Patent Application
20160331592
This invention relates in general to equipment used in welding, and more particularly to a welding system including an interactive welding helmet.
Welding is an important process in the manufacture and construction of various products and structures. Applications for welding are widespread and used throughout the world, for example, the construction and repair of ships, buildings, bridges, vehicles, and pipe lines, to name a few. Welding may performed in a variety of locations, such as in a factory with a fixed welding operation or on site with a portable welder.
In manual or semi-automated welding a user/operator (i.e. welder) directs welding equipment to make a weld. For example, in arc welding the welder may manually position a welding rod or welding wire and produce a heat generating arc at a weld location. In this type of welding the spacing of the electrode from the weld location is related to the arc produced and to the achievement of optimum melting/fusing of the base and welding rod or wire metals. The quality of such a weld is often directly dependent upon the skill of the welder.
Welders generally rely upon a variety of information when welding. This information includes, for example, current and voltage and wire feed speed. Traditionally, welders would need to look at gauges on the control panel of the welding equipment to gain this information. This would require the welder to direct their field of vision away from the welding work area and as such was undesirable.
In the past, efforts have been made to provide welders with information during welding, such as in the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,277, where current and voltage are monitored to produce an audio indication to the operator as to the condition of the arc in arc welding. However, monitors consisting only of audio arc parameter indicators are hard to hear and interpolate and are not capable of achieving the desired closeness of control and quality of weld often required.
More recently, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,711, an apparatus for monitoring arc welding has been developed that provides a welder with real-time voltage and current conditions of the welding arc where information in the form of lights, illuminated bar graphs, light projections, illuminated see-through displays, or the like are placed within the visual range of the helmet wearing operator and located in proximity to the helmet viewing window in the helmet. However, in this apparatus a welder must still move their visual focus away from the welding work area in order to focus on the information located proximate to the welding window or the welder must accept the information peripherally while continuing to focus on the welding work area.
This invention relates to an interactive welding helmet that is capable of both displaying and receiving modifications of welding parameters in a hands-free manner using one or more of eye-control and/or voice control. The disclosed interactive welding helmet is also adapted for use with remotes, including both wired and wireless remotes, digital welding guns, TIG torches, and other equipment for welding or related operations.
Presently disclosed is a welding system. In various embodiments, the welding system includes welding equipment for generating a welding current and voltage, a welding control system for controlling the welding current and voltage, a monitoring system for monitoring a welding parameter, and a welding helmet. The welding control system may also control a wire feeder at a desired wire feed speed for the welding operation. The welding helmet includes a main body, a retinal tracking system configured to identify a field of view of a user by tracking movement of the user's eyes, and a visual display system configured to generate a visual image of the welding parameter and further configured to position the visual image within the field of view of the user identified by the retinal tracking system. In some embodiments, the visual image includes alpha-numeric characters. In some embodiments, the welding helmet further includes a microphone and is configured to respond to one or both of eye-control or voice-control as discussed below. In some embodiments, the welding parameter includes at least one or more of the welding current, the welding voltage, and a wire feed speed
In some embodiments, the retinal tracking system is further configured to receive a welding parameter input from the user based on tracking movement of the user's eyes, and to communicate the welding parameter input to the welding control system to control at least one of the welding current and voltage.
In some embodiments, the visual display system is further configured to display a menu of welding parameters, and the retinal tracking system is further configured to select a menu item from the menu of controllable welding parameters based on tracking movement of the user's eyes. In some embodiments, the visual display system is further configured to generate one or more status indicators each associated with a monitored welding parameter, and each status indicator indicates a relationship between the monitored welding parameter and an acceptable range for the monitored welding parameter defined by a welding procedure.
In some embodiments, the retinal tracking system is further configured to select a welding parameter, and the welding helmet further comprises a microphone configured to receive audible commands from the user to adjust the welding parameter to control at least one of the welding current and voltage. In some embodiments, the retinal tracking system includes a monocle positioned between one of a user's eyes and the visual display system.
In some embodiments, the visual display system is a window including a welding lens. In some embodiments, the visual display system is capable of projecting a stereogram on the welding lens. In some embodiments, the visual display system includes a series of mirrors for reflecting the visual image toward the welding lens. In some embodiments, the welding helmet includes a reflective surface proximate the welding lens for reflecting the visual image toward the interior of the welding helmet. In some embodiments, the visual display system comprises a holographic projection system. In some embodiments, the visual display system comprises includes an LCD display. In some embodiments, the visual display system comprises includes an LED array.
In some embodiments, the visual display system includes at least one video monitor for displaying a picture of an associated welding work area. In some embodiments, the welding helmet further includes at least one camera connected to the main body for providing the picture of the associated welding work area. In some embodiments, the visual display system is configured to include the visual image of the welding parameter in the picture of the associated welding work area.
In some embodiments, the focus of the visual image is at the same focal distance as the associated welding work area.
Reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which particular embodiments and further benefits of the invention are illustrated as described in more detail in the description below, in which:
Referring generally to
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The welding system 14 includes welding equipment 41 for generating a welding current and voltage, a welding control system 43 for controlling the welding current and voltage, and a monitoring system 45 for monitoring the welding current and voltage. The welding control system may also control a wire feeder at a desired wire feed speed for the welding operation. The monitoring system may also monitor a variety of other operating parameter, such as but not limited to, wire feed speed, amount of wire used/amount of wire remaining, any type of welding feedback desired by the operator and any other desired operating parameter.
The welding helmet 12 includes a main body 22 with a visual display system, generally indicated by the number 25, that includes display 24 connected to the main body 22. The display 24 may be a window including a welding lens, filter, a video monitor, such as an LCD display or LED array, or any other device suitable to allow a welder to see the welding work area 20. It must be understood that in such an example where the display 24 is a video monitor, video processing may be utilized to enhance the pictures of the welding operation. Further, recording devices may optionally be included to record and later playback welding operations for analysis and/or evaluation.
In various embodiments, the welding helmet 12 also includes a retinal tracking system 40. The retinal tracking system 40 is configured to identify a field of view of a user by tracking movement of the user's eyes. In some embodiments, the retinal tracking system detects a signal reflected by the retina of at least one of the welder's eyes and determines the welder's visual focus from the reflected signal.
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It must be understood that a variety of information and welding parameters may be displayed by the visual display system. For example, the displayed information may include information related to the welding current and voltage, such as welding current feedback, welding voltage feedback, control settings of the welding equipment, statistical information of the welding process, benchmarks or limits including capacity representations, alerts including material shortage or low flow, a representation of an intended or desired weld, etc. An example of one display is depicted in
Further, in one embodiment, the camera 26 is used to calibrate the depth of the image relative to the welding work area 20. In another embodiment, positions sensors on the welding gun may be used to calibrate the depth of the image. In particular applications it is highly desirable to carefully align the image and the welding work are such that the information represented in the image is easy for the welder to access and such that the information in the image is readily accepted by the welder.
In the example where the visual display 24 is a video monitor, information generating mechanism 28 may include an image representative of information from the monitoring system based upon the monitored parameter, such as welding current and voltage, in video pictures of the welding work area 20 shown on the display 24.
As indicated at 29, the information generating mechanism 28 may be in wired or wireless communication with other devices as desired.
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In any case, the image may be an overlay of text or graphics or video feedback. Additionally, it is contemplated that in at least one embodiment the system described above may be used in a remote welding situation, including but not limited to robotic welding or underwater welding.
In each of the foregoing embodiments, the visual display system generates a visual image of the welding parameters. To improve the usability of the system, it may be desired to position the welding parameters within the field of view of the welder. The retinal tracking system 40 of the welding helmet is provided to identify the welder's field of view. As previously discussed, the retinal tracking system 40 may identify movement of the welder's eyes, such as by detecting a signal reflected from the at least one of the welder's retinas.
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In another embodiment, illustrated in
In addition to tracking movement of the welder's eyes to determine a field of view, the retinal tracking system 40 may also be configured to identify blinking or discrete eye movements which may be used to control one or more welding parameters.
Referring now to
Solely for purposes of illustrate, the display/menu 50 is illustrated as including welding voltage, welding current, polarity, waveform, and wire feed speed. For certain parameters, such as welding current and voltage, the display/menu identifies the parameter and provides the current value associated with that parameter. In some embodiments, the display/menu may include one or both of the current setting for the parameter, and the current monitored value of that parameter. In such embodiments, deviations from the current setting may be easily identified during a welding operation. As shown in
The display/menu 50 provides a variety of functions for the welding system. As explained above, the display/menu operates to display the welding parameters and inform the welder about the current state of the welding process. In addition, the display/menu 50, in combination with the retinal tracking system 40, functions as a menu for modifying the welding parameters to control the welding process. In an embodiment, the retinal tracking system 40 is configured to receive welding parameter input from the welder based on tracking the movement of the welder's eyes. By way of illustration, the retinal tracking system 40 may be configured to identify specific eye movements or blink patterns, which correspond to menu selection commands. A double blink of the welder's left eye may cause the system to select and/or cycle through the displayed welding parameters. Once the desired parameter is selected (such as the welding voltage), a predetermined movement or blink pattern may be used to adjust that parameter to change the welding operation. After the desired adjustment has been completed, the system communicates the welding parameter input to the welding control system thereby controlling the welding process. In this manner, the welding current and voltage, as well as other welding parameters may be adjusted in an entirely hands-free operation, while the welder maintains visual awareness of the associated welding work area. As shown in
In yet other embodiments, the welding helmet 12 includes a microphone 38. As illustrated in
In another embodiment, the welding system receives a preset welding current and voltage for a desired welding operation. The present welding current and voltage are displayed in the welding helmet by the visual display system as previously discussed. In response to activating a trigger to begin a welding process, the visual display system automatically switches to display the actual welding current and voltage. In this manner, a welder is provided with real-time information on the status of the welding operation and can monitor for deviations from the desired welding current and voltage. In other embodiments, both the preset and actual current and voltage are simultaneously displayed by the visual display system.
In yet another embodiment, the visual display indicator is configured to display status indicators associated with one or more welding parameters. A welding procedure may define an acceptable range for various welding parameters, such as current and voltage and wire feed speed. During a welding operation, the actual value of the welding parameter may be compared to the acceptable range for that parameter defined by the welding procedure. So long as the welding parameter is within the acceptable range the visual display system may display the status indicator as green, as a plus sign, or other commonly understood indicator of a correct operating condition. If the welding parameter deviates from the acceptable range defined by the welding procedure, the status indicator may be displayed as red, as a negative sign, or other commonly understood indicator of an incorrect operating condition. In some embodiments, the status indicator may be the color of the displayed welding parameter value, while in other embodiments the status indicator may be a separate display. In yet other embodiments, a warning range may be defined for the welding parameters. A warning range may be defined by the welding procedure, or may be defined by the welding system based on percentage of the acceptable range. In such embodiments, the status indicator may be displayed as yellow or another commonly understood indicator of a caution condition, that may warrant attention from the operator so that the welding process may be corrected before deviating beyond the acceptable range for the welding parameter.
While principles and modes of operation have been explained and illustrated with regard to particular embodiments, it must be understood, however, that this may be practiced otherwise than as specifically explained and illustrated without departing from its spirit or scope.
