Laser Welding System Detects Weld Quality with AI

Laser welding is a widely employed technique in modern manufacturing, particularly in industries that demand exceptional precision and accuracy in their welding processes. The aerospace and medical device manufacturing sectors, in particular, heavily rely on laser welding to join their stainless-steel components.

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At CMS Laser, we specialize in the design and construction of advanced laser material processing machines for manufacturers. Our latest breakthrough is a laser welding system with artificial intelligent (AI) machine vision specifically engineered for welding stainless steel aerospace components. This machine is also well-suited for welding applications in the medical device manufacturing industry, encompassing implants, hermetically sealed containers, surgical instruments, medical equipment, and tubing.

Here are some of the key features of our laser welding system:

300-Watt Fiber Laser with X and Z-Axis

The laser source is the heart of any laser welding system. This machine is equipped with a 300-watt fiber laser that provides ample power for welding stainless steel components. The X and Z-axis control allows the operator to move the laser in any direction, giving the welder complete control over the welding process. This particular laser machine was designed for welding different types of stainless steel aerospace components together using a galvanometer scan head.

Rotary Unit with up to 90-degree Tilt on the X-Axis

This laser welding machine is designed to provide exceptional versatility and precision. The rotary unit, which can tilt up to 90 degrees on the X-axis, allows the welder to easily access and weld even the most complex parts with ease. The chuck that holds the part in place ensures a stable welding process, making it easier to achieve high-quality welds with minimal distortion. In addition, the machine allows for laser welding on a 45-degree angle, making it ideal for seam welding and spot-welding difficult locations on miniature components. Whether you need to weld large or small parts, this machine delivers the precision and flexibility necessary to meet the demands of aerospace components and medical devices.

Through the Optics Vision (TTOV) for Finding Weld Location

One of the standout features of this laser welding machine is its Through-the-Optics Vision (TTOV) system. With TTOV, the machine is equipped with a camera that is placed in line with the laser beam, providing the operator with a top-down view of the part being welded. This enables the welder to accurately locate the weld location, ensuring precise and consistent welds every time. By using machine vision, the operator can detect any deviations from the intended weld location, reducing the likelihood of errors and minimizing the need for rework. This feature is particularly useful when welding complex or intricate parts, where precise placement of the weld is crucial to achieving a strong clean weld.

Leveraging the Power of AI for Weld Quality Detection

The off-axis vision feature on this laser welding system provides advanced inspection capabilities that help ensure the highest quality welds. The system utilizes Cognex’s powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) camera and software to detect welding errors with speed and accuracy. The AI camera leverages the power of high-end Nvidia RTX graphics card AI cores to quickly identify inconsistencies and defects in the weld, ensuring that each weld meets the required standards for aerospace components. This cutting-edge AI technology was trained on a large sample of welded stainless steel components to detect even the slightest defects in the weld quality. While this system does not currently adjust laser welding parameters based on AI, it may be a possibility in the future as AI continues to evolve in the laser material processing sector.

Gas Assist Laser Welding

In laser welding, an inert gas such as helium, argon, or nitrogen is typically used to create a clean and stable welding environment, which helps prevent oxidation and contamination of the weld.

For example, helium is commonly used in welding aluminum and other non-ferrous metals because it has a high thermal conductivity, which helps to remove heat from the weld zone quickly. Argon is often used in welding stainless steel and other alloys because it is a very stable gas that does not react with most metals at high temperatures. Nitrogen can also be used in certain applications to improve the strength of the weld by promoting the growth of fine, uniform grains in the weld area.

In addition to selecting the appropriate gas, the flow rate and pressure of the gas can also be adjusted to optimize the welding process for a particular application. The system is equipped with controls on the front of the machine for the operator to finely tune the gases used for specific welding applications.

Barcode Reader for Program Selection and Consistency

The barcode reader is a valuable accessory for the laser welding machine, allowing the welder to quickly and accurately recall specific programs based on the part being processed. By scanning a barcode on the part’s documentation, the correct welding program is automatically pulled up based on the part number. This feature reduces the chance of operator error and increases efficiency in the welding process. Additionally, the barcode reader can be used in conjunction with a database for tracking part history and other accessories for even greater precision and consistency in the welding process.

Ergonomic Design for Research & Development Applications

The primary use for this laser welding machine is for research and development of metal welding applications in the aerospace industry. The customer requested an ergonomic feature that would allow the operator to sit comfortably while welding various types of stainless steel together. To meet this request, our engineers extended the front of the system to accommodate the Y-axis, which moves the rotary fixture closer to the door. This modification ensures that the operator can sit in a comfortable position while still having access to the welding area, improving their efficiency and reducing the risk of discomfort or injury.

Engineered Laser Welding Solutions

This laser welding system is a high-tech machine designed for welding stainless steel aerospace components, as well as other exotic metals and alloys. The machine is also suitable for welding in the medical device manufacturing industry. The key features of the machine, such as the 300-watt fiber laser, rotary unit with a 90-degree tilt on a Y-axis, machine vision, gas assist, and barcode reader make it an efficient and effective tool for modern manufacturing. With this laser welding system, manufacturers can produce high-quality welds with speed, accuracy, and consistency, ensuring their products meet the required standards.

Here are a few laser welding machines CMS Laser has developed over the years:

• Laser Welding Stainless Steel Aerospace Parts
• Laser Welding Plastic Transmission Pans
• Laser Welding Plastic with Rotary Table and Rotary Axis
• Laser Welding with Beam Delivery on Robot Head

If you’re in search of a laser welding system to aid your manufacturing process, whether it’s for joining various materials such as metals, plastics, or even glass, our team of expert engineers can help develop a comprehensive, start-to-finish solution tailored to your specific needs. At CMS Laser, we’re more than just a solutions provider – we’re an engineering partner committed to solving your manufacturing challenges using cutting-edge laser technology and software. Get in touch with us today to discover the vast possibilities of our laser welding solutions.

A popular and very productive use of the Smart Sensor is to guide a welding robot. It can be difficult to be 100% sure that parts to be robotically welded will be in the same position that the robot is programmed to weld in. For example, variations in part forming or difficulties with tooling can mean the part is not always in a repeatable and correct spot for welding. Additionally, the welding process itself can cause heat-driven changes in the weld joint position and left unchecked, welding defects will occur.

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Using a Smart Sensor can fix all of this, making sure welding is being done in the right place, all the time. The Smart Sensor will adaptively adjust the robot’s position to changes in seam position as well as to changes in the joint itself. This allows you to weld imperfect parts, perfectly.

The Smart Sensor is mounted a short distance ahead of the welding torch on the robot end effector. Before welding, the 3D profile sensor will search for the joint. Once the joint is found, the Smart Sensor quickly compares the actual position of the joint with a taught position. If there is a difference between the actual position of the joint and the position the robot was taught, that difference in position is used as an offset to start welding. This ensures that welding begins where the actual part is and not necessarily where the robot was taught the part would be.

As welding begins, the Smart Sensor provides welding seam guidance and constantly compares the actual position of the joint with the taught position. If there is a difference, the Smart Sensor sends corrections to the robot controller, allowing the robot and welding torch to adjust to changes to the joint’s position, in real time, as welding is taking place.

The Smart Sensor is also measuring weld joint characteristics of interest such as the joint gap, mismatch, and volume which can then be used to adaptively control the welding process based on actual process conditions. For example, a changing gap or hilo measurement can be used to adaptively control the travel speed, wire feed speed, or weave characteristics to more effectively fill the weld joint without over-welding.

An automatic laser intensity (AGC) control in the Smart Sensor ensures correct measurements and allows the sensor to quickly adapt to changes in material surface conditions. For example, problems robotically welding shiny aluminum fillet joints become a thing of the past now as the AGC minimizes reflections with minimal operator intervention.

Meta’s Smart Laser Pilot is a complete system that allows you to easily add a Smart Sensor to most of today’s modern welding robots using an Ethernet connection. The benefits to adding a Smart Laser Pilot to your welding robot include savings in tooling and fixturing, and reductions in welding defects, rework, and scrap. Robot teach time may also be reduced as the Smart Sensor can autonomously guide the robot along a complicated path without needing to add new teach points along the way. Please contact us today for more detailed technical information about a Smart Laser Pilot for your robot.

In these applications, variations in part fit up can make welding very challenging and labor intensive. Using the Smart Sensor for weld seam tracking ensures that the welding electrode stays in the joint at all times. The 3D machine vision sensor is attached a short distance ahead of the welding torch. The welding torch (and sensor) is then attached to a set of motorized slides. The Smart Sensor begins by searching for a joint feature that the sensor will use as a reference.

A joint feature might be an edge, the middle of the gap of a butt joint, or the intersection point where two plates meet for a fillet or T-joint. As the sensor moves over the joint, corrections are sent to the motorized slides as soon as the joint feature moves from its taught position. As the sensor is typically mounted a short distance ahead of the torch, a time delay is added to the corrections to make sure the welding torch stays in the corrected position for proper welding. If material surface conditions change while welding, automatic laser intensity (AGC) control quickly changes sensor settings to properly handle such challenges without operator intervention.

Adding a Smart Sensor to a welding manipulator, machine, or gantry will allow you to weld imperfect parts perfectly, faster, and help lower your costs by reducing scrap and rework. A laser seam tracking system will make your machine more productive and you make more money. In addition, certain real time measurements from the Smart Sensor can adaptively drive changes to the welding process. For example, a changing joint gap or volume measurement may then be used to drive changes to travel speed, wire feed speed or other process variables based on data coming from the Smart Sensor.

Meta can provide complete 3D machine vision systems for hard automation seam tracking applications including one or more laser vision sensors, touch screen operator display, operator pendant, and slides. If you are looking to replace an older laser tracking system or a tactile or touch probe tracking system because of problems using those systems, OSTrack is the perfect system for you. If your needs are more challenging requiring multiple sensors, multiple joint types, complex multi-pass applications, or fully integrated into your network along with multiple PC’s and PLC’s, Meta’s VisionWeld is the system you should consider. Please contact us for more detailed information on both of these system solutions.

Manufacturers, machine builders, and systems integrators use Meta Vision Sensors’ Smart Laser Sensor to improve product quality, reduce production costs, make precise measurements, and guide automation. Meta offers the perfect range of Smart Sensor capabilities that are easy to set up and quick to deploy for your measurement, inspection, or guidance project. SDK’s are available to help streamline implementation right into your application.

The Smart Laser Sensor family is distinctive in that high quality, full frame image processing is integrated within the sensor head itself. There are also several advancements that simplify setup and operation of the system and that greatly improve performance on shiny and other difficult surfaces. This includes an automatic laser intensity control function, exclusive to Meta, which solves laser reflection problems common in applications involving variable surface conditions.

For example, when welding two different materials together whose surfaces have been prepared differently or when fillet welding shiny aluminum components, the laser line from a conventional sensor may appear too bright in certain areas and dull in others. This may also cause the laser light to reflect brightly causing the vision analysis software to make poor and inaccurate measurements.

Automatic laser intensity (AGC) control in the Smart Sensor rapidly varies the intensity of the laser stripe and makes changes to the camera settings so that darker areas become brighter and brighter areas become darker. The result is an image of more uniform intensity along the entire length, contributing to more reliable and accurate measurements. This also simplifies the setup process as varying surface conditions no longer need to be considered while setting up a vision system for welding automation.

Smart Sensors are characterized by field of view (from 12mm to 100mm) and stand-off (from 45mm to 150mm) and choice of sensor is determined by what the sensor needs to see and the precision needed for measurements. Please contact us today for more complete technical information on the full range of Meta Smart Sensors.

For more Laser Vision Sensor for Special Welding Machineinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.