With the rapid growth of smart home products, electric kettles have become an essential household item, where both appearance and sealing quality are critical. In particular, during the inner tank circumferential welding process, sealing strength, joint integrity, and aesthetic quality are all vital. As manufacturing moves toward intelligent and highly automated production, traditional welding methods relying on manual positioning and monitoring can no longer meet the demands for high efficiency and consistency. Today, let’s explore how the Weld Navigator® Coaxial Vision Camera provides a cutting-edge solution for this challenge.
1. Role of the Coaxial Vision Camera
A coaxial vision camera is a high-precision imaging device that aligns the illumination and imaging paths coaxially. The Weld Navigator® Coaxial Vision Camera offers several key advantages:
High-Precision Imaging
By using coaxial illumination, it eliminates side-light reflection interference and clearly identifies fine weld seam features on metal surfaces.
Anti-Reflection Capability
Ideal for inspecting highly reflective materials such as stainless steel and aluminum alloy, ensuring stable and consistent imaging.
Accurate Recognition
Combined with advanced algorithms, it can identify weld position, width, and deviations in real time, ensuring precise torch alignment.
Seamless Integration
Easily integrates with robotic welding units or dedicated systems from over 40 brands, enabling automatic seam detection and dynamic tracking.
2. Main Challenges in Electric Kettle Inner Tank Welding
Electric kettle inner tanks are typically made of stainless steel, making automated welding particularly challenging. Key issues include:
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Strong Reflection Interference: Stainless steel surfaces cause significant laser and light reflection, making it difficult for conventional cameras to capture clear images.
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High Assembly Precision Requirements: Even minor weld seam deviations can lead to leakage, burn-through, or uneven welds.
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High Production Speed: In mass production, the system must achieve fast recognition and real-time correction.
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Welding Stability: Heat deformation, part tolerances, and fixture deviations can all affect welding consistency.
Manufacturers therefore need an intelligent vision solution capable of reliably identifying weld seams while guiding the welding path in real time.
3. Weld Navigator® Solution
To address the high reflectivity and precision requirements of electric kettle welding, the Weld Navigator® Coaxial Vision + Algorithm Recognition System provides a complete solution, including:
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High-Brightness Coaxial Illumination: Ensures uniform reflection on metal surfaces and clear visibility of weld seam edges.
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Intelligent Vision Recognition Algorithm: Proprietary image processing algorithms automatically extract weld centerlines with millimeter-level accuracy.
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Dynamic Tracking Control: Works in real time with robotic or special-purpose welding systems, outputting weld deviation data for automatic path correction.
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Weld Visualization: Software displays real-time deviation curves and inspection results for process monitoring.
The system not only guarantees welding accuracy but also significantly improves production efficiency and consistency.
4. Application Case
At a major home appliance manufacturer, the Weld Navigator® Coaxial Vision Camera was successfully implemented in the inner tank circumferential welding process of an automated electric kettle production line. After adoption, the system achieved millimeter-level weld position recognition accuracy, notably increased production efficiency, and reduced operator workload, while welding quality became more stable.
According to the production manager, the Weld Navigator® system effectively solved the problems of reflection interference and weld recognition, while greatly enhancing the overall automation level of the production line—offering a superior solution for intelligent manufacturing upgrades.
As smart manufacturing continues to advance, the value of vision technology in welding applications becomes increasingly evident. Weld Navigator® remains dedicated to innovation in welding vision systems, striving to deliver higher precision, greater reliability, and easier integration—helping manufacturers transition from “automation” to true “intelligent manufacturing.”
