# US 9,751,157 B2 · Process for identifying existence of partially welded spots and retention of cut-out part in wire-cut electrical discharge machining

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- Number: US 9,751,157 B2
- Document ID: US9751157B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/241,206
- Filed: 2013-03-28
- Published: 2014-07-24
- Granted: 2017-09-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-04-18
- Assignees: Seibu Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Seibu Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Takashi Mitsuyasu; Masatoshi Kawano
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9751157B2

## CPC

- B23K 28/02: Combined welding or cutting procedures or apparatus
- B23H 7/04: Apparatus for supplying current to working gap; Electric circuits specially adapted therefor
- B23H 7/38: Influencing metal working by using specially adapted means not directly involved in the removal of metal, e.g. ultrasonic waves, magnetic fields or laser irradiation
- B23K 9/0956: {using sensing means, e.g. optical}
- B23H 7/20: for program control, e.g. adaptive
- B23H 7/26: Apparatus for moving or positioning electrode relatively to workpiece; Mounting of electrode
- B23K: SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
- B23H: WORKING OF METAL BY THE ACTION OF A HIGH CONCENTRATION OF ELECTRIC CURRENT ON A WORKPIECE USING AN ELECTRODE WHICH TAKES THE PLACE OF A TOOL; SUCH WORKING COMBINED WITH OTHER FORMS OF WORKING OF METAL (processes for the electrolytic or electrophoretic production of coatings, electroforming, or apparatus therefor C25D; processes for the electrolytic removal of material from objects C25F; manufacturing printed circuits using precipitation techniques to apply the conductive material to form the desired conductive pattern H05K3/18)

## Abstract

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode is disclosed which makes it possible to go ahead process steps while identifying automatically the retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece, ensuring unmanned work of the wire electrode discharge processor. The process includes an inspection step to detect whether the wire electrode comes into contact with a welded spot while moving the wire electrode along the cutting path of kerf in the workpiece, after the wire electrode has come into contact with the welded spot, a step goes ahead to one of next procedures, and after the wire electrode has come into no contact with the welded spot, a step goes ahead to generate an alarm and the wire electrical discharge is ceased.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge process comprising of the steps of, cutting a part to be separated from the workpiece with electrical discharge using spark energy generated by application of an inter-electrode voltage which occurs across a wire electrode and the workpiece lying in opposition to the wire electrode, changing an electrical processing condition applied across the wire electrode and the workpiece from a cutting phase to a welding phase at least one spot in a preselected cutting path or kerf of the part, fusing at least partially the wire electrode and welding the part with the workpiece at the spot in a preselected contour of the part, and
further comprising of a rough cutting step in which the workpiece is rough cut to form the part in the cutting phase of the electrical processing condition with leaving the spot to be welded later, a welding step in which the electrical processing condition is switched over from the cutting phase to the welding phase to form a welded spot at the spot to be welded later thereby welding together the part with the workpiece, inspection step in which the electrical processing condition is changed to a positioning phase or a positioning power source in which the wire electrode is moved forward or backward to detect whether the wire electrode comes into contact with the welded spot without making contact with any of the part and the workpiece, and a step going ahead to one of next procedures to be executed on any of the part and workpiece in response to a state where the wire electrode comes into contact with the welded spot while the part is in safe retention on the workpiece or another next procedure to generate an alarm in response to another state where the wire electrode has no contact with the welded spot while the part is in no safe retention on the workpiece and the wire discharge is ceased.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the next procedure on the workpiece comprises the step of, finish cutting carried out on a rough cut surface of any of the workpiece and the part, and welding the part with the workpiece at another spot lying in the preselected cutting path or kerf of the part, or rough cutting on the workpiece at another spot.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the workpiece has a start hole for punching process anywhere other than an area of the part, and after the wire electrode threading through the start hole has carried out the rough cut executed on the workpiece, the wire electrode moves backward along the cutting path or kerf or goes back to a beginning location of the rough cutting and then the wire electrode carries out finish cutting on a rough cut surface of the part.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the workpiece has a start hole for die plate process anywhere in the area of the part, and after the welding phase subsequent to the rough cutting on the workpiece, the electrical processing condition is switched to the cutting phase to make rough cutting on the workpiece over a preselected distance to separate the wire electrode from the welded spot, then the electrical processing condition is changed to the positioning phase or positioning power source to move backward the wire electrode along the rough cutting path or kerf and in doing so the inspection step is executed whether the wire electrode comes into contact with the welded spot, and in response to the state where the part is safe welded with the workpiece, the electrical processing condition is changed to the cutting phase to subsequently carry out the electrical discharge on the workpiece to cut another part, or in response to the state where the wire electrode has no contact with the welded spot, the electrical processing condition is changed to the welding phase to again carry out the welding process to weld the part with the workpiece at another spot in the cutting path or kerf of the part.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 4, wherein after the rough cutting of the cutting path or kerf on the part is carried out more than the preselected cutting path or kerf of the part, the wire electrode stays for a preselected time at a location where the rough cutting has been carried out while the part is washed by a jet stream of processing liquid to remove any burr, chip or foreign matter which has occurred in the electrical discharge to eliminate any influence of the chip or foreign matter on the inspection step, and thereafter the wire electrode goes back along the cutting path or kerf to identify the contact with the welded spot.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the retention of the part on the workpiece with the welded spot is identified when the wire electrode is allowed to thread the start hole or cutting path previously cut in the workpiece without making contact with the part and also the part is detected having no tilt relative to the workpiece.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 1, wherein in response to existence of the start hole previously cut in the workpiece, mechanical coordinates of the start hole are measured by the contact detection of the wire electrode with workpiece before and after the rough cutting of electrical discharge on the workpiece executed by the wire electrode, and the mechanical coordinates of the start hole part are compared with each other to detect a variation in the mechanical coordinate to inspect the retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 7, wherein in response to existence of the start hole previously cut in the workpiece, diameters of the start hole at least three points are measured by the contact detection of the wire electrode with workpiece before and after the rough cutting of electrical discharge on the workpiece executed by the wire electrode, and the mechanical coordinates of the start hole are calculated with a controller, and the diameters of the start hole are compared with each other to detect a variation in the mechanical coordinate to inspect the retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

A process for identifying existence of a welded spot on a cut-out part and retention of the cut-out part on a workpiece in a wire electrode discharge, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the wire electrode is wired automatically at any desired location in the cutting path or kerf which has been cut in the workpiece, and a width across the cutting path or kerf is measured with using contact sensing of the wire electrode and compared with a gauge value prescribed in accordance with an electrical discharge condition of the wire electrode discharge processor, or a plurality of widths across the cutting path or kerf is measured and compared with each other a gauge value prescribed in accordance with an electrical discharge condition of the wire electrode discharge processor to thereby inspect the retention of the part on the workpiece with the welded spot.