Welding Automatically Detect And Capture Anomalies in the Welding Process

Related Vendors

Weidmüller Interface GmbH & Co. KG

Grenzebach Maschinenbau GmbH

dataTec AG

Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA)

SIMTOS (Seoul International Machine Tool Show)

Weidmüller has developed an industrial analytics tool to monitor the friction stir welding processes of the Grenzebach Group. The analysis software monitors the welding process and is intended to automatically detect and capture anomalies in the welding process in the future.

In friction stir welding, the joint is not melted—instead, enormous pressure and a rotating tool heat the material so that it becomes plastically deformable. Simultaneously, the rotating tool pin stirs the components to be joined. This allows the joining of light metals like aluminum, resulting in secure and heat-resistant long-term connections.

This process is one of the most stable welding connections and is therefore mostly used for components in electromobility as well as in critical sectors such as aerospace. Connections that are not possible with other welding technologies are achieved through friction stir welding. Another advantage of the technology is that it operates without producing smoke, sparks, or toxic gases.

Our customers should produce with the best possible quality and be informed about deviations at an early stage.

Christian Herfert

Double Monitoring for More Quality

The Grenzebach Group offers systems for this welding process. To support customers with quality control, the company is expanding the technology with Weidmüller's Industrial Analytics Tool "AutoML." This complements the traditional inspection of the weld piece with a data-driven approach that enhances the quality of the welding. "Our customers should produce with the best possible quality and be informed about deviations at an early stage," explains Christian Herfert, Senior Vice President Special Technologies at Grenzebach.

Industrial AutoML captures sensor data during the welding process and evaluates it. This includes the mechanical forces acting on the tool, among other things. The analytics tool integrates and processes the data. After training the tool with hundreds of normal weldings, the system creates models capable of automatically detecting welding deviations. "Our software compares the measured values with the trained welds. If the software detects a deviation outside the defined parameters, the operator knows that something is wrong," explains Dr. Daniel Kress, Data Scientist at Weidmüller.

Using a numerical label, Grenzebach assigns a make to each dataset. This data is forwarded to Industrial AutoML, allowing customers to view and track the quality of each workpiece individually. The reliable documentation of deviations increases transparency for customers.

The young technology does not yet have many specialists. The employees working there are extensively supported. Errors that are not visible to the naked eye are detected by the software. These can be explicitly taken into account when inspecting the workpieces, which enhances product quality. The additional documentation provided by Industrial AutoML secures Grenzebach's customers doubly.

Fully Automate the Detection of Critical Measurements

In addition to improved documentation of welding processes, Industrial AutoML also enables reliable predictive maintenance. From the generated data, machine learning paradigms can be created in a further step to fully automate the detection of critical measurements and energy-intensive processes. These can be further developed towards sustainable production as needed by the user or used as an ML solution to support specialists in quality assurance. Grenzebach thus optimizes its machines and upgrades them according to the increased demands on modern systems. This ensures high quality of the products while facilitating easy interaction between the system operator and the system. Customers can now derive added value from their production data even without a data scientist.

Weidmüller offers numerous products and solutions related to Industrial IoT and automation. "As an 'enabler from data to value', it is our concern to empower our customers to derive added value from data for themselves and their company," explains Dr. Thomas Bürger, Head of the Division Automation Products and Solutions at Weidmüller. Weidmüller provides its customers with innovative concepts for data acquisition, preprocessing, analysis, and visualization.

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