Robotic arc welding with on-line process monitoring based on the LMM analysis of the welding process stability

Robotic Metal Inert Gas (MIG) and Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding are the most widely used automated welding process in manufacturing industry. A novel robotic welding monitoring system is proposed and developed to detect inconsistencies during the welding process. The welding monitoring system assesses the weld quality and provides a real-time feedback to the welding robot. A new on-line analysis method based on Localized Minimum and Maximum (LMM) of welding current is developed. This study incorporates the method implementation on an ABB robotic welding cell and in-situ verification. The real-time quality feedback enables the adjustments on the welding parameters and the robot motion according to the detected process variation.