Heat shield with coil recess for induction welding
AssigneeRohr, Inc.
InventorsRobert Lechner, Jeffrey D. Woods, Jonathan S. Huang, Michael van Tooren
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An assembly is provided for induction welding. This assembly utilizes a heat shield (e.g., a mica heat shield) with a recess. An induction welding coil may be disposed within this heat shield recess during induction welding operations. The wall thickness of the heat shield within the recess may be reduced to enhance heat transfer to a workpiece during induction welding operations. Members may engage the heat shield on opposite sides of the recess (and that have an increased wall thickness) to support both the heat shield and the workpiece during induction welding operations, during which a biasing force may be exerted on both the heat shield and workpiece.
Claims20
An induction welding assembly comprising:
- an induction welding coil;
- a heat shield comprising a heat shield recess aligned with and projecting toward said induction welding coil;
- and
- a workpiece zone, wherein said heat shield is disposed between said induction welding coil and said workpiece zone in a first dimension.
An induction welding assembly comprising:
- an induction welding coil;
- a heat shield;
- a workpiece zone, wherein said heat shield is disposed between said induction welding coil and said workpiece zone in a first dimension;
- a first support engageable with said heat shield at a first location;
- and
- a second support engageable with said heat shield at a second location that is spaced from said first location in a second dimension that is orthogonal to said first dimension;
- wherein said heat shield is disposed between said workpiece zone and each of said first and second supports in said first dimension;
- and
- wherein a thickness of said heat shield at each of said first and second locations is greater than a thickness of said heat shield that is aligned with said induction welding coil in said first dimension.
An induction welding method, comprising:
- disposing at least part of said induction welding coil within a heat shield recess of a heat shield, wherein said heat shield is disposed between said induction welding coil and a workpiece in a first dimension, and wherein said workpiece comprises a first workpiece member and a second workpiece member;
- and
- operating said induction welding coil to induction weld said first workpiece member to said second workpiece member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.