Position sensing a location pin in a welding electrode
AssigneeNBN Innovations, LLC
InventorTimothy P. Granger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus having a housing, a location pin, a lever and a sensor is disclosed. The housing may be configured to receive a weld head. The location pin may be configured to move linearly in the housing in response to a force between the location pin and a part to be welded. The lever may be rotatably attached to the housing and configured to convert a linear position of the location pin relative to the housing into an angular position of a shaft relative to the housing. The sensor may be coupled to the shaft and configured to generate a value representative of the linear position of the location pin by a measurement of the angular position of the shaft.
Claims18
An apparatus comprising:
- a housing configured to receive a weld head;
- a location pin configured to move linearly in said housing in response to a force between said location pin and a part to be welded;
- a lever rotatably attached to said housing and configured to convert a linear position of said location pin relative to said housing into an angular position of a shaft relative to said housing;
- and
- a sensor coupled to said shaft and configured to generate a value representative of said linear position of said location pin by a measurement of said angular position of said shaft.
A method for position sensing a location pin in a welding electrode, comprising the steps of:
- (A) moving said location pin linearly in a housing in response to a force between said location pin and a part to be welded, wherein said housing is configured to receive a weld head;
- (B) converting a linear position of said location pin relative to said housing into an angular position of a shaft relative to said housing using a lever;
- and
- (C) generating a value representative of said linear position of said location pin by a measurement of said angular position of said shaft.
An apparatus comprising:
- means for housing configured to receive a weld head;
- means for moving a location pin linearly in said means for housing in response to a force between said location pin and a part to be welded;
- means for converting a linear position of said location pin relative to said means for housing into an angular position of a shaft relative to said means for housing;
- and
- means for generating a value representative of said linear position of said location pin by a measurement of said angular position of said shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.