A Study of Seam Tracking and Error Compensation for Plasma Arc Welding of Corrugation Panel

This paper describes weld seam tracking and error compensation methods of automatic plasma arc welding system designed for the corrugation panel that consists of a linear section and a curved section with various curvatures. Realizing automatic welding system, we are faced with two problems. One is a precise seam tracking and the other is an arc length control. Due to the complexity of the panel shape, it is difficult to find a seam and operate a torch manually in the welding process. So, laser vision sensor for seam tracking is equipped for sensing the seam position and controlling the height of a torch automatically. To attain more precise measurement of an arc length, we measure the 3D shape of the panel and analyze error factors according to the various panel states and caused errors are predicted through the welding process. Using that result, compensation algorithm is added to that of arc length control and real time error compensation is achieved. The result shows that these two methods work effectively.