Closed loop welding controller for manufacturing process

The aim of this paper is to investigate on the closed loop welding controller of a rapid manufacturing Shaped Metal Deposition (SMD) process. SMD was developed and patented by Rolls-Royce in order to produce mechanical parts directly from a CAD model. A simplified SMD plant has been set up in order to investigate the welding dynamics and parameters and to develop a SMD automatic controller. On the basis of the experience acquired, some basic control laws have been developed, and a closed loop controller has been implemented. This controller permits to find and to maintain the process stability condition, so that the final process results totally automatic. The control is performed adjusting the welding conditions on the basis of arc voltage information obtained from the welding machine during the deposition. The experimental results reported confirm the validity of the proposed strategy.