The Use of Video Systems in the Automatic Evaluation of Electrode Wear in a Robotic Spot Resistance Welding Station

The assessment of the consumption of electrodes used in resistance welding processes is an important issue significantly affecting the quality of welded joints. The article presents an individually developed station integrating an industrial robot, a video system, a columnar sharpener and a “Smart Light” lamp. The elements of the station, i.e. sensors and the video system were selected in view of their use in the lot production of welded structures. The developed and optimised system enables the automatic evaluation of the consumption of spot resistance welding attachments. In turn,  tested and implemented decision-making algorithms enable the performance of welding processes with the permanent monitoring of the quality of the above-named attachments and the assessment of their further sharpening possibility during the production process.

doi: 10.17729/ebis.2018.5/13