WELDING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING SPECIFIC DATA FOR PRODUCTION OF A WELDED JOINT BETWEEN WELDING CONTROLS OF THE WELDING SYSTEM

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a welding system for transmitting specific data for producing a welded joint between welding controllers of the welding system.

[0002] In production facilities, such as vehicle assembly lines, metallic parts are joined by welding using a welding tool and a welding fixture. The welding tool is, for example, a welding gun, which is supplied with an electric welding current from a welding transformer. Specifically, the welding tool is a resistance welding tool.

[0003] In such production facilities, more than two welding controllers or even more than two welding cells and / or welding lines are often used. Each welding controller can operate at least one welding tool, which is usually guided by a robot within the workspace for welding.

[0004] In automated body-in-white production, it is particularly impossible to weld all the joints, especially spot welds, required to join the vehicle body in one location. Therefore, the entire welding process for manufacturing the body is divided among several welding cells, in which a number of robots synchronize to weld together different parts of the vehicle.

[0005] When configuring the welding cells, it can be specified which welding cells should weld which weld points. Therefore, the data regarding which welding tool of the welding cell should produce which weld point can either be predefined in the welding controllers, or the data is fed to the welding controller from an intelligent database as needed and / or triggered.

[0006] US 2014 / 0263225 A1 discloses a system and a method for generating and modifying a welding sequence in a welding cell.

[0007] However, during the operation of the production plant, unforeseen events such as the failure of a welding tool, particularly due to cleaning its welding electrode caps, contamination of a workpiece to be welded, etc., may necessitate a short-term change in the assignment of weld points to the welding tools and / or the various welding cells. This change in assignment may require copying, moving, deleting, etc., the data regarding which welding tool is responsible for which weld point.

[0008] The problem, however, is that the production of each weld point must meet certain quality requirements that are specified beforehand. Therefore, data such as the design of the welding tool for its production, the fitting of special electrode caps, etc., contact pressure on the components to be welded, welding current, welding duration, etc., are programmed beforehand by a user and subsequently tested.

[0009] If the assignment of weld points to be produced to the welding tools and / or welding controls needs to be changed at short notice, a transfer of the data for producing a specific weld point is desirable in order to continue meeting quality requirements without significant effort. If the associated welding controls and / or welding cells are not connected, such a transfer is either not possible within the required timeframe and / or only with considerable effort.

[0010] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a welding system and a method for transferring specific data for producing a weld joint between welding controllers of the welding system, with which the aforementioned problems can be solved. In particular, a welding system and a method for generating specific data for welding a weld joint between welding controllers of the welding system are to be provided, in which, during operation of the welding system, new welding tasks for producing weld joints with the required weld quality can be assigned to welding tools quickly, reliably, and cost-effectively.

[0011] This problem is solved by a welding system according to claim 1. The welding system has at least two welding controllers, each configured to store welding data for producing the weld, at least one welding tool for producing a weld on at least one workpiece under the control of one of the at least two welding controllers based on the stored welding data, and a communication device for communicating with the at least two welding controllers and an operating device connected to the communication device, wherein the communication device is configured to initiate a transfer of welding data stored on the communication device from a source welding controller of the at least two welding controllers to a target welding controller of the at least two welding controllers, as described in claim 1.

[0012] According to the invention, the communication device is designed to obtain and store the welding connection data for producing the weld connection when connected to the at least two welding controllers for commissioning.

[0013] The welding system allows for quick and easy, cost-effective changes to the assignment of weld joint(s) to welding tools, while still producing welds of the required quality. Such a reassignment or reprogramming of the transmission is even possible if the weld joint(s) were initially specified for target welding controllers or welding tools that are currently unavailable.

[0014] Furthermore, the described assignment does not create unnecessary duplicate data records, which mean unnecessary work, occupy storage space and make the management and operation of the welding system more difficult.

[0015] This allows for the transfer of data for the weld(s) to be produced within the required timeframe, with very little effort and a negligible error rate. As a result, the production quality of the weld(s) produced with the welding system can be improved, leading to fewer defective products that need to be rejected.

[0016] The welding system can therefore react very dynamically to changing operating conditions. As a result, the probability of the welding system causing a production stoppage in a higher-level industrial plant is minimized.

[0017] Overall, the welding system thus contributes to the conservation of resources and cost reduction for the manufacture of items, as well as to the cost reduction of the operation of a higher-level industrial plant.

[0018] Further advantageous embodiments of the welding system are specified in the dependent claims.

[0019] The communication device may act as a client to communicate with the at least two welding controllers, and the at least two welding controllers may each act as a server.

[0020] In another special configuration, the communication device can be designed to query a user for the transmission of the welding joint data whether the welding joint data should be copied from the source welding control to the target welding control or deleted on the source welding control as a result of the transmission.

[0021] The communication device for transmitting weld joint data may be designed to query a user for a name for the target weld joint data set, the target welding control, the target welding task with which the weld joint is to be produced with the weld joint data to be transmitted under control by the target welding control, and the target welding tool with which the target welding task is to be carried out.

[0022] The operating device can be configured to output queries and / or status messages via transmission to the user.

[0023] It is conceivable that the communication device is designed to generate at least one file for communication with the at least two welding controllers if the target welding controller is not available when programming the transfer between the source welding controller and the target welding controller.

[0024] It is conceivable that at least one of the files is an XML file.

[0025] In this context, the source welding control and the target welding control can be designed to parse the information in the at least one file and to use the parsed information that is relevant for the welding control for transmission.

[0026] One of the welding controls can be designed to control at least one welding tool based on the stored welding joint data.

[0027] The welding system may also include a device comprising an arm for moving the welding tool in space and a control unit for controlling the arm, the control unit of the device being subordinate to the at least two welding controls. Additionally or alternatively, a detection device may be provided for detecting parameters during the production of a weld joint with the welding tool, the at least two welding controls being configured to take the detected parameters into account when controlling the welding tool.

[0028] Optionally, a welding control system has a control unit for controlling the welding transformer and the welding tool of the welding system, and a monitoring device for monitoring the welding quality of the weld joint produced with the welding tool and issuing a message regarding the monitoring result.

[0029] Further possible implementations of the invention also include combinations of features or embodiments described previously or subsequently with respect to the exemplary embodiment, even if not explicitly mentioned, provided these are included within the scope of the claims. In this context, the person skilled in the art will also add individual aspects as improvements or additions to the respective basic form of the invention.

[0030] The invention is described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawing and by means of exemplary embodiments. The drawing shows: Fig. 1 a highly simplified schematic block diagram of an industrial plant with a welding system according to a first embodiment; and Fig. 2 a highly simplified schematic view of part of the welding system of Fig. 1 .

[0031] In the figures, identical or functionally equivalent elements are provided with the same reference symbols unless otherwise specified.

[0032] Fig. 1 Figure 1 shows an industrial plant 1 with a welding plant 2. The industrial plant 1 is, for example, a production line for vehicles, furniture, buildings, etc., in which metallic workpieces 5, 6 are joined by welding in such a way that a welded joint 7 is produced. This is shown in Fig. 2 This will be shown in more detail and described below. A user 8 can at least partially configure or control the industrial plant 1 and / or the welding plant 2.

[0033] Welding system 2 has a first processing line 10, a second processing line 20, and a third processing line 30. Welding system 2 also has a first and second communication device 15, 25, and a first and second operating device 16, 26. The first processing line 10 is, for example, located in a different hall than the second processing line 20. The third processing line 30 is, for example, located on a different floor than the second processing line 20.

[0034] The components of welding system 2 shown serve to illustrate the function of the invention. The number of processing lines (10, 20, 30) and their configuration are freely selectable.

[0035] In the specific example of Fig. 1 The first processing line 10 has a first welding control 11, a second welding control 12, and a third welding control 13. The second processing line 20 also has a first welding control 21, a second welding control 22, a third welding control 23, and a fourth welding control 24. Furthermore, the third processing line 30 has a first welding control 31 and a second welding control 32. Internal basic parameters or setpoints 131, in particular weld joint data 1311 to 1317, are stored in the welding controls 11 to 13, 21 to 24, 31, and 32, and are exchangeable between the welding controls 11 to 13, 21 to 24, 31, and 32.

[0036] The weld joint data 1311 to 1317 for a weld spot or weld seam as weld joint 7, etc., include data such as weld joint identification number, weld joint description, welding task name, welding tool name, etc. A weld joint 7 is always unique. However, the welding tasks used to create one weld joint can be reused to create another weld joint 7.

[0037] In the weld joint data 1311 to 1317, a parameter for a weld joint 7 is provided, which in its data includes a global, control-crossing unique description of a welding task that can be uniquely assigned to a position on a product or object to be manufactured with the industrial plant 1.

[0038] In the weld joint data 1311 to 1317, a welding task parameter is also provided. This welding task parameter specifies the parameters of similar welding tasks, such as sheet thickness combinations with identical boundary conditions, like side joints, adhesive at the location of the weld joint, etc. Thus, the welding task parameter, which is to be executed with the welding control 11, includes information on joints with the same sheet thickness / material combination, regardless of their position on the product to be manufactured with the industrial plant 1, taking into account boundary conditions at the location of the welding task.

[0039] Additionally, the weld joint data 1311 to 1317 may contain a parameter for a combination of workpieces 5, 6, which in particular specifies a current and force profile for a particular sheet thickness combination and / or for special tasks such as pretreatment or preconditioning, post-treatment, etc. Additionally or alternatively, information relating to a material combination of the workpieces 5, 6 and / or the surface properties of the workpieces 5, 6 may be present.

[0040] The first communication device 15 connects the first operating device 16 and the welding controls 11 to 13 of the first processing line 10. The second communication device 25 connects the second operating device 26 and the welding controls 21 to 24 of the second processing line 20. Furthermore, the communication devices 15 and 25 are interconnected. This forms a communication network in which data 131, 1311 to 1317 can be exchanged between the components of processing lines 10 and 20 as needed. Fig. 1 is only a very specific example of the exchange of data 131, 1311 to 1317.

[0041] The aforementioned connections of the communication network can be wireless or wired. Optionally, at least one of the aforementioned connections can be wireless. Optionally, at least one of the aforementioned connections can be wired. It is conceivable that only one of the operating devices 16, 26 is present.

[0042] The first and second communication devices 15 and 25 can each be configured as a gateway or a communication server. Communication devices 15 and 25 each act as a client with respect to a connected welding controller 11 to 13, 21 to 24. Communication device 15 initiates communication with one of the welding controllers 11 to 13, for example, welding controller 11. Subsequently, any exchange of read requests, write requests, etc., or status messages can take place between communication device 15 and welding controller 11 in the given example. Communication device 25 initiates communication with a connected welding controller 21 to 24, for example, welding controller 23. Subsequently, any exchange of read requests, write requests, etc., or status messages can take place between communication device 25 and welding controller 23 in the given example.

[0043] The operating devices 16, 26 are designed as a general user interface. In particular, the operating devices 16, 26 are designed as devices with display and input functions, so that a user 8 of the industrial plant 1 and / or the welding plant 2 can operate the plants 1, 2 or at least the welding plant 2. The operating devices 16, 26 can be configured identically or differently.

[0044] The first and second communication devices 15, 25 are each preconfigured to connect to a group of control devices, as in Fig. 1 shown. The operating devices 16, 26 are configured such that they each connect to the correct communication device 15, 25 when they are to access data 131, 1311 to 1317 from one of the control devices 11 to 13, 21 to 24, 31, 32.

[0045] As in Fig. 1 As shown, processing line 30 is at least temporarily disconnected from processing lines 10 and 20. Therefore, the exchange of weld joint data 1311 to 1317 or data 131 between processing line 30 and the other components of welding system 2 is not possible via the communication network described above. The same applies to other data used in the operation of a welding control system, such as welding control 11, as shown with Fig. 2 and explained in the following description.

[0046] Fig. 2 Figure 1 shows a welding cell of welding system 2 in more detail, in which welding control 11 is used. The welding cells of welding system 2 for welding control systems 12, 13, 21 to 24, 31, 32 are constructed in a similar manner, so that the following description is generally valid for welding control systems 11 to 13, 21 to 24, 31, 32.

[0047] During operation of the welding system 2, the welding control 11 activates at least one welding tool 41, enabling the production of at least one weld 7. Alternatively, a weld 7 can be produced on a workpiece 5 by joining two edges of the workpiece 5 with the weld 7. The workpieces 5, 6 can be selected from any weldable material, such as steel, aluminum, alloys thereof, etc. Any combination of materials is possible.

[0048] The welding cell of welding system 2 includes, among other things, the welding control unit 11, a communication device 15, an operating device 16, a device 40 for guiding a welding tool 41, and a front end or detection device 50. Furthermore, the welding control unit 11 can be connected, either directly or via the communication device 15, to a higher-level control device, which can control the welding system 2 and / or other components of the industrial plant 1 not shown. Such components include, for example, a transport device for transporting, in particular, at least one of the workpieces 5, 6, one or more additional welding systems, one or more other tools, such as a screwdriver, a riveting tool, a drilling tool, a punching tool, etc.

[0049] Welding system 2 is, in particular, a resistance welding system. In this case, the welding tool 41 is, in particular, a resistance welding tool. Here, the materials to be welded, or the material combination to be welded, are pre-tensioned by means of a predetermined clamping force, whereby the necessary welding current is applied for a defined time to a position on the at least one workpiece 5, 6 in order to produce at least one weld joint 7, in particular a weld spot.

[0050] The welding control unit 11 comprises a power unit 111, also called a converter, an interface 110, a control device 112, a storage device 113 for storing data 51, 131 to 133, a communication device 114, a monitoring device 115, and a housing 116. The housing 116 is, in particular, a control cabinet in which the welding control unit 11 is installed. A cooling device (not shown) is provided, if required, to dissipate heat from the housing 116 of the welding control unit 11. The power unit 111, or the converter, is preferably integrated into the welding control unit 11, but can alternatively be provided separately from the welding control unit 11.

[0051] The device 40 of Fig. 1 The device 40 can, in particular, be a welding robot. The device 40 moves the welding tool 41 to a joining point on the at least one workpiece 5, 6. Furthermore, the device 40 holds or moves the welding tool 41 at the joining point accordingly, in order to produce, for example, a weld spot and / or a weld seam as a welded joint 7. The welding tool 41 is, for example, a welding gun with at least two welding electrodes 411, 412, each equipped with a welding electrode cap at its free end.

[0052] The front end or the detection device 50 are part(s) of the welding tool 41, in particular part(s) of a welding gun.

[0053] According to Fig. 1 The welding tool 41 is supplied with an electric current for welding, the so-called welding current I, via a converter or power unit 111 and a welding transformer 43, to which a rectifier 44 is attached. For this purpose, the power unit 111 is supplied with an electrical voltage U from a three-phase power supply with phases N1, N2, and N3. Specifically, the power unit 111 is operated with a three-phase alternating current at a frequency of 50 Hz and a voltage of 400 V or 690 V and supplies the welding transformer 43 on the primary side. The rectifier 44 serves to rectify the three-phase alternating current on the secondary side. Therefore, the rectifier 44 is connected to the output of the welding transformer 43. The welding transformer 43 thus supplies the welding tool 41 with a direct current as the welding current I via the rectifier 44. The welding transformer 43 is, for example, designed as a medium-frequency welding transformer.

[0054] The welding control unit 11 regulates the welding current I supplied by the welding tool 41 during the creation of a weld joint 7. Depending on the setting, the welding control unit 11 operates using various control methods. Examples include a control method that guarantees a constant welding current I (constant current control method (CRC)) and an adaptive current control method (ACC) that automatically adjusts the welding current I to the current process conditions at the welding point. The aforementioned CRC and ACC control methods ensure improved and more stable weld quality.

[0055] When the welding tool 41 is guided by an arm 45 of the device 40, the device 40 is controlled by its control unit 46, which is also referred to as the robot controller. For this purpose, the control unit 46 is connected to the welding controller 11 via a communication device 47 using at least one connecting line 49. Relevant data for carrying out a welding process with the welding tool 41 can be exchanged between the welding controller 11 and the device 40, more precisely the control unit 46, via the connecting line(s) 49. Furthermore, parameters of the control unit 46, with which the welding tool 41 is controlled, can be internal basic parameters or setpoints 131 stored in the memory device 113, in particular the weld joint data 1310. Any other internal basic parameters and / or setpoints 131 are conceivable.

[0056] The welding control 11 does not need to communicate indirectly via the described communication path using line(s) 49. Instead, data received at the welding tool 41, such as acquisition data 51, can be extracted for the control unit 46 and optionally transmitted to the control unit 46 via at least one line 461 arranged on the device 40. In this case, line(s) 49 can be omitted or, for redundancy, may be present in addition to line 461. This allows the welding control 11 to transmit data to the control unit 46 regarding the welding task to be performed by the device 40 with the welding tool 41.

[0057] The acquisition device 50 acquires the acquisition data 51 during operation of the welding system 2. This data is transmitted via a connecting line 52 to the welding control 11 and stored in the storage device 13. The acquisition data 51 results from the continuous acquisition of data from the welding tool 41 and / or the welding transformer 43 and / or the rectifier 44 and / or the at least one workpiece 5, 6. This acquisition can be performed either continuously or at a predetermined sampling rate during the creation of a weld joint 7. In the present embodiment, the predetermined sampling rate is selected such that an almost continuous acquisition of the welding process during the creation of the weld joint 7 is achieved, preferably in real time.

[0058] The transmission of the acquisition data 41 of the welding tool 41 and / or the welding transformer 43 and / or the rectifier 44 and / or of the at least one workpiece 5, 6 between the welding tool 41 and the welding control 11 and / or the control unit 46 is carried out using a frontend interface 42 and the welding control interface 110.

[0059] The acquisition data 51 is used by the control unit 12. Additionally, the acquisition data 51 can be displayed on the operating device 16. For this purpose, the control unit 112 and the operating device 16 are connected, for example, via an RS232 interface, a USB interface, or a fieldbus interface. Suitable fieldbuses include Sercos, EtherCAT, PROFINET, and similar technologies. This allows the data to be transmitted between the control unit 112 and the operating device 16 in real time. Real time refers to the operation of a computer system in which programs for processing incoming data are constantly ready for operation, such that the processing results are available within a predetermined timeframe, enabling a welding process to be carried out smoothly.Depending on the use case, the data can be collected either randomly over time or at predetermined times.

[0060] Furthermore, the operating device 16 can display information to the user 8 regarding the status of the welding system 2 and / or one of its aforementioned components. The status of the welding system 2 includes, among other things, at least one error message 161 indicating a fault that may occur during operation of the welding system 2. In addition, the acquisition data 51 and / or the weld joint data 1311 can be displayed as an operating indicator 162 using the operating device 16. The operating device 16 is, for example, a keyboard and / or a mouse, a laptop, a touchscreen or non-touchscreen, etc., or combinations thereof. The at least one operating device 16 is also used, in particular, for operating the welding system 2 and for parameterizing the electrode maintenance and adjustment of the welding tool 41.

[0061] The monitoring device 115 uses data 51 and 131 to evaluate whether the control of the welding system 2 is achieving the desired results. The monitoring result is obtained in real time and stored as data 132 in the storage device 113 and / or displayed using the operating device 16.

[0062] The control unit 112 can access the storage unit 113 and store data 133 in the storage unit 113 or retrieve data 51, 131 to 133 from it. The control unit 112 stores as data 133, for example, the operating data specified by the control unit 112, such as the phase angle of the welding current I and a resistance R of the welding tool 41 when performing a weld or producing a weld joint 7. Any other specified operating data is conceivable.In addition, a parameter with data for one of the at least one welding tool 41 can be stored, such as welding tool name, welding tool type, maximum electrode wear, maximum number of milling steps, maximum welding tool wear, adjustment curve number, welding tool drive parameters, welding transformer type, actual electrode wear, number of milling cuts, actual welding tool wear, actual welding tool resistance, actual drive values, etc.

[0063] During welding, the control unit 112 and / or the storage unit 113 receives the acquisition data 51 from the front end or the acquisition unit 50 of the welding tool 41 relating to welds that are carried out with the welding tool 41.

[0064] The control unit 112 and / or the monitoring unit 115 compares the acquisition data 51 with a reference welding sequence stored in the data 131 for the electrode caps and / or workpieces 5, 6 or combinations of workpieces 5, 6 to be used by the welding tool 41. Accordingly, the acquisition unit 50 also performs an acquisition during operation of the welding system 2 such that acquisition data 31 is obtained which is comparable to the reference welding sequence.

[0065] If the comparison shows that the welding quality does not meet the specified criteria, in particular a cleaning process for the welding tool 41 can be carried out or other measures not specified in more detail here can be carried out.

[0066] As can be seen from the combination of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 As becomes clear, a large number of data 51, 131 to 133, 1311 to 1317 are stored in the individual welding controls 11 to 13, 21 to 24, 31, 32 and can be exchanged between the individual components of the welding system 2.

[0067] During startup, communication devices 15 and 25 obtain data from their respective connected control units. Specifically, communication device 15 obtains all weld joint data 1311 to 1313 from control units 11 to 13 and stores it in its memory. Communication device 25 obtains all weld joint data 1314 to 1317 from control units 21 to 24 and stores it in its memory. When user 8 connects to one of the communication devices 15 or 25 from one of the operating devices 16 or 26, they can access all information about the weld joint data 1311 to 1317 stored in the welding controllers 11 to 13 and 21 to 24. If one of the welding controllers 11 to 13, 21 to 24 is offline, its welding connection data 1311 to 1317 will not be displayed.

[0068] User 8 can now decide as needed, in particular which of the weld joint data 1311 to 1317 should be transferred from a source welding controller to a target welding controller. If the target welding controller is connected to the associated communication device 15, 25, an online transfer can be carried out. If the target welding controller is not connected to the associated communication device 15, 25, the transfer can be carried out using a file 151, 251, which the communication device 15, 25 creates and saves for the respective transfer task, as described in Fig. 1 The files 151 and 251 can be retrieved by the target welding controller at any time, as needed. Specifically, files 151 and 251 are XML files.

[0069] For the transmission of the weld joint data 1311 to 1317, the following information must be entered at the operating device 16, 26 requested by the user 8: which weld joint data 1311 to 1317 the user 8 wants to transfer, copy or delete, a name for the target weld joint data set, the target welding control, the target welding task with which the weld joint 7 with the weld joint data 1311 to 1317 to be transferred is to be produced under control by the target welding control, and the target welding tool 41 with which the target welding task is to be carried out.

[0070] Some of the aforementioned information can be displayed to user 8 using the operating devices 16, 26 in a list 165, 265, which shows all available data at the target welding controller. Thus, user 8 can, for example, select the target welding task from a list of all welding tasks at the target welding controller. The progress and therefore the status of the transfer process can be displayed to user 8 using the corresponding operating devices 16, 26, as described previously.

[0071] Upon receiving this information, the corresponding communication device 15, 25 generates the file 151, 251, which contains the details of the aforementioned transmission request. The file 151, 251 can be stored in the memory of the corresponding communication device 15, 25. Additionally or alternatively, the file 151, 251 can be stored in a memory locally connected to the operating device 16, 26, from which the user 8 enters the transmission request.

[0072] To transfer the weld joint data 1311 to 1317 to the target welding control, the files 151 and 251 are subsequently parsed, i.e., analyzed and segmented by a parser running as a computer program. The transfer request is then sent to the respective welding control units, namely the source welding control and the target welding control, to execute the transfer according to the request. The parser outputs the analysis of files 151 and 251 in a desired format, specifically as separate pieces of information for the source and target welding control, and additionally generates structural description(s) for the information.

[0073] The structure description is a binary command that uniquely informs the source welding control (source SST) which data record 1311 to 1317 is to be copied or deleted, or which weld joint data 1311 to 1317 is to be copied or deleted, and uniquely informs the target welding control (target SST) which data record 1311 to 1317 is to be created or overwritten, or which weld joint data 1311 to 1317 is to be created or overwritten. If, after data transmission, two weld joint data records 1311 to 1317 with the same name exist, the conflict is automatically resolved by the target welding control, for example, by overwriting the existing data record 1311 to 1317 or the existing weld joint data 1311 to 1317.

[0074] If the target welding control is currently unavailable, for example switched off or disconnected from the communication network, the transfer can be carried out later, when the target welding control is available again.

[0075] The transfer can take place not only via the communication network between the communication devices 15, 25 and the operating devices 16, 26, but alternatively via an external storage medium, in particular a USB flash drive, on which the file 151, 251 has been saved by the respective communication device 15, 25. A corresponding utility program can run in this process, which further simplifies the transfer for the user 8. This makes the file 151, 251 usable for the third processing line 30, more precisely its welding controllers 31, 32. In such a case, where, for example, a data set of weld joint data 1311 to 1317 is to be transferred to the welding controller 31, which is not reachable by the welding controllers 11 to 13, 21 to 24 as the source welding controller, the generated file 151, 251, which is in particular an XML file, is used.Files 151 and 251 contain at least the required, but more importantly the complete, data set of the source welding control system. When these files 151 and 251 are transferred to the target welding control system, the target welding control system knows all the details for the transfer and does not need to query the source welding control system for this information.

[0076] According to a first example, after a corresponding transmission request from user 3, the communication device 15 creates a file 151_1 to transfer weld joint data 1311 from welding controller 11 (source welding controller) to welding controller 13 (target welding controller). Alternatively, the transfer of the weld joint data 1311 from welding controller 11 to welding controller 13 can be performed directly online, since welding controllers 11 and 13 are connected via the communication device 15.

[0077] According to a second example, the communication device 15 creates a file 151_2 after a corresponding transmission request from the user 8 in order to carry out a transmission of weld connection data 1311 from the welding control 11 as source welding control to the welding control 15 as target welding control.

[0078] To execute the commands in files 151, 251, 151_1, and 151_2, a command interpreter on the welding controllers 11 to 13, 21 to 24, 31, and 32 interprets the command(s) in the data manager. The command interpreter may be located in control unit 112. Each command is essentially a serial message from a protocol buffer, which communication units 15 and 25 send to the data manager, where the command is deserialized and interpreted. The details for transferring the weld joint data 1311 to 1317, as previously mentioned, are contained in files 151, 251, 151_1, and 151_2 and sent to the target and source welding controllers via FTP (File Transfer Protocol).The corresponding communication device 15, 25 then issues a command to the respective welding control unit(s) to execute the transfer based on the information in file 151, 251. The welding control unit(s) remove file(s) 151, 251, 151_1, 151_2 from the FTP path and execute the transfer of the specified weld joint data 1311 to 1317.

[0079] Welding system 2 thus has an architecture in which data sets, more precisely the weld joint data 1311 to 1317, for weld joints 7 of at least two welding controllers 11 to 13, 21 to 42, 31, 32 are centrally managed by the communication devices 15, 25. The parameter structure of the data sets is hierarchically divided into two parts (weld joint 7 and welding task), as described above. This involves connecting the operating device (GUI) 16, 26, in particular the communication device 15, 25, to the welding controllers 11 to 13, 21 to 42, 31, 32. Furthermore, the weld joint data 1311 to 1317 are centrally managed by the communication devices 15, 25. From this, the weld joint data 1311 to 1317 with weld joint 7 and welding task can be selected for deletion, copying or moving with specification of source and target welding control.

[0080] It is advantageous if access to the communication devices 15, 25 is made from an authorized operating device (GUI) 16, 26 and / or an authorized user 8 at the operating device (GUI) 16, 26.

[0081] In this way, data transmission and management for producing welded joints 7 in the welding system 2 can be significantly simplified and made more dynamic.

[0082] According to a second embodiment, at least one of the communication devices 15, 25 creates more than one file 151, 251 when a transmission request is made. This allows the information in file 151, 251 to be at least partially split.

[0083] Otherwise, the welding system 2 is constructed according to the present embodiment as described in relation to the welding system 2 according to the first embodiment.

[0084] All previously described configurations of the welding system 2 and the process it performs can be used individually or in any possible combination. In particular, all features and / or functions of the previously described embodiments can be combined as desired. Additionally, the following modifications are particularly conceivable.

[0085] The parts shown in the figures are schematic and may differ in their exact design from the forms shown in the figures, as long as their previously described functions are guaranteed.

[0086] The industrial plant 1 may have a hand tool instead of the welding tool 41 guided by the device 40. Alternatively, the device 40 may be designed such that the welding tool 41 is a hand-held tool. In addition to one of the aforementioned embodiments for the welding tool 41, it is conceivable that the industrial plant 1 has at least one other tool, such as a screwdriver, drill, milling tool, riveting tool, cutting tool, punching tool, or stamping tool.

Claims

1. Welding installation (2) for producing a welded connection (7), with at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32), which are each designed to store welding connection data (1311 to 1317) for producing the welded connection (7), at least one welding tool (41) for producing a welded connection (7) on at least one workpiece (5; 5, 6) under the control of one of the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) on the basis of the stored welding connection data (1311 to 1317), a communication device (15; 25) for communication with the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32), characterized in that the communication device (15; 25) is designed to procure all welding connection data (1311 to 1317) from the control devices (11 to 13) upon its activation and to store them in its memory, and an operating device (16, 26) which is connected to the communication device (15; 25), wherein a user (8) who connects to the communication device (15, 25) from the operating device (16, 26) can receive all information about all welding connection data (1311 to 1317) which are stored on the communication device (15; 25) and can decide as desired, in particular depending on requirements, which of the welding connection data (1311 to 1317) should be transferred from a source welding controller (11) of the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) to a target welding controller (12, 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) of the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32), wherein the communication device (15; 25) is designed to initiate the transfer.

2. Welding installation (2) according to claim 1, wherein the communication device (15; 25) for communication with the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) acts as a client and the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) each act as a server.

3. Welding installation (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication device (15; 25) is designed to query from a user (8), for the transfer of the welding connection data (1311 to 1317), whether the welding connection data (1311 to 1317) should be copied from the source welding controller (11) to the target welding controller (12, 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) or should be deleted from the source welding controller (11) as a result of the transfer.

4. Welding installation (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication device (15; 25) is designed, for the transfer of the welding connection data (1311 to 1317), to query from a user (8) a name for the target welding connection data set, the target welding controller, the target welding task with which the welded connection (7) is to be produced with the welding connection data (1311 to 1317) to be transferred under the control of the target welding controller, and to query the target welding tool with which the target welding task is to be carried out.

5. Welding installation (2) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the operating device (16; 26) also serves to output the queries and / or status messages concerning the transfer to the user (8).

6. Welding installation (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication device (15; 25) is designed to generate at least one file (151; 251) for communication with the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) if the target welding controller is not available when programming the transfer between the source welding controller and the target welding controller.

7. Welding installation (2) according to claim 6, wherein the at least one file (151; 251) is an xml file.

8. Welding installation (2) according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the source welding controller (11) and the target welding controller (12, 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) are designed to parse the information in the at least one file (151; 251) and are designed to use the parsed information that is relevant for the transfer for the welding controller (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32).

9. Welding installation (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein one of the welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) is designed to control at least one welding tool (41) on the basis of the stored welding connection data (1311 to 1317).

10. Welding installation (2) according to one of the preceding claims, furthermore comprising a device (40) which has an arm (45) for moving the welding tool (41) in space and a control device (46) for controlling the arm (45), wherein the control device (46) of the device (40) is subordinate to the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32), and / or a detection device (50) for detecting quantities when producing a welded connection (7) with the welding tool (41), wherein the at least two welding controllers (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) are designed to take into account the detected quantities when controlling the welding tool (41).

11. Welding installation (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a welding controller (11 to 13; 21 to 24; 31, 32) has a control device (112) for controlling the welding transformer (43) and the welding tool (41) of the welding installation (2), and a monitoring device (115) for monitoring the weld quality of the welded connection (7) produced with the welding tool (41) and for outputting a message (161) in relation to the monitoring result.