US 6,744,011 B1Granted

Online monitoring system and method for a short-circuiting gas metal arc welding process

AssigneesGeneral Motors Corporation, University of Michigan

InventorsShixin Jack Hu, Yunxian Chu, Wenkao Hou, Samuel Paul Marin, Pei-Chung Wang

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Abstract

The present invention generally relates to a useful online monitoring system and method of user thereof for monitoring a welding process to determine weld quality, weld process stability, and weld geometry for each weld formed during a welding process. More particularly, the online monitoring system has a computer having a graphical user interface (GUI); at least one welding machine; a communication interface for interfacing communication between the at least one welding machine and the computer; a data acquisition system for acquiring welding signal data, the data acquisition system having an associated memory means; a quality management database for managing and storing acquired welding signal data; and a statistical signal processing system in communication with the data acquisition system for processing welding signal data stored in the data acquisition system associated memory means, and in further communication with the communication interface for communicating processed welding signal data to the GUI.

Claims18

Dependent claims

An online monitoring system for monitoring a short-circuiting gas metal arc welding process, the online monitoring system comprising:

(a) a computer having
(i) a controlling microprocessor, and
(ii) a graphical user interface comprising at least one monitoring window having a plurality of selectable sub-displays, said sub-displays comprising,
(A) an online monitoring display for graphically displaying acquired data and signal processing results and for real time monitoring of weld quality based upon signal information received by the computer from a welding machine via a data acquisition system, said monitoring display comprising sub-displays of weld information, statistical signal processing results, and welding stability analysis;
(B) a parameter setup display for setting up welding parameters and data acquisition parameters used in a data acquisition process during a welding process;
and
(C) an advanced set-up display;
(b) at least one welding machine in operable communication with the computer, the welding machine having at least one welding gun in further operable communication with the welding machine;
(c) a communication interface for interfacing communication between the at least one welding machine and the computer;
(d) a data acquisition system adapted for acquiring welding signal data from the welding machine, wherein the data acquisition system is in operable communication with the controlling microprocessor and is in further communication with the at least one welding machine for acquiring welding signal data from the at least one welding machine, and wherein the data acquisition system has an associated memory means;
(e) a quality management database for storing at least one of welding signal data, monitoring results, and diagnostic results in the data acquisition system associated memory means;
and
(f) a statistical signal processing system in communication with the data acquisition system for processing the welding signal data stored in the data acquisition system associated memory means and in further communication with the communication interface for communicating processed welding signal data to the graphical user interface.

10 more elements

An online monitoring system for monitoring a short-circuiting gas metal arc welding process, the online monitoring system comprising:

(a) a computer having
(i) a controlling microprocessor, and
(ii) a graphical user interface for providing a configurable interface for a user of the computer, the graphical user interface having a monitoring window, the monitoring window having configurable sub-displays, the configurable sub-displays having
(A) an online monitoring display for graphically displaying acquired data and signal processing results,
(B) a parameter setup display for setting up welding parameters and data acquisition parameters used in a data acquisition process during a welding process, and
(C) an advanced-set-up display having
(I) a configurable calibration coefficient portion for selectively entering calibration coefficients into corresponding current sensor and voltage sensor calibration fields, and
(II) a variables threshold portion for defining threshold operating parameters to be used during a welding process;
(b) at least one welding machine in operable communication with the computer;
(c) a communication interface for interfacing communication between the at least one welding machine and the computer;
(d) a data acquisition system in operable communication with the controlling microprocessor and in further communication with the at least one welding machine for acquiring welding signal data from the at least one welding machine, the data acquisition system having an associated memory means;
(e) a quality management database for storing at least one of welding signal data, monitoring results, and diagnostic results in the data acquisition system associated memory means;
and
(f) a statistical signal processing system in communication with the data acquisition system for processing the welding signal data stored in the data acquisition system associated memory means and in further communication with the communication interface for communicating processed welding signal data to the graphical user interface.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.