Welding portion inspection device and inspection method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9452496-B2
Application number	US-201414781112-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2014
Priority date	Mar 29, 2013
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

Welding laser beam is irradiated along welding trajectories set in works, or inspection laser beam is irradiated along scanning trajectories set in a molten pool in the works which has been melted by the welding laser beam. Return light including reflected light from the molten pool in the work, evaporation luminescence generated by melting/evaporating of the work and thermal radiation light radiated from the molten pool in the work is received. A fundamental frequency is detected by conducting Fourier transform on the intensity of the received return light and a welding condition of the welding portion in the work is inspected based on an amplitude under the fundamental frequency and an amplitude under a frequency that is twice as high as the fundamental frequency.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A welding portion inspection device configured to inspect a welding condition of a welding portion formed when a plurality of works is welded together, the welding portion inspection device comprising:
an irradiation portion configured to irradiate welding laser beam along a welding trajectory set in works or irradiate inspection laser beam along a scanning trajectory set in a molten pool of the work melted by the welding laser beam so as to weld together the works;
a light receiving portion configured to receive return light including at least one of reflected light from the molten pool in the work by the welding laser beam or the inspection laser beam irradiated by the irradiation portion, evaporation luminescence which is generated by evaporating of the work, and thermal radiation light radiated from the molten pool in the work; and
an inspecting portion configured to inspect the welding condition of the welding portion in the work based on an amplitude under a fundamental frequency which is detected by conducting Fourier transform on intensity of the return light received by the light receiving portion and another amplitude under a frequency that is twice as high as the fundamental frequency, wherein
the irradiation portion irradiates the welding laser beam along an identical welding trajectory several times or irradiates the inspection laser beam along an identical scanning trajectory several times, wherein
the inspecting portion is configured to analyze a periodical signal obtained by irradiating the welding laser beam along the identical welding trajectory several times or irradiating the inspection laser beam along the identical scanning trajectory several times.

2. The welding portion inspection device according to claim 1 , wherein
the inspecting portion inspects size of the welding defect in the welding portion of the work based on a ratio between the amplitude under the fundamental frequency and the amplitude under the frequency that is twice as high as the fundamental frequency.

3. A welding portion inspection method adapted to inspect a welding condition of a welding portion formed when a plurality of works is welded together, the welding portion inspection method comprising:
irradiating the welding laser beam along the welding trajectory set in works or irradiating the inspection laser beam along the scanning trajectory set in the molten pool of the work melted by the welding laser beam so as to weld together the works;
receiving return light including at least one of reflected light from the molten pool in the work by the welding laser beam or the inspection laser beam, evaporation luminescence which is generated by evaporating of the work, and thermal radiation light radiated from the molten pool in the work;
detecting a fundamental frequency by conducting Fourier transform on intensity of the return light; and
inspecting the welding condition of the welding portion in the work based on an amplitude under the fundamental frequency and another amplitude under another frequency that is twice as high as the fundamental frequency, wherein
the irradiating includes irradiating the welding laser beam along an identical welding trajectory several times or irradiating the inspection laser beam along an identical scanning trajectory several times, wherein
the inspecting includes analyzing a periodical signal obtained by irradiating the welding laser beam along the identical welding trajectory several times or irradiating the inspection laser beam along the identical scanning trajectory several times.

4. The welding portion inspection method according to claim 3 , wherein
as for the inspecting, size of the welding defect in the welding portion of the work is inspected based on a ratio between the amplitude under the fundamental frequency and the amplitude under the frequency that is twice as high as the fundamental frequency.

5. The welding portion inspection device according to claim 1 , wherein the welding trajectory of the welding laser beam or the scanning trajectory of the inspection laser beam is in a closed loop shape.

6. The welding portion inspection method according to claim 3 , wherein the welding trajectory of the welding laser beam or the scanning trajectory of the inspection laser beam is in a closed loop shape.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kobayashi Hiroomi

Classifications

• B23K26/032 Primary

  using optical means · CPC title

• G01N21/55

  Specular reflectivity · CPC title

• B23K26/21

  by welding · CPC title

• G01N2201/12

  Circuits of general importance; Signal processing · CPC title

• G01N21/88

  Investigating the presence of flaws or contamination · CPC title