What is Process Monitoring?
Process monitoring for end-to-end Tracking & Tracing
Laser plastic welding is a particularly reliable method right from the start because of the technical platform on which it is based. Nevertheless, LPKF has developed a range of process tracking methods with special testing techniques for the verification of the weld quality as welding proceeds.
The benefits
The laser can carry out instant corrections during the welding process and thus avoid expensive rejects. Faulty parts are ejected from the production process, and variations in material properties are rapidly detected. All the parameters can be acquired during the welding process and incorporated in end-to-end Tracking & Tracing.
Five complementary testing methods
- melt travel monitoring measures the melt-collapse to identify direct and indirect faults
- using a pyrometer to monitor changes in temperature
- reflection diagnosis to detect gaps in the weld seam
- burn detection uses an optical sensor to identify scorches
- camera-supported image collection to detect the tiniest faults in the weld seam
The five different process monitoring methods are used as required depending on the material and the welding technique. High documentation specifications are also satisfied by combining two or more methods with the end-to-end data acquisition.
