SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUSES FOR MONITORING WELD QUALITY
First Claim
1. A method of diagnosing an arc welding process by monitoring an electric arc welder as the welder performs the arc welding process by creating actual welding parameters between an advancing wire and a workpiece to create a weld, said welding process controlled by command signals to a power supply of said welder, said method comprising:
- generating a series of rapidly repeating wave shapes, each wave shape constituting a weld cycle with a cycle time;
dividing said wave shapes into states;
measuring a plurality of weld parameters occurring in one or more of said states at an interrogation rate over a period of time repeatedly during said welding process;
calculating a plurality of quality parameters for each of said one or more states based on said measurements of said weld parameters during said welding process; and
analyzing at least one of said plurality of quality parameters and said plurality of weld parameters to diagnose said arc welding process by determining one or more possible causes of one or more localized or continuous defects of the weld.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An arc welding system and methods. The system is capable of monitoring variables during a welding process, according to wave shape states, and weighting the variables accordingly, detecting defects of a weld, diagnosing possible causes of the defects, 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.
73 Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A method of diagnosing an arc welding process by monitoring an electric arc welder as the welder performs the arc welding process by creating actual welding parameters between an advancing wire and a workpiece to create a weld, said welding process controlled by command signals to a power supply of said welder, said method comprising:
-
generating a series of rapidly repeating wave shapes, each wave shape constituting a weld cycle with a cycle time; dividing said wave shapes into states; measuring a plurality of weld parameters occurring in one or more of said states at an interrogation rate over a period of time repeatedly during said welding process; calculating a plurality of quality parameters for each of said one or more states based on said measurements of said weld parameters during said welding process; and analyzing at least one of said plurality of quality parameters and said plurality of weld parameters to diagnose said arc welding process by determining one or more possible causes of one or more localized or continuous defects of the weld. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A system for diagnosing an arc welding process by monitoring an electric arc welder as the welder performs the arc welding process by creating actual welding parameters between an advancing wire and a workpiece to form a weld, said welding process defined by a series of rapidly repeating wave shapes controlled by command signals to a power supply of the welder, said system comprising:
-
a logic state controller for segmenting each of said wave shapes into a series of time segmented states; a circuit for selecting a specific wave shape state; monitoring devices for monitoring a plurality of weld parameters occurring in one or more of said states at an interrogation rate over a period of time repeated during the welding process to obtain a data set for said plurality of weld parameters; a circuit for calculating a plurality of quality parameters for each of said states based on said monitored plurality of weld parameters; and a diagnostic logic circuit for analyzing at least one of said plurality of quality parameters and said plurality of weld parameters to diagnose said arc welding process by determining one or more possible causes of one or more localized or continuous defects of the weld. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
Specification