System for tracking and analyzing welding activity
DC CAFCFirst Claim
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1. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
- means for automatically sensing dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld;
means for automatically tracking said sensed dynamic spatial properties over time during said welding process;
means for automatically capturing in real time or near real time said tracked dynamic spatial properties as tracked data during said welding process; and
means for automatically analyzing in real time or near real time said tracked data to determine at least one of performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process and a quality characteristics characteristic of a said real world weld produced by said welding process.
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Abstract
A system and a method for tracking and analyzing welding activity. Dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool are sensed during a welding process producing a weld. The sensed dynamic spatial properties are tracked over time and the tracked dynamic spatial properties are captured as tracked data during the welding process. The tracked data is analyzed to determine performance characteristics of a welder performing the welding process and quality characteristics of a weld produced by the welding process. The performance characteristics and the quality characteristics may be subsequently reviewed.
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Citations
195 Claims
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1. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
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means for automatically sensing dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld; means for automatically tracking said sensed dynamic spatial properties over time during said welding process; means for automatically capturing in real time or near real time said tracked dynamic spatial properties as tracked data during said welding process; and means for automatically analyzing in real time or near real time said tracked data to determine at least one of performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process and a quality characteristics characteristic of a said real world weld produced by said welding process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
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at least one sensor array configured to sense dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld; a processor based computing device operatively interfacing to said at least one sensor array and configured to track and analyze in real time or near real time said dynamic spatial properties of a said welding tool over time during a said welding process producing a said real world weld; and at least one user interface operatively interfacing to said processor based computing device, said at least one user interface displaying a quality characteristic of said real world weld produced by said welding process. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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14. A method for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said method comprising:
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sensing dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld using at least one sensor; tracking said sensed dynamic spatial properties over time in real time or near real time during said welding process using a real time tracking module; capturing said tracked dynamic spatial properties as tracked data in real time or near real time during said welding process using a computer based memory device; and analyzing said tracked data in real time or near real time to determine at least one of performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process and a quality characteristics characteristic of a said real world weld produced by said welding process using a computer based analysis engine. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
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at least one sensor array configured to sense spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld; and a processor based computing device operatively interfacing to said at least one sensor array and configured to track said spatial properties and record performance data corresponding to said welding process, said processor based computing device further configured to determine a quality characteristic of said real world weld. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88)
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89. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
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a tracking module configured to track spatial positions of a welding tool during a welding process; and a processor subsystem configured to ascertain at least one welding parameter during the welding process based on said tracked spatial positions and to determine a score based on a comparison of said at least one welding parameter to an optimum value. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103)
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104. A method for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said method comprising:
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sensing spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld; tracking said sensed spatial properties; recording performance data corresponding to said welding process; and analyzing said performance data in real-time or near real-time to determine a quality characteristic of said real world weld produced by said welding process. - View Dependent Claims (105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123)
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124. A method for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
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tracking spatial positions of a welding tool during a welding process; determining at least one welding parameter during the welding process based on said tracked spatial positions; determining a score based on a comparison of said at least one welding parameter to an optimum value. - View Dependent Claims (125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136)
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137. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
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an optical tracking system that tracks at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool; and a computer operatively interfacing to said optical tracking system, said computer determining at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool, wherein said processor based computing device determines for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter. - View Dependent Claims (138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148)
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149. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
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an infrared tracking system that tracks at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool based on an infrared element attached to said welding tool; and a computer operatively interfacing to said infrared tracking system, said computer determining at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool, wherein said computer determines for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter. - View Dependent Claims (150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160)
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161. A method for tracking welding activity, said method comprising:
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optically tracking at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool; determining at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool; and computing for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter. - View Dependent Claims (162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172)
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173. A method for tracking welding activity, said method comprising:
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tracking by infrared at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool based on an infrared element attached to said welding tool; determining at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool; and computing for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter. - View Dependent Claims (174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184)
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185. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
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at least one sensor array configured to sense spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld; a processor based computing device operatively interfacing to said at least one sensor array and configured to track and analyze in real time or near real time said spatial properties of said welding tool during said welding process producing said real world weld; and at least one display interfacing to said processor based computing device, said at least one display displaying a quality characteristic of said real world weld produced by said welding process.
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186. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
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an infrared tracking system that tracks at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool based on an infrared emitter attached to said welding tool; and a computer operatively interfacing to said infrared tracking system, said computer determining at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool, wherein said computer determines for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter.
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187. A method for tracking welding activity, said method comprising:
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tracking by infrared at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool based on an infrared emission from said welding tool; determining at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool, computing for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter.
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188. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
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an optical tracking system that tracks in real time or near real time at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool; and a computer operatively interfacing to said optical tracking system, said computer determining in real time or near real time at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool, wherein said processor based computing device determines for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter, and wherein said score relates to a weld quality of a real world weld. - View Dependent Claims (189)
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190. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
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an infrared tracking system that tracks in real time or near real time at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool based on an infrared element attached to said welding tool; and a computer operatively interfacing to said infrared tracking system, said computer determining in real time or near real time at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool, wherein said computer determines for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter, and wherein said score relates to a weld quality of a real world weld. - View Dependent Claims (191)
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192. A method for tracking welding activity, said method comprising:
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optically tracking in real time or near real time at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool; determining in real time or near real time at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool; and computing for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter, and wherein said score relates to a weld quality of a real world weld. - View Dependent Claims (193)
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194. A method for tracking welding activity, said method comprising:
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tracking by infrared in real time or near real time at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool based on an infrared element attached to said welding tool; determining in real time or near real time at least one parameter that is at least one of a travel speed, a pitch angle, a roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint of said welding tool; and computing for each of said at least one parameter a score based on a comparison of said parameter to at least one predetermined limit for said parameter, and wherein said score relates to a weld quality of a real world weld. - View Dependent Claims (195)
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Specification