Automatic welding with imaging of workpiece surfaces and of the junction between the surfaces
AssigneeNational Research Development Corporation
InventorsWilliam F. Clocksin, Peter G. Davey, Colin G. Morgan, Albert R. Vidler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus to control the automatic placing of material along a junction between surfaces with reference to the form and position of the junction including a tool controllably movable to deposit material progressively along the junction in response to a control signal, an imager linked to the movement of the tool to produce an image of the surfaces and junction, a system to extract from the image that portion unambiguously defining the junction form and position, an arrangement responsive to this image portion to derive the control signal to control the tool to move in a required manner along the junction to deposit material.
Claims11
Apparatus to control the automatic placing of material along a junction between surfaces with reference to the form and position of the junction comprising:
- means controllably movable to deposit material progressively along the junction in response to a control signal;
- mean linked to said controllably movable means for producing an image of the surfaces and junction;
- means for extracting from the image that portion representing the junction of the surfaces, said extracting means including:
- means for constructing an array by scanning said surfaces and identifying the location of junction points, means for removing noise and hypothesizing missing data in said array and means for fitting line segments to the junction points of said array:
- means for examining the extracted portion to unambiguously define the junction form and position;
- and
- means responsive to said image portion to derive said control signal to control the means to deposit material to move in a required manner along said junction to deposit material.
A method controlling an automatic arc welding process at a junction of surfaces, said method comprising the steps of:
- producing an image of a welding area containing the junction and illuminated by a light sheet;
- extracting from the image that portion representing the junction of the surfaces by constructing a hit array of the points at which said junction intersects the light sheet;
- cleaning the hit array by removing noise and hypothesizing missing data;
- examining the extracted portion to unambiguously define the form and position of the junction by fitting line segments to the hit array between end points of connected runs of hits and identifying the type of junction as any one of a butt, lap or T-joint from the configuration of the fitted line segments;
- and
- deriving control information from said image portion to control the welding process to operate along said junction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.