Principles of Reference-Free Process Monitoring for Laser Material Processing Based on a Multiple Sensor System

摘要

Simultaneously to the rapidly growing number of industrial applications in the field of laser machining in many sectors, an increasing demand for automated process quality monitoring systems can be found. Industrially-used process monitoring systems are usually based on optical sensors evaluating the radiation that is emitted from the process. Such mechanisms are highly reliable for detecting process irregularities, but there are still disadvantages that currently cannot be overcome. Two fundamental problems can be criticized: firstly, it is almost impossible to classify faults. Secondly, current systems need inflexible reference signals which are very time-consuming to create. The second problem is particularly impractical since references become invalid as soon as parameters, such as the process duration, are changed.