Drone Welding Monitoring for Dispersed Worksite Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Welding environments, such as construction sites and shipyards, are large and dispersed, leading to significant travel time and difficulty in accessing remote areas, which conventional methods struggle to address efficiently.
Innovation Solution
The use of drones equipped with various devices for navigation, information collection, and welding operations, including aerial, land, and aquatic drones, utilizing sensors and communication protocols to locate, identify, and relay information from welding equipment and workpieces, and perform welding tasks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional methods are used to travel between welding areas, then personnel can perform welding tasks, but travel time increases significantly and access to remote areas becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of human travel with an aerial drone system equipped with sensors and communication devices. The drone flies autonomously between welding areas, collecting data and transmitting information without requiring personnel to physically travel, thereby eliminating travel time while maintaining welding task completion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a drone as an intermediary between welding personnel and remote welding areas. The drone serves as a mediator that collects welding information, transmits data, and provides real-time monitoring capabilities, allowing personnel to perform welding tasks efficiently without direct travel to remote locations.
2Ease of operation
If personnel physically access remote welding areas, then welding operations can be monitored and performed, but access difficulty increases in dispersed environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of physical human access with an aerial drone system. The drone navigates to remote welding areas using GPS and navigation systems, equipped with sensors to detect and monitor welding operations. This substitution eliminates the physical difficulty of accessing remote areas while maintaining full operational capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from ground-based access to aerial access by deploying drones in three-dimensional space. This dimensional change allows the system to overcome terrain obstacles and reach remote welding areas that are difficult or impossible to access from the ground, significantly improving ease of operation in dispersed environments.
3Reliability
If more welding personnel are deployed to cover large areas, then welding tasks can be monitored more thoroughly, but operational costs and coordination complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a multi-functional drone system that performs multiple tasks simultaneously: navigation to welding areas, detection of welding operations using sensors, collection of welding data, transmission of information to personnel, and real-time monitoring. This single drone system replaces multiple personnel functions, improving monitoring coverage while reducing coordination complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements autonomous drones that self-navigate to welding areas using GPS and onboard navigation systems, automatically detect welding operations using sensors, collect data without human intervention, and autonomously transmit information. This self-service capability eliminates the need for human personnel to physically travel and coordinate, improving reliability while reducing system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for using drones in dispersed welding applications are disclosed. In some examples, drones may be used in large and/or dispersed welding environments to quickly navigate the large distances and/or reach areas that might be more difficult for a person to reach. In some examples, the drones may use one or more attached devices to locate, identify, and/or collect information from welding equipment, welding workpieces, and/or welds within a (e.g., large and/or dispersed) welding environment.