Development of Automated Ultrasonic Inspection System of Spot Weld

点焊是一种先进的连接工艺，在制造业中越来越重要，特别是在汽车行业。虽然目前的技术是高度自动化的，但检查仍然是人工完成的，这很耗时，高度依赖操作员的专业技术和分析技能，并且仅应用于有限数量的焊接点。当发现有缺陷的焊缝时，必须扔掉大量已经焊接的产品，造成材料、人力和处置成本的巨大损失。迫切需要一种自动化的无损检测系统，能够准确、可靠地处理更多的焊缝，并可以集成到生产线的工作周期中。拟议的项目旨在开发一种满足这一需求的超声波检测系统。根据拟议的项目，滑铁卢大学的研究人员将与HJ Machine and Patterns Ltd.(HJMP)的工程师合作，将超声波和机器视觉技术相结合，开发一种超声波无损检测系统，该系统可以直接在汽车工厂生产线上进行生产中的检测。新系统将以高分辨率和可靠性评估焊接质量，而不依赖操作员的技能。该系统的主要组成部分将并行开发，包括超声换能器、控制器中心、自动定位系统和用户界面软件。拟议的项目具有巨大的潜力，可以创新进行点焊检测的方式，从而帮助HJMP将自己定位为北美新型自动化超声波检测解决方案的领先供应商。由于无损检测技术对汽车底盘的安全至关重要，因此该项目的科技进步也将适用于电动汽车车队，电动汽车车队将是不久的将来乘用车的主流。高效可靠的检测技术将为加拿大汽车业带来明显的好处，该行业是加拿大最大的制造业雇主，拥有540多家公司。

Spot welding is an advanced joining process of increasing importance within the manufacturing industry, particularly the automotive sector. While current techniques are highly automated, inspection continues to be done manually, which is time-consuming and highly dependent upon specialized technical and analytical skills of the operator, and are only applied to a limited number of weld points. When a defective weld is found, a large quantity of already welded products must be thrown away, resulting in huge losses in materials, labor and disposal costs. There is a critical need for an automated nondestructive inspection system that can handle a much larger number of welds accurately and reliably, and can be integrated within the working cycles of production line. The proposed project aims to develop an ultrasonic inspection system that meets this need. Under the proposed project, University of Waterloo researchers will work alongside HJ Machine and Pattern Ltd. (HJMP) engineers to merge ultrasonic and machine vision technologies to develop an ultrasonic nondestructive inspection system which can perform in-production inspections directly within an automotive plant line. The new system will evaluate weld quality with high resolution and reliability, without depending on operators' skills. The main components of the system will be developed in parallel, including an ultrasound transducer, a controller hub, an automated positioning system, and user interface software. The proposed project holds great potential to innovate the way spot weld inspections are conducted and thus help HJMP position themselves as a leading provider of new automated ultrasonic inspection solutions in North America. Since nondestructive inspection technologies are essential to the safety of automotive chassis, the scientific and technological advances from this project will also be applicable to electric vehicle fleets, which will be the main stream of passenger cars in the near future. Efficient and reliable inspection technologies will be of clear benefit for the Canadian automotive industry, which is the largest manufacturing employer in Canada with over 540 companies.