Patent ID: 8702882

Claim:
A method for monitoring and controlling a vibration welding system having a sonotrode and an anvil during a vibration welding process, the welding system being configured for forming a welded joint at welding interfaces of a work piece that is clamped between the sonotrode and the anvil, wherein forming the welded joint is accomplished using a high-frequency mechanical vibration, the method comprising: embedding at least one thermocouple inside of the anvil; collecting a set of sensory data during formation of the welded joint using a plurality of sensors positioned with respect to the welding interfaces, wherein the embedded at least one thermocouple is one of the plurality of sensors, including directly measuring a temperature at the welding interfaces using the embedded at least one thermocouple and measuring a dynamic resistance between the anvil and the sonotrode, an acoustic signal, and a displacement of a portion of the welding system; forming a total weld signature using the sensory data, wherein the total weld signature is defined by a plurality of different welding parameters from the set of sensory data; extracting a present feature set from the total weld signature as a combined grouping of a plurality of the welding parameters using a host machine; comparing and correlating the present feature set, via the host machine in real time during the formation of the welded joint, with validated information contained in a library to recognize a pattern in the combined grouping of the present feature set; and executing a control action when the pattern in the extracted present feature set insufficiently matches the information in the library.