Welding system and method

1. A welding system, said system comprising:

a welder configured to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint between electrical-components;

a human-machine-interface configured to receive an input to the system from an operator and display instructions from the system to the operator;

an identification-device configured to create a label indicative of an identity of the assembly;

a test-device configured to produce test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint;

a memory configured to store welder-process-data associated with the formation of the weld-joint; and

a controller-circuit in communication with the welder, the human-machine-interface, the test-device, and the memory, the controller-circuit configured to:

activate the welder to create the assembly;

store the welder-process-data in the memory linked to the identity;

determine whether the welder-process-data violates a quality-metric;

in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data violates the quality-metric, the controller-circuit is further configured to:

determine a number of violating-weld-joints;

activate an alert-device to alert the operator to a violating-weld-joint;

disable the welder when the number of violating-weld-joints exceeds a threshold;

activate the identification-device to create the label;

instruct the operator to attach the label to the assembly having the violating-weld-joint;

instruct the operator to perform a test of the violating-weld-joint with the test-device; and

store the test-data of the violating-weld-joint in the memory linked to the identity.

2. The system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the system further includes a remote-supervisor in communication with the controller-circuit, the remote-supervisor alerted by the alert-device in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data violates the quality-metric, whereby the controller-circuit reenables the welder based on an approval by the remote-supervisor.

3. The system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the test-data includes a weld-strength value.

4. The system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the system further includes a camera in communication with the controller-circuit, the camera configured to render an image of the weld-joint, wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to store the image in the memory linked to the identity.

5. A welding method, said method comprising:

activating a welder to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint between electrical-components with a controller-circuit;

the controller-circuit in communication with the welder, a human-machine-interface, an identification-device, a test-device, and a memory;

storing in the memory, with the controller-circuit, welder-process-data associated with the weld-joint linked to an identity of the assembly;

determining, with the controller-circuit, whether the welder-process-data violates a quality-metric;

in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data violates the quality-metric;

determining, with the controller-circuit, a number of violating-weld-joints;

activating, with the controller-circuit, an alert-device alerting an operator to a violating-weld-joints;

disabling, with the controller-circuit, the welder when the number of violating-weld-joints is greater than a threshold;

activating the identification-device to create a label indicative of the identity of the assemblies with the violating-weld-joints;

instructing, with the controller-circuit through the human-machine-interface, the operator to attach the label to the assemblies having the violating-weld-joints;

instructing, with the controller-circuit through the human-machine-interface, the operator to perform tests of the assemblies having the violating-weld-joints with the test-device, thereby producing test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joints; and

storing, with the controller-circuit, the test-data in the memory linked to the identity.

6. The method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the system further includes a remote-supervisor in communication with the controller-circuit, the remote-supervisor alerted by the alert-device in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data violates the quality-metric, further including the step of reenabling, with the controller-circuit, the welder based on an approval by the remote-supervisor.

7. The method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the system further includes a camera in communication with the controller-circuit, the camera configured to render an image of the weld-joint, further including the step of, storing, with the controller-circuit, the image in the memory linked to the identity.

8. A welding system, said system comprising:

a welder configured to create an assembly by forming a weld-joint between electrical-components;

a human-machine-interface configured to receive an input to the system from an operator and display instructions from the system to the operator;

an identification-device configured to create a label indicative of an identity of the assembly;

a test-device configured to produce test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint;

a memory configured to store welder-process-data associated with the formation of the weld-joint; and

a controller-circuit in communication with the welder, the human-machine-interface, the identification-device, the test-device, and the memory;

the controller-circuit configured to:

activate the welder to create a predetermined number the assemblies;

store the welder-process-data from the predetermined number of the assemblies in the memory linked to the identity;

activate the identification-device to create labels for the predetermined number of the assemblies;

instruct the operator to apply the labels to the predetermined number of the assemblies;

instruct the operator to perform a test of the predetermined number of the assemblies with the test-device;

store the test-data of each of the predetermined number of the assemblies in the memory linked to the identity;

determine whether the welder-process-data and the test-data violates a quality-metric;

in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric;

 activate an alert-device based on the violation; and

 disable the welder.

9. The system in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the system further includes a remote-supervisor in communication with the controller-circuit, the remote-supervisor alerted by the alert-device in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric, whereby the controller-circuit reenables the welder based on an approval by the remote-supervisor.

10. The system in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the test-data includes a weld-strength value.

11. The system in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the system further includes a camera in communication with the controller-circuit, the camera configured to render an image of the weld-joint, wherein the controller-circuit is further configured to store the image in the memory linked to the identity.

12. A welding method, said method comprising:

activating a welder, with a controller-circuit, to create a predetermined number of assemblies by forming a weld-joint between electrical-components;

the controller-circuit in communication with the welder, a human-machine-interface, an identification-device, a test-device, and a memory;

storing in the memory, with the controller-circuit, welder-process-data from the predetermined number of assemblies linked to an identity of the assemblies;

activating the identification-device, with the controller-circuit, to create labels indicative of the identity of the predetermined number of the assemblies;

instructing, with the controller-circuit through the human-machine-interface, an operator to attach the labels to the predetermined number of the assemblies;

instructing, with the controller-circuit through the human-machine-interface, the operator to perform a test of the predetermined number of the assemblies with the test-device, thereby producing test-data indicative of a characteristic of the weld-joint;

storing, with the controller-circuit, the test-data of each of the predetermined number of the assemblies in the memory linked to the identity;

determining, with the controller-circuit, whether the welder-process-data and the test-data violates a quality-metric;

in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric;

activating, with the controller-circuit, an alert-device alerting the operator based on the violation; and

disabling the welder with the controller-circuit.

13. The method in accordance with claim 12 , wherein the system further includes a remote-supervisor in communication with the controller-circuit, the remote-supervisor alerted by the alert-device in accordance with the determination that the welder-process-data and the test-data violates the quality-metric, further including the step of reenabling, with the controller-circuit, the welder based on an approval by the remote-supervisor.

14. The method in accordance with claim 12 , wherein the system further includes a camera in communication with the controller-circuit, the camera configured to render an image of the weld-joint, further including the step of, storing, with the controller-circuit, the image in the memory linked to the identity.