FUME EXTRACTION SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC FUME HOOD POSITIONING

摘要

The fume extraction system (10) includes a fume hood (12) located at the end of an articulated exhaust duct robotic arm (14) Three pairs of photoelectric sensors (34, 36, 38, 40, 42 and 44) are provided on the fume hood (12) to sense the presence of an electric welding arc (64) The system (10) includes a control unit (50) that generates command signals for the arm (14) based on signals received from the sensors so as to automatically position the hood (12) over the arc (64) and maintain a predetermined height distance between them A method of automatically positioning a fume hood is also disclosed The system and the method can provide a more dependable operation than ever before without the need of a complex construction.