Towards full Automation of Robotized Laser Metal-wire Deposition

Metal wire deposition by means of robotized laser welding offers great saving potentials, i.e. reduced costs and reduced lead times, in many different applications, such as fabrication of complex components, repair or modification of high-value components, rapid prototyping and low volume production, especially if the process can be automated. Metal deposition is a layered manufacturing technique that builds metal structures by melting metal wire into beads which are deposited side by side and layer upon layer. This thesis presents a system for on-line monitoring and control of robotized laser metal wire deposition (RLMwD). The task is to ensure a stable deposition process with correct geometrical profile of the resulting geometry and sound metallurgical properties. Issues regarding sensor calibration, system identification and control design are discussed. The suggested controller maintains a constant bead height and width throughout the deposition process. It is evaluated through real experiments, however, limited to straight line deposition experiments. Solutions towards a more general controller, i.e. one that can handle different deposition paths, are suggested. A method is also proposed on how an operator can use different sensor information for process understanding, process development and for manual on-line control. The strategies are evaluated through different deposition tasks and considered materials are tool steel and Ti-6Al-4V. The developed monitoring system enables an operator to control the process at a safe distance from the hazardous laser beam. The results obtained in this work indicate promising steps towards full automation of the RLMwD process, i.e. without human intervention and for arbitrary deposition paths.RM

Monitoring and Control of Robotized Laser Metal-Wire Deposition

The thesis gives a number of solutions towards full automation of the promising manufacturing technology Robotized Laser Metal-wire Deposition (RLMwD). RLMwD offers great cost and weight saving potentials in the manufacturing industry. By metal deposition is here meant a layered manufacturing technique that builds fully-dense structures by melting metal wire into solidifying beads, which are deposited side by side and layer upon layer. A major challenge for this technique to be industrially implemented is to ensure process stability and repeatability. The deposition process has shown to be extremely sensitive to the wire position and orientation relative to the melt pool and the deposition direction. Careful tuning of the deposition tool and process parameters are therefore important in order to obtain a stable process and defect-free deposits.Due to its recent development, the technique is still manually controlled in industry, and hence the quality of the produced parts relies mainly on the skills of the operator. The scientific challenge is therefore to develop the wire based deposition process to a level where material integrity and good geometrical fit can be guaranteed in an automated and repeatable fashion.This thesis presents the development of a system for on-line monitoring and control of the deposition process. A complete deposition cell consisting of an industrial robot arm, a novel deposition tool, a data acquisition system, and an operator interface has been developed within the scope of this work. A system for visual feedback from the melt pool allows an operator to control the process from outside the welding room. A novel approach for automatic deposition of the process based on Iterative Learning Control is implemented. The controller has been evaluated through deposition experiments, resembling real industrial applications. The results show that the automatic controller increases the stability of the deposition process and also outperforms a manual operator.The results obtained in this work give novel solutions to the important puzzle towards full automation of the RLMwD process, and full exploitation of its potentials

Height control of laser metal-wire deposition based on iterative learning control and 3D scanning

Laser Metal-wire Deposition is an additive manufacturing technique for solid freeform fabrication of fully dense metal structures. The technique is based on robotized laser welding and wire filler material, and the structures are built up layer by layer. The deposition process is, however, sensitive to disturbances and thus requires continuous monitoring and adjustments. In this work a 3D scanning system is developed and integrated with the robot control system for automatic in-process control of the deposition. The goal is to ensure stable deposition, by means of choosing a correct offset of the robot in the vertical direction, and obtaining a flat surface, for each deposited layer. The deviations in the layer height are compensated by controlling the wire feed rate on next deposition layer, based on the 3D scanned data, by means of iterative learning control. The system is tested through deposition of bosses, which is expected to be a typical application for this technique in the manufacture of jet engine components. The results show that iterative learning control including 3D scanning is a suitable method for automatic deposition of such structures. This paper presents the equipment, the control strategy and demonstrates the proposed approach with practical experiments

Increased stability in laser metal wire deposition through feedback from optical measurements

Robotized laser metal-wire deposition is a fairly new technique being developed at University West in cooperation with Swedish industry for solid freeform fabrication of fully densed metal structures. It is developed around a standard welding cell and uses robotized fiber laser welding and wire filler material together with a layered manufacturing method to create metal structures. In this work a monitoring system, comprising two cameras and a projected laser line, is developed for on-line control of the deposition process. The controller is a combination of a PI-controller for the bead width and a feed-forward compensator for the bead height. It is evaluated through deposition of single-bead walls, and the results show that the process stability is improved when the proposed controller is used. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Resistance measurements for control of laser metal wire deposition

A method for controlling robotized laser metal wire deposition on-line by electrical resistance metering is proposed. The concept of measuring the combined resistance of the wire and the weld pool is introduced and evaluated for automatic control purposes. Droplet formation, detachment of the wire from the weld pool and stubbing can be hard to avoid during processing due to the sensitive process and short reaction times needed for making on-line adjustments. The implemented system shows a possible route for automatic control of the process wherein such problems can be avoided automatically. The method proves to successfully adjust the distance between the tool and the workpiece through controlling the robot height position, thus increasing stability of the laser metal wire deposition process. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved