Applied Research, LLC

US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Larry Z Kennedy

Bradley W Powell

Ivan A Burroughs

Michael Harris Rodgers

Joseph G Duthie

Lee O Webster

K Wayne Goode

The invention is a Weld Analysis and Control System developed for active weld system control through real time weld data acquisition. Closed-loop control is based on analysis of weld system parameters and weld geometry. The system is adapted for use with automated welding apparatus having a weld controller which is capable of active electronic control of all aspects of a welding operation. Enhanced graphics and data displays are provided for post-weld analysis. The system provides parameter acquisition, including seam location which is acquired for active torch cross-seam positioning. Torch stand-off is also monitored for control. Weld bead and parent surface geometrical parameters are acquired as an indication of weld quality. These parameters include mismatch, peaking, undercut, underfill, crown height, weld width, puddle diameter, and other measurable information about the weld puddle regions, such as puddle symmetry, etc. These parameters provide a basis for active control as well as post-weld quality analysis and verification. Weld system parameters, such as voltage, current and wire feed rate, are also monitored and archived for correlation with quality parameters.

Weld analysis and control system

An optoelectronic sensor for measuring the profile of a weld seam or weld bead along a line perpendicular to the seam or bead. The sensor illuminates a workpiece with a pulsed and shaped laser beam which is flattened in one dimension and fan shaped in a second dimension. An image of the workpiece is transmitted optically to a CCD camera the electronic shutter of which is synchronized with the pulses of the illuminating laser beam. A signal providing data relating to the profile of the workpiece is transmitted by the CCD camera to an automated welding device for response to the data. The sensor is intended to be a part of a highly automated welding system, in which it will be used in automatic tracking of the seam or automatic profiling of the weld bead for immediate evaluation and assurance of quality during the welding process. The sensor is also used as a quality control tool in reviewing the profile of a weld after it has been formed. The device includes structure for deflecting welding contaminants away from its exposed optical windows.

Weld-bead profilometer

This device is an all-optical digital architecture for carrying out compuions. Residue number system addition and multiplication tables are produced on an optically-addressable plane composed of optically bistable material. The plane of optically bistable material devices represents a residue number system addition or multiplication tables and is addressed by two intersecting signal beams from the top and a bias beam from the bottom. A combination of two signal beams exceeds the material transmission threshold in the intersection region letting bias light emerge as a position encoded signal beam.

Optical system with an optically addressable plane of optically bistable

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Huntsville, AL, United States of America

Larry Z Kennedy