Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | Weld Gun Spatial Tracking System |
Haoyong Lan Xingjian Zhao Zheyuan Hu |
David Hanley | final_paper2.pdf final_paper3.pdf presentation2.pptx proposal1.pdf |
Illinois Tool Works Inc. |
| Previous idea post: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=31889 *We are collaborating with our sponsor Illinois Tool Works Inc. (http://www.itw.com/) and they have agreed to give technical support and funding for components orders. Team Members: Xingjian Zhao (xzhao67), Haoyong Lan (hlan3), Zheyuan Hu (hu66) # Problem In the future, there will be a shortage of 200,000 welder operators over the next 20 years, and a proper weld posture is one of the biggest obstacles to full productivity of welding. Potential workers need a lot of time of training in order to be skillful, which is a significant cost in the industries. # Solution Overview The Weld Gun Spatial Tracking System can help get the new hire up to speed in a production environment. The system is composed of one beacon mounted on the weld gun and four listeners mounted at a different location in space. The system is capable of measuring the distance between the beacon and each of the four listenings by using ultrasonic / radio frequency transmitter and receiver. A host PC receives the distances data from the beacon to each listener through WIFI communication and calculates the 3D spatial coordinates on a single point of the weld gun. The position and orientation of the weld gun can be positioned by multiple points on the weld gun if additional beacons are added. This solution will inform welder about proper posture and speed up the training process. # Solution Components ## Beacon Component The beacon includes an RF transmitter and an ultrasonic transmitter. A microcontroller unit (MCU) controls the beacon to send RF signal and ultrasonic signal simultaneously at a fixed time interval (1 second). The beacon is installed on the weld gun so a single point on the weld gun can be constantly tracked. ## Listener Component There will be four listeners which receive both ultrasonic signal and RF signal mounted on pillars with various heights which are located on the four corners of the square with side length 10 feet. Since RF signal travels 10^6 times faster than ultrasonic signal, a microcontroller unit is connected to each listener which calculates the distance from the beacon to the listener by measuring the time delay between the two signals. ## Communication Subsystem The microcontroller unit (MCU) on each listener controls a WIFI module which sends the distance value to a host PC. ## Processing Subsystem A host PC calculates the 3D coordinate of the beacon based on the distances from the beacon and four listeners. A point can be calculated by its distance to three distinct points in space. Since we have four listeners, the coordinates of the beacon are calculated three times by choosing three listeners out of the four listeners. This allows our solution to be more accurate by averaging the results. Coordinate of the beacon is updated synchronously with the pulse signal from the beacon. The velocity of the single point on the welding gun is calculated by comparing two consecutive coordinates in time. ## Power Subsystem 24 V DC 2.5A power supply system. # Criterion for Success In order to demonstrate our project, our solution needs to accurately track a single point on the weld gun within a 10’x10’x10’ volume. And our system should be able to measure and report values for location and travel speed of the weld gun. |
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