NEWS / COVER STORIES 7


TO WELD WITH A PERSONAL TRAINER


Far left: Gerhard Zuber, head of the welding technology/transport department at the Fohnsdorf Training Centre.


Left: The Fohnsdorf Training Centre has been delivering the highest levels of professional training since 1975.


broadly fulfil its objective of integrating its students as quickly as possible into the country’s labour market. A success rate of 53.4% in 2016 was the highest in Austria. The training courses on offer cover the metal technology, electrical engineering, tourism and office/IT sectors, plus the more generic areas of CAD, languages, transport and logistics. Around 1500 students pass through every year and acquire new opportunities in the workplace through training, higher qualifications and professional reorientation. They are supported in their endeavours not only by 170 highly qualified employees, but also by the latest teaching methods. The Fohnsdorf Training Centre utilises various digital approaches, such as e-learning, blended learning and e-testing, to provide the students with state-of-the-art training facilities.


Its desire to keep up to date with the latest developments and maintain the high quality of its training led to the addition of two welding simulators to the Centre’s training operations in 2010. The Fronius Virtual Welding system is a welding simulator that allows users to learn and practise the use of various welding processes in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The currently available processes are manual arc welding, gas metal arc welding


The Virtual Welding simulator from Fronius teaches the correct way to use a welding torch and has enabled the Fohnsdorf


Training Centre to provide one-on-one training for budding welders.


(MIG/MAG) and, a recent addition, tungsten inert gas welding (TIG). Single-V butt welds, fillet welds, square butt welds, pipe joints and overlay welding can all be practised in various positions using plastic workpieces attached to the stand-up terminal. A welding torch is used to create a seam that is displayed in real time on the simulator’s touchscreen display and the 3D glasses worn by the user.


“Ghost”, the virtual trainer, is a huge asset when learning how to handle the torch. It shows the path the torch should take and indicates the correct speed, angle and distance between torch and workpiece, giving direct, visual feedback when the student starts to drift away from one of the set values. At the more advanced levels, welding is unguided, in other words the Ghost does not show the correct torch path. However, even here it offers support in the form of a playback


function in which users can see not only their weld, but also review the complete welding operation. Feedback is provided by displaying the torch path taken by the user and the recommended one at the same time so they can be directly compared.


The one-on-one training facility and the ability to carry out “virtual practising” has transformed welding training in Fohnsdorf, as the highly material-intensive early stages of imparting the basic


The 3D glasses allow the weld seam to be monitored and give the impression of real welding.


skills and torch guidance can now be simulated, resulting in savings in resources and costs. The risk of injury is also reduced, as students are trained in how to handle the torch before being confronted by high levels of heat and a dazzling arc.


The valuable experience acquired by the Fohnsdorf Training Centre has made it an important partner for Fronius in the further development of Virtual Welding. An increase in the number of “virtual trainers” for welding training has already received the green light. An additional simulator, which will also offer TIG welding, was added to the line-up in 2017, enabling the Fohnsdorf Training Centre to better address the requirements of industry. After all, what is the purpose of a personal trainer if not to get you fit – in this case fit to cope with the demands of industry.


www.awd.org.uk |JWeldingWorld1


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