Three-dimensional vision-based sensing of GTAW: a review

Automated and robotic welding is now widely used in manufacturing industry. The control of the welding process plays a crucial role in producing quality welds in automated and robotic welding where the assistance from skilled welders is no longer available. In gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) which is the primary arc welding process for precision joining of metals, the weld pool is the major source of information that can be used to assure the production of desired weld penetration which is the most critical factor determining the weld integrity. To meet this challenge, various sensing technologies have been proposed/studied to sense and obtain the feedback for the weld pool state. This paper summarizes the researches on weld pool state sensing: conventional sensing technologies, vision sensing technology, and multi-sensor information fusion technology, with emphasis on the analysis of three-dimensional vision sensing methods. And three-dimensional vision sensing, multi-sensor technology, intelligent modeling, and effective commercial product development show the future trends of GTAW penetration sensing.

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