Remote Welding of Fillet Seams

Scanner‐based remote welding is an established and highly efficient technique in production of car hang‐on parts and seats. However — without appropriate seam tracking — current scanner systems are constrained to welding of overlap joints only. While overlap joints are insensitive to position errors, the highly position‐critical fillet seams would allow smaller flanges and other process advantages, such as zero gap welding of galvanized material. In order to extend the application scope of remote welding to fillet seams, a fully coaxial approach for seam tracking through scan heads has been jointly developed. The system has been qualified for industrial use and implemented in serial production of BMW Mini doors.