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US 11,065,706 B2Granted
Hybrid manual and automated welding
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorsChristopher Hsu, Dennis Sigl, Herbert A. Bankstahl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Hybrid manual and automated welding systems and methods are described. A hand-held welding tool is manually positioned to engage a workpiece. A weld is started from an initial position based on a first manual operator event. A welding heat source is automatically or autonomously moved along the weld relative to the workpiece from the first position to a second position relative to the workpiece during welding.
Claims38
A system, comprising:
- a housing, and
- a hand-held welding tool that is manually placed at a workpiece in a welding position by a handle attached to the housing,
- wherein the hand-held welding tool is at least partially enclosed in the housing and configured to be manually activated to cause a contact tip to automatically move within the housing about a fixed pivot point back and forth from a first weld position and to second weld position across an arc of less than 180 degrees during welding, wherein
- an actuator forces a spring to compress in the first weld position and releasing the spring to force the contact tip to move to the second weld position, and wherein the contact tip automatically moves independently with respect to a movement or no movement of the hand-held welding tool during welding.
1 more element
A method, comprising:
- manually positioning a hand-held welding tool to engage a workpiece by a handle attached to a housing;
- starting a weld from an initial position based on a first manual operator event;
- automatically or autonomously moving a welding heat source at least partially enclosed in the housing about a fixed pivot point back and forth from to a first position to a second position in an arc relative to the workpiece during welding, wherein the welding heat source automatically or autonomously moves within the housing independently with respect to a movement or no movement of the hand-held welding tool during welding;
- and
- applying power to the welding tool by constant voltage control to automatically compensate for variations in contact-tip-to-work (CTWD) distance as the welding heat source moves from the first position to the second position during welding.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a housing, and
- a hand-held welding tool that is configured to be manually positioned to engage a workpiece by a handle attached to a housing and to start a weld from a first position based on a first manual operator event,
- wherein the hand-held welding tool is configured to automatically or autonomously move a welding heat source that is at least partially enclosed in the housing about a fixed pivot point back and forth along the weld from the first position to a second position in an arc of less than 180 degrees relative to the workpiece during welding, wherein an actuator forces a spring to compress in the first weld position and releasing the spring to force the welding heat source to move to the second weld position, wherein the welding heat source automatically or autonomously moves within the housing independently with respect to a movement or no movement of the hand-held welding tool during welding.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.