Distributed weld monitoring system with job tracking
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorsLeland D. Falde, Stephen P. Ivkovich, Vincent N. Romano, Craig Jeffords
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Abstract
Systems and methods for distributed weld monitoring using jobs and job sessions are described. In some examples, a distributed monitoring system comprises a central monitoring station in communication with a user device and a local monitoring station. A user may use the user device to enter weld monitoring data that is subsequently received by the central monitoring station and stored in a central data repository. The central data repository may associate the weld monitoring data with welding data received from a welding device, as well as with a job session that is, in turn, associated with a job.
Claims20
A welding system, comprising:
- a local monitoring station in communication with a central monitoring station and a welding device, the local monitoring station being configured to:
- receive welding data from the welding device, and
- send the welding data to the central monitoring station in response to receiving a request for welding data from the central monitoring station;
- the central monitoring station in communication with the local monitoring station and a user device, the central monitoring station being configured to
- receive identifying information of a user, a job, or the welding device from the user device,
- identify the welding device and the local monitoring station based on the identifying information, and
- send a request for the welding data of the welding device to the local monitoring station;
- and
- a data repository configured to store the welding data, and associate the welding data with a job identifier of the job and a user identifier of the user.
A welding system, comprising:
- a central monitoring station comprising:
- central communication circuitry in communication with a local monitoring station and a user device, the central communication circuitry configured to receive identifying information of a user, a job, or a relevant welding device from the user device, and
- central processing circuitry configured to:
- identify the local monitoring station and a relevant welding device identifier based on the identifying information, and
- send a synchronization request and the relevant welding device identifier to the local monitoring station, via the central communication circuitry;
- and
- the local monitoring station comprising, or in communication with, a local data repository, the local monitoring station being in further communication with a first welding device, a second welding device, and the central monitoring station, the local monitoring station comprising:
- local communication circuitry configured to:
- receive the relevant welding device identifier and the synchronization request from the central monitoring station,
- receive first welding data or second welding data from the
- first welding device or the second welding device, and local processing circuitry configured to:
- identify the first welding data or the second welding data as comprising relevant welding data based on a local query of the local data repository using the relevant welding device identifier, and
- send the relevant welding data to the central monitoring station via the local communication circuitry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.