, 434219
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/09 Arrangements or circuits for arc welding with pulsed current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/095 Monitoring or automatic control of welding parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/24 Use of tools
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 25/02 of industrial processes; of machinery
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/00 Simulators for teaching or training purposes for the use of weapons F41; computing aspects G06; protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality H04L67/131

Abstract

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that are not different from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.

Claims

1. A system for simulating welding activity, comprising:

a welding tool adapted for manipulation by a user to perform a simulated welding operation;

a spatial tracker configured to track movement and orientation of the welding tool when manipulated by the user relative to a welding coupon during the simulated welding operation;

a helmet having a first display device to display a simulated welding environment to the user; and

a processor based subsystem operatively coupled to the spatial tracker to receive information related to the movement and orientation of the welding tool and to the helmet to transmit information related to displaying the simulated welding environment, the processor based subsystem being operable to execute coded instructions to;

generate a simulated welding surface for the welding coupon,

display the simulated welding surface on the first display device,

generate a simulated weld puddle having real-time molten metal fluidity and real-time heat dissipation characteristics on the simulated welding surface during the simulated welding operation,

display the simulated weld puddle on the first display device,

generate a simulated weld bead based on the simulated weld puddle, and

display the simulated weld bead on the first display device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a simulated welding console housing the processor based subsystem.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the simulated welding console comprises a second display device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to display at least one of the simulated welding environment, the simulated weld puddle, the simulated weld bead, or the simulated welding surface on the second display device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to generate the simulated weld puddle by generating a simulated welding arc between the welding tool and the simulated welding surface and simulating creation of the simulated weld puddle based on the simulated welding arc.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to generate the simulated weld bead by simulating cooling of the simulated weld puddle.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the welding tool is a mock welding tool.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the welding tool is one of a plurality of welding tools interchangeably associated with the processor based subsystem.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of welding tools include respective welding tools employable for different welding processes.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the welding coupon is one of a plurality of coupons interchangeably utilized and suitable to simulate different types of weld joints.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to generate the simulated welding surface in accordance with a type of weld joint simulated by the welding coupon.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the welding coupon is at least one of a pipe welding coupon, a flat plate coupon, a T-joint coupon, a butt-joint coupon, or a grove-weld coupon.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the helmet comprises an audio speaker to output simulated welding sounds during the simulated welding operation.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a stand for the welding coupon, wherein the stand is configurable to position the welding coupon in a plurality of orientations.

15. A system for simulating welding activity, comprising:

a welding tool adapted for manipulation by a user to perform a simulated welding operation;

a welding coupon;

a spatial tracker configured to track movement and orientation of the mock welding tool when manipulated by the user relative to the welding coupon during the simulated welding operation;

a helmet having a first display device to display a simulated welding environment to the user;

a welding console having a second display device to display the simulated welding environment and a plurality of welding parameters during the simulated welding operation; and

a processor based subsystem housed within the welding console and operatively coupled to the spatial tracker to receive information related to the movement and orientation of the welding tool and to the helmet to transmit information related to displaying the simulated welding environment, the processor based subsystem being operable to execute coded instructions to;

generate and display a simulated welding surface for the welding coupon having a weld joint,

generate and display a simulated weld puddle having real-time molten metal fluidity and real-time heat dissipation characteristics on the simulated welding surface during the simulated welding operation,

generate and display a simulated weld bead based on the simulated weld puddle, and

generate and display the plurality of welding parameters based at least in part on the information received from the spatial tracker.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to track the plurality of welding parameters over time during the simulated welding operation.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to track the plurality of welding parameters relative a position along the weld joint during the simulated welding operation.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to display the plurality of welding parameters in graphical form during the simulated welding operation.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of welding parameters includes at least one of a weld angle, a travel angle, or a travel speed.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to compare a parameter of the plurality of welding parameters to a tolerance and display a comparison result on the second display device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the comparison result is displayed in graphical form relative a graphical display of a tolerance window around a set point for the parameter.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor based subsystem further executes instructions to display a visual cue for a welding parameter of the plurality of welding parameters on the first display device, the visual cue indicates deviation of the welding parameter from a predefined tolerance.

23. A method of simulating welding activity, the method comprising:

tracking a welding tool manipulated by a user to determine movement and orientation of the welding tool relative to a welding coupon during a simulated welding operation;

generating a simulated welding surface for the welding coupon;

displaying the simulated welding surface on a display device disposed in a helmet;

generating a simulated weld puddle having real-time molten metal fluidity and real-time heat dissipation characteristics on the simulated welding surface during the simulated welding operation;

displaying the simulated weld puddle on the display device;

generating a simulated weld bead based on the simulated weld puddle; and

displaying the simulated weld bead on the display device.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

displaying at least one of the simulated welding environment, the simulated weld puddle, the simulated weld bead, or the simulated welding surface on a second display device.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

generating the simulated weld puddle by generating a simulated welding arc between the welding tool and the simulated welding surface and simulating creation of the simulated weld puddle based on the simulated welding arc.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

generating the simulated weld bead by simulating cooling of the simulated weld puddle.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the welding tool is a mock welding tool.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the welding tool is one of a plurality of welding tools interchangeably associated with a processor based subsystem.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the plurality of welding tools include respective welding tools employable for different welding processes.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein the welding coupon is one of a plurality of coupons interchangeably utilized and suitable to simulate different types of weld joints.

31. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

generating the simulated welding surface in accordance with a type of weld joint simulated by the welding coupon.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein the welding coupon is at least one of a pipe welding coupon, a flat plate coupon, a T-joint coupon, a butt-joint coupon, or a grove-weld coupon.

33. The method of claim 23, wherein the helmet comprises an audio speaker to output simulated welding sounds during the simulated welding operation.

34. A method of simulating welding activity to be performed by a processor-based apparatus, the method comprising:

tracking a welding tool, manipulated by a user, using a sensor mounted on a helmet to determine movement and orientation of the welding tool relative to a welding coupon during a simulated welding operation;

generating a simulated welding surface for the welding coupon to define a weldable surface;

generating a simulated weld puddle having real-time molten metal fluidity and real-time heat dissipation characteristics on the simulated welding surface during the simulated welding operation to represent a weld puddle that would be formed in a real-world;

generating a simulated weld bead, on the simulated weld puddle, from a heated molten state to a cooled solidified state to define a weld on the weldable surface; and

displaying said simulated weld puddle having real-time molten metal fluidity and real-time heat dissipation characteristics on a display connected to said processor-based apparatus.