Partner und Internationale Organisationen
(Englisch)
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Philips CFT (NL), Curamik (DE), MAI (ES), Universität Erlangen LFT (DE), Robotiker (ES), IBM (DE)
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Abstract
(Englisch)
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The objective of the project was a basic improvement of the reliability of micro-spot laser welding of metal parts in production, by the development of an intelligent real-time feedback control system during laser micro-spot welding. The system which was developed during this project integrates laser spot positioning capability based on advanced pattern recognition, and multi-sensor real time monitoring based on Neural Network self learning.
The partner LASAG is a Swiss laser supplier operating in the field of laser processing. Its main tasks in the MAIL project were the basic development of laser optics and laser power control, and the support of the project partners in this field. In the frame of this project, LASAG worked in close collaboration with a subcontractor, the Institute of Applied Optics (IOA) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL).
In the first year of the project, Lasag and IOA designed, constructed and tested a laser welding head especially adapted to the 'aim and shoot' task of the MAIL project and to the multi-sensor measurements. In the second year, four additional welding heads were produced and delivered to four of the project partners, who implemented them at their premises. Besides, further tests were performed at IOA with one of the welding heads, helping to better understand the physical effects taking place during the welding process, to characterize the monitoring sensors and to improve the head optical hardware. In the third year, LASAG developed a laser power control unit especially adapted to the feedback control system required by the MAIL project, and IOA worked out a new concept for the MAIL welding head, more compact and robust than the first prototype.
For LASAG, the MAIL project allowed to well define the hardware required for multi-sensor applications like the ones which have taken place during the MAIL project. A one-year Swiss research project taking place in 1999 will allow LASAG to achieve the industrialization of the multi-sensor heads and to start selling them. Furthermore, another international project, following the MAIL project and in which LASAG will also participate, will allow to gain further knowledge in the field of process control. Besides, the welding head developed within the MAIL project, integrating galvanometric scanners and a vision channel with a CCD camera, was adapted by LASAG for large scan field applications like seam and spot welding as well as deep engraving, and LASAG proposes now this scanning head and its scanner control system as a new product.
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