A method for repairing laser weld seams, a laser welding system, and a computer storage medium.

Abstract

This invention discloses a method for repairing laser weld beads, a laser welding system, and a computer storage medium, comprising: displaying a welding trajectory image on a monitoring device, the welding trajectory image including a standard welding trajectory of the target weld bead, and the welding trajectory image also including multiple weld point marks, the multiple weld point marks being distributed sequentially along the standard welding trajectory; determining a repair welding section based on the standard welding trajectory on the welding trajectory image, and determining a repair welding mark based on the position of the repair welding section on the standard welding trajectory, the repair welding mark including a start weld point mark and an end weld point mark, the start weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to the first end of the repair welding section, and the end weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to the second end of the repair welding section; inputting the repair welding mark through the monitoring device, the central controller receiving the repair welding mark through the monitoring device, the central controller generating a repair welding command in response to the received repair welding mark; and a welding robot receiving the repair welding command and performing welding operations on the repair welding section in response to the received repair welding command.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of repair welding technology for defects in laser weld beads, specifically to a method for repairing laser weld beads, a laser welding system, and a computer storage medium. Background Technology

[0002] In the body-in-white manufacturing process in the welding workshop, the most advanced laser welding technology is used to weld the connection between the roof and the side panels. Laser welding is a top-level welding technology, and the weld seam has the characteristic of being formed in one go, with a weld length of up to 2 meters. The laser welding equipment is in a working group with other welding equipment such as medium frequency welding guns, frequency converters, robots, and safety networks. If other equipment in the working group or the laser welding equipment itself malfunctions, the welding will be stopped midway, the laser weld seam will not be fully completed, and the entire body-in-white will be unusable. A lot of manpower and resources will be needed for rework, resulting in a very large waste of costs.

[0003] During the production process, multiple factors can cause the laser welding weld to break. In order to resume production as soon as possible, the defective car will be taken off the line first. When the production is idle, the repair car will be put back on the line. It is necessary to enter the workstation and rewrite the repair welding program. After the repair welding is completed, the original program and the entire workstation working sequence must be restored before normal production can resume. The entire repair welding process takes more than 30 minutes. The repair process is time-consuming. Taking the car off the line and putting it back on the line consumes manpower and resources. In addition, due to the change in the secondary clamping and matching of the car body, the welding quality is unstable and a second repair is required. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address at least one aspect of the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a method for repairing laser weld beads, comprising: displaying a welding trajectory image on a monitoring device, the welding trajectory image including a standard welding trajectory of a target weld bead, the welding trajectory image further including multiple weld point marks, the multiple weld point marks being distributed sequentially along the standard welding trajectory; determining a repair welding interval of the target weld bead based on the standard welding trajectory on the welding trajectory image, determining a repair welding mark based on the position of the repair welding interval on the standard welding trajectory, the repair welding mark including a start weld point mark and an end weld point mark, the start weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to a first end of the repair welding interval, the end weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to a second end of the repair welding interval; inputting the repair welding mark through the monitoring device, a central controller receiving the repair welding mark through the monitoring device, the central controller generating a repair welding command in response to the received repair welding mark; and a welding robot receiving the repair welding command and performing a welding operation on the repair welding interval in response to the received repair welding command.

[0005] Preferably, the step of displaying the welding trajectory image on the monitoring device further includes: receiving an image marker input by a user through the monitoring device, the image marker being used to uniquely identify the welding trajectory image, the central controller including a plurality of welding trajectory images, the plurality of welding trajectory images corresponding one-to-one with a plurality of target welds, and the central controller outputting the corresponding welding trajectory image in response to the received image marker.

[0006] Preferably, the step of the central controller receiving the weld repair mark through the monitoring device further includes: the central controller receiving a key unlocking command through the monitoring device; the central controller activating a pre-selection module in response to the key unlocking command; the central controller receiving a pre-selection unlocking command through the monitoring device; and the pre-selection module receiving the weld repair mark through the monitoring device in response to the received pre-selection unlocking command. Preferably, the welding robot includes multiple welding points, the welding command includes inputting a mark of the area to be welded, and the welding robot selecting a corresponding welding trajectory to perform the welding operation based on the weld repair mark.

[0007] Preferably, the weld length between any two adjacent weld marks among the plurality of weld mark marks is the same.

[0008] On the other hand, a laser welding system is also provided for performing a repair welding method for laser weld beads as described above, comprising: a welding robot for performing welding operations; a monitoring device for displaying a welding trajectory image and receiving user input information, the welding trajectory image including a standard welding trajectory of the target weld, the welding trajectory image also including multiple weld point marks, the multiple weld point marks being distributed sequentially along the standard welding trajectory, the welding trajectory image being used to determine the repair welding interval of the target weld bead, and determining a repair welding mark according to the position of the repair welding interval on the standard welding trajectory, the repair welding mark including a start weld point mark and an end weld point mark, the start weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to the first end of the repair welding interval, the end weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to the second end of the repair welding interval, the user input information including the repair welding mark; a central controller, the central controller being communicatively connected to the monitoring device and receiving the user input information through the monitoring device, the central controller being communicatively connected to the welding robot, the central controller outputting a repair welding command in response to the received repair welding mark, the repair welding command being used to control the welding robot to perform welding operations on the repair welding interval.

[0009] On the other hand, a computer storage medium is provided, including computer program instructions, which are executed by a processor at runtime to perform a laser welding repair method as described above.

[0010] The laser welding method, laser welding system, and computer storage medium of the present invention have the following beneficial effects: The standard welding trajectory of the welding trajectory image provides a reference for determining the target weld bead and the welding repair area is determined; the welding repair area is precisely located by adding weld point marks on the standard welding trajectory; furthermore, the welding repair can be quickly completed by inputting the start and end welding marks of the part to be welded on the panel of the monitoring device, avoiding the need to remove the body-in-white from the production line after the weld breakage, thereby enabling welding repair at the original position of the body-in-white, avoiding repeated clamping and adjustment of the body-in-white, and improving welding repair efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0011] To better understand the above and other objects, features, advantages, and functions of the present invention, reference can be made to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings refer to the same parts. Those skilled in the art should understand that the drawings are intended to schematically illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and do not limit the scope of the invention in any way; the parts in the drawings are not drawn to scale.

[0012] Figure 1 A schematic flowchart of a laser welding repair method for weld beads according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0013] Figure 2 A structural block diagram of a laser welding system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0014] Figure 3 An interface view of a monitoring device for a laser welding system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0015] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, including various details of the embodiments to aid understanding, and should be considered merely exemplary. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications can be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Similarly, for clarity and brevity, descriptions of well-known functions and structures are omitted in the following description.

[0016] The term "comprising" and its variations as used herein signify open inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to". Unless otherwise stated, the term "or" means "and / or". The term "based on" means "at least partially based on". The terms "one example embodiment" and "one embodiment" mean "at least one example embodiment". The term "another embodiment" means "at least one additional embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc., may refer to different or the same objects. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also be included below.

[0017] To at least partially address one or more of the aforementioned problems and other potential issues, embodiments of this disclosure propose a laser welding weld repair method, comprising: displaying a welding trajectory image on a display, the welding trajectory image including a standard welding trajectory of the target weld bead, and the welding trajectory image also including multiple weld point marks distributed sequentially along the standard welding trajectory; determining a repair welding interval based on the standard welding trajectory on the welding trajectory image, and determining a repair welding mark based on the position of the repair welding interval on the standard welding trajectory, the repair welding mark including a start weld point mark and an end weld point mark, the start weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to the first end of the repair welding interval, and the end weld point mark being the weld point mark corresponding to the second end of the repair welding interval; inputting the repair welding mark into a central controller, the central controller generating a repair welding command in response to the received repair welding mark; and a welding robot receiving the repair welding command and performing a welding operation on the repair welding interval in response to the received repair welding command.

[0018] Specifically, such as Figure 1 The laser welding system for body-in-white shown includes a welding robot, a monitoring device, and a central controller. The welding robot performs laser welding operations. The monitoring device uses WICC (Windows Control Center) and includes a display showing the operating information of the laser welding system. It also includes an input unit for receiving user input. The central controller communicates with both the welding robot and the monitoring device. The central controller receives user input through the monitoring device and generates control commands based on this input. These commands include monitoring device control commands and welding robot control commands. The monitoring device control commands control the information displayed on the monitoring device, while the welding robot control commands control the operation of the welding robot. In some embodiments, the central controller uses Siemens S7 industrial software for low-level program editing to implement welding range selection, input, etc., and to edit welding range selection permissions, protecting the usage conditions of this function and preventing batch welding accidents caused by misselection. The monitoring device uses the Siemens WICC system display screen and edits the range input boxes on the screen to implement the basic functions of the system. The welding robot is a KUKA welding robot, and the central controller communicates with the KUKA welding robot through the field industrial SIEMENS PROFINET network.

[0019] The monitoring device also includes a memory where the welding trajectory image is stored. In some embodiments, user input information includes a command to display the welding trajectory image, and the display retrieves the welding trajectory image from the memory and displays it in response to the received command. In other embodiments, the central controller generates a display control command based on the received user input information, and the display retrieves the welding trajectory image from the memory and displays it in response to the received display control command. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the central controller includes a storage unit where the welding trajectory image is stored, and the central controller outputs the welding trajectory image in response to the received user input information and controls the display to receive and display the welding trajectory image via the display control command. In some embodiments, the central controller receives a restart command from the laser welding system and outputs the welding trajectory image in response to the received restart command, and the monitoring device receives and displays the welding trajectory image (e.g., ...). Figure 3 (See the schematic diagram of the interpolation points shown). For example, restart commands for a laser welding system include welding robot restart commands, security network restart commands, etc.

[0020] The welding trajectory image is used to provide the standard welding trajectory for its corresponding target weld bead. By comparing the standard welding trajectory in the welding trajectory image with the actual welding trajectory of the weld bead on the body-in-white, the weld break section in the actual welding trajectory of the body-in-white can be determined. The target weld bead is the weld bead on the body-in-white on the welding fixture when the laser welding system malfunctions and causes a weld break. Multiple weld point markers are set on the standard welding trajectory. The weld point markers are used to uniquely identify the weld points on the standard welding trajectory. By comparing the standard welding trajectory and the actual welding trajectory, the starting weld point and ending weld point corresponding to the weld break section on the standard welding trajectory are determined. Based on the weld point markers, the starting weld point marker and ending weld point marker corresponding to the starting weld point are determined. The trajectory between the starting weld point marker and the ending weld point marker is the repair welding section.

[0021] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, in some embodiments, the laser welding system includes multiple welding robots, each corresponding to a different weld point on the weld bead. A central controller selects the appropriate welding robot from the multiple welding robots to perform the welding operation based on the start and end weld point markings in the welding mark. The central controller outputs a welding instruction, which includes welding start information. The welding robot performs the welding operation in response to the received welding instruction. In other embodiments, the welding robot includes a robot control unit and multiple welding nozzles. The robot control unit is communicatively connected to each of the welding nozzles. The robot controller controls the operation of the multiple welding nozzles, such as turning them on, running them, and turning them off. Each welding nozzle corresponds to a different weld point on the weld bead. The welding robot receives the welding instruction from the central controller, which includes welding start information, start weld point marking information, and end weld point information. The welding robot selects the appropriate welding nozzle from the multiple welding nozzles based on the start and end weld point markings and controls the welding nozzle to start the welding operation based on the welding start information.

[0022] In some embodiments, the step of displaying a welding trajectory image on a display further includes: receiving an image marker input by a user, the image marker being used to uniquely identify the welding trajectory image, the central controller including multiple welding trajectory images, the multiple welding trajectory images corresponding one-to-one with multiple target welds, and the central controller outputting its corresponding welding trajectory image in response to the received image marker.

[0023] Specifically, the user input information also includes image markers. The laser welding system's welding target, the body-in-white, includes multiple weld passes. The central controller's storage unit includes multiple welding trajectory images, each corresponding one-to-one with a weld pass. Each welding trajectory image corresponds to a unique image marker. The image marker is used to uniquely identify the welding trajectory image. The user input information includes image markers. The central controller receives the user-input image markers through a monitoring device and outputs the corresponding welding trajectory image to the monitoring device based on the image markers. The monitoring device receives and displays the welding trajectory images.

[0024] In some embodiments, the step of the central controller receiving the weld repair mark through the monitoring device further includes: the central controller receiving a key unlocking command through the monitoring device, the central controller activating a pre-selection module in response to the key unlocking command; the central controller receiving a pre-selection unlocking command through the monitoring device, and the pre-selection module receiving the weld repair mark through the monitoring device in response to the received pre-selection unlocking command.

[0025] Specifically, such as Figure 3As shown, the pre-selection module controls the central controller's reception of welding repair marks. The pre-selection module includes a pre-selection locked state and a pre-selection unlocked state. In the pre-selection unlocked state, the central controller receives the welding repair marks; in the pre-selection unlocked state, the central controller rejects the welding repair marks. The pre-selection unlock command is input via user clicks. In the pre-selection module's unlocked state, the welding repair marks are input via start and end points. The pre-selection module also includes an activated state and a deactivated state. The pre-selection module is activated in response to a received key unlock command. In the activated state, the central controller receives the pre-selection unlock command; in the deactivated state, the central controller rejects the pre-selection unlock command. The key unlock command is input via user clicks.

[0026] In some embodiments, the welding robot includes multiple welding points, and the welding instructions include repair welding mark information. The welding robot selects the corresponding welding point according to the repair welding mark information and performs the welding operation.

[0027] Specifically, the robot control unit of the welding robot includes multiple welding control units, each corresponding to a welding section on the weld bead. Each welding control unit also corresponds to a weld bead start point marker and a weld bead end point marker. Each welding control unit performs the welding operation on the weld bead during operation. In some embodiments, the weld bead start point and end point marker corresponding to a welding control unit are two adjacent weld point markers on a standard welding trajectory. In another embodiment, the weld bead start point and end point marker corresponding to a welding control unit may include any number of consecutive weld point markers. For example, if the weld bead markers include 1, 2, 3…10, then the weld bead includes 9 welding control units, namely welding control unit 1-2, welding control unit 2-3, welding control unit 3-4,… welding control unit 9-10. The start point marker of welding control unit 1-2 is 1, and the end point marker is 2. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the robot control unit may also include welding control unit 1-3, welding control unit 1-4…… welding control unit 2-5… welding control unit 3-9…… welding control unit 8-10. The welding robot selects the welding control unit to perform the operation based on the weld point markings in the received weld repair marking information.

[0028] In some embodiments, the weld bead length between any two adjacent solder joint marks is the same. Specifically, the multiple solder joint marks are evenly distributed along the weld bead. In another embodiment, the weld bead interval between any two adjacent solder joint marks corresponds to different lengths.

[0029] A laser welding system for performing a repair welding method as described above for any laser weld bead, comprising: a welding robot, a monitoring device, and a central controller. The welding robot performs welding operations. The monitoring device displays a welding trajectory image and receives user input information. The welding trajectory image includes a standard welding trajectory of the target weld and multiple weld point marks distributed sequentially along the standard welding trajectory. The welding trajectory image is used to determine the repair welding section of the target weld bead. Repair welding marks are determined based on the corresponding positions of the repair welding section on the standard welding trajectory. The repair welding marks include a start weld point mark and an end weld point mark. The start weld point mark is the weld point mark corresponding to the first end of the repair welding section, and the end weld point mark is the weld point mark corresponding to the second end of the repair welding section. The user input information includes the repair welding marks. The central controller is communicatively connected to the monitoring device and receives user input information through the monitoring device. The central controller is also communicatively connected to the welding robot. In response to the received repair welding marks, the central controller outputs a repair welding command. The repair welding command controls the welding robot to perform welding operations on the repair welding section.

[0030] On the other hand, a computer storage medium is provided, including computer program instructions, which are executed by a processor at runtime as a repair welding method for any of the laser welding weld beads.

[0031] Specifically, computer storage media include, but are not limited to: electrical connections having one or more wires, portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Alternatively, computer-readable storage media can be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program that can be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0032] The various embodiments of this disclosure have been described above. These descriptions are exemplary and not exhaustive, nor are they limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein is chosen to best explain the principles, practical application, or technical improvements to the embodiments in the market, or to enable others skilled in the art to understand this document.

Claims

1. A method for repairing laser weld beads, characterized in that, include: The welding trajectory image is displayed on the monitoring device. The welding trajectory image includes a standard welding trajectory of the target weld bead and also includes multiple weld point marks. The multiple weld point marks are distributed sequentially along the standard welding trajectory. The target weld bead is the weld bead of the white body on the welding fixture when the laser welding system failure causes the weld to break. The repair welding section of the target weld bead is determined according to the standard welding trajectory on the welding trajectory image. The repair welding mark is determined according to the position of the repair welding section on the standard welding trajectory. The repair welding mark includes a start weld mark and an end weld mark. The start weld mark is the weld mark corresponding to the first end of the repair welding section. The end weld mark is the weld mark corresponding to the second end of the repair welding section. The welding repair mark is input through the monitoring device, the central controller receives the welding repair mark through the monitoring device, and the central controller generates a welding repair command in response to the received welding repair mark; The welding robot receives the repair welding instruction and performs welding operation on the repair welding section in response to the received repair welding instruction. The robot control unit of the welding robot includes multiple welding control units, which correspond to multiple welding sections on the weld bead. The multiple welding control units correspond to a weld bead start point mark and a weld bead end point mark. The weld bead start point and weld bead end point marks corresponding to the welding control units are two adjacent weld point marks on the standard welding trajectory.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of displaying the welding trajectory image on the monitoring device further includes: receiving an image marker input by a user through the monitoring device, the image marker being used to uniquely identify the welding trajectory image, the central controller including a plurality of the welding trajectory images, the plurality of welding trajectory images corresponding one-to-one with a plurality of target welds, and the central controller outputting the corresponding welding trajectory image in response to the received image marker.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The step of the central controller receiving the weld repair mark through the monitoring device further includes: The central controller receives a key unlocking command through the monitoring device, and the central controller activates the pre-selection module in response to the key unlocking command. The central controller receives a pre-selected unlock command through the monitoring device, and the pre-selection module receives the weld repair mark through the monitoring device in response to the received pre-selected unlock command.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The welding robot includes multiple welding points, and the welding instructions include the repair welding mark. The welding robot selects the corresponding welding point according to the repair welding mark and performs the welding operation.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The weld length between any two adjacent weld marks in the plurality of weld mark marks is the same.

6. A laser welding system, characterized in that, A method for performing laser welding repair welds as described in any one of claims 1-5, comprising: The welding robot is used to perform welding operations. The robot control unit of the welding robot includes multiple welding control units, which correspond to multiple welding sections on the weld bead. The multiple welding control units correspond to a weld bead start point mark and a weld bead end point mark. The weld bead start point and weld bead end point marks corresponding to the welding control units are two adjacent weld point marks on the standard welding trajectory. A monitoring device is used to display welding trajectory images and receive user input information. The welding trajectory image includes a standard welding trajectory of the target weld bead and multiple weld point marks distributed sequentially along the standard welding trajectory. The welding trajectory image is used to determine the repair welding interval of the target weld bead. Repair welding marks are determined according to the corresponding positions of the repair welding interval on the standard welding trajectory. The repair welding marks include a start weld point mark and an end weld point mark. The start weld point mark is the weld point mark corresponding to the first end of the repair welding interval, and the end weld point mark is the weld point mark corresponding to the second end of the repair welding interval. The user input information includes the repair welding marks. The target weld bead is the weld bead of the body-in-white on the welding fixture when the laser welding system malfunctions and the welding is interrupted. A central controller is communicatively connected to the monitoring device and receives user input information through the monitoring device. The central controller is also communicatively connected to the welding robot. In response to the received repair welding mark, the central controller outputs a repair welding command, which is used to control the welding robot to perform welding operations on the repair welding area.

7. A computer storage medium, characterized in that, It includes computer program instructions, which are executed by a processor at runtime to perform the laser welding repair method as described in any one of claims 1-5.

Images