INTELLIGENT GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDING CONTROL

A RESEARCH PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF COMBINING THE COMPREHENSIVE RULE-BASE OF AN EXPERT GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDING SYSTEM WITH SENSORY FEEDBACK, MODELING, AND MULTIVARIABLE CONTROL ALGORITHMS TO INITIALLY SET AND ADAPTIVELY CONTROL THE WELD PROCESS IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT. IT WILL BE THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF ACCOMPLISHING THIS FOR FULL PENETRATION WELDS, PARTIAL PENETRATION WELDS, TACK WELDS, AND THIN-SECTION-TO-THICK-SECTION WELDS. THE PHASE I FEASIBILITY RESEARCH PROGRAM PROPOSED WILL PAVE THE WAY TOWARD AN EXTENSIVE PHASE II RESEARCH PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A MORE FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDING PROCESS, AND THE CREATION OF AN INTELLIGENT WELDING PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM CAPABLE OF ADAPTIVELY ADJUSTING TO INITIAL SETUP CONDITIONS AS WELL AS CHANGING CONDITIONS DURING THE WELD, E.G., WELD PROCESS STABILITY, GAS SHIELDING, CONSUMABLE QUALITY, WORKPIECE CONTAMINATES, JOINT VARIATIONS, ETC.