How to Inspect Welds

Abstract

To provide a method that allows evaluation automatically generated from acquired documents and data for testing a welding seam on a plastic pipe.SOLUTION: A method for inspecting a weld of plastic pipes using a data processing device comprises steps of: acquiring and storing documents; monitoring and recording installation of a joint and implementation of the weld; creating welding reports or taking over the welding reports from a welding machine; and testing the weld using an ultrasonic wave, acquiring and storing detects in the weld in the testing. In the method, software acquires and stores the documents, the welding reports, and the detects, or these pieces of data, evaluates the stored documents, reports, the detects, and these pieces of data using an algorithm of the software, classifies a welding seam as compliant or non-compliant with requirements.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for inspecting welds in plastic conduit using a data processing device, the method comprising: - retrieving and storing the document; monitoring and recording the installation and welding of the joints; Creating a welding report; Inspecting the welded portion using ultrasonic waves, and acquiring and storing defects in the welded portion during the inspection. The present invention relates to a method comprising the steps of:

[0002] From the prior art, the individual steps are known, such as creating the corresponding documentation, performing the welding and creating a welding report as well as inspecting the weld seam, etc. However, since the documentation and the data are managed separately, an evaluation of the weld seam cannot be generated automatically.

[0003] This has the disadvantage that approval of the weld seam is often carried out without all the documentation being at hand and that not all data together influence the evaluation of the weld seam.

[0004] The problem is to propose a method that allows carrying out an evaluation of weld seams in plastic conduits, realised in situ and inspected by ultrasound, that is generated automatically from the documents and data acquired.

[0005] This problem is solved according to the invention by acquiring and storing documents, welding reports and defects or data thereof by means of software, evaluating the stored documents, reports, defects and data by means of software algorithms and classifying the weld seam as compliant or non-compliant. All recorded documents and data provide a conclusion regarding the quality of the weld seam, which is evaluated by an algorithm that determines whether the weld seam complies with requirements or not.

[0006] The method according to the invention for inspecting weld seams between a plurality of plastic pipes or between pipe fittings and pipes and welds with electric welding sleeves is carried out by means of a data processing device and evaluated accordingly.

[0007] Preferably, the data processing device may be a smartphone, a tablet or a mobile computer as well as other known data processing devices.

[0008] The inspection procedure includes, inter alia, the acquisition and storage of documents, preferably all documents for proving the quality and acceptability of the components and the welds of the components, such as material specifications, protocols, contracts, certificates, reports, technical specifications, etc. Of course, it can be defined accordingly which documents etc. are required to be able to carry out the evaluation and which documents can optionally be stored.

[0009] The mounting and welding between the pipe fitting and the conduit or between two conduits is monitored by a data processing device and correspondingly preferably recorded by images and / or videos, and the welding data of the welding device are also acquired and recorded.

[0010] A weld report is then generated based on the acquired weld data, where generation of the weld report is preferably performed automatically by software or a weld report already generated by the welder is sent to the data processing device.

[0011] As a further step of the method according to the invention, the weld is ultrasonically inspected, during which defects in the weld are acquired and stored.

[0012] All collected documents, weld reports, data and defects are saved or stored in the software, which enables the software to recall all collected documents, weld reports, data and defects and uses algorithms in the software to evaluate the stored documents, reports, defects and data and classify the weld seam as compliant or non-compliant accordingly.

[0013] The method according to the invention is preferably applicable to butt welding and to the welding of electric welding sleeves. Correspondingly, plastic pipes can be butt welded to one another or connected via electric welding sleeves. Of course, further pipe fittings can also be butt welded to the pipe ends.

[0014] Advantageously, the installation is set up step by step and monitored and recorded step by step. For example, the fitting of the sleeve over the pipe is displayed by the software, for example by means of an image or drawing, and this is checked by means of a photograph stored by the software. The position of the weld is preferably also obtained with the corresponding coordinates, so that it is always possible to reproduce exactly where the weld is located, even if the weld is located underground, as is customary in many cases of installing conduits.

[0015] The algorithm preferably includes a step of assuming an initial value based on the components to be welded; for example, an electric welding sleeve with a certain diameter and material is used, and a predefined value is assumed by the software as the initial value. The numerical value of the defect location obtained by ultrasonic testing and stored is then calculated. The calculated value based on the defect location is then subtracted from the assumed initial value, resulting in a difference value for the inspected weld. This difference value is then compared with a predefined target value for the corresponding weld. The target value is an empirical value based on long-term destructive testing with a prior investigation of the minimum value required to meet the requirements. If the difference value is equal to or exceeds the target value, the weld is acceptable; if the difference value is below the target value, the weld is unacceptable.

[0016] It is advantageous if the defect location is calculated based on its dimensions, i.e. preferably the width, length and / or depth of the defect location are obtained and calculated accordingly, taken into account in the algorithm as corresponding values ​​and subtracted from the assumed initial values.

[0017] It has proven to be advantageous if the software is configured as an application, so that the user has predefined framework conditions that must be met. In this case, it is determined, for example, that mandatory documents, reports, etc. are to be entered into the application, otherwise the weld seam will not be approved or cannot be evaluated by the software. For example, if no defects are found in the weld after inspection and the weld is evaluated as essentially good, certain documents for approval may be missing. However, such settings of the application can be changed and do not have to be too restrictive.

[0018] Preferably, the data is stored centrally, for example in a cloud or distributed servers, and is called up by the software. It is also possible to access the data via a web platform, so that while the data can be called up via the web platform, it can also be called up via an application or other software.

[0019] Preferably, the algorithm is improved with the recording of new data or the system is self-learning.

[0020] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, although the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0021] [Figure 1] 1 shows a schematic diagram of a method according to the invention and the documents and steps involved in said method;

[0022] In the drawing shown in FIG. 1, all the data and documents required by the method according to the invention to determine the acceptability of a weld seam are shown. In FIG. 1, several suitable documents 1 are shown, which are described in what order the software and the data processing device acquire. Of course, it can be precisely defined in the software which documents are essential for the judgment and which are optional. In this case, these documents are acquired and stored. They can also be stored in the data processing device, as well as in an external server or in the cloud. The installation process 2 of the pipes and / or pipe fittings is then monitored, for example by means of images, and the position or coordinates of the weld are identified. This is also entered and managed again via the software. Furthermore, data of the ultrasonic welding are acquired 3. In this case, the welding device sends the data to the software of the method according to the invention or to the data processing device, which generates a welding report 3 or the welding report 3 has already been generated by the welder and sent to the software. The weld is then inspected 4 by ultrasound, which inspection provides information about the location of defects in the weld. An algorithm 5 stored in one of a number of software programs (only hypothetically illustrated in the flow chart) and the acquired data and documentation is used to generate a report 5 providing information as to whether the weld is acceptable or not, preferably based on the quality of the weld seam. [Explanation of symbols]

[0023] 1. Getting the document 2. Monitoring and recording of installation and welding 3. Welding Protocol 4. Ultrasound examination 5 Algorithms and Weld Evaluation

Claims

1. 1. A method for inspecting welds in plastic conduit using a data processing device, comprising: retrieving and storing a document; monitoring and recording the installation and welding of the joints; generating a welding report based on the monitoring and recording steps or taking over from a welder a welding report generated based on the monitoring and recording steps; Inspecting the weld using ultrasonic waves, and acquiring and storing defects in the weld during the inspection. A method comprising: The method is characterized in that the document, the welding report and the defect location or the data thereof are acquired and stored by software, and the stored document, the welding report, the defect location and the data thereof are evaluated using a software algorithm to classify the weld seam as complying or not complying with the requirements.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is applicable to welding of butt welds and electric weld sleeves.

3. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mounting is set step by step and monitored and recorded step by step.

4. The algorithm includes the following steps: assuming initial values ​​based on the components to be welded; Calculating a numerical value based on the acquired and stored defect location; A step of subtracting the calculated numerical value of the defect location from the initial value; inspecting the weld for acceptability or unacceptability based on whether the difference value obtained is above or below a set target value; The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, comprising:

5. 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising calculating the defect location based on its size.

6. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining and evaluating a width, a length and / or a depth of the defect location in order to calculate the defect location.

7. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the software comprises an application.

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