Welding resource tracking and analysis system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9684303-B2
Application number	US-201313838860-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

Metal fabrication systems, such as welding systems and related equipment may be monitored and parameters sensed or calculated during metal fabrication operations. The parameter values are stored and transmitted to a web based analysis system. Sampled values of the parameters are used to generate graphical presentations that are used to populate user viewable pages. The pages may be configured by users, and systems and parameters of interest selected.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A welding system performance tracking method, comprising:
accessing data representative of a parameter sampled during a plurality of welds performed on a plurality of welding systems via at least one computer processor remote from the plurality of welding systems;
via the at least one computer processor, generating a graphical trace of the parameter for each of the plurality of welding systems;
via the at least one computer processor, populating a user viewable report page with graphical indicia representative of the traces, wherein the user viewable report page includes indicia identifying the plurality of welding systems; and
transmitting the user viewable report page to a user viewing device;
wherein the user viewable report page is populated for comparison between multiple selected welding systems of the plurality of welding systems selected by the user via the identifying indicia.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising accessing data for a plurality of parameters sampled during the plurality of welds, and generating graphical traces for each of the plurality of parameters, wherein the user viewable report page comprises graphical indicia representative of each of the plurality of parameters over a time duration of the plurality of welds.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of parameters comprise voltage, current, or wire feed speed, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is stored in a cloud resource.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the graphical traces is generated in a cloud resource and the user viewable report page is populated in the cloud resource.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user viewable report page comprises a web page viewable in a browser.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
configuring at least one user viewable selection page to receive a user selection of a particular weld for the user viewable report page; and
transmitting the at least one user viewable selection page to the user viewing device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user viewable report page comprises indicia identifying the plurality of welds.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one welding system of the plurality of welding systems comprises a power supply, comprising power conversion circuitry, control circuitry, an operator interface, and a network interface.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one welding system of the plurality of welding systems comprises a wire feeder, comprising a spool, a drive mechanism, drive control circuitry, and an operator interface.

11. A welding system performance tracking system, comprising:
a communications component that in operation:
accesses data representative of a parameter sampled during a plurality of welds performed on a plurality of welding systems remote from the communications component; and
transmits a user viewable report page to a user viewing device; and

at least one computer processor that in operation:
generates graphical traces of the accessed parameter for each of the plurality of welding systems; and
populates the user viewable report page with graphical indicia representative of the traces, wherein the user viewable report page includes indicia identifying the plurality of welding systems, and wherein the traces are generated and the report populated for comparison between multiple selected welding systems selected by the user via the identifying indicia from the plurality of welding systems.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the communications component accesses data representative of a plurality of parameters sampled during the plurality of welds, and wherein the at least one computer processor generates a trace of each of the plurality of parameters, and populates the user viewable report page with graphical indicia representative the traces.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the parameter comprises voltage, current, or wire feed speed, or a combination thereof.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the data is accessed from a cloud-based data storage system.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one computer processor comprises a cloud-based system.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein at least one welding system of the plurality of welding systems comprises a power supply, comprising power conversion circuitry, control circuitry, an operator interface, and a network interface.

17. A welding system performance monitoring interface, comprising:
at least one user viewable report page transmitted to a user viewing device, the report page comprising user viewable indicia identifying a plurality of welding systems, a time period of interest, and a plurality of graphical traces of a sampled parameter of a plurality of welds performed on multiple selected welding systems of the plurality of welding systems against time during the plurality of welds, wherein the traces are generated and the report populated for comparison between the plurality of selected welding systems of the plurality of welding systems.

18. The interface of claim 17 , wherein the code is executable by a processor for viewing in a general purpose browser.

19. The interface of claim 17 , comprising a selection page configured to receive user selections of the multiple selected welding systems of the plurality of welding systems for the generation of the traces.

20. The interface of claim 19 , wherein the selection page is configured to permit a user to select a historical weld from a plurality of historical welds performed, and wherein the user viewable report page is generated and transmitted for the selected weld.

21. The interface of claim 17 , wherein at least one welding system of the plurality of welding systems comprises a power supply, comprising power conversion circuitry, control circuitry, an operator interface, and a network interface.

22. A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that when executed cause a processor to:
access data representative of a parameter sampled during a plurality of welds performed on a plurality of welding systems;
generate a graphical trace of the parameter for each of the plurality of welding systems;
populate a user viewable report page with graphical indicia representative of the traces, wherein the user viewable report page includes indicia identifying the plurality of welding systems; and
transmit the user viewable report page to a user viewing device, wherein the user viewable report page is populated for comparison between multiple selected welding systems of the plurality of welding systems selected by the user via the identifying indicia.

23. The non-transitory tangible computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to access data for a plurality of parameters sampled during the plurality of welds, and generate graphical traces for each of the plurality of parameters, wherein the user viewable report page comprises graphical indicia representative of each of the plurality of parameters over a time duration of the plurality of welds.

24. The non-transitory tangible computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to store the data in a cloud resource.

25. The non-transitory tangible computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Lamers Nathan John
• Leiteritz Nathan Gerald
• Holverson Todd Earl
• Gill Michael Anthony

Classifications

• G05B23/0216 Primary

  Human interface functionality, e.g. monitoring system providing help to the user in the selection of tests or in its configuration · CPC title

• B23K26/20

  Bonding (soldering by means of radiant energy B23K1/005) · CPC title

• B23K26/06

  Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing · CPC title

• B23K9/173

  and of a consumable electrode · CPC title

• B23K9/1043

  characterised by the electric circuit (B23K9/1012 takes precedence) · CPC title