WELDING VISION AND CONTROL SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A welding vision and control system for an arc welding system in which the arc welding system is powered by a cyclical power waveform from a welding power supply to produce a weld bead on a work piece in a welding region, comprising:
- a camera that has a light sensor array focused on the welding region or on a feature in the welding region, said camera being responsive to exposure initiating control signals to expose the light sensor array to light energy emanating or reflecting from the welding region or from a feature in the welding region to produce a series of raw images of the welding region or the feature in the welding region; and
a vision system controller that generates the exposure initiating control signals to the camera at a predetermined trigger point on a cyclical power waveform.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A welding vision and control system generates composite images that can image bright features as well as darker features in a welding region of a welding process in a single composite image or in a video stream of composite images for use in manual as well as automated control of the welding system. A plurality of raw images are generated from exposure time periods that occur during specific phases of a cyclical power waveform that powers the welding system. The exposure time periods can be triggered by detection of threshold levels of an electrical characteristic in the cyclical power waveform or by time delays. Certain features in the weld occur during specific phases of the cyclical power waveform, and such features can be isolated and viewed in video displays in real time by creating the exposure time periods during those specific phases. The composite images are generated by selection of individual non-saturated and non-dark pixels from a plurality of the raw images obtained during different exposure time period durations, different phases of the cyclical power waveform, different camera sensitivity and aperture settings, or a combination of those parameters.
27 Citations
59 Claims
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1. A welding vision and control system for an arc welding system in which the arc welding system is powered by a cyclical power waveform from a welding power supply to produce a weld bead on a work piece in a welding region, comprising:
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a camera that has a light sensor array focused on the welding region or on a feature in the welding region, said camera being responsive to exposure initiating control signals to expose the light sensor array to light energy emanating or reflecting from the welding region or from a feature in the welding region to produce a series of raw images of the welding region or the feature in the welding region; and a vision system controller that generates the exposure initiating control signals to the camera at a predetermined trigger point on a cyclical power waveform. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of creating a series of raw images of a welding region or of a feature in the welding region during a welding process that is powered by a cyclical power waveform in which an electrical characteristic (V, I) varies cyclically, comprising:
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focusing a camera on the welding region or on the feature in the welding region; and triggering the camera to expose a light sensor array in the camera to light energy emanating or reflecting from the welding region or the feature in the welding region for a sequence of exposure time periods to create the raw images of the welding region or the feature in the welding region at predetermined phases of the cyclical power waveform. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of creating a raw image of a welding region or of a feature in the welding region during a welding process that is powered by a cyclical power waveform in which an electrical characteristic (V, I) varies cyclically, comprising:
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focusing a camera on the welding region or on the feature in the welding region, wherein the camera is responsive to an exposure initiating control signal for initiating exposure of a light sensor array in the camera to light energy emanating or reflecting from the welding region or the feature in the welding region for an exposure time period to create the raw image of the welding region or the feature in the welding region; detecting an exposure initiating threshold value of the electrical characteristic in the cyclical power waveform; and generating the exposure initiating control signal in response to the detection of the exposure initiating threshold value of the electrical characteristic in the cyclical power waveform. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method of viewing a particular feature in a welding region (109) during a welding process which is powered by a cyclical power waveform in which an electrical characteristic (V, I) varies cyclically, comprising:
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focusing a camera on the welding region, wherein the camera is responsive to exposure initiating control signals for initiating exposures of a light sensor array in the camera to light energy emanating or reflecting from the feature in the welding region for a sequence of exposure time periods; generating the exposure initiating control signals to expose the light sensor array to light energy emanating or reflecting from the welding region during the time periods at a first phase of the cyclical power waveform to produce a series of composite images from the sequence of exposure time periods; streaming the series of composite images of the feature to a display device for video display of features in the welding region as the features exist during the first phase of the cyclical power waveform; and changing the exposure time periods to occur at different phases of the cyclical power waveform until the exposure time periods occur at a phase in which the particular feature exists so that the particular feature is shown in the series of composite images in the video display.
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36. A method of generating a video of a welding process from a series of composite images produced by a camera comprising:
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applying a plurality of operating parameters for a first mode of operation of a video camera to generate a plurality of sets of single images of said welding process; using a waveform, created by an arc welder that performs said welding process, to synchronize said plurality of sets of single images with said welding process by; providing first trigger pulses at a first set of locations on said waveform, responsive to said operating parameters, that are used to open a shutter of said camera so that each of said single images in any given set of said sets of single images has a corresponding image in other sets of said single images that is triggered at substantially the same location on said waveforms; producing second trigger pulses at a second set of locations on said waveform, responsive to said operating parameters, that are used to close said shutter on said camera, so that each of said single images in any given set of said sets of single images has a corresponding image in other sets of said single images that has substantially the same exposure period; creating said series of combined images from said plurality of sets of single images by combining said single images in said sets of single images to produce said combined images; generating said video of said welding process from said series of combined images; analyzing said video of said welding process to provide an analysis of said welding process; and modifying said welding process in response to said analysis. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A system for generating a video of a welding process comprising:
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a wire feed welder that welds metal welding pieces to produce a weld; a welding power supply that produces a power supply waveform that is applied to said welder; a camera, having a shutter, that is aligned to generate a plurality of sets of single images of said welding process in response; a controller that senses said power supply waveform and generates first trigger pulses at a first set of locations on said waveform that are used to open said shutter on said camera so that each of said single images in any given set of said plurality of sets of single images has corresponding images in said plurality of sets of single images that are triggered at substantially a same location on said waveform, and generates second trigger pulses at a second set of locations on said waveform that are used to close said shutter on said camera so that each of said single images in any given set of said plurality of sets of single images has corresponding images in said plurality of sets of single images that have substantially equal exposure periods that start at said substantially same location on said waveform, said controller performing logical operations to combine single images in each set of single images to produce combined images that are suitable for display and analysis. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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Specification