• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.136-144
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• 2004

Optimal process and system to produce the laser welded tube for one body formed bumper beam are studied. The calculated size of tube is a thickness of 1.4mm, diameter of 105.4mm and length of 2000mm. The tube is shaped from a cold rolled high strength steel sheet(tensile strength: 60kgf/$\textrm{mm}^2$ grade). Two roll bending method is the optimal tube shaping process compared to UO-bending, bending on press brake, multi-step continuous roll forming and 3 roll bending methods. Weld quality monitoring and seam tracking along the butt-joint lengthwise to the tube axis are also studied. The longitudinal butt-joint is welded by the $CO_2$ laser welding system equipped with a seam tracker and plasma sensor. The constructed $CO_2$laser tube welding system can be used for the precision seam tracking and the real-time monitoring of weld quality. Finally, the obtained laser welded tube can be used for one-body formed automobile bumper beam.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.55-63
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• 1998

Among the position sensing methods available, the arc sensor which utilizes the electrical signal obtained from the welding arc itself is one of the most prevalently used methods, because it has an advantage that no particular sensing device is necessary and real-time sensing of a groove position is possible directly under the arc. The authors have already developed a seam tracking system that contains a new arc sensor algorithm, which uses the relative welding current variation according to the tip-to-workpiece distance in GMA welding. In this study a torch height control algorithm for automatic weld seam tracking was proposed for completing the previous system, which uses an on-off control technique. To implement the torch height control algorithm during weld seam tracking the system parameters which include 2nd averaging range, weighting factor for 2nd moving averaging, and Z-directional basic compensation distance were determined by experimental analysis. Finally the two different height control methods, one is simple on-off control and the other on-off control using a reference current value , were compared in their tracking abilities.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.643-646
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• 2000

In this study, we constructed a preview-sensing visual sensor system for weld seam tracking in real time in GMA welding. A sensor part consists of a CCD camera, a band-pass filter, a diode laser system with a cylindrical lens, and a vision board for inter frame process. We used a commercialized robot system which includes a GMA welding machine. To extract the weld seam we used a inter frame process in vision board from that we could remove the noise due to the spatters and fume in the image. Since the image was very reasonable by using the inter frame process, we could use the simplest way to extract the weld seam from the image, such as first differential and central difference method. Also we used a moving average method to the successive position data of weld seam for reducing the data fluctuation. In experiment the developed robot system with visual sensor could be able to track a most popular weld seam, such as a fillet-joint, a V-groove, and a lap-joint of which weld seam include planar and height directional variation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.71-78
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• 2007

There have been continuous efforts to automate welding processes. This automation process could be said to fall into two categories, weld seam tracking and weld quality evaluation. Recently, the attempts to achieve these two functions simultaneously are on the increase. For the study presented in this paper, a vision sensor is made, and using this, the 3 dimensional geometry of the bead is measured in real time. For the application in welding, which is the characteristic of nonlinear process, a fuzzy controller is designed. And with this, an adaptive control system is proposed which acquires the bead height and the coordinates of the point on the bead along the horizontal fillet joint, performs seam tracking with those data, and also at the same time, controls the bead geometry to a uniform shape. A communication system, which enables the communication with the industrial robot, is designed to control the bead geometry and to track the weld seam. Experiments are made with varied offset angles from the pre-taught weld path, and they showed the adaptive system works favorable results.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.34-41
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• 2003

Weld quality monitoring and seam tracking along the butt-joint lengthwise to the tube axis are studied. The material of tube is 60kg/$\textrm{mm}^2$ grade steel sheet, and the longitudinal butt-joint is shaped by 2 roll bending machine. The tube with a thickness of 1.5mm, diameter of 105.4mm and length of 2000mm is successfully obtained by the $CO_2$ laser welding system equipped with a seam tracker and plasma sensor. Experimental results show that the developed welding system can be used for the precision seam tracking and the real-time monitoring of weld quality, and the laser welded tube can be used for car body md component after tubular hydroforming.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.7 s.184
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• pp.59-66
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• 2006

In laser welding, automatic seam tracking is important to adjust the laser head position in real time as it moves along the seam. Also if the joint gap is occurred, filling the missing material into the joint gap is necessary to prevent welding defects and bad welding quality. In general, the joint gap width is not constant along the seam due to a variety of reason. So it is essential to control the filler wire speed into the joint gap to acquire good welding quality. This paper describes an intelligent filler wire feeding device which can control 3-dimensional seam tracking and the filler wire speed by measuring the gap position and the joint gap width in laser welding. We call this device as Smart Micro Control system(SMC). To achieve this objective, we assessed weld quality in 2mm sheets of A16061 which had various gap width by using the developed device. From the experimental results, It was found the possibility that the developed device could be used in welding various 3-dimensional structures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.1138-1141
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• 1995

An arc sensor for seam tracking is developed to automate sub-assembly welding in shipbuilding. We utilize a moving average method, which produces an effect of low-pass filter, to generate the position compensation. Therefore the sensor is able to modify the path of the weld seam in real time. By simplifying the compension process, the tunning time is reduced so that operators react quickly. It turns out that this sensor is highly reliable and it is installed and being used in SHI Keoje shipbuilding yard.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.131-139
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• 1996

The response of the arc sensor using the welding current and/or welding voltage as its outputs has been obtained by the analysis and/or experiments of the static characteristics of arc sensor. But in order to improve the reliability of arc sensor, it is necessary to know its dynamic characteristics. So in this paper, it is presented the dynamic model of arc sensor including the power source, arc voltage, electrode burnoff rate, and wire feed rate. A numerical simulation of the dynamic model of arc sensor was implemented, computing the welding current with input of CTWD. The results of computer simulations and experiments of $CO_2$arc welding showed that a linear relationship between weaving center - weld line distance and current area difference was established. Additionally, a real-time weld seam tracking system interfaced with industrial welding robot was constructed, the result of the weld seam tracking experiment for weld line with an initial offset error of 5$^{\circ}$was good.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.19-23
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• 2005

To minimize the weld defect in manufacturing of the welded tube by using $CO_2$ laser, the monitoring of the welding quality and the seam tracking along the butt-joint lengthwise to the tube axis are studied. The longitudinal butt-joint is shaped from $60kgf/mm^2$ grade steel sheet by 2 roll bending method, and welded by the $CO_2$ laser welding system equipped with the seam tracker and plasma sensor. The laser welded tube has the thickness of 1.5mm, diameter of 105.4mm and length of 2000mm. The precise positioning of the laser beam on the butt-joint to be assembled is obtained within $200{\mu}m$ by the laser vision sensor. The artificial defects in the butt-joint are well observed by the signal of plasma intensity measured from the plasma sensor of UV wavelength range within 400nm. The developed $CO_2$ laser tube welding system has the function of the precision seam tracking and the real-time monitoring of the welding quality. In conclusion, the laser welded tube can be used for manufacturing of automobile chassis and components after hydro-forming.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.706-713
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• 2002

In the multi-pass welding of pressure vessels or ships, the mechanical touch sensor system is generally used together with a manipulator to measure the gap and depth of the narrow gap to perform seam tracking. Unfortunately, such mechanical touch sensors may commit measuring errors caused by the eterioration of the measuring device. An automation system of narrow gap multi-pass welding using a laser vision system which can track the seam line of narrow gap and which can control welding power has been developed. The joint profile of the narrow gap, with 250mm depth and 28mm width, can be captured by laser vision camera. The image is then processed for defining tracking positions of the torch during welding. Then, the real-time correction of lateral and vertical position of the torch can be done by the laser vision system. The adaptive control of welding conditions like welding Currents and welding speeds, can also be performed by the laser vision system, which cannot be done by conventional mechanical touch systems. The developed automation system will be adopted to reduce the idle time of welders, which happens frequently in conventional long welding processes, and to improve the reliability of the weld quality as well.