A Study on On-line Mathematical Model to Control of Bead Width for Arc Welding Process

Recently, not only robotic welders have replaced human welders in many welding applications, but also reasonable seam tracking systems are commercially available. However, fully adequate process control systems have not been developed due to a lack of reliable sensors and mathematical models that correlate welding parameters to the bead geometry for the automated welding process. In this paper, two on-line empirical models using multiple regression analysis are proposed in order to be applicable for the prediction of bead width. For development of the proposed models, an attempt has been made to apply for a several methods. For the more accurate prediction, the prediction variables are first used to the surface temperatures measured using infrared thermometers with the welding parameters (welding current, arc voltage) because the surface temperature are strongly related to the formation of the bead geometry. And the developed models are applied to prediction of bead width as welding quality.