Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-22
2004-03-23
Shaw, Clifford C. (Department: 1725)
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
Reexamination Certificate
active
06710299
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to the art of electric arc welding and more particularly to a system for loading an electric arc welder with a welding procedure specification and then enabling the welder when conditions are proper to execute the selected welding procedure specification WPS.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
In the welding industry, the welding of critical applications involves experimental optimization of many parameters and weld controlling factors into an acceptable weld procedure. This procedure is generally referred to as the welding procedure specification (WPS) which is well known in the art of electric arc welding and is generally described in a 1997 article by D. K. Miller entitled
What Every Engineer Should Know about Welding Procedures.
A reprint of this article is incorporated by reference herein to describe the general content and application of a WPYS so this material need not be repeated. Bloch U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,253 suggests the concept of loading the welding procedure specification into the controller of an electric arc welder and then modifying the various parameters. The data causes a central control microprocessor to implement the parameters during a welding operation. This fixed programmed use of welding procedures is known. The Bloch patent is incorporated by reference to illustrate background information. In the present invention, data is introduced into the control logic network by memory chips of the type available from Dallas Semiconductor Corporation of Dallas, Tex., under the trademark “Touch Memory.” These electronic memory buttons store digital data in an internal READ/WRITE chip which data is transmitted upon command from the button to an interface communicated with said control logic network. In the present invention, the interface is communicated with the button by way of a receiving receptacle. Any of many known button receiving receptacles can be used. One receptacle is disclosed in Scholder U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,071, which patent is incorporated by reference to show one of many memory chip receptacles.
Assignor has a pending U.S. application Ser. No. 336,574 filed on Jun. 21, 1999 and disclosing the concept of memory chips for receiving data and transmitting data to the controller of an electric arc welder by touching of the support structure for the chip. This prior application is incorporated by reference herein as further background information regarding the technique of employing touch interrogated memory chips for receiving and transmitting data from and to the digital processing controller of an electric arc welder.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
In electric arc welding as described in Bloch U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,253, repeatable quality in electric arc welding for specific applications requires that the procedure used in the welding process be the same or within certain constraints. In addition, the weldor or operator assigned to execute the procedure must be qualified to perform the specific welding operation by a prior testing and prior actual experience. Furthermore, even a weldor qualified for a specific procedure can lose the specific skill required after long periods without actually performing the welding operation. Consequently, qualification of the operator should be assured so the welding operation can meet the standard necessary for acceptance of the welding result. In addition, it is necessary that the parameters involved in the welding procedure specification be met during the welding operation. In the past, the welding procedure was manually loaded into the digital process controller of the electric arc welder by various interfaces connected to the controller. In addition, items of the WPS, such as wire feed speed, wire specification, shielding gas, preheat, impass heat, post heat, etc., were set according to written or stored criteria constituting the welding procedure specification. Implementing this technique, together with assuring qualification of the operator presented difficulties. The welding by the weldor was performed irrespective of compliance with the various parameters constituting the welding procedure specification and irrespective of the actual qualification of the weldor performing the welding operation. Consequently, detailed record keeping and checking of the various parameters preparatory to the welding operation were necessary, but quite complex. When it was determined that the welding procedure was not followed or the operator was not adequately qualified, the resulting welding operation was rejected or required subsequent remedial processing. Consequently, a procedure to assure proper welding to a detailed specification was complicated and expensive. It required a substantial amount of record keeping and historical maintenance of data associated with the many welds performed in the field.
Goldblatt U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,512 and Bobeczko U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,810 disclose bar codes on a wire reel to be read when the reel is loaded onto a welder. A process sheet is also read by a bar code to correlate with the wire. These patents are incorporated by reference as background technology.
THE INVENTION
In electric arc welding, specific applications often involve a welding procedure specification WPS that must be followed for acceptance of the weld. In practice, the WPS for a specific application provides the necessary information to set the electric arc welder and load the electric arc welder with external constituents for the purposes of performing the specified welding process. In accordance with the present invention, the WPS for a given welding operation is converted to digital data and stored either in a IC chip of a memory button or in a remote location such as a computer connected to the welder by an ethernet network. Such network is local or by the internet. WPS is directed to the controller of the electric arc welder. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the digital data comprising the WPS of a specific welding operation is loaded into the IC chip of a memory button. As an alternative, the memory button includes a code which will allow the digital data defining the WPS to be directed to the digital process controller of the welder. This can be from a memory or from an ethernet network. Thus, the present invention involves a memory button containing a specific digital data defining WPS or a code identifying a specific WPS. As an alternative, the digital data defining the WPS is loaded directly into the controller from an external source, such as an ethernet network.
In the preferred implementation, a memory button is connected to receptacle in a touch connector coupled to the controller of the welder. Consequently, by merely placing the memory button into a receptacle on the touch connector associated with a specific welder, the welding procedure to be performed by the welder is directed by process logic to the controller of the welder. The controller upon receiving the selected procedure is disabled unless the various items of the WPS are available on the welder or used by the welder. To assure the proper wire, gas, and operator, the touch connector includes additional receptacles for memory buttons, each of which contain an IC chip loaded with the necessary data associated with a particular aspect of the welding process. In practice, the WPS memory button is attached to one receptacle of the touch connector. Another receptacle receives a memory button with a chip containing the qualifications of the particular operator destined to perform the welding procedure. If the welding procedure loaded into the controller contains qualifications for the person performing the operation, then the button containing the weldor qualifications allows activation of the welder if the person has at least the qualifications necessary for performing the specified WPS. In a like manner, another receptacle on the touch connector receives a touch memory button having a chip loaded with the information on the welding wire or electrode, such as material, specification, diameter, etc. Data contained on the chip of this memory
Blankenship George D.
Hillen Edward D.
Houston William S.
Fay Sharpe Fagan Minnich & McKee
Lincoln Global Inc.
Shaw Clifford C.
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