A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser Welding

The recent technological advancements in today’s manufacturing industry have extended the quality control operations for welding processes. However, the realm of pre-welding inspection, which significantly influences the quality of the final products, remains relatively uncharted. To this end, this...

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Main Authors: Fotios Panagiotis Basamakis, Dimosthenis Dimosthenopoulos, Angelos Christos Bavelos, George Michalos, Sotiris Makris
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/9/3/69
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author Fotios Panagiotis Basamakis
Dimosthenis Dimosthenopoulos
Angelos Christos Bavelos
George Michalos
Sotiris Makris
author_facet Fotios Panagiotis Basamakis
Dimosthenis Dimosthenopoulos
Angelos Christos Bavelos
George Michalos
Sotiris Makris
author_sort Fotios Panagiotis Basamakis
collection DOAJ
description The recent technological advancements in today’s manufacturing industry have extended the quality control operations for welding processes. However, the realm of pre-welding inspection, which significantly influences the quality of the final products, remains relatively uncharted. To this end, this study proposes an innovative vision system designed to extract the seam gap width and centre between two components before welding and make informed decisions regarding the initiation of the welding process. The system incorporates a deep learning semantic segmentation network for identifying and isolating the desired gap area within an acquired image from the vision sensor. Then, additional processing is performed, with conventional computer vision techniques and fundamental Euclidean geometry operations for acquiring the desired width and the centre of that area with a precision of 0.1 mm. Additionally, a control graphical interface has been implemented that allows the operator to initiate and monitor the entire inspection procedure. The overall framework is applied and tested on a manufacturing case study involving the laser welding operations of sheet metal parts, and although it is designed to handle gaps of different shapes and sizes, it is mainly focused on obtaining the characteristics of butt weld gaps.
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publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher MDPI AG
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series Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing
spelling doaj-art-3857eee3192d4b12a2bb17c60c1d63fa2025-08-20T01:48:46ZengMDPI AGJournal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing2504-44942025-02-01936910.3390/jmmp9030069A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser WeldingFotios Panagiotis Basamakis0Dimosthenis Dimosthenopoulos1Angelos Christos Bavelos2George Michalos3Sotiris Makris4Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation, University of Patras, 26504 Rion Patras, GreeceLaboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation, University of Patras, 26504 Rion Patras, GreeceLaboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation, University of Patras, 26504 Rion Patras, GreeceLaboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation, University of Patras, 26504 Rion Patras, GreeceLaboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation, University of Patras, 26504 Rion Patras, GreeceThe recent technological advancements in today’s manufacturing industry have extended the quality control operations for welding processes. However, the realm of pre-welding inspection, which significantly influences the quality of the final products, remains relatively uncharted. To this end, this study proposes an innovative vision system designed to extract the seam gap width and centre between two components before welding and make informed decisions regarding the initiation of the welding process. The system incorporates a deep learning semantic segmentation network for identifying and isolating the desired gap area within an acquired image from the vision sensor. Then, additional processing is performed, with conventional computer vision techniques and fundamental Euclidean geometry operations for acquiring the desired width and the centre of that area with a precision of 0.1 mm. Additionally, a control graphical interface has been implemented that allows the operator to initiate and monitor the entire inspection procedure. The overall framework is applied and tested on a manufacturing case study involving the laser welding operations of sheet metal parts, and although it is designed to handle gaps of different shapes and sizes, it is mainly focused on obtaining the characteristics of butt weld gaps.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/9/3/69deep learningquality inspectionmachine visionartificial intelligencelaser welding
spellingShingle Fotios Panagiotis Basamakis
Dimosthenis Dimosthenopoulos
Angelos Christos Bavelos
George Michalos
Sotiris Makris
A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser Welding
Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing
deep learning
quality inspection
machine vision
artificial intelligence
laser welding
title A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser Welding
title_full A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser Welding
title_fullStr A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser Welding
title_full_unstemmed A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser Welding
title_short A Deep Semantic Segmentation Approach to Accurately Detect Seam Gap in Fixtured Workpiece Laser Welding
title_sort deep semantic segmentation approach to accurately detect seam gap in fixtured workpiece laser welding
topic deep learning
quality inspection
machine vision
artificial intelligence
laser welding
url https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/9/3/69
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