Machine vision system

US4998005A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• General Electric Company · US

Inventors

• Rajendra P. Rathi · Farmington Hills, US
• David Tashjian · Fort Lauderdale, US
• Richard H. Burkel · Maineville, US
• Randall C. Gantner · Dayton, US
• John Bottoms · Huntersville, US
• Steven Wolff · New York, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 15, 1989
• Grant date: Mar 5, 1991
• Expiry date: May 15, 2009

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G05B2219/50214
• WIPO field: Machine tools
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A vision system for automating a machine process. The system includes a conventional CCD camera and a vision processor which automatically determines process parameters from a workpiece surface by generating an image of the workpiece surface, transducing the workpiece image into electrical signals, and electronically determining the process parameters from the electrical signals. Applied to a laser welding process, the vision system locates workpiece edges, determines part centerline and thickness, and calculates process parameters such as weld location, the rate of delivery of weld powder, laser intensity, and the speed at which the weld is applied.