A method for joining a workpiece by means of a welding head, in which at least one line of light is generated on a workpiece, which crosses a joint line at a site to be joined and a joint seam generated at a joined site after processing. The lines of light are imaged at the site to be joined and at the joined site in order to generate reference data relating to the geometry of the site to be joined and measurement data relating to the geometry of the joined sites. The reference data and the measurement data are then compared at one and the same workpiece site before and after processing, in order to determine the geometry of the joint seam independently of the geometry of the site to be joined.

A method, apparatus, and system are provided to monitor and characterize the dynamics of a phase change region (PCR) created during laser welding, specifically keyhole welding, and other material modification processes, using low-coherence interferometry. By directing a measurement beam to multiple locations within and overlapping with the PCR, the system, apparatus, and method are used to determine, in real time, spatial and temporal characteristics of the weld such as keyhole depth, length, width, shape and whether the keyhole is unstable, closes or collapses. This information is important in determining the quality and material properties of a completed finished weld. It can also be used with feedback to modify the material modification process in real time.

A butt position detecting method for a weld joint, when an arrangement direction of a first member and a second member is defined as a first direction, and a direction that is perpendicular to the first direction is defined as a second direction, the first member has a corner portion and a chamfer portion, and a two-dimensional displacement sensor is arranged at a position offset from the butt portion toward the first member side in the first direction, and such that an angle s at which the second direction and an optical axis direction of irradiation light of the two-dimensional displacement sensor intersect with each other and an angle a at which the second direction and a formation direction of the chamfer portion of the first member intersect with each other satisfy a condition expression: 0<s<a.

An apparatus and method for measuring broken spot weld artifacts has a framework for supporting a light and a plurality of cameras for acquiring controlled images of a specimen with minimal distortion and parallax. The framework holds the specimen flat and in a reproducible position, controlling movement while imaging. The image data is received in a computer programmed with image processing software capable of isolating and measuring the artifacts. A calibration standard is used to correct for aberrations.

A system and method detect weld defects in real time. Cameras capture images of a weld pool as well as ripple shape and fillet geometry. A processor receives the images and communicates with a database that stores correlated potential weld defects with images of a mock weld molten pool and images of a mock weld ripple shape and fillet geometry. The processor computes an aggregate probability that a weld position corresponding to the images captured by the cameras contains a defect based on the potential defects correlated in the database.

A method, apparatus, and system are provided to monitor and characterize the dynamics of a phase change region (PCR) created during laser welding, specifically keyhole welding, and other material modification processes, using low-coherence interferometry. By directing a measurement beam to multiple locations within and overlapping with the PCR, the system, apparatus, and method are used to determine, in real time, spatial and temporal characteristics of the weld such as keyhole depth, length, width, shape and whether the keyhole is unstable, closes or collapses. This information is important in determining the quality and material properties of a completed finished weld. It can also be used with feedback to modify the material modification process in real time.

A bead appearance inspection device includes an input unit configured to enter input data related to a welding bead of a workpiece produced by welding, and a determination unit configured to perform an inspection determination related to a shape of the welding bead based on the input data. The determination unit determines which of a range of a value indicating a non-defective product zone, a range of a value indicating a gray zone, and a range of a value indicating a defective product zone a value obtained from the input data belongs to. The range of the value indicating the gray zone is between the range of the value indicating the non-defective product zone and the range of the value indicating the defective product zone.

The present invention relates to a method for inspecting a welding quality of an electrode tab-electrode lead welded portion of a pouch-type lithium secondary battery, and the method includes: recognizing welding traces of the welded portion by a vision inspection device; measuring a size of each of the recognized welding traces; and determining whether the welded portion has been weakly welded, excessively welded or normally welded by comparing the measured size with a reference value.

A method, apparatus, and system are provided to monitor and characterize the dynamics of a phase change region (PCR) created during laser welding, specifically keyhole welding, and other material modification processes, using low-coherence interferometry. By directing a measurement beam to multiple locations within and overlapping with the PCR, the system, apparatus, and method are used to determine, in real time, spatial and temporal characteristics of the weld such as keyhole depth, length, width, shape and whether the keyhole is unstable, closes or collapses. This information is important in determining the quality and material properties of a completed finished weld. It can also be used with feedback to modify the material modification process in real time.

A laser processing apparatus includes a laser oscillator that oscillates processing laser light incident on a processing point on a processing surface, a coupling mirror that deflects or transmits the processing laser light and measurement light incident on the processing point toward the processing point, a measurement light deflection unit that changes an incident angle of the measurement light on the coupling mirror, a lens that concentrates the processing laser light and the measurement light on the processing point, a controller, a measurement processor that measures a depth of a keyhole generated at the processing point by the processing laser light using an optical interference signal based on interference generated by an optical path difference between the measurement light reflected at the processing point and reference light, and a beam position measurement unit that measures positions of the processing laser light and the measurement light.