ECO evaluation for remote laser welding

Kiran Bhat, Ian Stroud

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Jumyung Um

Cambridge University

Industry has changed enormously since the early days of mass production and has made major advances in improving the ecological effects of production. One problem, though, is that production is changing rapidly, with new or improved processes and materials. It is hard to understand the complex interactions in production. The purpose of eco-evaluation is to provide tools for planners to understand the consequences of parameter settings and help them make informed decisions in a virtual environment before going into real production. Eco-evaluation for milling and turning already exists. This paper presents eco-evaluation for remote laser welding, part of the FP7 RLW Navigator project. The eco-evaluation software gives a quantification method to provide estimates for savings. The article presents the methodology used as a basis for the eco-evaluation software prototype and some results from the tests which have been carried out. The prototype software concentrates on energy calculations for the process. The three main contributors are the robot motion, the laser power for the stitches and the cooling.

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