Sistema embarcado sem fio para monitoramento de sinais em soldagem a arco elétrico com abordagem tecnológica

Abstract

Due to the industrial importance of welding and since it is a special process (i.e., the process result cannot be completely assured only using inspection), its constant monitoring is necessary. ISO 3834 standard, which requires that the manufacturer adopts measures to assure the necessary quality, where monitoring can be used to guarantee corrective documentation of the process, auditions and staff revision. Thus, due to the importance of this monitoring, it is crucial to have a dedicated system for industrial use. Moreover, this system must contain the state of the art in communication technology. For technological use, this monitoring is standardized by the ISO 17662:2005, which requires the correct calibration of this system and the equipment and requires the verification (register for confirmation), through the provision of objective evidence that specific requirements had been fulfilled. To fulfill this need, it is possible to find systems that can satisfactorily accomplish such monitoring, but with the use of cable communication, which brings difficulty and plasters the system with of a specific computer with specific operational system. Therefore, an important step for the monitoring and continuous register of welds is the development of an embedded system, independent, capable of monitoring different signals from the welding process and communicating with robust and flexible manner with diverse computers, palms, smartphones, etc. This is possible thanks to the dissemination of computer networks in industrial environments, and the possibility to use the TCP/IP protocol. In addition, a monitoring system must also be of low cost and low consumption of energy to extend the applicability and independence/flexibility for field use, respectively. Therefore and having these premises in mind, this work deals with the project, construction and evaluation of a wireless embedded system for monitoring and analyzing signals during arc welding, called here as MoSo Wi-Fi (Monitor de Soldagem WiFi). At a first moment, three acquisition channels are available (voltage, current and wire feed speed) and from the welding tests using alternating-current TIG and GMAW (Short-circuit, Spray and MIG Pulsed), it is possible to conclude that the developed system demonstrates great applicability with a final hardware cost of US$ 550.00.