System for tracking and analyzing welding activity

Abstract

A system and a method for tracking and analyzing welding activity. Dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool are sensed during a welding process producing a weld. The sensed dynamic spatial properties are tracked over time and the tracked dynamic spatial properties are captured as tracked data during the welding process. The tracked data is analyzed to determine performance characteristics of a welder performing the welding process and quality characteristics of a weld produced by the welding process. The performance characteristics and the quality characteristics may be subsequently reviewed.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
 means for automatically sensing dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a weld;   means for automatically tracking said sensed dynamic spatial properties over time during said welding process;   means for automatically capturing said tracked dynamic spatial properties as tracked data during said welding process; and   means for automatically analyzing said tracked data to determine at least one of performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process and quality characteristics of a weld produced by said welding process.   
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for reviewing said performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for reviewing said quality characteristics of a weld produced by said welding process. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for a user to locally interact with said system. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for a user to remotely interact with said system. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for automatically authorizing access to a user of said system. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1  wherein said performance characteristics of a welder include at least one of a weld joint trajectory, a travel speed of said welding tool, welding tool pitch and roll angles, an electrode distance to a center weld joint, an electrode trajectory, and a weld time. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1  wherein said quality characteristics of a weld produced by said welding process include at least one of discontinuities and flaws within regions of a weld produced by said welding process. 
     
     
       9. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
 at least one sensor array configured to sense dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a weld;   a processor based computing device operatively interfacing to said at least one sensor array and configured to track and analyze said dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool over time during a welding process producing a weld; and   at least one user interface operatively interfacing to said processor based computing device.   
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9  wherein said at least one user interface includes a graphical user interface. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 9  wherein said at least one user interface includes a display device. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 9  further comprising a network interface configured to interface said processor based computing device to an external communication network. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 9  wherein said at least one sensor array includes at least one of acoustical sensor elements, optical sensor elements, magnetic sensor elements, and electromagnetic sensor elements. 
     
     
       14. A method for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said method comprising:
 sensing dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a weld using at least one sensor;   tracking said sensed dynamic spatial properties over time during said welding process using a real time tracking module;   capturing said tracked dynamic spatial properties as tracked data during said welding process using a computer based memory device; and   analyzing said tracked data to determine at least one of performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process and quality characteristics of a weld produced by said welding process using a computer based analysis engine.   
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14  further comprising outputting said performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process to at least one of a display device, a visualization module, and a testing module for review. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 14  further comprising outputting said quality characteristics of a weld produced by said welding process to at least one of a display device, a visualization module, and a testing module for review. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 14  further comprising selecting welding set up parameters for said welding process via a user interface. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 14  further comprising remotely reviewing at least one of said performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process and said quality characteristics of a weld produced by said welding process, via a communication network. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 14  wherein said performance characteristics of a welder include at least one of a weld joint trajectory, a travel speed of said welding tool, welding tool pitch and roll angles, an electrode distance to a center weld joint, an electrode trajectory, and a weld time. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 14  wherein said quality characteristics of a weld produced by said welding process include at least one of discontinuities and flaws within regions of a weld produced by said welding process. 
     
     
       21. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
 an optical tracking system comprising an optical sensor and configured to track at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool during a manual welding process producing a real world weld;   a processor based computing system operatively connected to said optical tracking system and configured to analyze data related to said welding process and determine an area along the real world weld that is defective or potentially defective based on said at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of said welding tool, said processor based computing system identifying said area for subsequent review by a user; and   a graphical display to display information related to weld quality,   wherein said processor based computing system is configured to record information related to a welder's identity and performance, and   wherein said processor based computing system is configured to record information corresponding to said at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of said welding tool in an analysis record.    
     
     
       22. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
 at least one optical sensor array configured to sense spatial properties of a welding tool during a manual welding process producing a real world weld;   a computer operatively connected to said at least one sensor array to determine at least one parameter of said welding tool, said computer configured to analyze data related to said welding process and determine an area along the real world weld that is defective based on said sensed spatial properties, said computer identifying said area for subsequent review by a user; and   a user interface to display information related to weld quality,   wherein said computer is configured to record information related to a welder's identity and performance, and   wherein said computer is configured to record information corresponding to said at least one parameter in an analysis record.    
     
     
       23. A system for tracking welding activity, said system comprising:
 an optical tracking system comprising an optical sensor and configured to track at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of a welding tool during a manual welding process producing a real world weld;   a computer operatively connected to said optical tracking system, said computer configured to determine at least one parameter of said welding tool; and   a graphical display to display a graph having information related to weld quality,   wherein said computer is configured to record information related to a welder's performance based on at least said at least one parameter, said computer configured to analyze data related to said welding process and determine an area along the real world weld that is potentially defective based on said at least one of a position, a movement, and an orientation of said welding tool, said computer identifying said area for subsequent review by a user,   wherein said computer records information related to at least one of weldment materials, electrode materials, user name, and project ID number, and   wherein said computer records information corresponding to said at least one parameter in an analysis record.    
     
     
       24. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising:
 a welding tool configured to create a real world weld during a manual welding operation;   an optical sensor array comprising at least one optical sensor, said optical sensor array configured to sense spatial properties of said welding tool during said welding operation;   a processor based computing device operatively connected to said sensor array and configured to receive information from said sensor array related to said sensed spatial properties, said processor based computing device configured to analyze data related to said welding process, said analyzing including determining a plurality of performance parameters for said welding operation, and where said processor based computing device determines at least one location of said real world weld which contains a defect based on said sensed spatial properties, said processor based computing device identifying said at least one location for subsequent review by a user; and   a user interface operatively connected to said processor based computing device, said user interface configured to graphically display said plurality of performance parameters and display information relating to said at least one location.    
     
     
       25. The system of claim 24, wherein said determination of said defect is based on heuristic methods.  
     
     
       26. The system of claim 24 wherein said plurality of performance parameters includes at least one of a weld speed, welding tool pitch angle, welding tool roll angle, and an electrode distance to a center weld joint.  
     
     
       27. The system of claim 24, wherein said spatial properties comprise at least one of a position, an orientation, and a movement of said welding tool.  
     
     
       28. The system of claim 24, wherein said welding tool comprises a portion of said optical sensor array.  
     
     
       29. The system of claim 24, wherein said processor based computing device is configured to record information related to a welder's performance.  
     
     
       30. The system of claim 29, wherein said information includes information corresponding to said welder's identity.  
     
     
       31. The system of claim 24, wherein said analyzing further includes comparing at least one of said plurality of performance parameters to known good parameters for a particular weld joint configuration.  
     
     
       32. The system of claim 24, wherein said determining of said defect is performed by an expert system.  
     
     
       33. The system of claim 32, wherein said expert system is a rule-based system.