Shut-down control device for welding carriage and method
AssigneeHigh Steel Structures, Inc.
InventorWalter M. Greineder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A shut-down control for a welding carriage supporting an arc welding gun automatically shuts down the gun after the carriage has stopped moving along a weld plate for a timing interval but before the continuously welding gun injures the plate.
Claims34
An arc welding device comprising a weld carriage for movement along a weld plate, the carriage having a frame, a drive wheel on the frame engagable with the plate, an idler wheel on the frame engagable with the plate, a drive motor for rotating the drive wheel to move the carriage along a weld path on the plate;
- and arc welding gun on the carriage aimed toward a weld area extending along the plate;
- a speed sensor on the carriage connected to the idler wheel, the sensor including means for generating an output signal in response to rotation of the idler wheel;
- arc welding control means for providing welding current and weld wire to the gun and power to the drive motor;
- and delay shutdown control means connected to the speed sensor and to the arc welding control means for monitoring the sensor output signal and shutting down the carriage and the arc of the weld gun by disconnecting the drive motor from power, disconnecting the gun from arc welding current and stopping the delivery of weld wire to the gun when the sensor output signal is interrupted for a timing interval sufficiently long to permit the drive motor to move the carriage over minor obstructions on the drive plate but insufficiently long for injury to the weld plate by the arc of the stationary welding gun.
The method of arc welding metal plates together comprising the steps of:
- (a) positioning the plates one adjacent the other to define an elongate weld area at a junction between the plates;
- (b) activating a drive to move a weld carriage along a weld path on one plate so that an arc welding gun on the carriage is moved along the weld area;
- (c) maintaining a welding arc between the gun and the weld area to weld the plates together as the carriage moves along the weld path;
- and
- (d) sensing movement of the carriage along the weld path and generating an output signal responsive to such movement and unresponsive to shop vibration;
- (e) shutting down the carriage drive and the welding arc in the event movement of the carriage along the weld path is interrupted for a timing interval sufficiently long to permit the carriage to traverse minor obstructions in the weld path but insufficiently long to permit the stationary welding arc to injure the weld plates.
A device comprising a carriage for movement along a work surface, the carriage having a frame, a drive wheel on the frame engageable with the surface, an idler wheel on the frame engageable with the surface, a drive motor for rotating the drive wheel to move the carriage along a work path on the surface;
- energy supplying means on the carriage aimed toward an area extending along the path to heat the area, a speed sensor on the carriage connected to the idler wheel, the sensor including means for generating an output signal in response to rotation of the idler wheel;
- control means for providing power to the drive motor;
- and delay shut down control means connected to the speed sensor and to the control means and the energy supplying means for monitoring the sensor output signal and shutting down the carriage by disconnecting the drive motor from power and deactivating the energy supplying means when the sensor output signal is interrupted for a timing interval sufficiently long to permit the drive motor to move the carriage over minor obstacles on the surface but insufficiently long for injury to the surface by the energy supplying means.
The method of applying energy to a work path extending along a surface comprising the steps of:
- (a) actuating a drive to move a carriage along a path on the surface so that an energy supplying device on the carriage is moved along the surface;
- (b) supplying energy from the device to the surface as the carriage moves along the path;
- and
- (c) sensing movement of the carriage along the path and generating an output signal responsive to such movement and unresponsive to shop vibration;
- and
- (d) shutting down the carriage drive and the energy supplying device in the event movement of the carriage along the path is interrupted for a timing interval sufficiently long to permit the carriage to traverse minor obstructions in the path but insufficiently long to permit the stationary energy supplying device to injure the surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.