Study on underwater wet arc welding training with haptic device

Abstract

Underwater wet arc welding is hard and sometime involves risks to welder divers. To help welder divers gain their underwater wet arc welding skills, a new underwater wet arc welding training method is proposed in this paper based on haptic device. In this method, self-consuming technique is focused on, and fillet welding in different positions is mainly discussed. The haptic device simulates the impacts of seawater acted on an electrode holder, and also guides a trainee to maintain the virtual electrode's proper moving path, proper travel speed, proper compensation speed, proper work angle and the lead angle, and proper arc length. The proposed system is implemented using a Phantom Desktop, and its feasibility is verified. The introduction of a haptic device makes the welder divers' training for underwater wet arc welding risk free, convenient and efficient. ©2009 IEEE.