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US 6,199,745 B1Granted
Welding head
AssigneeMTS Systems Corporation
InventorsCraig L. Campbell, Mark S. Fullen, Michael J. Skinner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A welding head including upper and lower probe members and probe pin. The upper and lower probe members are independently actuatable and biased to follow the profile of a workpiece and supply a balance load to opposed surfaces of a workpiece during welding operation.
Claims20
A welding apparatus comprising:
- a first rotating probe member having a first shoulder oriented in a first direction;
- a second rotating probe member movable relative to the first probe member and having a second shoulder oriented in a second direction opposite to the first shoulder and the first and second shoulders spaced to form a gap therebetween;
- a probe pin coupled to one of the first or second probe members and rotatable therewith and operable in the gap between first and second shoulders;
- a first actuator coupled to the first probe member and operable to provide a first operating force to the first probe member in the first direction;
- a second actuator coupled to the second probe member and operable to provide a second operating force to the second probe member in the second direction opposite to the first direction;
- and
- a controller operably coupled to the first and second actuators and configured to control the first and second actuators to provide balanced first and second operating forces in the opposed first and second directions to form a self reacting welding probe.
4 more elements
A welding head comprising:
- a housing;
- a rotating probe rotationally coupled to the housing including:
- a rotating first probe member having a first shoulder oriented in a first direction;
- a rotating second probe member movable relative to the first probe member and having a second shoulder oriented in a second direction opposite to the first shoulder and the first and second shoulders being spaced to form a gap therebetween;
- a probe pin coupled to the second probe member and rotatable therewith in the gap between the first and second shoulders;
- an actuator coupled to the probe pin and the second probe member to supply a forging force to the second shoulder of the second probe member;
- and
- an actuator interface member between the housing and the rotating probe to operate the actuator in the rotating probe.
5 more elements
A method for welding a joint between first and second workpiece sections comprising steps of:
- locating a rotating probe including a first probe member having a first shoulder oriented in a first direction and a second probe member having a second shoulder oriented in a second direction opposite to the first shoulder in the joint between workpiece sections so that the first shoulder abuts first surfaces of the first and second workpiece sections and the second shoulder abuts second surfaces of the first and second workpiece sections opposite the first surfaces of the workpiece sections;
- and
- rotating the probe while supplying a balanced force to the first and second probe members to provide a balanced force on opposed first and second surfaces of the workpiece sections for self-reacting welding operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.