System and method for facilitating welding system diagnostics

• US 20040215422A1
• Filed: 05/17/2004
• Published: 10/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Dodge, Robert, Blankenship, George Daryl, Hillen, Edward Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,435 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/183
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/0953 using computing means
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/10 Other electric circuits therefor; Protective circuits; Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/406 characterised by monitoring or safety G05B19/19 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33285 Diagnostic
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34038 Web, http, ftp, internet, intranet server
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45135 Welding
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2223/06 Remote monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0259 characterized by the response to fault detection

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating welding system diagnostics is provided. The invention includes a welder, a local system, a remote system, and/or an alarm component. The invention further provides for receiving sensor input(s), performing test sequence(s) based, at least in part, upon the sensor input(s), performing internal diagnostics, and/or initiating corrective action. The invention further provides for determining a health status of the welder and communicating the health status of the welder to the local system, the remote system and/or the alarm component. The health status of the welder can include welder alarm(s) and/or fault(s). Information regarding the health status of the welder can be sent by telephone, voicemail, e-mail and/or beeper. The welder can communicate with the local system and/or remote system to schedule maintenance. The invention further provides for an expert component to facilitate welding diagnostics.

Claims

1. A welding system, comprising:

a sensor component that receives information associated with at least one of operation of a welder and weld characteristics;

a control component that receives information from the sensor component and to perform at least one test sequence to facilitate welder diagnostics based at least in part upon information received from the sensor component;

a diagnostic component that performs welder internal diagnostics, determines a health status of the welder based at least in part on welder internal diagnostics and information received from at least one of the sensor component and the control component, and transmits welder health status information to a remote system.

2. The welding system of claim 1, further comprising a communications component that facilitates communications between the welder and the remote system via at least one of Dynamic HTML, HTML, SHTML, VB Script, JAVA, CGI Script, JAVA Script, dynamic HTML, PPP, RPC, TELNET, TCP/IP, FTP, ASP, XML, PDF, EDI and WML formats.

3. The system of claim 2, the communications component dynamically creates at least one HTML page associated with the health status of the welder.

4. The welding system of claim 1, the sensor component receives information associated with the at least one of operation of the welder and weld characteristics from at least one of test equipment and monitoring equipment.

5. The welding system of claim 4, the control component sends information to the at least one of test equipment and monitoring equipment to facilitate welder diagnostics.

6. The welding system of claim 4, the test equipment is at least one of an ohm meter, a voltage meter and a current meter.

7. The welding system of claim 4, the monitoring equipment is at least one of a digital camera and a streaming video camera.

8. The welding system of claim 1, further comprising a web page database that stores links to welding diagnostic resources.

9. The welding system of claim 1, further comprising a welder data store that stores at least one of welder serial number, welder model number, welder build date, welder software version identifier, component part identifier, component version identifier and component software version identifier.

10. The welding system of claim 1, the welder and the remote system are operatively coupled via at least one of a local network, an extranet, and the Internet.

11. The welding system of claim 1, the welder further comprising at least one of a web server, an HTTP server, and an SMTP server.

12. The welding system of claim 1, the welder sends a message associated with the health status of the welder to the remote system via at least one of voicemail, e-mail, telephone, and beeper.

13. The welding system of claim 12, further comprising an event component that reports an alarm condition, the message further comprising information associated with the alarm condition.

14. The welding system of claim 13, the event component stores information associated with the alarm condition in an event log.

15. The welding system of claim 12, further comprising a communications data store that stores information associated with communicating the message, the communications data store has at least one of telephone number, e-mail address, and beeper number.

16. The welding system of claim 1, the welder sends a request to schedule maintenance to the remote system via at least one of voicemail, e-mail, telephone, and beeper.

17. The system of claim 1, the remote system has an expert component that receives information associated with the health status of the welder and facilitating welding diagnostics.

18. The system of claim 17, the welder further comprising a communications component that permits communications between the welder and the remote system via at least one of Dynamic HTML, HTML, SHTML, VB Script, JAVA, CGI Script, JAVA Script, dynamic HTML, PPP, RPC, TELNET, TCP/IP, FTP, ASP, XML, PDF, EDI, and WML formats via the network interface.

19. The system of claim 18, the communications component dynamically creates at least one HTML page associated with the health status of the welder.

20. The welding system of claim 17, at least one of the sensor component and the local system receive information associated with the at least one of operation of the welder and weld characteristics from at least one of test equipment and monitoring equipment.

21. The welding system of claim 17, the welder and the remote system are operatively coupled via at least one of a local network, an extranet, and the Internet.

22. The system of claim 17, the expert component further adapted to facilitate welding diagnostics using at least one of a Bayesian model, a probability tree network, a fuzzy logic model, and a neural network.

23. The system of claim 17, further comprising a remote service support data store that retains information associated with welders comprising at least one of welder service record, welder part order information, welder warranty information, and welder service information, the remote service support data store is operatively coupled to the remote system, the expert component utilizes information stored in the remote service support data store to facilitate welding diagnostics.

24. The system of claim 17, further comprising a remote expert data store that stores information associated with welding diagnostics comprising at least one of expert system rules, diagrams, welder troubleshooting procedures, and welder software, the remote expert data store is operatively coupled to the remote system, the expert component utilizes information stored in the expert data store to facilitate welding diagnostics.

25. The system of claim 17, further comprising at least one of test equipment and monitoring equipment operatively coupled to at least one of the welder and the remote system.

26. A method for facilitating welding diagnostics, comprising:

receiving at least one sensor input;

performing at least one test sequence based at least in part upon the sensor input;

determining whether an alarm or fault condition exists; and

,

sending a message to a remote system regarding an extant alarm or fault condition.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising at least one of:

receiving information from at least one of test equipment and monitoring equipment;

performing diagnostics on at least one internal component;

logging an extant alarm or fault condition; and

,

initiating corrective action if an alarm or fault condition exists.

32. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for executing at least a portion of the method of claim 26.

28. A system that manages welding information, comprising:

means for receiving at least one sensor input;

means for performing at least one test sequence based at least in part upon the sensor input;

means for determining whether an alarm or fault condition exists;

means for sending a message to a remote system regarding an extant alarm or fault condition.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for performing diagnostics on at least one internal component.

30. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for logging an extant alarm or fault condition.

31. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for initiating corrective action in response to a fault or alarm condition.

33. A signal for communicating between welding systems, comprising:

a signal for communicating between a remote system and a welder, the signal having information associated with a health status of the welder.