Patent Publication Number: US-11027353-B2

Title: Systems and methods for detecting welding and cutting parameters

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/770,769, entitled “Systems and Methods for Detecting Welding Parameters,” filed Feb. 19, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/636,014, entitled “Systems and Methods for Detecting Welding Parameters”, filed on Apr. 20, 2012, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/636,292, entitled “Systems and Methods for Detecting Welding Parameters”, filed on Apr. 20, 2012, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties for all purposes. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The invention relates generally to welding and cutting systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods for detecting welding parameters in welding and cutting systems. 
     Welding and cutting processes have increasingly become utilized in various industries and applications. Welding and cutting processes may include, but are not limited to, processes such as: gas metal arc welding (GMAW), shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), flux cored arc welding (FCAW/FCAW-S), submerged arc welding (SAW), gas tungsten arc welding (TIG), carbon arc gouging (CAW), plasma arc welding (PAW), and plasma cutting. Such processes may be automated in certain contexts, although a large number of applications continue to exist for manual welding operations. In both cases, such operations rely on a variety of types of equipment to ensure the supply of consumables (e.g., wire feed, shielding gas, etc.) is provided to the operation in appropriate amounts at the desired time. 
     In various industries, it may be desirable to monitor selected welding or cutting parameters from welding or cutting applications. Such welding or cutting parameters may provide operators, supervisors, and/or managers with information that may be used to improve welding or cutting applications, to improve efficiency for future welding or cutting applications, and/or to train welding or cutting operators for improving welding or cutting quality. However, in certain welding or cutting systems, welding or cutting parameters may be used and/or transferred within the welding or cutting system but may be unavailable for monitoring and analysis by devices outside the welding or cutting system. For example, certain low cost welding systems may not include hardware and/or software configured to detect welding parameters produced during a welding application. Accordingly, there exists a need in the field for low cost devices that enable welding or cutting parameters produced in welding or cutting systems to be detected and to be available to devices outside the welding or cutting system. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
     In one embodiment, a system for detecting welding or cutting parameters includes an input terminal configured to receive signals corresponding to welding or cutting parameters from a first welding or cutting device. None of the signals carry welding power. The system also includes an output terminal configured to provide the signals to a second welding or cutting device. The system includes conductors coupled between the input terminal and the output terminal and configured to carry the signals between the input terminal and the output terminal. The system also includes control circuitry configured to detect the welding or cutting parameters from the signals. 
     In another embodiment, a method for detecting welding or cutting parameters includes receiving, at a welding or cutting monitoring device, signals from a first welding or cutting device. The signals correspond to welding or cutting parameters and none of the signals carry welding power. The method also includes detecting, at the welding or cutting monitoring device, welding or cutting parameters from the received signals. The method includes providing the received signals to a second welding or cutting device. 
     In another embodiment, a device for detecting welding or cutting parameters includes a first connector and a second connector. The device also includes conductors coupled between the first connector and the second connector. Each conductor is configured to carry a signal between the first connector and the second connector. None of the conductors carry welding power. The device includes control circuitry configured to detect welding or cutting parameters from the conductors. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a welding system employing a low cost monitoring system for detecting welding parameters in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a low cost monitoring system for detecting welding parameters employing a welding monitoring device in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a low cost monitoring system for detecting welding parameters employing a single cable assembly coupled to a welding monitoring device in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a splitter that may be employed with the cable assembly of  FIG. 3  in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart of a method for detecting welding parameters in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Turning now to the drawings,  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a welding system  10  with a low cost monitoring system for detecting welding parameters. In the illustrated embodiment, the welding system  10  is a gas metal arc welding (GMAW) system, sometimes referred to by its subtypes metal inert gas (MIG) welding or metal active gas (MAG) welding, although the present techniques may be used in other welding systems, such as flux cored arc welding (FCAW), shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), tungsten inert gas (TIG), and so forth. The welding system  10  powers, controls, and supplies consumables to a welding application. The welding system  10  includes a welding power supply  12  and a wire feeder  14 . Certain welding systems  10  (e.g., TIG) may not include the wire feeder  14 , but may include a foot and/or hand controller for controlling the welding application. 
     The welding power supply  12  receives primary power  16  (e.g., from the AC power grid, an engine/generator set, a battery, or other energy generating or storage devices, or a combination thereof), conditions the primary power  16 , and provides an output power to one or more welding devices in accordance with demands of the system  10 . The primary power  16  may be supplied from an offsite location (i.e., the primary power may originate from the power grid). Accordingly, the welding power supply  12  includes power conversion circuitry  18  that may include circuit elements such as transformers, rectifiers, switches, and so forth, capable of converting the AC input power to AC or DC output power as dictated by the demands of the system  10  (e.g., particular welding processes and regimes). 
     In some embodiments, the power conversion circuitry  18  may be configured to convert the primary power  16  to both weld and auxiliary power outputs. However, in other embodiments, the power conversion circuitry  18  may be adapted to convert the primary power  16  only to a welding power output, and a separate auxiliary converter may be provided to convert the primary power  16  to auxiliary power. Still further, in some embodiments, the welding power supply  12  may be adapted to receive a converted auxiliary power output directly from a wall outlet. Indeed, any suitable power conversion system or mechanism may be employed by the welding power supply  12  to generate and supply welding and auxiliary power. 
     The welding power supply  12  includes control circuitry  20 . The control circuitry  20  includes at least one controller that controls the operations of the welding power supply  12 , and may be configured to receive and process a plurality of inputs regarding the performance and demands of the system  10 . Furthermore, the control circuitry  20  may include volatile or non-volatile memory, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic storage memory, optical storage memory, or a combination thereof. In addition, a variety of control regimes for various welding processes, along with associated settings and parameters may be stored in the memory along with code configured to provide a specific output (e.g., initiate wire feed, enable gas flow, etc.) during operation. 
     The welding power supply  12  may include a user interface  22 . The control circuitry  20  may receive input from the user interface  22  through which a user may choose a process, and input desired parameters (e.g., voltages, currents, particular pulsed or non-pulsed welding regimes, and so forth). Furthermore, the control circuitry  20  may control parameters input by the user as well as any other parameters. Specifically, the user interface  22  may include a display for presenting, or indicating, information to an operator. The control circuitry  20  uses interface circuitry  24  for communicating data to other devices in the system  10 , such as the wire feeder  14 . The communicated data may include various welding parameters. 
     A gas supply  26  provides shielding gases, such as argon, helium, carbon dioxide, and so forth, depending upon the particular welding application. The shielding gas may be filtered by a filter assembly before flowing to a valve  28 . The valve  28  controls the flow of gas, and if desired, may be selected to allow for modulating or regulating the amount of gas supplied to a welding operation. The valve  28  may be opened, closed, or otherwise operated by the control circuitry  20  to enable, inhibit, or control gas flow through the valve  28 . For example, when the valve  28  is closed, shielding gas may be inhibited from flowing through the valve  28 . Conversely, when the valve  28  is opened, shielding gas is enabled to flow through the valve  28 . Shielding gas exits the valve  28  and flows through a cable or hose  30  (which in some implementations may be packaged with the welding power output) to the wire feeder  14  which provides the shielding gas to the welding operation. In some embodiments, the valve  28  may be in the wire feeder  14 , or in any suitable device, such as a device closer to the welding arc than the welding power supply  12 . 
     Welding power flows through a cable  32  to the wire feeder  14 . As will be appreciated, the term “welding power” refers to the power that creates an arc formed during a welding application. It should be noted that monitoring “welding power” directly may necessitate expensive components (e.g., current sensing transducers, raw arc voltage sensing components, etc.) to handle the currents and/or voltages that correspond to the “welding power.” Accordingly, the low cost embodiments described herein are not designed to monitor “welding power” in order to keep the cost of the monitoring equipment low. 
     In certain embodiments, the wire feeder  14  may use the welding power (or auxiliary power) to power the various components in the wire feeder  14 , such as to power control circuitry  34 . The control circuitry  34  controls the operations of the wire feeder  14 . The wire feeder  14  also includes interface circuitry  36  for communicating with the welding power supply  12 . As described in detail below, a low cost monitoring system  38  may be used to detect welding parameters being transferred between the welding power supply  12  and the wire feeder  14 . Although primarily described herein as being used to detect welding parameters being transferred between the welding power supply  12  and the wire feeder  14 , as will be appreciated, the monitoring system  38  may be used to detect welding parameters being transferred between any two devices in a welding system. For example, in a TIG system, the monitoring system  38  may be used to detect welding parameters being transferred between a welding power supply and a remote foot and/or hand control. 
     The wire feeder  14  includes a user interface  40 . The control circuitry  34  may receive input from the user interface  40 , such as via methods and devices described in relation to the user interface  22 . Furthermore, the control circuitry  34  may display information to an operator, such as voltage, current, wire speed, wire type, and so forth. A contactor  42  (e.g., high amperage relay) is controlled by the control circuitry  34  and configured to enable or inhibit welding power to flow to a weld power cable  44  for the welding operation. In certain embodiments, the contactor  42  may be an electromechanical device, while in other embodiments the contactor  42  may be any other suitable device, such as a solid state device. In some embodiments, the contactor  42  may be located in the power supply  12 . The wire feeder  14  includes a wire drive  46  that receives control signals from the control circuit  34  to drive rollers  48  that rotate to pull wire off a wire spool  50 . The wire is provided to the welding operation through a cable  52 . Likewise, the wire feeder  14  may provide shielding gas through a cable  54 . As may be appreciated, the cables  44 ,  52 , and  54  may be bundled together with a coupling device  56  (e.g., coaxial cable). 
     A torch  58  uses the wire, welding power, and shielding gas for a welding operation. Further, the torch  58  is used to establish a welding arc between the torch  58  and a workpiece  60 . A work cable  62 , which may be terminated with a clamp  64  (or another power connecting device), couples the welding power supply  12  to the workpiece  60  to complete a welding power circuit. As illustrated, a voltage sense cable  66  may be coupled from the wire feeder  14  to the workpiece  60  using a sense clamp  68  (or another power connecting mechanism). The wire feeder  14  is connected to the welding power supply  12  so that it may operate even when a welding arc is not formed by the torch  58 . Specifically, the wire feeder  14  receives welding power from the welding power supply  12  through the cable  32 . The welding power is connected to the various components in the wire feeder  14  (e.g., control circuitry  34 , wire drive  46 , user interface  40 , interface circuitry  36 ). A return path for the wire feeder  14  power is formed using the sense cable  66  with the sense clamp  68  connected to the workpiece  60 . Further, the work cable  62  with the work clamp  64  provide the final portion of the return path to the welding power supply  12 . Thus, the return path includes the cable  66 , the workpiece  60 , and the cable  62 . In certain embodiments, non-welding power for the wire feeder  14  components (e.g., control circuitry  34 , user interface  40 , wire drive  36 , wire spool  50 , and so forth) may be supplied from an auxiliary power source such as 24 VDC from the welding power supply  12  via a control cable. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an embodiment of the low cost monitoring system  38  for detecting welding parameters employing a welding monitoring device  70 . The monitoring system  38  also includes a first cable assembly  72  and a second cable assembly  74 . In the present embodiment, the first cable assembly  72  is coupled between the welding power supply  12  and the welding monitoring device  70 . As illustrated, the first cable assembly  72  includes a first connector  76  coupled to the welding power supply  12  and a second connector  78  coupled to the welding monitoring device  70 . The first cable assembly  72  also includes a cable  80  having conductors that carry signals between the first connector  76  and the second connector  78 . The first connector  76  couples with a connector  81  of the welding power supply  12 . The second connector  78  couples with a first connector  82  of the welding monitoring device  70 . As will be appreciated, in certain embodiments, the cable  80  may extend directly into the welding monitoring device  70  and eliminate the need for the connectors  78  and  82 . In such a configuration, the first cable assembly  72  may be integrated with (e.g., partially integrated into) the welding monitoring device  70 . 
     The second cable assembly  74  includes a first connector  84  coupled to the welding monitoring device  70  and a second connector  86  coupled to the wire feeder  14 . The second cable assembly  74  also includes a cable  88  having conductors that carry signals between the first connector  84  and the second connector  86 . The first connector  84  couples with a second connector  90  of the welding monitoring device  70 . The second connector  86  couples with a connector  91  of the wire feeder  16 . As will be appreciated, in certain embodiments, the cable  88  may extend directly into the welding monitoring device  70  and eliminate the need for the connectors  84  and  90 . In such a configuration, the second cable assembly  74  may be integrated with (e.g., partially integrated into) the welding monitoring device  70 . It should be noted that in certain applications, the connectors  76 ,  78 ,  81 ,  82 ,  84 ,  86 ,  90 , and/or  91  may be 14-pin connectors configured to include up to 14 pins or sockets, such as connectors used on a “14-pin” cable used to couple a welding power supply  12  to a wire feeder  14 . Furthermore, the connectors  76 ,  78 ,  81 ,  82 ,  84 ,  86 ,  90 , and  91  and/or the pins or sockets within such connectors may be considered input and/or output terminals which may provide (e.g., transmit, pass through, etc.) and/or receive at least one of signals or non-welding power. 
     The welding monitoring device  70  includes conductors  92  coupled between the first connector  82  and the second connector  90 . The conductors  92  carry signals between the first connector  82  and the second connector  90 . Accordingly, the monitoring system  38  includes conductors extending between the welding power supply  12  and the wire feeder  14  to carry signals between the welding power supply  12  and the wire feeder  14 . As illustrated, conductors  94  are coupled to the conductors  92  to allow control circuitry  96  to detect welding parameters carried by the conductors  92 . Using the conductors  94 , the welding monitoring device  70  may act as a “sniffer” of signals transmitted between the welding power supply  12  and the wire feeder  14 . As such, it should be noted that the signals carried on the conductors  92  between the welding power supply  12  and the wire feeder  14  are able to be monitored and remain generally unaltered. Furthermore, the signals carried on the conductors  92  are not welding power. In certain embodiments, the welding monitoring device  70  is configured to modify (e.g., issue a command, interrupt, adjust) the signals carried on the conductors  92  (e.g., based on detected welding parameters or sensor data). It should be noted that the cables  80  and  88  are part of the monitoring system  38  and are completely separate from the cables  30  and  32 . 
     As described herein, the welding monitoring device  70  is designed to be low cost by having limited functionality (e.g., the welding monitoring device  70  may only detect, process, and provide (e.g., transmit) welding parameters, or the welding monitoring device  70  may only detect, process, store, and provide (e.g., transmit) welding parameters). Specifically, the control circuitry  96  is used to detect welding parameters carried by the conductors  92 . For example, the control circuitry  96  may be used to detect analog signals carried by the conductors  92  such as signals relating to the contactor  42 , voltage feedback, current feedback, remote command signals, sensors, and so forth. In certain embodiments, the analog signals may be filtered and scaled 0 to 10 VDC signals. As another example, the control circuitry  96  may be used to detect digital signals carried by the conductors  92  such as digital signals transferred using various communication protocols (e.g., RS-485, RS-232, Ethernet, DeviceNet, ArcLink™, etc.). In certain embodiments, the control circuitry  96  may be configured to request information from a welding device (e.g., welding power supply  10 , wire feeder  12 , robot device, control device, remote user interface, programmable logic controller (PLC), etc.) using the digital signals carried by the conductors  92 . As such, the control circuitry  96  may be able to access data that would otherwise be unavailable to the control circuitry  96 . As will be appreciated, the control circuitry  96  or another device may derive information from the welding parameters by analyzing the welding parameters. Such analysis may provide the following data: average voltages, average current, amount of time the welding system  10  has been operating, amount of time to perform a welding application, quality issues related to a welding application, total power used, spatter events, spatter quantity, wire feed speed, a welding process being used (e.g., MIG, Accupulse™, Regulated Metal Deposition (RMD™), etc.), a welding wire type, a welding wire diameter, a shielding gas type, machine error codes, and so forth. 
     The control circuitry  96  may include at least one controller or processor  98  that controls the operations of the control circuitry  96 . Accordingly, the processor  98  may include one or more microprocessors, such as one or more “general-purpose” microprocessors, one or more special-purpose microprocessors and/or ASICS, or some combination thereof. For example, the processor  98  may include one or more reduced instruction set (RISC) processors or digital signal processors (DSPs). In certain embodiments, the control circuitry  96  may be powered (e.g., by a low voltage power such as 12 to 24 VDC) by the conductors  94 , by a power outlet (e.g., using a wall wart), or by another power source. It is again noted that when control circuitry  96  is powered by the conductors  94 , operating power (not welding power) is provided to the control circuitry  96 . In other embodiments, such as the illustrated embodiment, the control circuitry  96  may be powered by a battery  100  disposed within the welding monitoring device  70 . 
     In certain embodiments, the control circuitry  96  may detect welding parameters and store them in a storage device  102 . The storage device  102  (e.g., nonvolatile storage) may include ROM, flash memory, a hard drive, or any other suitable optical, magnetic, or solid-state storage medium, or a combination thereof. The control circuitry  96  may also be coupled to a universal serial bus (USB) port  104  through which welding parameters may be transferred, received, and/or stored. The control circuitry  96  may also be configured to communicate wirelessly (e.g., using a transceiver  106 ) or via a wired connection (e.g., using a communication port such as a network interface card (NIC)  108 ). The wireless communication may use any suitable communication technology or protocol (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, cellular, etc.). In certain embodiments, the control circuitry  96  may be configured to send welding parameters to a remote device  110  (e.g., server, workstation, computer, portable electronic device, etc.) using the wired or wireless communication. Furthermore, the control circuitry  96  may be programmed and/or setup by receiving communication from the remote device  110 . As will be appreciated, in certain embodiments, the remote device  110  may be on a common network (e.g., Internet, intranet, “cloud,” etc.) with the welding monitoring device  70 , and may be directly coupled to the welding monitoring device  70  via a network cable  112 . In addition, in certain embodiments, the remote device  110  may be configured to communicate with the welding monitoring device  70  wirelessly through a wireless transceiver  114 . 
     In certain embodiments, the remote device  110  may include one or more processors  116  and one or more storage devices  117 . As such, the remote device  110  may be configured to receive welding parameters, store welding parameters, analyze welding parameters (e.g., extract data from, calculate data based on, etc.), allow access to the welding parameters and analyzed data, and so forth. Accordingly, data stored on the remote device  110  may be accessed by support personnel to troubleshoot issues involved with a welding application. 
     In certain embodiments, the control circuitry  96  may be coupled to a geospatial locating device, such as a GPS device  118 , for determining the location of the welding monitoring device  70 . Furthermore, the control circuitry  96  may include an internal clock to timestamp data so that welding parameters may correlate with a time of day. Together, the combined welding parameters and time of day may be used to correlate a welding application to a welding operator, a work order, a job number, a part number, a shift, a fixture, a sensor  119 , other tools, and so forth. In certain embodiments, the internal clock may be synchronized with a remote device to enable alignment between data (e.g., event data) detected at the welding monitoring device  70  and data of the remote device. In certain systems, an internal clock of a second welding monitoring device may also be synchronized with the remote device so that multiple welding monitoring devices have clocks that are synchronized with the remote device. As illustrated, the welding system  10  may include the sensor  119  or more than one sensor  119 . The sensor  119  may be any type of sensor that gathers data. For example, the sensor  119  may be a bar code reader, a welding operator badge, a biological sensor, an RFID tag, pressure sensor, flow sensor, electrical contact sensor, presence sensor (e.g., weight activation mat, light curtain, proximity switch, proximity sensor), and so forth. The sensor  119  may communicate with the welding monitoring device  70  wirelessly or via a wired connection. The welding monitoring device  70  may be configured to receive data from the sensor  119 , store the data from the sensor  119 , and/or provide (e.g., transmit) the data from the sensor  119  to the remote device  110 . 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an embodiment of the low cost monitoring system  38  for detecting welding parameters employing a single cable assembly  120  coupled to the welding monitoring device  70  (e.g., in place of multiple cable assemblies). Specifically, the cable assembly  120  includes a first connector  122  coupled to the connector  81  of the welding power supply  12 , a second connector  124  coupled to a connector  125  of the welding monitoring device  70 , and a third connector  126  coupled to the connector  91  of the wire feeder  14 . The connectors  122 ,  124 , and  126  are coupled together with a single cable having two cable branches  128  and  130 . As illustrated, within a section  132  of the cable assembly  120 , a single cable is connected to the second connector  124 . The single cable branches so that the first cable branch  128  is connected to the first connector  122  and the second cable branch  130  is connected to the third connector  126 . Accordingly, the signals being sent between the welding power supply  12  and the wire feeder  14  are tapped into within the section  132  so that the conductors  94  carry the signals to the control circuitry  96 . Furthermore, the signals from the cable branches  128  and  130  are joined together within the section  132 . For example, in certain embodiments, signal carrying conductors within the first cable branch  128  may be coupled to signal carrying conductors within the second cable branch  130  via the pins or sockets within the connector  124 . It should be noted that the signals carried on the conductors  94  are not welding power. 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a splitter  134  that may be employed with the cable assembly  120  of  FIG. 3 . The splitter  134  includes the second connector  124  that is coupled to the welding monitoring device  70 . The splitter  134  also includes a first branch connector  136  that couples with a connector  138 . In the present embodiment, the connector  138  is attached to the first cable branch  128 . The splitter  134  also includes a second branch connector  140  that couples with a connector  142 . In the present embodiment, the connector  142  is attached to the second cable branch  130 . Accordingly, the splitter  134  may be part of the cable assembly  120 , and provides another way to connect the cable assembly  120  to the welding power supply  12 , the welding monitoring device  70 , and the wire feeder  14 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart of a method  144  for detecting welding parameters. At block  146 , the welding monitoring device  70  may receive multiple signals from a first welding device (e.g., welding power supply  12 , wire feeder  14 , remote control device, etc.). As previously discussed, the multiple signals correspond to welding parameters, and none of the multiple signals carry welding power. The welding monitoring device  70  detects welding parameters from the multiple signals (block  148 ). The welding parameters may include voltages, currents, sensor data, etc. In certain embodiments, the detected welding parameters may be stored on or by the welding monitoring device  70  (block  150 ). 
     At block  152 , the welding monitoring device  70  provides (e.g., transmits) the detected welding parameters to the remote device  110 . The remote device  110  may be any type of computing device, or another suitable device. The remote device  110  may receive the detected welding parameters from the welding monitoring device  70  either through a wired or wireless connection. In certain embodiments, the detected welding parameters may be stored on the remote device  110  (block  154 ). Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the remote device  110  may be configured to provide data to the welding monitoring device  70 . At block  156 , the welding monitoring device  70  provides (e.g., transmits) the multiple signals to a second welding device (e.g., welding power supply  12 , wire feeder  14 , etc.). Accordingly, the signals are provided from the first welding device to the second device, and the signals are tapped into so that welding parameters may be detected from the signals. 
     Using the techniques described herein, a low cost welding monitoring system  38  may be integrated into a welding system  10 . The monitoring system  38  may be easily installed, and may be beneficial to operators of the welding system  10 . For example, the monitoring system  38  may help improve welding quality, welding efficiency, welding techniques, and so forth. Furthermore, while certain embodiments include the low cost welding monitoring system  38  as part of a welding system, a similar low cost monitoring system may be incorporated into a cutting system, a heating system, or any suitable system. 
     While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.