Abstract: Method and system for producing high quality welds in welding processes, in general, and gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding, in particular by controlling weld penetration. Light emitted from a weld pool is collected from the backside of a workpiece by optical means during welding and transmitted to a digital video camera for further processing, after the emitted light is first passed through a short wavelength pass filter to remove infrared radiation. By filtering out the infrared component of the light emitted from the backside weld pool image, the present invention provides for the accurate determination of the weld pool boundary. Data from the digital camera is fed to an imaging board which focuses on a 100.times.100 pixel portion of the image. The board performs a thresholding operation and provides this information to a digital signal processor to compute the backside weld pool dimensions and area.

Abstract: The instant invention discloses method and apparatus for calibrating particulate emissions monitors, in particular, and sampling probes, in general, without removing the instrument from the system being monitored. A source of one or more specific metals in aerosol (either solid or liquid) or vapor form is housed in the instrument. The calibration operation is initiated by moving a focusing lens, used to focus a light beam onto an analysis location and collect the output light response, from an operating position to a calibration position such that the focal point of the focusing lens is now within a calibration stream issuing from a calibration source. The output light response from the calibration stream can be compared to that derived from an analysis location in the operating position to more accurately monitor emissions within the emissions flow stream.