from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
This study presents "WeldTrack: Intelligent Guidance System," developed to minimize operator-induced errors in manual laser welding operations and to protect device longevity against the risk of "back-reflection," a critical issue particularly in highly reflective metals such as aluminum. The system architecture consists of two main units communicating via Wi-Fi. The first unit is a reference apparatus equipped with a BNO055 9-axis absolute orientation sensor and an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, designed to measure the spatial orientation of the surfaces to be joined by touching each sequentially before welding. The sequential data obtained from both surfaces are utilized to calculate the three-dimensional model of the volume to be filled by the weld seam (joint geometry) and its absolute orientation relative to the gravity axis. The second unit is a tracking module integrated into the welding torch, also housing a BNO055 sensor and an ESP32-S3 processor pair. Based on the digital "zero point" data received from the reference apparatus, the torch unit calculates the ideal welding angle and provides real-time guidance to the operator through visual (RGB LED) and haptic (vibration) feedback to maintain the correct angular position along the weld line. Experimental studies demonstrate that this dual-sensor dynamic referencing method standardizes weld penetration, minimizes the risk of back-reflection, and provides Industry 4.0-based digital data tracking fully compliant with Welding Procedure Specifications (WPS), even in manual operations.
Keywords: Manual Laser Welding, Dual Sensor Fusion, Dynamic Surface Referencing, Back-Reflection Protection, Haptic Feedback.© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.