Seam welding process and seam welding apparatus
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsToshihiro Fukushima, Masaki Tanzawa, Nobuhide Kondou, Fumiaki Natsumi, Munetaka Toda
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Abstract
Seam welding process and apparatus, wherein two plate-like workpieces are fed in a feeding direction toward a pair of roller electrodes, by guide rollers rotated by a driving device, while the workpieces are guided by a guiding device such that the edge portions overlap each other with a predetermined lap amount so that the overlapping edge portions are squeezed by the roller electrodes, and the edge portions are continuously welded together with a welding current being applied between the roller electrodes.
Claims18
A seam welding process of continuously welding two plate-like workpieces at overlapping edge portions thereof while said overlapping edge portions are squeezed by a pair of roller electrodes disposed rotatably about respective two parallel axes thereof, said seam welding process comprising:
- a feeding step of feeding said two plate-like workpieces in a feeding direction toward said roller electrodes by a plurality of sets of guide rollers such that said two plate-like workpieces are pinched by said guide rollers in a direction of thickness thereof while said guide rollers are rotated;
- a guiding step of guiding said two plate-like workpieces being fed by said guide rollers, such that said edge portions overlap each other with a predetermined lap amount so that the overlapping edge portions are squeezed by said pair of roller electrodes;
- and
- a welding step of continuously welding said edge portions of said two plate-like workpieces squeezed by said pair of roller electrodes, by applying a welding current between said pair of roller electrodes.
A seam welding apparatus for continuously welding two plate-like workpieces at overlapping edge portions thereof while said overlapping edge portions are squeezed by a pair of roller electrodes disposed rotatably about respective two parallel axes thereof and while a welding current is applied between said pair of roller electrodes, said seam welding apparatus comprising:
- a pair of roller electrodes disposed rotatably about respective two parallel axes thereof and biased toward each other;
- a plurality of sets of guide rollers which are disposed on opposite sides of said two plate-like workpieces in a direction of thickness of said workpieces and which are rotatable about axes thereof substantially parallel to said axes of said roller electrodes;
- a driving device for rotating at least one set of said plurality of sets of guide rollers in a predetermined rotating direction, to feed said two plate-like workpieces in a feeding direction while said two plate-like workpieces are pinched by said guide rollers;
- and
- a guiding device for guiding said two plate-like workpieces being fed in said feeding direction by said driving device, such that said edge portions overlap each other with a predetermined lap amount so that the overlapping edge portions are squeezed by said pair of roller electrodes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.