Image-based electrode tip displacement in resistance spot welding

The paper presents a new image processing-based algorithm for electrode tip displacement measurement. Its accuracy is evaluated by a comparison with a conventional optical sensor. The results show a clear advantage of the proposed image processing algorithm. A special program was written in order to analyze the algorithm. The electrode tips are detected by the program. It also determines the size of the reference areas on the electrode tips and tracks these areas during the welding process. Due to a multi-thread implementation of the algorithm the execution time was reduced significantly as compared to previously presented work. Consequently this approach is now applicable for control-related resistance spot welding purposes.

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