Welding system and method

Abstract

A welding system includes a welder configured to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint, a test-device configured to produce test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint, and a controller-circuit in communication with the welder and the test-device. The controller-circuit is configured to determine whether the welder-process-data violates a quality-metric and determine a number of violating-weld-joints.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A welding system, comprising:
 a welder configured to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint;   a test-device configured to produce test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint; and   a controller-circuit in communication with the welder and the test-device, wherein the controller-circuit is configured to determine whether the welder-process-data violates a quality-metric and determine a number of violating-weld-joints.   
     
     
         2 . The system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising an identification-device configured to create a label indicative of an identity of the assembly wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to activate the identification-device to create the label. 
     
     
         3 . The system in accordance with  claim 2 , further comprising a human-machine-interface configured display instructions to an operator, wherein the operator is instructed to attach the label to the assembly having a violating-weld-joint via the human-machine-interface. 
     
     
         4 . The system in accordance with  claim 3 , wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to instruct the operator, via a human-machine-interface, to attach the label to the assembly having the violating-weld-joint. 
     
     
         5 . The system in accordance with  claim 4 , wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to instruct the operator, via the human-machine-interface, to perform a test of the violating-weld-joint with the test-device. 
     
     
         6 . The system in accordance with  claim 3 , further comprising a memory in communication via the controller-circuit and configured to record welder-process-data associated with formation of the weld-joint, wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to record the test-data of the violating-weld-joint in the memory linked to the identity. 
     
     
         7 . The system in accordance with  claim 6 , further comprising a camera in communication via the controller-circuit, wherein the camera is configured to render an image of the weld-joint and wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to record the image in the memory linked to the identity. 
     
     
         8 . A welding method, said method comprising the steps of:
 activating a welder to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint between components;   recording welder-process-data associated with the weld-joint linked to an identity of the assembly; and   determining whether the welder-process-data violates a quality-metric and in accordance with a determination that the welder-process-data violates the quality-metric determining a number of violating-weld-joints; and   activating an alert-device, thereby alerting an operator to a violating-weld-joint.   
     
     
         9 . The method in accordance with  claim 8 , further comprising the step of:
 disabling the welder when the number of violating-weld-joints exceeds a threshold.   
     
     
         10 . The method in accordance with  claim 8 , further comprising the step of:
 activating an identification-device to create a label indicative of the identity of the assembly with the violating-weld-joint.   
     
     
         11 . The method in accordance with  claim 10 , further comprising the step of:
 instructing the operator to attach the label to the assembly having the violating-weld-joint.   
     
     
         12 . The method in accordance with  claim 11 , further comprising the step of:
 instructing the operator to perform tests of the assembly having the violating-weld-joint with a test-device, thereby producing test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint.   
     
     
         13 . The method in accordance with  claim 12 , further comprising the step of:
 recording the test-data linked to the identity.   
     
     
         14 . A welding system, comprising:
 a welder configured to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint between components;   a human-machine-interface configured to display instructions from the system to an operator;   an identification-device configured to create a label indicative of an identity of the assembly;   a test-device configured to produce test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint; and   a controller-circuit in communication with the welder, the human-machine-interface, the identification-device, and the test-device, wherein the controller-circuit is configured to activate the identification-device to create the label for the assembly, instruct the operator to apply the label to the assembly, instruct the operator to perform a test of assembly with the test-device, determine whether welder-process-data and the test-data violates a quality-metric and activate an alert-device based on the violation in accordance with a determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric.   
     
     
         15 . The system in accordance with  claim 14 , wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to disable the welder in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric. 
     
     
         16 . The system in accordance with  claim 14 , further comprising a memory in communication via the controller-circuit and a camera in communication via the controller-circuit, wherein the camera is configured to render an image of the weld-joint and wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to record the image linked to the identity in the memory. 
     
     
         17 . A welding method, said method comprising the steps of:
 activating a welder to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint between components;   activating an identification-device to create a label indicative of an identity of the assembly;   instructing an operator to attach the label to the assembly;   instructing the operator to perform a test of the assembly with a test-device, thereby producing test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint;   determining whether welder-process-data and the test-data violates a quality-metric; and   activating an alert-device alerting the operator based on the violation in accordance with a determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric.   
     
     
         18 . The method in accordance with  claim 17 , further comprising the step of disabling the welder in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric.