SRI International (SRI), a nonprofit research center, announced their collaboration with Kawada Technologies, Inc. (KTI) and Kawada Industries to develop Xtreme Dynamic Range (XDR) weld visualization technology that uses image processing to safely visualize live weld details to the welder. XDR has been further applied to a next-generation, 3D-welding helmet that uses cameras to completely transform the world of welding.
XDR Weld Visualization Technology
For this project, the objective was to enable a larger number of welders and improve their welding quality by greatly enhancing the visibility of the welding scene, including the welding tip, welds and surrounding welding scene using ordinary image sensors rather than special high-cost image sensors. Specifically, the newly developed technique manages shutter speed and the time at which images are captured with microsecond resolutions to acquire images to perform real-time XDR Fusion. These captured frames with different exposure conditions are image-processed by a wearable battery-operated GPU to synthesize the frames in real-time into one 3D stereo vision stream for visualization within the helmet. As a result, instead of the limited commercial camera dynamic ranges of 60 to 70 dB, the dynamic range of the visualized scene using commercial cameras in the XDR welding helmet, is expanded up to 150 dB without the need for special image sensors. In addition, using commercially available devices allows the welding helmet to benefit from high volume costing and proven component reliabilities.
Next-Generation, 3D-Welding Helmet
The next-generation, 3D-welding helmet equipped with XDR acquires and synthesizes images as a stereo camera unit. These images are displayed, with minimal delay, inside the helmet on a head-mounted display (HMD) as a stereo image. This helmet system runs on wearable hot-swappable batteries and therefore can be used indefinitely in environments that have no external power source. A welder wearing the next-generation, 3D-welding helmet will be able to weld more reliably due to the ability to view weld beads, the welded items, and the working environment, which are collectively difficult to see using traditional welding helmets. The helmet also includes display and recording functions of various real-time welding status parameters related to welding (temperature, voltage, current, etc.). This allows welders to easily collect and check useful information to ensure a high-quality weld, which in turn accelerates the learning curve. Finally, the welder's eyes are completely protected from arcs because the weld is viewed indirectly through the screen in the helmet.