Siemens

Operating system

Electrical engineering

Engineering

Aerospace engineering

Artificial intelligence

Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution

Welding

Engineering drawing

Computer vision

Computer science

Python (programming language)

Intersection (aeronautics)

Mechanical engineering

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

In this paper, a CAD integrated method is proposed for automatic recognition of potential weld locations in large assembly structures predominantly comprised of weld joints. The intention is to reduce the total man-hours spent on manually locating, assigning, and maintaining weld-related information throughout the product life cycle. The method utilizes spatial analysis of extracted stereolithographic data in combination with available CAD functions to determine whether the accessibility surrounding a given intersection edge is sufficient for welding. To demonstrate the method, a system is developed in Siemens NX using their NXOpen Python API. The paper presents the application of the method to real-life use cases in varying complexity in cooperation with industrial partners. The system is able to correctly recognize almost all weld lines for the parts considered within a few minutes. Some exceptions are known for particular intersection lines located deep within notched joints and geometries weldable through sequential assembly, which are left as a subject to further works.

CAD integrated automatic recognition of weld paths