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US 10,092,977 B2Granted
Welding head and method for joining a workpiece
AssigneePrecitec GmbH & Co. KG
InventorJoachim Schwarz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for joining a workpiece by means of a welding head, in which at least one line of light is generated on a workpiece, which crosses a joint line at a site to be joined and a joint seam generated at a joined site after processing. The lines of light are imaged at the site to be joined and at the joined site in order to generate reference data relating to the geometry of the site to be joined and measurement data relating to the geometry of the joined sites. The reference data and the measurement data are then compared at one and the same workpiece site before and after processing, in order to determine the geometry of the joint seam independently of the geometry of the site to be joined.
Claims16
A welding head for joining a workpiece, comprising:
- a welding device configured to weld a joint site of the workpiece to be processed inside a working region;
- a light section device which is attached to the welding device and has at least one light source for generating at least a first and a second line of light inside the working region on the workpiece, which crosses a joint line at a site to be joined and a joint seam generated at a joined site after processing by the welding device;
- at least one camera configured to observe the working region of the workpiece to be processed, which images the first line of light at the site to be joined and the second line of light at the joined site, in order to generate reference data (DataR(t)) relating to the geometry of the site to be joined and measurement data (DataM(t)) relating to the geometry of the joined site with a joint seam;
- and
- a processing unit configured to receive the reference data (DataR(t)) and measurement data (DataM(t)) from the at least one camera and for comparing the reference data (DataR(t)) and measurement data (DataM(t)) respectively at the same workpiece site before and after processing by the welding device, so that the geometry of the joint seam can be determined independently of the geometry of the site to be joined,
- wherein the processing unit comprises:
- buffer memory configured to temporarily store the received reference data;
- a comparator configured to compare the measurement data (DataM(t)) at a respective first instant (t1) with the reference data (DataR(t)) at a respective second instant (t2), the respective first (t1) and second (t2) instants respectively having a predetermined time difference (Δt);
- and
- an integrator configured to determine the respective predetermined time difference (Δt) by integration of a joining speed (v(t)) with respect to time, and configured to compare a calculated joining displacement with a predetermined distance (d) between the first and second line of light sections,
- wherein the light section device comprises:
- a first light fan device having a first one of said light source configured to generate the first line of light;
- and
- a second light fan device having a second one of said light source configured to generate the second line of light on the workpiece,
- wherein the light source for the first and second light fan devices comprise a semiconductor laser, and
- wherein an optical bandpass filter, which is tuned to the wavelengths of the first and second light sources, is arranged in front of the at least one camera.
13 more elements
A method for joining a workpiece by a welding head, comprising:
- welding, by a welding device, a joint site of the workpiece to be processed inside a working region;
- generating, by a light section device, at least a first and a second line of light inside the working region on the workpiece, which crosses a joint line at a site to be joined and a joint seam generated at a joined site after processing by the welding device;
- observing, by at least one camera, the working region of the workpiece to be processed, which images the first line of light at the site to be joined and the second line of light at the joined site, in order to generate reference data (DataR(t)) relating to the geometry of the site to be joined and measurement data (DataM(t)) relating to the geometry of the joined site with a joint seam;
- and
- receiving, by a processing unit, the reference data (DataR(t)) and measurement data (DataM(t)) from the at least one camera and for comparing the reference data (DataR(t)) and measurement data (DataM(t)) respectively at the same workpiece site before and after processing by the welding device, so that the geometry of the joint seam can be determined independently of the geometry of the site to be joined, the method comprising:
- and
- processing the reference data (DataR(t)) and measurement data (DataM(t)) generated by the at least one camera by a processing unit, the processing comprising the comparison of the reference data (DataR(t)) and measurement data (DataM(t)) respectively at one and the same workpiece site before and after processing by the laser beam, in order to determine the geometry of the joint seam independently of the geometry of the site to be joined,
- wherein said processing the reference data further comprises:
- temporarily storing the received reference data (DataR(t));
- comparing the measurement data (DataM(t)) at a respective first instant (t1) with the reference data (DataR(t)) at a respective second instant (t2), the respective first (t1) and second (t2) instants respectively having a predetermined time difference (Δt);
- integrating the joining speed (v(t)) with respect to time;
- and
- comparing the calculated joining displacement with the predetermined distance (d) between the first and second lines of light sections.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.