Digitalized Evaluation of Welder Skill by using Cyclogram Characteristics

¹ Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University  
² Material Properties and Failure Analysis Laboratory, Material Properties Analysis and Development Centre, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research  

Corresponding author: Eakkaichai.war@mahidol.ac.th

Abstract

This paper proposes a new evaluation method for welder skill in Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) process in term of studying the natural hand-movement that affect the signal processing. Weld quality of GMAW generally depends on welder skill to maintain the uniform of hand movement. Therefore, the welder skill is considered as the critical point to maintain the weld quality. Hence, welding current and voltage signal could be an alternative way for monitoring and assessing the skill of welder based on the signal variation of the welding process. This research defines in two stages, first is the physical-simulation using robot welding Fanuc Arc Mate 100iB and monitoring the signal using Cyclogram technique. Second is comparing the Cyclogram characteristic of robot welding and manual welder. By using the data acquired, the characteristic of Cyclogram was analyzed by varying Torch angle change (W1) and Torch-height change (W2) to investigate the signal processing. Furthermore, the data of current and voltage were generated as a quantitative method to determine the size of Cyclogram. The results show that the method capable of differentiating the two beginner welders compare to the robot welding performance based area of Cyclogram characteristic. Finally, the Cyclogram could be a novel tool for monitoring and evaluating the welder skill with high sensitivity to detect hand motion.