Design and Validation of a Universal 6D Seam Tracking System in Robotic Welding Based on Laser Scanning

This paper presents a novel approach for seam tracking using ultrasonics. An ultrasonic seam tracking system has been developed for robotic welding which tracks a seam that curves freely on a two-dimensional surface. The seam is detected by scanning the area ahead of the torch and monitoring the amplitude of the waves received after reflection from the workpiece surface. Scanning is accomplished by using two ultrasonic sensors (a transmitter and a receiver) mounted on a stepper motor such that the transmitter angle is the same as the receiver angle. The motor is mounted on the end-effector just ahead of the welding torch and covers a ninety degree arc in front of the torch. If there is no seam then the receiver receives most of the transmitted waves after reflection, but if there is a seam then most of the transmitted waves are dispersed in directions other than that of the receiver. The system has been tested and is very robust in the harsh environments generated by the arc welding process. The robustness of the system stems from using various schemes such as time windowing, a waveguide, air and metal shields, and an intelligent sensor manager. This ultrasonic system offers some distinct advantages over traditional systems using vision and other sensing techniques. It can be used to weld very shiny surfaces, and is a very economical method in terms of cost as well as computational intensity. The system can be used to detect seams less than 0.5 mm wide and 0.5 mm deep.

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Automated seam tracking system based on passive monocular vision for automated linear robotic welding process

Proceedings of the Symposium on Applied Computing - SAC '17 ◽

10.1145/3019612.3019880 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Átila Astor Weis ◽

Adriano Velasque Werhli ◽

Nelson L. Duarte Filho ◽

Luciane Baldassari Soares ◽

Cristiano Rafael Steffens ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tracking System ◽

Welding Process ◽

Monocular Vision ◽

Seam Tracking ◽

Robotic Welding

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Design and validation of a universal 6D seam-tracking system in robotic welding using arc sensing

Advanced Robotics ◽

10.1163/156855304322753272 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 1-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Mikael Fridenfalk ◽

Gunnar Bolmsjö

Keyword(s):

Tracking System ◽

Seam Tracking ◽

Robotic Welding

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A method of feature extraction of position detection and weld gap for GMAW seam tracking system of fillet weld with variable gaps

IEEE Sensors Journal ◽

10.1109/jsen.2021.3106696 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

Jiapeng Gao ◽

Yuxiang Hong ◽

Bo Hong ◽

Xiangwen Li ◽

Aiting Jia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Feature Extraction ◽

Tracking System ◽

Seam Tracking ◽

Fillet Weld ◽

Position Detection

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Seam tracking system based on rotating arc sensor for robot arc welding

Journal of Discrete Mathematical Sciences and Cryptography ◽

10.1080/09720529.2018.1534354 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 21 (6) ◽

pp. 1407-1412

Author(s):

Jian-Hui Du ◽

Jian-Xin Deng ◽

Ke-Jian Huang ◽

Jie-Sheng Huang ◽

Xie Lei

Keyword(s):

Arc Welding ◽

Tracking System ◽

Seam Tracking ◽

Arc Sensor ◽

Rotating Arc ◽

Rotating Arc Sensor

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Research on the Deviation Sensing of V-groove Weld Seam based on a Novel Two Channel Acoustic Sensor

10.21203/rs.3.rs-863476/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yanfeng Gao ◽

Jianhua Xiao ◽

Genliang Xiong ◽

Hua Zhang

Keyword(s):

Weld Seam ◽

Welding Process ◽

Simulation Method ◽

Seam Tracking ◽

Acoustic Sensor ◽

Robotic Welding ◽

Weld Seam Tracking ◽

Novel Method ◽

Linear Property ◽

Sensing Performance

Abstract It is essential to sense the deviation of weld seam real-timely in robotic welding process. However, welding process always accompanied with high temperature, strong arc light and background noises, which significantly affects the application of sensors. In this study, a novel acoustic sensor was developed. This sensor consists of two microphones. Based on the sound signals collected by these two microphones, the deviation of weld seam was detected. The frequency response of the developed acoustic sensor was studied through simulation method firstly, and then the sensing performance of it was analyzed with experiments. The experimental results show that the developed acoustic sensor has a linear property for the deviation detection of V-groove weld seam. This research provides a novel method for weld seam tracking.

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