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US 10,105,788 B2Granted
Systems and methods for ultrasonic welding
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsPei-chung Wang, Susan M. Smyth, Zhongxia Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods to improve weld quality are described. For example, certain systems and methods described use weld quality monitoring as feedback to an ultrasonic welding process to improve weld quality. Still other systems and methods provide improvement to double sided and single sided ultrasonic welding through the use of selected multiple pulses.
Claims20
A welding method, comprising:
- determining fit-up conditions including a material of workpieces;
- determining a threshold weld strength value;
- determining a maximum expected gap between workpieces;
- accessing weld strength data, the weld strength data including a plurality of values of weld strength and a plurality of values of welding parameters, each of the plurality of values of weld strength corresponding to:
- a number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- and
- a value of a welding parameter of each of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- determining a weld schedule, comprising:
- selecting a number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- selecting, for each of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration, a value of a welding parameter;
- wherein each of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration and the values of the welding parameters is selected based on:
- the weld strength data;
- the maximum expected gap between workpieces;
- and
- the threshold weld strength value;
- and
- applying, by a welding horn according to the weld schedule, the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration with a cooling period between adjacent ones of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration.
14 more elements
A welding system, comprising:
- a welding horn;
- a controller, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory, comprising:
- weld strength data, the weld strength data including a plurality of values of weld strength and a plurality of values of welding parameters, each of the plurality of values of weld strength corresponding to:
- a number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- and
- a value of a welding parameter of each of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- and
- computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining fit-up conditions including a material of workpieces;
- determining a threshold weld strength value;
- and
- determining a maximum expected gap between workpieces;
- accessing the weld strength data;
- determining a weld schedule, comprising:
- selecting a number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- selecting, for each of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration, a value of a welding parameter;
- wherein the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration and each of the values of the welding parameters is selected based on:
- the weld strength data;
- the maximum expected gap between workpieces;
- and
- the threshold weld strength value;
- and
- applying, by the welding horn according to the weld schedule, the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration to the workpieces with a cooling period between adjacent ones of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration.
23 more elements
A controller for a welding system, comprising:
- a processor;
- a non-transitory computer-readable memory, comprising:
- weld strength data, the weld strength data including a plurality of values of weld strength and a plurality of values of welding parameters, each of the plurality of values of weld strength corresponding to:
- a number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- and
- a value of a welding parameter of each of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- and
- computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining fit-up conditions including a material of workpieces;
- determining a threshold weld strength value;
- and
- determining a maximum expected gap between workpieces;
- accessing the weld strength data;
- determining a weld schedule, comprising:
- selecting a number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration;
- selecting, for each of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration, a value of a welding parameter;
- wherein the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration and each of the values of the welding parameters is selected based on:
- the weld strength data;
- the maximum expected gap between workpieces;
- and
- the threshold weld strength value;
- and
- applying, by a welding horn according to the weld schedule, the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration to the workpieces with a cooling period between adjacent ones of the number of pulses of ultrasonic vibration.
20 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.