Welding management apparatus

A welding management apparatus for use with a tube production machine including first means for forming a workpiece fed from a roll of metal strip in a tubular formation having side surfaces opposite to each other, second means for providing an upsetting pressure to joint the opposite side surfaces of the workpiece at a jointing point, and third means for supplying a high frequency power to the workpiece to weld the opposite side surfaces at the jointing point so as to produce a metal tube member, the welding management apparatus comprising:

• a camera positioned to have a visual field including the jointing point for producing a video signal indicative of an image including an area luminous with heat produced in the visual field;
• a masking member placed in front of the camera for partially masking the visual field from the camera to divide the luminous area into first and second sections corresponding to the respective side surfaces of the workpiece;
• an image processor for converting the video signal fed from the camera into a luminance distribution pattern;
• and
• an inference unit for inferring a defective welding condition based upon the luminance distribution pattern.

A welding management apparatus for use with a tube production machine including first means for forming a workpiece fed from a roll of metal strip in a tubular formation having side surfaces opposite to each other, second means for providing an upsetting pressure to joint the opposite side surfaces of the workpiece at a jointing point, and third means for supplying a high frequency power to the workpiece to weld the opposite side surfaces at the jointing point so as to produce a metal tube member, the welding management apparatus comprising:

• a camera positioned to have a visual field including the jointing point for producing a video signal indicative of an image including an area luminous with heat produced in the visual field;
• a masking member placed in front of the camera, the masking member having a transparent window having lines extending in spaced-parallel relation to each other in a direction substantially normal to a direction of movement of the workpiece for dividing the visual field into a plurality of zones;
• an image processor for converting the video signal fed from the camera into luminance distribution patterns corresponding to the respective zones;
• and
• an inference unit for inferring a defective welding condition based upon the luminance distribution patterns.