Patent Application
20170266868
Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to welding equipment. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a welding machine useful for welding membranes and other flexible fabrics. Specifically, the present disclosure is directed to a welding machine and a method of welding flexible fabrics where the machine is operable in forward and reverse directions.
Background Information
Large commercial buildings frequently have some type of flexible, waterproof roofing membrane installed on their roofs. The roofing membrane is provided in elongate strips that are arranged side-by-side across the surface of the roof. The edges of adjacent strips are overlapped with each other and are subsequently secured together to provide a waterproof surface over the roof. There are a number of ways of securing the overlapped edges of the strips together, one of which is heat welding them to each other.
A variety of welding machines have been developed for this purpose. These machines include a nozzle with a welding head that is positionable between the overlapped edges of the strips of roofing membrane and the welding head is used to apply heat to the overlapped region. One or more rollers for applying pressure to the heated overlapped region are also provided on the machine. The rollers are positioned on one side of the welding head and in such a way that they will substantially immediately contact the heated overlapped region and apply pressure thereto. The combination of heat and pressure bonds the overlapped region of two adjacent strips of roofing membrane together.
The nozzle on some of these prior art machines may be mounted on an arm that extends laterally outwardly from one side of the machine. The nozzle is slidable along the arm and is able to be moved away from the side of the machine when welding is not occurring and toward the side of the machine when getting ready to weld. The nozzle is mounted on the arm in such a way that it is able to pivot about and axis extending along the arm. The nozzle may be pivoted downwardly toward the roofing surface or upwardly away from the roofing surface. When the machine is being readied to weld, the nozzle is first pivoted downwardly toward the roofing surface and is then slid along the arm toward the side of the machine. Because of the orientation of the welding head on the nozzle, when the nozzle is slid toward the machine, the welding head moves at least partially under the bottom wall of the machine. In this position the welding head is able to be placed between the overlapped edge of one strip of roofing membrane and the underlapped edge of the other strip of roofing membrane. Welding can then commence. When welding of the overlapped region is completed, the operator slides the nozzle laterally away from the side of the machine and then pivots the nozzle upwardly about an axis extending along the arm, thus moving the hot welding head away from the roofing surface. It should be noted that power is provided to the welding machine via cables that connect to a generator. The generator typically is lifted onto the roof for this purpose and this operation may require the use of a crane because of the weight of such generators. Additionally, the cables required to connect the generator and welding machine together may be long and have to be kept clear of the part of the roofing membrane that is being welded. Frequently, roofing company will have to have a person dedicated to watching and moving the cable on the roof so that this task does not interfere with the operation of the welding machine.
During welding operations, several strips of roofing membrane may need to be placed side-by-side to cover the roof surface. There may therefore be a number of individual overlapped regions that have to be welded in order to create the waterproof covering. These overlapped regions will tend to be spaced laterally from each other and generally parallel to each other. Additionally, each overlapped region tends to extend from proximate a first end of the roof to proximate a second end thereof. An operator will position the welding machine at a beginning of a first overlapped region at the first end of the roof and will weld that first overlapped region using the machine, ending at the second end of the roof. The machine then has to then be moved laterally over to the second overlapped region. Because of the presence of the cable and the configuration of the welding machine itself, it is necessary to move the welding machine from the second end of the roof back to the first end thereof and then move the welding machine laterally across to the beginning of the second overlapped region. It has been found with prior art machines that turning the machine around at the second end of the roof so as to face the other way and then moving the machine laterally across to the second overlapped region simply does not work. This is because the nozzle and welding head will then be positioned to face in the wrong direction to be able to enter between the overlapped and underlapped edges of the second overlapped region.
Additionally, if the machine is rotated through 180°, it is very likely that the cable will then extend across the second overlapped region and therefore be in the welding path of the machine. If this is not the case then the cable may have to be draped over the top of the hot machine or be positioned rearwardly thereof and thereby be constantly in the way of the operator. For these reasons alone, welding with the machine in this rotated orientation is not possible. Operators therefore have to drag the welding machine back to the first end of the roof in its original un-rotated orientation and then shift it laterally across the roof. Welding of several strips of roofing membrane always takes place in the same single direction; namely, from the first end of the roof to the second end of the roof. No welding takes place from the second end of the roof to the first end unless the orientation of the overlap of the adjacent strips of roofing membrane is changed to accommodate the orientation of the welding head on the machine. In reality, alternating the overlapping just simply won't occur as it is far too time consuming for a company to undertake. It is quickly and easier to drag the machine back to the first end after completing each welding run.
After the seams have been welding, an operator must visually spot-check, then manually check, and then confirm the seam integrity. This takes significant effort of a person because they need to walk the entire roof while physically inspecting seam integrity, usually with a seam-checking tool. Furthermore, the person inspecting the integrity of the welded seams cannot determine potential “problems spots” based on the welding machine's performance.
Issues continue to exist with methods and devices for welding roof material together, particularly when it comes to checking/inspecting the integrity of the seam. Thus, a need exists for a method and device for tracking weld data in order to later check a seam at a distinct spot based on the data. The present disclosure addresses these and other issues.
In one aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a method and apparatus for tracking and checking seam weld data with a “seam rover” (i.e., a moveable welding machine) that has a GPS and built-in memory or a removable memory (such as a SD card) for documenting critical weld data and GPS location. The memory may be reset for every job or a new SD card may be used for every job and the data securely stored on the SD card in a safe location. The seam rover device includes a plurality of sensors that sense weld data and a computer can record the following non-limiting and exemplary parameters to the memory: traveled welding distance, date and time, set temperature, actual temperature, device speed, blower output percentage, ambient temperature, ambient humidity, and latitude and longitude positioning. Then, this data may uploaded to a custom application webpage or mobile application. Once the data file has been uploaded, software or other logic will chart the welding parameters in an easily readable format. The data will be plotted on a graph for quick identification of any anomalies (such as graph apexes or graph depressions) in welding parameters. The GPS Data will be plotted onto a satellite printable map for tracking of welds and data. From the GPS data, a human investigator may physically track and investigate the weld at the location of an anomaly to determine the seam integrity, strength, usefulness, or other known quality identifier. Additionally, the software will quickly help identify the location on the roof where the suspect weld may have occurred based upon corresponding parameters.
In one aspect, a non-limiting and exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a moveable rooftop seam welding machine comprising: at least one sensor carried by the machine configured to sense data associated with at least one of the following during a rooftop welding process: location information, welding temperature, machine speed, ambient air temperature, and ambient humidity; and a memory in electrical communication with the at least one sensor configured to store the sensed data. This embodiment may also include wherein the memory is repeatably removable from the machine and adapted to be uploaded onto a computer to create a spreadsheet incorporating alarm logic notifying an operator of an anomaly or abnormality in the sensed data. This embodiment may also include, in combination with a computer configured to read the sensed data from the memory, the combination comprising: a spreadsheet tabulating the sensed data; alarm logic operable with the spreadsheet to alarm the operator if some of the sensed data varies from either a set value or an average value associated with the sensor and identifying the data point of the varying data as a weld anomaly or weld abnormality needing to be inspected by an operator; and a coordinated-based location on the roof associated with the data point for which the weld anomaly or weld abnormality was identified.
In one aspect, a non-limiting and exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a method of tracking welded seam data comprising the steps of: moving a rooftop seam welding machine along an overlapping region defined by adjacent overlapped strips of rooftop sheet material; welding the overlapping region as the machine moves therealong and simultaneously sensing data associated with the welding with one or more sensors carried by the machine, wherein the sensed data includes coordinate-based location data for each data point; determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set, and if so, then alerting an operator of a potential weld failure at the coordinated-based location of that data point associated where the data varied from the data threshold set; and physically checking the welded seam integrity at the coordinated-based location of that data point associated where the data varied from the data threshold set. This embodiment may also include wherein the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set is accomplished by determining if a sensed temperature exceeds a set temperature value by more than 10 degrees. This embodiment may also include wherein the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set is accomplished by determining if a sensed temperature is less than 10 degrees or more from a set temperature value. This embodiment may also include wherein the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set is accomplished by: establishing an average speed of the machine moving along the overlapped region; determining if the speed of the machine at a single data point varies more or less than a set percentage, such as +/−3% or +/−5% or +/−10% or +/−15% or +/−20% or +/−25% from the average speed, and if the speed at the data point varies more than the set percentage, then indicating this data point as an anomaly and alerting the operator of the anomaly that needs physically inspected by an operator.
In yet another aspect, the present disclosure may provide a moveable seam welding machine, system, and method of use. The seam welding machine includes at least one sensor that generates at least one data point having geolocation coordinates incorporated therein. The data point typically relates to the integrity of the welded seam created by the sensor on the machine as it is moved along adjacent strips of overlapped material to create a uniform weld therebetween. Once welded, the two adjacent strips become one inasmuch as no additional material is needed to create the bond between the two strips. The sensor generates data points which may be evaluated in alarm logic for abnormalities or anomalies. In the event an anomaly is detected, an alarm may be generated by a computer or smartphone. Furthermore, the geolocation coordinates inherent or integral to the data point may be plotted overtop satellite imagery. This can be provided to the workman or operator so he may manually inspect the geolocation at where the data point was generated by the sensor to spot check the welded seam by hand at the point identified as anomalies by the alarm logic. In the event the seam is sufficient, no further action needs to be taken. However, if the workman identifies a weak point or failure of the welded seam, he may correct it. This method of inspection based on the coordinates of the sensed data should increase the efficiency of the material inspection insofar as the entire material no longer needs to be meticulously inspected which increases costs. Rather, only the “alarming” areas can be thoroughly checked by hand and the remaining portions of material may be visually inspected.
In another aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a moveable seam welding machine, system, and method of use. The seam welding machine includes at least one sensor that generates at least one data point having geolocation coordinates incorporated or integrally formed therewith. The data point typically relates to the integrity or quality of the welded seam created by the machine. The sensor generates data points which may be evaluated in alarm logic for abnormalities or anomalies. The geolocation coordinates inherent or integral to the data point may be plotted or registered overtop satellite imagery. The coordinates of the anomalies or the registered image, or both, can be provided to the workman or operator so he/she may manually inspect the geolocation at where the abnormal or anomaly data point was generated by the sensor to spot check the welded seam by hand.
In yet another aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a moveable seam welding machine comprising: at least one sensor carried by the machine configured to generate at least one data point associated with at least one of the following during a welding process: welding plate temperature, blown air temperature, welded seam temperature, pressure exerted by at least one pressure roller, machine speed, ambient air temperature, and ambient humidity; and wherein the at least one data point includes geolocation coordinates identifying the location where the at least one data point was generated by the at least one sensor, wherein the at least one data point is adapted to be tabulated and plotted to identify the geolocation coordinates in the event there is an anomaly or abnormality in the at least one data point relative to a set threshold so as to allow an operator to manually inspect the welded seam at the coordinate-based location of the anomaly or abnormality. This example or another example may further provide a heater and a roller adapted to respectively heat and apply pressure to overlapping strips of material thereby effectuating a welded seam as the seam welding machine moves along the overlapped material. This example or another example may further provide at least one memory in operative communication with the at least one sensor configured to store data points as they are generated by the at least one sensor and store them for later plotting and tabulation. This example or another example may further provide wherein the memory is carried by the machine. This example or another example may further provide wherein the memory is repeatably removable from the machine and adapted to be uploaded onto a computer to create a spreadsheet; and alarm logic in operative communication with the spreadsheet notifying an operator of the anomaly or abnormality in the sensed data. This example or another example may further provide wherein the at least one data point includes a first data point and a second data point generated by the at least one sensor; an anomaly detected in the first data point when the first data point differs by more than about +/−25% from the second data point. This example or another example may further provide wherein the at least one data point includes a first data point and a second data point generated by the at least one sensor; an anomaly detected in the first data point when the first data point differs by more than about +/−15% from a set threshold value established prior to initiating the welding process. This example or another example may further provide a wireless link between the machine and a remote computer, wherein communication logic carried by the machine transmits the at least one data point to the remote computer for tabulation. This example or another example may further provide wherein the remote computer determines if the at least one data point deviates from a set threshold so as to generate an alarm or indicator of the physical location to be manually inspected. This example or another example may further provide wherein the sensor is selected from a group comprising: a thermometer, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an altimeter, an impeller, a Global Positioning System (GPS), a photo sensor, a light sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a moisture sensor, a speedometer, and a tachometer. This example or another example may further provide in combination with a computer configured to read the sensed data from a memory storing the at least one data point, the combination comprising: a spreadsheet tabulating the sensed data; alarm logic operable with the spreadsheet to alarm the operator if some of the sensed data varies from either the set threshold or an average value associated with the at least one sensor and identifying the data point of the varying data as the anomaly or abnormality needing to be inspected by an operator; and a coordinated-based location on the roof associated with the data point for which the weld anomaly or weld abnormality was identified. This example combination or another example combination may further provide overhead imagery of the welded material having graphical representations of the anomalies or abnormalities registered thereon. This example or another example may further provide wherein the overhead imagery is satellite imagery. This example combination or another example may further provide wherein the machine is positioned on a rooftop and the material is rooftop sheet material. This example combination or another example may further provide wherein the machine is positioned on the ground and the material is selected from the group comprising: a pond liner or a landfill liner.
In yet another aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a method of tracking welded seam data comprising the steps of: moving a seam welding machine along an overlapping region defined by adjacent overlapped strips of sheet material; welding the overlapping region to create a welded seam as the machine moves therealong and simultaneously sensing data associated with the welded seam with one or more sensors carried by the machine, wherein the sensed data includes coordinate-based location data for each data point; determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set, and if so, then alerting an operator of a potential weld failure at the coordinated-based location of that data point associated where the data varied from the data threshold set; and effecting the manual and physical spot checking the welded seam integrity at the coordinated-based location of that data point associated where the data varied from the data threshold set. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the welding machine is a rooftop seam welding machine. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the welding machine is a pond liner seam welding machine. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein determining if the sensed data varies from the data threshold set comprises: establishing a set threshold value; tabulating the sensed data in a spreadsheet; comparing the sensed data to the set threshold value; generating an alarm if the sensed data is outside a variance window from the set threshold value. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the set threshold value is an average of all the data points generated form that sensor and the variance window is a statistical outlier from the average, wherein statistical outlier refers to a sensed data point that is an abnormal distance from the average of the other data points. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the abnormal distance from the average of the other data points is in a range from about +/−3% to about +/−25%. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the set threshold value is a preselected value established prior to welding the overlapping region to create the welded seam. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide entering the set threshold value, via user input, directly into the seam welding machine. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide entering the set threshold value, via user input, into a computer that is located remotely from the seam welding machine. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide obtaining an overhead image of an area in which the seam welding machine is moving along the overlapping region. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide registering the overhead image with all data points generated form the at least one sensor based geolocation coordinates of the data points, and notifying a user of data point representing an anomaly or abnormality in the data. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide registering the overhead image with only anomaly or abnormality data points generated form the at least one sensor based geolocation coordinates of the anomalous or abnormal data points. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the overhead image is obtained via satellite imagery. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the overhead image is an image of a roof. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the overhead image is an image of a dried pond or pond bed. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide: obtaining geolocation coordinates of anomalous or abnormal data points generated by the at least one sensor; providing the geolocation coordinates of the anomalous or abnormal data points generated by the at least one sensor to a smartphone or mobile computer carried by the operator of the seam welding machine. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set is accomplished by determining if a sensed temperature exceeds a set temperature value by more than 10 degrees. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set is accomplished by determining if a sensed temperature is less than 10 degrees or more from a set temperature value. The exemplary method or another exemplary method may further provide wherein the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set is accomplished by: establishing an average speed of the machine moving along the overlapped region; determining if the speed of the machine at a single data point varies more than a set percentage, such as 3% or 5% or 10% or 15% from the average speed, and if the speed at the data point varies more than the set percentage, then indicating this data point as an anomaly and alerting the operator of the anomaly that needs physically inspected by an operator.
A sample embodiment of the disclosure is set forth in the following description, is shown in the drawings and is particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are fully incorporated herein and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various examples, methods, and other example embodiments of various aspects of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example of the boundaries. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that in some examples one element may be designed as multiple elements or that multiple elements may be designed as one element. In some examples, an element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.
Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.
As depicted in
Machine 50 includes one or more sensors 52 that gather and sense data associated with the operation of machine 50 while welding a sheet of flexible material or fabric 54 upon a roof 56 in both the forward and reverse directions. Some exemplary sensors 52 capable of being electronically coupled with machine 50 (either integrally on machine 50 or remotely connected thereto) may include but are not limited to: accelerometers sensing accelerations experienced during rotation, translation, velocity/speed, location traveled, elevation gained; gyroscopes sensing movements during angular orientation and/or rotation, and rotation; altimeters sensing barometric pressure, altitude change, flights of stairs of lifted, local pressure changes, submersion in liquid; impellers measuring the amount of fluid passing thereby; Global Positioning sensors (i.e., GPS) sensing location, elevation, distance traveled, velocity/speed; Photo/Light sensors sensing ambient light intensity, ambient day/night, UV exposure; light sensors sensing light wavelength watching, indoor v. outdoor environment; Temperature sensors sensing ambient air temperature, and environmental temperature, and welding air temperature, and weld temperature of the overlapped strips of material during the weld; pressure sensors to detect the amount of pressure imparted by rollers on machine 50 to press overlapped strips of material together, and Moisture Sensors sensing surrounding moisture levels; and speedometers for measuring either the speed of the machine 50 or speed of the pressure rollers for creating the weld, as well as tachometers for measuring the speed of the motor during the welding process.
In one example, the sensors 52 gather physical information and store the gathered data into one or more memories 51 carried by machine 50. For example, the memory 51 may be a repeatably removable SD card (or USB flash drive) or the memory may be integrated into a computer carried by machine 50. The memory 51 receives data over link 53 with sensor(s) 52 and stores sensor data that is obtained during the welding of material 56, which will described in greater detail below. The gathered data will be uploaded to a computer that can identify anomalies or abnormalities of the gathered data, and tie that data point to a physical location utilizing GPS so an operator can spot-check the weld integrity at that location where the anomaly is flagged.
Machine 50 may further include a heater 71 and a roller 73, which may be a pressure roller, to respectively heat and apply pressure to overlapping strips of material thereby effectuating a welded seam as the seam welding machine moves along the overlapped material. More detailed explanation of the heater and roller is found in the preceding disclosure from which this disclosure is a CIP.
In another example, machine 50 may include at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium 63 carried by the machine 50 having instructions encoded thereon that when executed by one or more processors 65 on the machine 50 implement operations to sense physical information relating to the welding of overlapped strips of material, the operations including (i) initiate a sensor, such as sensor 52, to sense information pertaining to the weld completed by the machine 50 between overlapping strips of sheet material (some exemplary information includes, but is not limited to GPS based geolocation information, welding temperature, machine speed, ambient air temperature, and ambient humidity); (ii) transfer the generated data to either (1) a remote database at either a central server or on a smartphone of the operator or (2) a memory 51 carried by the machine 50; (iii) effectuate the review of the sense data; (iv) generate an alarm if any of the sensed data deviates from a predetermined set of data ranges of what each piece of information for the weld should be at that location, wherein the alarm includes GPS coordinates so as to allow a workman/operator to spot check the physical weld at the location of where the alarm was generated; (v) effectuate the physical spot check of the weld at the location where the alarm was generated rather than requiring the workman to check the entire length of the weld, which should significantly reduce the inspection times of the operator/workman inasmuch as many projects on large industrial and commercial building may take a long time which clearly results in increased labor costs, amongst other costs. In this instance, medium 63 may replace memory 51. In another example, machine 50 includes both memory 51 and medium 63.
Referring now to
As depicted the
Welding machine 50 first moves in the direction of arrow 58a, which is in the direction along the latitude-axis, from its first end towards its second end. Once the welding machine 50 reaches the second end of first strip 54a, the operator may move certain welding components of machine 50 to effectuate the transition of the forward direction weld to the reverse direction as indicated in the aforementioned disclosures from which this disclosure is a CIP (i.e., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/296,697).
Welding machine 50 is shifted (in the direction of transition arrow 60a) from proximate the first overlapping region to proximate a second overlapping region (between strip 54b and strip 54c). This shifting may be accomplished by wheeling welding machine 50 across second strip 54b or by lifting welding machine 50 and carrying it over to the position above the second overlapping region. The shifting of machine 50 along transitional arrow 60a occurs primarily in a direction along the longitude-axis.
The operator may then engage a control on control panel that reverses the direction of current flowing through the motor of a blower motor assembly. This causes the motor to rotate in the opposite direction, thereby driving drive machine 50 in the opposite direction, thereby rotating a front wheel in the opposite direction. The effect of this change in the direction of current is that welding machine 50 essentially reverses along second overlapped region in the direction of arrow 58b which is generally along the latitude-axis offset from arrow 58a.
When the end of second overlapping region is reached, the operator will adjust components on machine 50 to effectuate the movement of the machine in the opposite direction. Welding machine 10 is then shifted laterally in the direction of transitional arrow 60b generally along the longitude-axis to position it adjacent a third overlapping region between third strip 54c and fourth strip 54d. Welding of the third overlapping region is then accomplished by moving welding machine 50 in the direction of arrow 56c along the third overlapping region. At the end of the third overlapping region, the welding machine is transferred in the direction of transitional arrow 60c and a fourth overlapping region is welded as machine 50 moves in the direction of arrow 58d.
It will be understood that this process continues a number of times equal to the number of overlapping regions and the directional arrows 58a-58g and transitional arrows 60a-60f correspond to the movement shown in the figures.
As depicted in
With continued reference to
Further, while the data identified in this particular example includes the above-referenced features, other additional sensed data by sensors 52 are entirely possible as one having ordinary skill in the art would understand and foresee. For example, if the sensor 52 is an accelerometer, then the accelerometer may sense accelerations experienced during rotation, translation, velocity/speed, location traveled, elevation gained of either the entire machine, or experienced by parts of the machine, such as the pressure rollers which may effect the strength of the weld. For example, if the sensor 52 is a gyroscope, then the gyroscope may sense angular movements of the entire machine, or parts of the machine, such as the pressure roller or other parts of the machine during the welding of the overlapped strips of material which may effect the integrity of the weld based one angular orientation and/or rotation, and rotation of these or other parts of the machine. For example, if the sensor 52 is an altimeter, then the altimeter may sense barometric pressure, altitude change, flights of stairs of lifted, local pressure changes of the machine, or of parts of the machine which may effect the integrity of the weld between overlapped strips of material. For example, if the sensor 52 is a Global Positioning sensors (i.e., GPS) sensing location, elevation, distance traveled, velocity/speed (in addition to the primary GPS 55 of the machine 50), then the GPS information may be utilized to determine if the machine 50 was traveling too quickly or too slow to effectuate a weld having sufficient integrity. For example, if sensor 52 is a pressure sensor, then the pressure sensor detect the amount of pressure imparted by rollers on machine 50 to press overlapped strips of material together. There may additionally be moisture sensors for sensing surrounding moisture levels. In each instance, the geolocation of each sensed data point is known based on the GPS carried by machine 50. This enables the data points to identify the position at which the data was generated by sensor 52, regardless of the sensor type. Thus, when data is populated into the database, the location is known and may be provided to the operator in the event an anomaly or abnormality is detected so as to allow the operator to walk to that precise location and check the weld via manual inspection.
As depicted in
As is understood, this step could be substituted in a machine that does not carry a memory 51 for recording the data. Rather, the data could have been previously transferred via network 57 capabilities to a remote database where the points may populated in either real time or with some delay so as to allow a batch upload.
One or more GPS sensors 55 collect longitude and latitude information associated with at least one, a majority, or every data point. As shown in the table of
One or more of the sensors 52 may be a thermometer to record the actual temperature of the hot air exiting the hot air welder when embodied as a hot air blower. As indicated at data point 4, some of the actual temperature readings may indicate an anomaly. For example, at data point 4 the actual temperature of the hot air exiting the blower is 252°. This is indicated generally at 62. The set temperature (also referred to as a set threshold) in this instance is 235°. Thus, the 252° actual reading observed from sensor 52 is a deviation from the set temperature 235°. By way of additional example, at data point 12 the actual temperature observed from one of the sensors is 217°. The 217° reading at data point 12 is indicated generally at 64, while the set temperature remains 235°.
When the sensed temperatures (or other data generated by the sensor) deviate significantly from the set temperature, an algorithm may initiate an alarm which may be tied to notification logic to alert an operator that an anomaly may exist at that specific GPS location. The alarm associated with the increased temperature shown at 62 is indicated generally at 66. Additionally, the alarm associated with the decreased temperature shown at 64 is indicated generally at 68. The examples explained above are described for brevity purposes with reference to the temperatures, however it is to be clearly understood that the same anomalies can be identified and indicate an alarm if one of the other columns significantly deviates from either a set value or if it deviates from an average value associated with each of the values in a respective column or set of data points. For example, the speeds are indicated as a consistent 4.1 feet per second. However, if one of the data points indicated a significantly higher or significantly lower speed, that may also trigger an alarm. Likewise, the blower output is consistent at 85% between all of the weld data points. However, if the blower output percentages deviated from the average of 85% in one of the data points, it may also indicate an alarm. Additionally it is contemplated that other factors or observed variables may be incorporated into the spreadsheet to record other observed/sensed data that may affect the integrity of the welded seam.
The deviations of the values from the set threshold values identified above are for exemplary purposes. There may be other instances where deviation within a percentage of the set threshold is permissible. For example, it may be possible for a deviation to be within +/−25% of the threshold value and still not trigger an alarm. For example, if the threshold value for a temperature sensor is 235°, there may be a scenario where only an alarm is triggered if the sensed temperature at the weld (note: the sensed temperature may be of the weld itself or of the heated wedge effectuating the weld carried by machine 50) is less than about 176° (235°×75%=about 176°) or greater than about 293° (235°×125%=about 293°). Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−18% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−20% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−15% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−12% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−10% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−8% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−5% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Other scenarios are possible where a deviation outside of +/−3% of the threshold value would trigger an alarm. Furthermore, it is to be understood that these deviation values can apply to all of the sensor relative to their respective set threshold values, not the just the thermometer and temperature sensors depicted above.
As indicated in
As depicted in
The creation of the graph or table is indicated generally at 82. A computer having alarm logic may identify potential problem points or anomalies in the graph as indicated at data point 4 and data point 12 in
It is readily apparent that the method of using sensory data obtained from the welding machine 50 significantly reduces the amount of time an operator needs to physically check the welded seam integrity. As indicated in the background section, current known methods may weld strips of thermoelastic material together, but a workman needs to check the entire length of the seam for seam integrity and quality. With the method 100 and machine 50 having sensors 52 therein, a workman's time is significantly reduced, thus imparting a cost savings to the end user based on the lessened amount of time needed to physically spot check the entire roof weld.
Additional embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may expand the field of use of welding machine 50. For example, machine 50 may be removed from the rooftop environment and be used to accomplish similar welding and seam tracking methods for ground-based welded sheet material.
These circumstances often apply to pond liners or liners for land fill pits. For example, machine 50 and its various sensors could incorporate GPS coordinates in combination with accelerometers or other gyroscopic sensors configured to measure angles of the machine 50 relative to the ground during the welding process. This is because ponds and landfills and other ground-based areas having welded liners are often not flat like a rooftop.
Thus, the machine 50 utilize in a ground-based scenario would track the weld data and would require another coordinate column for height relative to sea level due to the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis variations of pond liners and landfill liners which would be recorded at the alarm location.
Method 800 may further include wherein the welding machine 50 is a rooftop seam welding machine. Or, wherein the welding machine is a pond liner seam welding machine. Method 800 may also include wherein determining if the sensed data varies from the data threshold set comprises: establishing a set threshold value; tabulating the sensed data in a spreadsheet; comparing the sensed data to the set threshold value; and generating an alarm if the sensed data is outside a variance window from the set threshold value. In one example, the set threshold value is an average of all the data points generated form that sensor and the variance window is a statistical outlier from the average, wherein statistical outlier refers to a sensed data point that is an abnormal distance from the average of the other data points. In one instance, the abnormal distance from the average of the other data points is in a range from about +/−3% to about +/−25%. In another instance, the set threshold value is a preselected value established prior to welding the overlapping region to create the welded seam. One embodiment enables a user to enter the set threshold value, via user input, directly into the seam welding machine. Alternatively, the user may enter the set threshold value, via user input, into a computer such as 61A or 61B that is located remotely from the seam welding machine.
Method 800 further comprises obtaining an overhead image of an area in which the seam welding machine is moving along the overlapping region. Thereafter, registering the overhead image with some or all data points generated from the at least one sensor based geolocation coordinates of the data points, and notifying a user of data point representing an anomaly or abnormality in the data. An alternative provides registering the overhead image with only anomalies or abnormal data points generated form the at least one sensor based geolocation coordinates of the anomalous or abnormal data points. In these scenarios, the overhead image is obtained via satellite imagery. In one example, the overhead image is an image of a roof. And, in another example, the overhead image is an image of a dried pond or pond bed.
Method 800 may further provide obtaining geolocation coordinates of anomalous or abnormal data points generated by the at least one sensor; and providing the geolocation coordinates of the anomalous or abnormal data points generated by the at least one sensor to a smartphone or mobile computer carried by the operator of the seam welding machine. Method 800 may further provide wherein the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set is accomplished by determining if a sensed temperature exceeds a set temperature value by more than 10 degrees. Additionally, the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set may be accomplished by determining if a sensed temperature is less than 10 degrees or more from a set temperature value. In another example, the step of determining if the sensed data varies from a data threshold set may be accomplished by: establishing an average speed of the machine moving along the overlapped region; determining if the speed of the machine at a single data point varies more than a set percentage, such as 3% or 5% or 10% or 15% from the average speed, and if the speed at the data point varies more than the set percentage, then indicating this data point as an anomaly and alerting the operator of the anomaly that needs physically inspected by an operator.
Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods, of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.
While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.
The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, embodiments of technology disclosed herein may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in a single computer or distributed among multiple computers.
Also, a computer or smartphone may have one or more input and output devices. These devices can be used, among other things, to present a user interface. Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interface include printers or display screens for visual presentation of output and speakers or other sound generating devices for audible presentation of output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a user interface include keyboards, touchscreens, and pointing devices, such as mice, touch pads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may receive input information through speech recognition or in other audible format.
Such computers or smartphones may be interconnected by one or more networks in any suitable form, including a local area network or a wide area network, such as an enterprise network, and intelligent network (IN) or the Internet. Such networks may be based on any suitable technology and may operate according to any suitable protocol and may include wireless networks, wired networks or fiber optic networks.
The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded as software that is executable on one or more processors that employ any one of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, such software may be written using any of a number of suitable programming languages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may be compiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code that is executed on a framework or virtual machine.
In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as a computer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storage media) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, USB flash drives, SD cards, circuit configurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductor devices, or other non-transitory medium or tangible computer storage medium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or other processors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments of the disclosure discussed above. The computer readable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more different computers or other processors to implement various aspects of the present disclosure as discussed above.
The terms “program” or “software” are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executable instructions that can be employed to program a computer or other processor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to one aspect, one or more computer programs that when executed perform methods of the present disclosure need not reside on a single computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modular fashion amongst a number of different computers or processors to implement various aspects of the present disclosure.
Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.
Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in any suitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may be shown to have fields that are related through location in the data structure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigning storage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium that convey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanism may be used to establish a relationship between information in fields of a data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or other mechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.
All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
“Logic”, as used herein, includes but is not limited to hardware, firmware, software and/or combinations of each to perform a function(s) or an action(s), and/or to cause a function or action from another logic, method, and/or system. For example, based on a desired application or needs, logic may include a software controlled microprocessor, discrete logic like a processor (e.g., microprocessor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmed logic device, a memory device containing instructions, an electric device having a memory, or the like. Logic may include one or more gates, combinations of gates, or other circuit components. Logic may also be fully embodied as software. Where multiple logics are described, it may be possible to incorporate the multiple logics into one physical logic. Similarly, where a single logic is described, it may be possible to distribute that single logic between multiple physical logics.
Furthermore, the logic(s) presented herein for accomplishing various methods of this system may be directed towards improvements in existing computer-centric or internet-centric technology that may not have previous analog versions. The logic(s) may provide specific functionality directly related to structure that addresses and resolves some problems identified herein. The logic(s) may also provide significantly more advantages to solve these problems by providing an exemplary inventive concept as specific logic structure and concordant functionality of the method and system. Furthermore, the logic(s) may also provide specific computer implemented rules that improve on existing technological processes. The logic(s) provided herein extends beyond merely gathering data, analyzing the information, and displaying the results.
The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.” The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims (if at all), should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc. As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.
In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures.
An embodiment is an implementation or example of the present disclosure. Reference in the specification to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one particular embodiment,” or “other embodiments,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the disclosure. The various appearances “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one particular embodiment,” or “other embodiments,” or the like, are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments.
If this specification states a component, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, or “could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic is not required to be included. If the specification or claim refers to “a” or “an” element, that does not mean there is only one of the element. If the specification or claims refer to “an additional” element, that does not preclude there being more than one of the additional element.
In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.
Moreover, the description and illustration of the preferred embodiment of the disclosure are an example and the disclosure is not limited to the exact details shown or described.
This application is a continuation-in-part application of prior co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/296,697, filed on Oct. 18, 2016, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/244,311, filed on Oct. 21, 2015; the disclosures of which are entirely incorporated herein by reference as if fully rewritten. This application claims the benefit of prior co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/344,458, filed on Jun. 2, 2016; the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference as if fully rewritten.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62244311 | Oct 2015 | US | |
| 62344458 | Jun 2016 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15296697 | Oct 2016 | US |
| Child | 15611121 | US |
