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EP0108599A1 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Automatic welding

Assignee: BTG International Ltd
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Filing: 1983-11-01
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2003-11-01
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Abstract

Abstract Apparatus to control the automatic placing of material along a junction between surfaces with reference to the form and position of the junction including means controllably movable to deposit material progressively along the junction in response to a control signal, means linked to the movement of the means to deposit material to produce an image of the surfaces and junction, means to extract from the image that portion unambiguously defining the junction form and position, means responsive to said image portion to derive said control signal to control the means to deposit material to move in a required manner along said junction to deposit material.

Inventors

  • 👤 Jonathon Simon Elliott Bromley
  • 👤 William Frederick Clocksin
  • 👤 Peter Gordon Davey
  • 👤 Colin George Morgan
  • 👤 Albert Robert Vidler

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 21:37
CPC Classifications
B; B25; B25J; B25J19/00; B25J19/0054; B23; B23K; B23K9/00; B23K9/095; B23K9/0956; B23Q; B23Q35/00; B23Q35/04; B23Q35/08; B23Q35/12; B23Q35/127; B23Q35/128; B25J19/02; B25J19/021; G; G05; G05B; G05B2219/00; G05B2219/30; G05B2219/45; G05B2219/45104; G05B2219/47; G05B2219/4701

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim 105 words
Apparatus to control the automatic placing of material along a junction between surfaces with reference to the form and position of the junction including means controllably movable to deposit material progressively along the junction in response to a control signal, means linked to the movement of the means to deposit material to produce an image of the surfaces and junction, means to extract from the image that portion unambiguously defining the junction form and position, means responsive to said image portion to derive said control signal to control the means to deposit material to move in a required manner along said junction to deposit material.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 105 words
Apparatus to control the automatic placing of material along a junction between surfaces with reference to the form and position of the junction including means controllably movable to deposit material progressively along the junction in response to a control signal, means linked to the movement of the means to deposit material to produce an image of the surfaces and junction, means to extract from the image that portion unambiguously defining the junction form and position, means responsive to said image portion to derive said control signal to control the means to deposit material to move in a required manner along said junction to deposit material.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 48 words
Apparatus according to Claim 1 in which the image is an array of pixel elements identified by a set of row indices and a set of column indices and the extracted portion is an array of pixels, one pixel for each of one of said sets of indices.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 25 words
Apparatus according to Claim 2 in which the image is further simplified to at least one straight-line segment defined by endpoints in the extracted array.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 41 words
Apparatus according to Claim 1 in which the image is processed by a filter to remove from the image information produced by illumination at other than a specific wavelength, which filter includes a tapped delay to provide a specific impulse response.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 19 words
Apparatus according to Claim 1 in which the material to be deposited is a gas shielded arc weld bead.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 64 words
Apparatus according to Claim 1 in which the means to produce an image includes a light source to produce a sheet of light of a specific wavelength and a camera to form an image of a region of the surfaces and junction including the line of incidence of the sheet of light, the sheet of light being inclined to the axis of the camera.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 31 words
Apparatus according to Claim 6 including a welding torch and in which the axis of the camera and the axis of the welding torch are parallel and at a specific spacing.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 49 words
Apparatus according to Claim 7 in which the axis of the source forming the sheet of light is inclined at angles of 15° to 18° to the axis of the camera in the plane containing the parallel torch and camera axes and in a plane at right angles thereto.
Claim 10
Independent Claim 63 words
A method of controlling an automatic arc welding process at a junction of surfaces including producing an image of a welding area containing the junction and illuminated by a light sheet, extracting from the image that portion representing the form and position of the junction and deriving from said image portion control information to, control the welding process to operate along said junction.
Claim 11
Independent Claim 63 words
A method of controlling an automatic arc welding process at a junction of surfaces including producing an image of a welding area containing the junction and illuminated by a light sheet, extracting from the image that portion representing the form and position of the junction and deriving from said image portion control information to, control the welding process to operate along said junction.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

DE2711660B2 Cited
GB2087107A Cited

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