MEASUREMENT OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL WELDING TORCH ORIENTATION FOR MANUAL ARC WELDING PROCESS

摘要

Methods and systems are provided herein for measuring 3D apparatus (e.g., manual tool or tool accessory) orientation. Example implementations use an auto-nulling algorithm that incorporates a quaternion-based unscented Kalman filter. Example implementations use a miniature inertial measurement unit endowed with a tri-axis gyro and a tri-axis accelerometer. The auto-nulling algorithm serves as an in-line calibration procedure to compensate for the gyro drift, which has been verified to significantly improve the estimation accuracy in three-dimensions, especially in the heading estimation.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving signals from an inertial measurement unit affixed to an apparatus; analyzing said signals to detect whether said apparatus is in quasi-static equilibrium; generating a gravitational acceleration vector based on a portion of said signals received while said apparatus is in said quasi-static equilibrium; and performing a real-time calibration of said inertial measurement unit based on said gravitational acceleration vector.