A weld seam tracking welding apparatus

Abstract

The application discloses a welding seam tracking type welding device, which comprises a welding device body, a welding head moving along a welding seam on the welding device body, and a visual module on one side of the welding head moving direction; the visual module comprises a fixed lens and a movable lens; the fixed lens faces the welding head and has a fixed inclination angle; the movable lens is movably arranged on the welding device body; the movable lens always faces the welding head during the movement, and the inclination angle of the movable lens can be changed to be greater or smaller than the inclination angle of the fixed lens; and the movable lens is rotatably arranged on the welding device body, and the inclination angle of the movable lens is changed when the movable lens rotates. The welding seam tracking effect is improved by obtaining better visual imaging when the curvature of the welding surface is relatively large.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of welding technology, and more particularly to a weld seam tracking welding device. Background Technology

[0002] In automated welding, vision modules are often used to acquire weld seam images, and algorithms are then used to analyze these images to obtain the weld seam path. The welding equipment can then track this path to perform the welding. When the welding surface is curved, binocular vision is required to generate the weld seam path on the curved surface. However, when dealing with surfaces with significant curvature, the visual imaging effect of a lens with a fixed tilt angle is poor, affecting the tracking of the weld seam path. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Purpose of the invention: In order to overcome the shortcomings of the existing technology, the present invention provides a weld seam tracking welding device that can obtain better visual imaging when the curvature of the welding surface is large, so as to improve the weld seam tracking effect.

[0004] Technical Solution: To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a weld seam tracking welding device, comprising a welding device body, a welding head that moves forward along the weld seam on the welding device body, and a vision module on one side of the welding head moving forward. The vision module includes a fixed lens and a movable lens. The fixed lens faces the welding head and has a fixed tilt angle. The movable lens is rotatably mounted on the welding device body. When the movable lens rotates, it changes its tilt angle and always faces the welding head during the movement process. The fixed lens is located at the rotation center of the movable lens. When the movable lens rotates to be close to the welding head, the tilt angle of the movable lens is greater than that of the fixed lens. When the movable lens rotates to be far away from the welding head, the tilt angle of the movable lens is less than that of the fixed lens. The component to be welded to which the weld seam belongs has a curved surface structure, so that the weld seam has a planar section and a curved surface section. The welding device body has a lifting displacement module for controlling the lifting and lowering of the welding head. When the welding head moves forward to the curved surface section of the weld seam, the lifting displacement module receives binocular visual information from the fixed lens and the movable lens and drives the welding head to adaptively lift and lower on the curved surface section.

[0005] Furthermore, when the welding head passes through the planar section of the weld seam, the movable lens is positioned alongside the fixed lens on one side; when the welding head passes through the concave curved section, the movable lens rotates around the fixed lens.

[0006] Furthermore, when the welding head enters the concave curved section from the weld plane section, the movable lens begins to rotate in a direction away from the welding head. When the welding head moves down along the curved section, the fixed lens is located between the welding head and the movable lens. When the welding head moves up along the curved section, the movable lens is located between the welding head and the fixed lens.

[0007] Furthermore, when the welding head enters the convex curved section from the weld plane section, the movable lens begins to rotate towards the direction of the welding head. When the welding head moves down along the curved section, the fixed lens is located between the welding head and the movable lens. When the welding head moves up along the curved section, the movable lens is located between the welding head and the fixed lens.

[0008] Furthermore, the welding equipment body is moved forward by the conveying mechanism, and after the welding head enters the curved section from the planar section of the weld, the forward movement speed of the welding equipment body decreases.

[0009] Furthermore, the forward movement speed of the conveying mechanism on the convex curved section is less than the forward movement speed on the concave curved section.

[0010] Furthermore, both the planar and curved sections of the weld are curved. The welding equipment body has a correction displacement module that controls the lateral movement of the welding head. The correction displacement module receives visual information from the fixed lens and drives the welding head to follow the curved weld forward.

[0011] Beneficial effects: The weld seam tracking welding device of the present invention is equipped with a fixed lens and a movable lens. After the welding head enters the curved section of the weld seam, the movable lens can rotate around the fixed lens to change the tilt angle of the movable lens, thereby reducing the angle between the lens orientation and the normal vector of the curved surface, thereby obtaining better visual imaging and improving the tracking effect of the weld seam path. Attached Figure Description

[0012] Appendix Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0013] Appendix Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram showing the fixed lens positioned between the welding head and the movable lens.

[0014] Appendix Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram showing the moving lens between the welding head and the fixed lens. Detailed Implementation

[0015] The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] As attached Figures 1 to 3 The aforementioned weld seam tracking welding equipment includes a welding equipment body 1, a welding torch on the welding equipment body 1, and a welding head 2 on the welding torch. The welding head 2 moves forward along the weld seam to perform welding. A vision module 3 is located on one side of the direction in which the welding head 2 moves forward. The vision module 3 acquires an image of the weld seam, and then uses an algorithm to analyze and process the weld seam image to obtain the weld seam path, enabling the welding head 2 to track the weld seam path during welding.

[0017] The vision module 3 includes a fixed lens 4 and a movable lens 5. The fixed lens 4 is fixedly mounted on the welding equipment body 1, facing the welding head 2 with a fixed tilt angle. The movable lens 5 is movably mounted on the welding equipment body 1, always facing the welding head 2 during movement, and its tilt angle can be dynamically changed to be greater than or less than the tilt angle of the fixed lens 4. By changing the tilt angle of the movable lens 5, the relative state between the movable lens 5 and the curved surface can be altered, reducing the angle between the lens orientation and the normal vector of the curved surface, thereby obtaining a better visual imaging effect. This makes the algorithm's analysis of the weld image more reliable, the obtained weld path more reliable, and ultimately improves the tracking effect of the weld path.

[0018] The movable lens 5 is rotatably mounted on the welding equipment body 1. When the movable lens 5 rotates, it changes its tilt angle. During the rotation of the movable lens 5, the rotation trajectory of the line connecting the movable lens 5 and the welding head 2 is conical, and the welding head 2 is located at the cone point of the conical rotation trajectory.

[0019] The fixed lens 4 is located at the rotation center of the movable lens 5. (See attached image) Figure 3 As shown, when the movable lens 5 rotates to be close to the welding head 2, the movable lens 5 is located between the fixed lens 4 and the welding head 2, and at this time the tilt angle of the movable lens 5 is greater than the tilt angle of the fixed lens 4. (See attached image) Figure 2 As shown, when the movable lens 5 rotates away from the welding head 2, the fixed lens 4 is located between the movable lens 5 and the welding head 2. At this time, the tilt angle of the movable lens 5 is smaller than the tilt angle of the fixed lens 4.

[0020] The component to be welded, to which the weld belongs, has a curved surface structure, giving the weld a planar section 6 and a curved section 7. The welding equipment body 1 has a lifting and displacement module that controls the raising and lowering of the welding head 2. During welding, the welding head 2 needs to maintain a certain height relative to the weld. Therefore, when the welding head 2 moves along the curved section 7 of the weld, its height needs to be adjusted. The fixed lens 4 and the movable lens 5 work together to form binocular vision, which is used to identify the planar and curved surfaces and determine the curvature changes of the curved surfaces. When the welding head 2 moves from the planar section 6 of the weld to the curved section 7, the lifting and displacement module receives binocular visual information from the fixed lens 4 and the movable lens 5, and adaptively raises and lowers the welding head 2 along the curved section 7 to maintain it at a certain height above the weld, thus ensuring a stable welding effect.

[0021] When the welding head 2 passes through the planar section 6 of the weld seam, the movable lens 5 is positioned alongside the fixed lens 4 on one side, with the movable lens 5 and the fixed lens 4 having the same tilt angle. When the welding head 2 passes through the concave curved section 7, the movable lens 5 rotates around the fixed lens 4, changing the tilt angle of the movable lens 5 and reducing the angle between the orientation of the movable lens 5 and the normal vector of the curved surface, thereby obtaining a better visual imaging effect.

[0022] As attached Figure 2 and 3 As shown in the figure, when the welding head 2 enters the concave curved section 7 from the weld plane section 6, the movable lens 5 begins to rotate in a direction away from the welding head 2, causing the welding head 2 to move down along the curved section 7. At this point, the fixed lens 4 is positioned between the welding head 2 and the movable lens 5. When the movable lens 5 rotates to the position shown in the attached figure... Figure 2 The process stops after moving away from the side shown in the diagram, away from the welding head 2. As the welding head 2 moves upward along the curved section 7, the movable lens 5 rotates again, positioning itself between the welding head 2 and the fixed lens 4. The movable lens 5 rotates to the position shown in the diagram. Figure 3 The movable lens 5 stops after moving to the side closest to the welding head 2. When the welding head 2 moves out of the concave curved section 7 and into the planar section 6, the movable lens 5 rotates again until the movable lens 5 returns to the state of being parallel to the fixed lens 4.

[0023] When the welding head 2 moves from the flat section 6 of the weld seam into the convex curved section 7, the movable lens 5 begins to rotate in the direction closer to the welding head 2. That is, when the welding head 2 moves from the flat section 6 into the convex or concave curved section 7, the rotation direction of the movable lens 5 is reversed. When the welding head 2 moves downward along the curved section 7, the fixed lens 4 is located between the welding head 2 and the movable lens 5. When the welding head 2 moves upward along the curved section 7, the movable lens 5 is located between the welding head 2 and the fixed lens 4. When the welding head 2 moves from the convex curved section 7 into the flat section 6, the movable lens 5 also rotates to a position parallel to the fixed lens 4.

[0024] The welding equipment body 1 is driven forward by the conveying mechanism. After the welding head 2 enters the curved section 7 from the planar section 6 of the weld, the forward movement speed of the welding equipment body 1 decreases. On the curved section 7, the path of the weld becomes longer. Reducing the movement speed of the conveying mechanism can make the welding effect of the welding equipment on the planar section 6 and the curved section 7 more similar.

[0025] The forward movement speed of the conveying mechanism on the convex curved surface section 7 is less than that on the concave curved surface section 7. Since the convex curved surface is more susceptible to external factors and more prone to cracking, the welding head 2 is allowed to stay on the convex curved surface section 7 for a longer time to reinforce the welding of the convex curved surface section 7.

[0026] Since the welding area of ​​the workpiece is not always straight, there are bends in both the planar section 6 and the curved section 7 of the weld. To enable the welding head 2 to track and weld the curved weld, a correction displacement module is installed on the welding equipment body 1 to control the lateral movement of the welding head 2. This correction displacement module receives visual information from the fixed lens 4 and moves the welding head 2 forward to track the curved weld. (See attached image) Figure 1As shown, the correction displacement module includes a lateral movement cylinder 8, which drives the first sliding seat 9 to move laterally when it extends or retracts. The lifting displacement module includes a lifting cylinder 10, which is installed on the first sliding seat 9. When the lifting cylinder 10 extends or retracts, it drives the second sliding seat 11 to rise or fall. The welding torch and the vision module 3 are both installed on the second sliding seat 11.

[0027] In operation, this invention uses a fixed lens 4 and a movable lens 5 to capture images of the weld seam. An algorithm processes these images to determine the weld seam path, and a lateral movement cylinder 8 corrects the trajectory, allowing the welding head 2 to travel along the curved weld seam. When the welding head 2 travels on the planar section 6 of the weld seam, the movable lens 5 is positioned alongside the fixed lens 4, with the movable lens 5 and fixed lens 4 having the same tilt angle. When the welding head 2 moves from the planar section 6 into the concave curved section 7, the movable lens 5 moves away from the planar section 6. The direction of welding head 2 begins to rotate; when welding head 2 enters the convex curved section 7 from the planar section 6, the movable lens 5 begins to rotate in the direction closer to welding head 2; when welding head 2 moves down along curved section 7, the fixed lens 4 is located between welding head 2 and movable lens 5, and when welding head 2 moves up along curved section 7, the movable lens 5 is located between welding head 2 and fixed lens 4; when welding head 2 returns to planar section 6, movable lens 5 rotates again, so that movable lens 5 is once again in a state parallel to fixed lens 4.

[0028] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that for those skilled in the art, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these improvements and modifications should also be considered within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A weld seam tracking welding device, characterized in that: The equipment includes a welding equipment body (1), a welding head (2) that moves forward along the weld seam on the welding equipment body (1), and a vision module (3) on one side of the direction of the forward movement of the welding head (2); the vision module (3) includes a fixed lens (4) and a movable lens (5), the fixed lens (4) faces the welding head (2) and has a fixed tilt angle; the movable lens (5) is rotatably mounted on the welding equipment body (1), and changes its tilt angle when the movable lens (5) rotates, and the movable lens (5) always faces the welding head (2) during the movement process; The fixed lens (4) is located at the rotation center of the movable lens (5); when the movable lens (5) rotates to be close to the welding head (2), the tilt angle of the movable lens (5) is greater than the tilt angle of the fixed lens (4); when the movable lens (5) rotates to be far away from the welding head (2), the tilt angle of the movable lens (5) is less than the tilt angle of the fixed lens (4). The welded part has a curved structure, which gives the weld a planar section (6) and a curved section (7). The welding equipment body (1) has a lifting displacement module that controls the lifting of the welding head (2). When the welding head (2) moves forward to the curved section (7) of the weld, the lifting displacement module receives binocular visual information from the fixed lens (4) and the moving lens (5) and drives the welding head (2) to rise and fall adaptively on the curved section (7).

2. The weld seam tracking welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the welding head (2) passes through the planar section (6) of the weld, the movable lens (5) is placed side by side with the fixed lens (4); when the welding head (2) passes through the concave curved section (7), the movable lens (5) rotates around the fixed lens (4).

3. The weld seam tracking welding equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: When the welding head (2) enters the concave curved section (7) from the weld plane section (6), the movable lens (5) starts to rotate in a direction away from the welding head (2), so that when the welding head (2) moves down along the curved section (7), the fixed lens (4) is located between the welding head (2) and the movable lens (5). When the welding head (2) moves up along the curved section (7), the movable lens (5) is located between the welding head (2) and the fixed lens (4).

4. The weld seam tracking welding equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: When the welding head (2) moves from the weld plane section (6) into the convex curved section (7), the movable lens (5) starts to rotate in the direction closer to the welding head (2), so that when the welding head (2) moves down along the curved section (7), the fixed lens (4) is located between the welding head (2) and the movable lens (5). When the welding head (2) moves up along the curved section (7), the movable lens (5) is located between the welding head (2) and the fixed lens (4).

5. The weld seam tracking welding equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The welding equipment body (1) is driven forward by the conveying mechanism. After the welding head (2) enters the curved section (7) from the planar section (6) of the weld, the forward movement speed of the welding equipment body (1) decreases.

6. The weld seam tracking welding equipment according to claim 5, characterized in that: The forward movement speed of the conveying mechanism on the convex curved section (7) is less than that on the concave curved section (7).

7. The weld seam tracking welding equipment according to claim 5, characterized in that: Both the planar section (6) and the curved section (7) of the weld are curved. The welding equipment body (1) has a correction displacement module that controls the transverse movement of the welding head (2). The correction displacement module receives visual information from the fixed lens (4) and drives the welding head (2) to move forward in tracking the curved weld.

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