Development of a new adaptive spot weld controller driven by an ultrasonic monitoring system.

开发由超声波监控系统驱动的新型自适应点焊控制器。

• 批准号: 558341-2020
• 负责人: Maev, Roman
• 金额: $ 11.15万
• 依托单位: University of Windsor
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=721698
• 关键词: Development; new; adaptive; spot; weld

Ranging from 4000 to 6000 spots for each single vehicle, resistance welding still plays a vital role in any automotive body structure construction, and it is directly related to the passenger safety rates. Despite being a major joining technology in automotive industry for decades, the fast-paced environment of a body shop still misses some vital information in terms of process quality and monitoring, which nowadays is a severe demand from the Industry 4.0 standards. The "adaptive" welding controllers were designed to fill this gap, but it seems that current process monitoring technologies have reached a limit in terms of their capacity to increase the detection rates, as well as the ability to promptly react to any disturbance in the regular welding process. Also, the increased use of new materials in automotive bodies, such as high strength steels and aluminum alloys, also brings some challenges, since its welding behavior tends to be more unstable compared to the conventional steels usually applied. In recent years, the Institute for Diagnostic Imaging Research (IDIR) at the University of Windsor has developed a state-of-the-art quality monitoring technology using ultrasound. A piezo-electric sensor, built into the welding electrode, is working to send sound waves into the welded sheets and receive the reflections from the internal structure of the joint. It allows the determination of when the melting begins and what are the main dimensions of the weld. In this sense, a solution with a high probability of success involves the use of both techniques combined: ultrasonic sensors placed inside the welding gun, triggering the decision-making algorithm from the adaptive welding controller. This solution will be a breakthrough development, since it will realize the "built in quality" concept, providing a significant increase in the assembly process fault(s) detection rates, as well as an immediate feedback to the weld controller, which will be able to apply the proper corrections of the weld parameters in real time, making it possible to implement the "zero defect" concept.

每辆汽车的焊接点从4000到6000个不等，电阻焊在任何汽车车身结构制造中仍然起着至关重要的作用，它直接关系到乘客的安全率。 尽管几十年来车身车间一直是汽车行业的主要连接技术，但在快节奏的环境中，车身车间仍然缺少一些关于工艺质量和监控的重要信息，而这正是工业4.0标准的严格要求。 “自适应”焊接控制器旨在填补这一空白，但目前的过程监控技术似乎在提高检测率的能力以及对常规焊接过程中的任何干扰做出迅速反应的能力方面已经达到了极限。此外，汽车车身中新材料的使用增加，例如高强度钢和铝合金，也带来了一些挑战，因为与通常应用的传统钢相比，其焊接行为往往更不稳定。 近年来，温莎大学的诊断成像研究所（IDIR）开发了一种使用超声波的最先进的质量监测技术。内置于焊接电极中的压电传感器正在工作，以将声波发送到焊接板中，并接收来自接头内部结构的反射。它允许确定何时开始熔化以及焊接的主要尺寸。 从这个意义上说，成功可能性很高的解决方案涉及结合使用两种技术：将超声波传感器放置在焊枪内部，触发自适应焊接控制器的决策算法。该解决方案将是一个突破性的发展，因为它将实现“内置质量”概念，提供装配过程故障检测率的显著增加，以及对焊接控制器的即时反馈，焊接控制器将能够在真实的时间内应用焊接参数的适当校正，使得实现“零缺陷”概念成为可能。