Welding Machines

The challenge in the MIG welding environment is to increase productivity while maintaining quality and minimizing consumable usage. Weld defects are common in this process, and they can be caused by a variety of factors, including improper voltage, wire feed speed, travel speed, shielding gas, and shielding gas flow rate. Additionally, inadequate preparation and defective equipment can contribute to poor weld quality.

The desired outcomes in this environment are to increase productivity, arc on time, and the number of welds while maintaining quality and reducing consumable usage. Monitoring and controlling the voltage and current of the welding process can ensure that the weld quality meets the required standards. Optimizing the wire feed speed, travel speed, and shielding gas flow rate can also help to achieve these outcomes.

Maintaining consumption of consumables such as gas and wire is another important consideration. Excessive usage of these consumables can result in increased costs and reduced efficiency. Therefore, monitoring and controlling the usage of these consumables can help to optimize their consumption and minimize costs.

Solution: Azile’s approach to IoT-enabling welding machines involved developing a comprehensive solution that would monitor vital parameters of the welding process and enable real-time analysis to improve productivity and quality.

• Hardware Development: We began by designing and developing IoT hardware that could be retrofitted onto existing welding machines. The hardware included sensors to monitor voltage, current, wire feed speed, and travel speed, which are critical parameters in MIG welding. The sensors were connected to a microcontroller that collected and transmitted data to the cloud for analysis.
• Cloud-Based Solution: We developed a cloud-based solution that included a dashboard to display real-time data from the sensors. The dashboard provided operators with a view of critical parameters, enabling them to make informed decisions about the welding process. The cloud-based solution also enabled us to remotely monitor the welding machines, detect anomalies, and generate alerts for proactive maintenance.
• Prototype Testing Development: We conducted extensive prototype testing to validate the accuracy and reliability of the hardware and cloud-based solution. We tested the hardware on multiple welding machines and under various conditions to ensure it could withstand harsh environments and high temperatures.

Advantages Our IoT-enabled welding machines provided several advantages to our electric industry partner:

• Increased Productivity: Our solution enabled real-time monitoring of critical parameters, enabling operators to make adjustments on the fly to improve productivity, arc on time, and the number of welds.
• Improved Quality: By monitoring voltage and current, our solution assured the quality of the welds, reducing defects caused by improper welding techniques, inadequate weld preparation, and defective equipment.
• Optimized Consumables Usage: By monitoring wire feed speed and consumption of consumables such as gas and wire, our solution helped reduce waste and optimize the usage of consumables.

By IoT-enabling welding machines, Azile provided our electric industry partner with a solution that enabled real-time monitoring of vital parameters, improving productivity, quality, and optimizing consumables usage. Our hardware, firmware, and cloud-based solution provided a comprehensive and reliable solution that improved the welding process, reducing defects and improving efficiency.