Welding Vision Headwear With Simulated Bead Feedback
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Manual welding operations face challenges in maintaining optimal parameters such as torch angle, contact-tip-to-work-distance, travel speed, and aim, leading to inconsistencies in weld quality despite the expertise of operators.
Innovation Solution
A welding vision system that includes headwear with cameras, image sensors, and processing units to capture and analyze real-time images of the welding process, providing a mediated reality view for operators to visualize and adjust parameters, and a communication link with welding equipment to control settings and provide feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual welding operations are performed by experienced operators, then welding expertise and flexibility are maintained, but consistency in monitoring and maintaining welding parameters deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time visual feedback to operators through a display device, showing actual welding parameters (torch angle, contact-tip-to-work-distance, travel speed, aim) captured by cameras and processed by image analysis algorithms. This feedback loop enables operators to immediately adjust their technique to maintain parameter consistency while preserving manual control and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual visual monitoring with an automated vision system comprising cameras, image processing units, and parameter detection algorithms. This substitution provides objective, consistent measurement of welding parameters without relying on operator subjectivity, while the system remains辅助 rather than fully automated, preserving operator expertise.
2Manufacturing precision
If real-time monitoring of welding parameters is implemented, then weld quality consistency is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The vision system is designed to monitor multiple welding parameters simultaneously (torch angle, contact-tip-to-work-distance, travel speed, aim) using a integrated set of cameras and image processing algorithms. This multi-functional approach achieves comprehensive parameter control without proportionally increasing system complexity, as the same hardware platform handles diverse measurement tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that captures raw video data, extracts welding parameters through image analysis, and presents processed information to operators. This intermediary layer simplifies the interface between the complex sensing system and the operator, providing clear visual feedback without exposing the full system complexity.
3Measurement precision
If multiple cameras and sensors are used to capture welding parameters, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple cameras and sensors into an integrated vision system where components work together to measure various welding parameters. By merging detection functions into a unified system with centralized image processing, the patent achieves comprehensive parameter measurement without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the measurement task across multiple specialized sensors (cameras for visual parameters, potential additional sensors for other metrics), with each component focused on specific detection functions. This segmentation allows precise measurement of different parameters while maintaining modular architecture that manages complexity through functional decomposition.
Data Source
AI summary
Welding headwear comprises one or more image sensors, processing circuitry, and a display. The image sensor(s) are operable to capture an image of an unpowered weld torch as the torch passes along a joint of a workpiece to be welded. The processing circuitry is operable to: determine, through processing of pixel data of the image, one or more welding parameters as the torch passes along the joint to be welded; generate, based on the one or more welding parameters, a simulated weld bead; and superimpose on the image, in real time as the torch passes along the joint, the simulated weld bead on the joint. The display is operable to present, in real time as the torch passes along the joint, the image with the simulated bead overlaid on it.