A novel dual-channel weld seam tracking system for aircraft T-joint welds

• Published in: International journal of advanced manufacturing technology Vol. 91; no. 1-4; pp. 751 - 761
• Main Authors: Huang, Yu, Li, Gen, Shao, WenJun, Gong, ShiHua, Zhang, XiaoLong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01.07.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptive control; Aircraft; Automobile industry; CAE) and Design; Compensation; Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD; Control methods; Deviation; Engineering; Error compensation; Error detection; Fuzzy control; Fuzzy systems; Industrial and Production Engineering; Laser beam welding; Lasers; Mechanical Engineering; Media Management; Multiaxis; Numerical controls; Original Article; Production methods; Proportional integral derivative; Seam tracking; Seams; Stringers; Tee joints; Tracking systems; Vision; Weld defects; Welded joints; Vision sensor; Dual laser beam; Structure light; Double-sided welding; T-joint; Fuzzy-PID; Seam tracking
• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-016-9788-5
• ISSN: 0268-3768

Laser welding technology for skin-stringer joints is widely used in aircraft manufacturing. Double-sided laser beam welding of skin-stringer joints is an approved method for producing defect-free welds. The main drawback for the use of single-sided welding method for T-joints is the occurrence of weld defects. To achieve dual-beam laser-welded T-joint, a dual-beam laser welding platform based on multi-axis CNC machine is set up in this paper. A novel control method of double-sided seam tracking and error compensation based on vision sensor is proposed. The weld seams on both sides of the T-joint are detected simultaneously by two vision sensors. At the same time, the welding deviation on both sides of the T-joint are compensated at real time by an independent error compensation control method based on self-adaptive fuzzy-PID controller. The result shows that the dual-beam laser welding system can achieve high precision dynamic deviation compensation in the double-sided welding process at a high speed.