Submerged Arc Welding Control via Arc Sensing

摘要

The overall objective of this Phase I research was to establish the feasibility of using intelligence gleaned from the electrical arc signals of the submerged arc welding (SAW) process to adaptively control the position and geometry of the weld head relative to the weld joint. By so doing, it was expected that the weld joint could be tracked accurately and that proper fusion into the joint sidewall (and/or adjacent weld beads in a multipass per layer weld) and uniform fill could be adaptively maintained in real time. The limited research effort of the Phase I research program has shown that through-the-arc sensing and control methodology offers excellent promise for the SAW process. Indeed, the results achieved suggest that through-the-arc sensing will be potentially more powerful as a diagnostic and control tool for the SAW process than the other consumable electrode processes, where it has already met with high success. The results of this Phase I research indicates that the SAW process may prove to be the most applicable for through-the-arc methodologies. Therefore, additional Phase 2 research is necessary and very important and is strongly recommended.