Optical sensor system for 3D seam tracking with laser welding applications

The knowledge of the accurate laser tool position is of extreme importance for quality assurance during tl-le laser beam welding. Already minimum deviations of the desired track can impair the result of the manufacturing process, e.g. due to tolerances of thermal deformation. A contribution of this problem is an optical sensor system, which detects the three-dimensional position of the weldseam in on-line coupling parallel to the welding process and then derives the actual laser beam position relative to the workpiece. Under laboratory conditions the function of the sensor system for the on-line tracking of the laser tool was tested successfully in connection with a handling system.