Application of fused visual and thermal images in monitoring and evaluation of welding processes

Abstract

This article presents the application results of different methods of merging images recorded using vision cameras and thermal imaging cameras. The images were recorded during the evaluation of a welding process. The object of observation was the welding arc and the welded joint during its cooling phase. Images recorded during GMA welding on two different welding stations have been taken into account. The observations have been conducted using cameras equipped with different optics systems. This article presents an analysis of the influence of different parameters of the optics systems on the resulting fused images. The analysis also considers the pre-processing method to ensure correct matching of images. The study shows that the fused image contains aggregated information useful in online monitoring and quality evaluation of the welding process.