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US 2024/0149370 A1Published application
Position sensing a location pin in a welding electrode
AssigneeNBN Innovations, LLC
InventorTimothy P. Granger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus includes a housing, a pin, a mechanism, and a sensor. The housing is configured to receive a weld head. The pin is configured to move linearly relative to said housing. The mechanism is configured to convert a position of said pin into a displacement. The sensor is configured to generate a value representative of said position of said pin based on said displacement.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a housing that defines a cavity;
- a weld head removably coupled to said housing and configured to apply a welding current to weld an object to a fastener;
- a guide pin retainer configured to move linearly within said cavity, wherein said guide pin retainer defines a slot with a “T” shape;
- a pin removably coupled to said slot and extending from said guide pin retainer to engage said fastener;
- a sensor configured to measure a position of said pin;
- and
- a circuit configured to generate a status of said fastener based on said position, wherein said status indicates that said fastener is selectively one of a properly oriented fastener, an improperly oriented fastener, and a wrong fastener.
4 more elements
A method for position sensing in a welding electrode, the method comprising:
- removably coupling a weld head to a housing, wherein said weld head is configured to apply a welding current to weld and object to a fastener, and said housing defines a cavity;
- moving a guide pin retainer linearly in said cavity, wherein said guide pin retainer defines a slot with a “T” shape;
- removably coupling a pin to said slot, wherein said pin extends from said guide pin retainer toward said fastener;
- engaging said fastener with said pin;
- measuring a position of said pin with a sensor;
- and
- generating in a circuit a status of said fastener based on said position, wherein said status indicates that said fastener is selectively one of a properly oriented fastener, an improperly oriented fastener, and a wrong fastener.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.