Patent ID: 6288364
Filing Date: 2001-09-11
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
An apparatus for measuring the quality of a weld, comprising:sampling means to sample either the welding current or the welding voltage to provide a series of values for a first signal;a second sampling means to sample the welding voltage or the welding current, whichever is not sampled by the sampling means, to provide a series of values for a second signal;collection means to collect pairs of values of the first and second signals which are useful for quality monitoring into groups;calculation means to multiply values of the two dimensional group populations for each group by a weighting factor and to sum the products for each group;memory means to store a reference set of the resultant adjusted group populations collected for a high quality weldment; andcomparison means to compare the reference set of adjusted group populations with another set produced by the calculation means to provide a measure of weld quality for the weld from which the other set was produced.