project summary
The education and training of welders and welding specialists plays an important role in quality assurance in all areas of industry where welding technology is applied. Recently new, modern tools for the training of welders skill using virtual training environment (simulator) have appeared on the market.
These sophisticated tools accurately simulate welding conditions at either MMAW (manual metal arc welding using covered electrodes) or MIG/MAG (metal inert/active gas) welding, providing excellent conditions for welder training.
The simulator provides a clean and attractive environment which can mainly reduce the costs for education due to savings in energy, consumable and base materials, while also providing clean rooms for training. The virtual welding simulator consists of welding workplace offering a large screen display to simulate welding exercises for the trainee. Each workplace is multi-purpose and may be used to teach welding in variety of different positions (PA, PB, PC etc.). The workplace also enables to save the record of training performance, giving both trainer and trainee a good evaluation tool and control of the quality of the welding process during or after training session.
The application of these new tools for education of welders is completely new, and still needs to be fully implemented into the harmonized guidelines of the EWF for training of welders. Four institutes from Slovakia (VUZ-PI SR), Czech Republic (CWS ANB), Slovenia (IzV) and Portugal (EWF) have joined in this activity in order to present this tool to the welding schools available in each individual country. Three Institutes are responsible for the implementation of the harmonized education system in each country and have the high level specialist available for teaching and also for presentation of new tool on the market.
The objectives of this project is to present this new recently developed tool to the welding schools in order to recognize the advantages and also possible savings by using virtual welding simulator. This tool can be very attractive mainly for young generation who are very familiar with new IT technologies. The simulator CS WAVE developed by French company and RV-SOLD from Spanish company will be rented in order to present this new tool to specialists from all four countries. Training sessions will be organized for trainees who will subsequently present the equipment on welders courses and also seminars and workshops.
The presentations, seminars and workshops will be the opportunity to present new very progressive tool for education to the welding community, to teachers and students of vocational schools.
Aims & Objectives
The objective of the project is to bring new tool for education and training of welders into Central Europe and present its possibilities and advantages to the teachers, welders and also to students. The aim of this activity is to present new IT technology (virtual environment) to welding communities which can remarkably improve the teaching environment, while saving energy and materials for education
It is expected that the welding schools find the opportunity to test the tool and take important decision for the future to buy it. The virtual environment will improve the quality of the training process not only for welders but also give opportunity to higher level welding specialists to understand the details of the welding process. The use of virtual environment will give new opportunities not only to welding schools but also to the secondary technical or VET schools and increase the attractiveness of the practical training and consequently improving the image of the welding profession and increasing the interest of young people in choosing a career in welding.
European Added Value
According to published data there is an overall lack of skilled welders in the whole world. The skill is generally provided by educational centres (welding schools) via welding courses which take approximately from 4 to 6 weeks depending on welding processes, welding positions and materials. Nevertheless, welder's education is harmonized via European standards. The implementation of European standards has already improved the mobility of the workers within the Europe. The improvement and modernization of the training environment across the whole Europe seems to be further step in order to get the advantage in the world market for welders. In this regard, the implementation of virtual welding tools and systems and their inclusion in welding training programmes can have a very strong impact in welding training at the European level.
What is Virtual Welding?
Virtual welding consists, very shortly, in the application of virtual reality technology and systems to simulate welding activities, towards its application in the training of welders. There are numerous approaches to this, varying from "immersive" systems that fully generate a virtual environment of the workshop and of the welding activity itself, to systems that merely simulate the welding arc and the torch, leaving the trainee in the "real world". Use of virtual training equipment is becoming widespread throughout training institutes in Europe, bringing very clear advantages both to the trainers and to the trainees, as well as becoming an added-value to the training institutions as well. By being able to provide a detailed environment in terms of welding processes, positions and materials and by measuring different welding parameters in order to determine the skill of the trainee conducting the task, the current virtual training systems offer a degree of accuracy that ensures that trainees that are receiving training are able to transfer the knowledge gained into real situations. It is worth noting that the application of virtual training systems in welding schools and training institutions cannot replace "live" practice, with actual materials and consumables. What it can do is to provide a clean, appealing and cost-free approach to the training of welders.
