Patent ID: 7557326

Claim:
A laser joining head assembly for simultaneously performing joint tracking and seam inspection of a joint while said joining head assembly is in relative motion along said joint, said laser joining head assembly comprising: a joining laser beam directed towards said joint along a joining laser optical path; integrated tracking laser line projecting means having an optical axis precisely angularly directed towards said joint closely upstream said joining laser beam with respect to said relative motion for projecting a tracking laser line transversally intersecting said joint, thereby generating successive joint transverse profiles; integrated inspection laser line projecting means having an optical axis precisely angularly directed towards said joint closely downstream said joining laser beam with respect to said relative motion for projecting an inspection laser line transversally intersecting said joint, thereby generating successive seam transverse profiles; imaging means mounted coaxially to said joining laser beam for successively imaging each of said joint transverse profiles and each of said seam transverse profiles coaxially through said joining laser optical path during said motion; and processing means operatively connected to said imaging means for processing said joint profiles and said seam profiles to respectively provide joint data and seam data; monitoring and control means for monitoring and controlling the position of said laser beam relative to said joint with the help of the processing means, thereby performing said joint tracking and said seam inspection of said joint during said motion; and robot position error monitoring and compensating means for monitoring and compensating robot position error of said joining head assembly.