High frame rate welding cameras enable humans to view the welding process in incredible detail because they capture and distill welding phenomena like droplet detachment and defect formation.
High frame rate welding cameras enable humans to view the welding process in incredible detail because they capture and distill welding phenomena like droplet detachment and defect formation.
The Canadian Centre for Welding and Joining offers an online selection of videos made with two models of Phantom camera. For example, see the mesmerizing video above of GMAW of steel showing globular transfer captured at 3000 fps.
While high frame rate welding cameras produce amazing images of welding, they generate huge amounts of data. The practical data limit results in a tradeoff between resolution and frame rate. Generally, the higher the frames-per-second, the lower the resolution and vice versa. Also keep in mind that higher speeds mean shorter weld durations – you might only get to record 2 seconds of welding at the highest speed due to the size of the on-board memory.
When it comes to high speed, how fast is fast enough? It’s possible to record welds at 10,000 or even 100,000 fps, but for many applications, 1000 fps will allow you to playback the recorded weld in sufficient detail to observe droplet detachment, spatter generation and puddle dynamics for process parameter development or troubleshooting purposes. Laser welding and some other processes may require speeds of ~10,000 fps.
If your application requires a high speed camera system with 2,000 fps or greater, it's important to select the appropriate camera, illumination and lens(es), and we can help. Alternatively, we make the MeltView SYNC, a unique "mid"-speed camera that overcomes the two main hurdles of high-speed imaging of welding: limited on-board recording space and camera bulk too large to fit on a welding robot(s). See droplet formation captured by the MeltView SYNC in the video above.