MetaView is a patented manual guidance system for submerged arc welding which uniquely allows the operator to control both the lateral and vertical positions of the weld head remotely by viewing a touchscreen monitor. The concept of the MetaView system is shown in this photo.

The two main parts of a MetaView system are:

1. The MetaView sensor (shown below)
2. The MetaView controller

The MetaView sensor is mounted to the welding head so that it is looking ahead of the welding torch, as shown in this tandem SAW configuration.

The MetaView controller includes a colour touchscreen which shows the image from the camera in the MetaView sensor.  By looking at the picture, the machine operator is easily able to control both the height and the side to side position of the weld head, ensuring that the wire stays in the correct position in the joint. Lateral errors are shown by the position of the laser cross in the joint. Vertical errors are shown by a difference in the vertical position of the laser cross and video cross, as shown here.

Overall, MetaView provides a low cost solution to controlling the position of sub arc weld heads remotely where automatic seam tracking is not required.