AUTOMATIC SINGLE V-GROOVE WELDING UTILIZING INFRARED IMAGES FOR ERROR DETECTION AND CORRECTION

Robotic arc welding, as practiced in industry today, is accomplished by programming a robot to move its welding torch through a set of spatial coordinates that coincide with the position of a part's joint. Joint tracking systems are currently used to reduce the costs of part preparation and fixturing. In this investigation, infrared thermography was used to joint track in gas tungsten arc welding. An infrared camera was used to record the temperature gradients surrounding the welding torch and transmit the images to a central computer. There, using an experimentally derived image processing technique, the computer determined the distance of the torch from the joint and transmitted corrective action to control the torch path