Hi. I have uploaded a picture which illustrates a concept I am working with. Two cylinders are mounted on top of each other, creating a lap joint where both of the cylinder metal thickness are 5mm thick. The cylinders are however moving vertically up and down sometimes ( The reason is complex). This movement is 0,5-5 cm with a speed around 0,4 cm/s, and the movement is smooth. Do anyone know any sensor which can detect this movement and the amount? Sending the information to a gantry system like in the picture. Lets say the sensor is placed on the gantry which is placed 2 meters away. The robot which is welding the circumference need to adjust for this vertical movement so it follows the weld path correctly.
Kind regards,
Alex
Hi Alex,
Following your description and the fact that these cylinders are metal, laser/IR based sensors may have a hard time. Of course, depending on the metal surface, it may still work.
You may be be better off using two cameras (for depth) and a Raspberry Pi. You can use something like OpenCV to identify the junction and its motion. By keeping the cameras fixed, you should be able to tell the displacement of that junction and then feed this information into a controller for your welding equipment.
Of course, such a system may need quite a bit of trial and error and tweaking before it performs well enough to be helpful.
Alternatively, you may also have a contact sensor that is placed around the joint and moves with the cylinders, though that may be complicated mechanically.
Keep us updated on your progress!
Sincerely,
