Methods Patents (Class 219/83)
  • Patent number: 10431948
    Abstract: A rotary connector includes a rod-shaped rotating side electrode rotatably supported by an external shell case and a fixed side electrode supported by the external shell case. Rotating side electrode and the fixed side electrode are disposed so that one end parts of the electrodes face each other spaced apart to form a clearance therebetween, the rotary connector further has a cylindrical liquid impregnated member, disposed so as to surround the outer peripheral surface close to the one end part of the fixed side electrode, that covers the clearance formed between the fixed side electrode and the rotating side electrode from outer peripheral sides of the fixed side electrode and the rotating side electrode, and the region formed by one end part of the rotating side electrode, one end part of the fixed side electrode, and the inner peripheral surface of the liquid impregnated member is filled with liquid metal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: AUPAC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinya Ashimura, Satoru Baba
  • Patent number: 9931718
    Abstract: A pair of upper and lower pressure rollers 3, 4 is disposed so that their axes 15, 16 are tilted in a horizontal plane in respective directions opposite to each other with respect to a straight line perpendicular to a welding line of a joint portion J. The pressure rollers 3, 4 are positively driven by corresponding electric motors 63, 64 to thereby roll the joint portion. Thus, steps defined at the joint portion can be smoothed and a step gradient can be reduced to ensure a high degree of joint strength. Thus, it is possible to prevent a step portion from being interfolded into the base material of the meal plates 5, 6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: PRIMETALS TECHNOLOGIES JAPAN, LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichi Kaga, Noriaki Tominaga, Takehiko Saito, Mitsuru Onose, Yasutsugu Yoshimura, Hirotoshi Tagata, Yujiro Watanabe, Satoru Zenitani, Ikuo Wakamoto
  • Patent number: 9434020
    Abstract: A seam welding robot includes a robot arm and a welding unit that is coupled to the robot arm. The welding unit includes a pair of roller electrodes. The pair of roller electrodes rotates following motion of the robot arm while sandwiching and pressurizing welding targets. The welding unit passes a welding electric current between the pair of roller electrodes to seam-weld the welding targets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA YASKAWA DENKI
    Inventors: Masami Nakakura, Teppei Sonoda, Manabu Okahisa
  • Publication number: 20150129561
    Abstract: With a roller head (10) of a resistance seam welding machine, which roller head has a stator (12) and a rotor (14), the bearing outer housing (18, 18?) is cooled by means of channels (2, 2?) provided in its interior. This increases the life of the roller head.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2013
    Publication date: May 14, 2015
    Applicant: Soudronic AG
    Inventor: Daniel Dieterich
  • Patent number: 8956478
    Abstract: A process for joining, by spark plasma sintering, at least two refractory ceramic parts, each of the parts having at least one surface to be joined by spark plasma sintering, in which surfaces to be joined are brought into contact without addition of any sort between the surfaces. Then, a joining pressure of 1 to 200 MPa is applied to the ceramic parts. A pulsed electric current having an intensity of 500 A to 8000 A is applied to the ceramic parts so as to raise the temperature of the parts to a joining temperature of at least 1300° C. Then, the electric current is terminated simultaneously with the pressure, and the parts are cooled, and the joined parts are recovered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique
    Inventors: Alexandre Allemand, Fabienne Audubert
  • Publication number: 20140211384
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing an electronic device in which an inner space for housing a gyro element is formed between a base and a lid and the base and the lid are bonded includes bonding the base and the lid in which a groove is provided on a surface to be bonded with the base so that the inner space communicates with the outside by not bonding the inner surface of the groove to the base and to position the groove around a concave portion provided on a side surface of the base, and closing a communication portion by irradiating a laser beam to the lid in the communication portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2014
    Publication date: July 31, 2014
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Shinya AOKI, Juichiro MATSUZAWA, Osamu KAWAUCHI, Masaru MIKAMI
  • Publication number: 20140169914
    Abstract: In the field of manufacturing container bodies by means of resistance seam welding machines, at least a disturbance variable is collected, particularly errors in cutting the metal sheet. Because of this collection of disturbance variables, at least a control variable is automatically changed in order to compensate or to diminish the influence of the disturbance variable on the welding seam quality.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2014
    Publication date: June 19, 2014
    Inventors: Willi Mueller, Daniel Dietrich
  • Patent number: 8431858
    Abstract: The seam welding apparatus welds a workpiece held by a robot while delivering the workpiece between a pair of electrode rolls. The seam welding apparatus includes a load cell mounted on the robot, for detecting a load imposed along a Y direction which is perpendicular to a pressing direction Z along which the electrode rolls press the workpiece at a weld point and a delivering direction X along which the robot delivers the workpiece at the weld point, a robot controller and an arithmetic unit, a turning mechanism for turning the electrode rolls about the pressing direction Z, and a control device for controlling the turning mechanism to operate depending on the magnitude of the load in the Y direction detected by the load cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kohei Kanaya, Haruo Machida, Naoji Yamaoka, Tsutomu Asaina
  • Patent number: 8278583
    Abstract: In order to evaluate the welding current for the resistance seam welding of an overlap seam of container bodies, a welding with changing welding current intensity is carried out for a container body of the production series, resulting in a changing welding of the seam, ranging from the welding with a too high temperature to the welding with a too low temperature. The electric energy for this welding is determined several times during this welding and/or the temperature of the weld seam is determined several times and the welding current intensity is determined at which the welding of the individual container body is too cold and the welding current intensity at which the welding is too hot. This determination is based on the determined electric energy values and/or on the determined temperature values and based on this determination a preferred range for the welding current intensity within these limits of too hot and too cold is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Soudronic AG
    Inventors: Willi Mueller, Daniel Dietrich
  • Patent number: 8276804
    Abstract: This manufacturing method of a fuel tank is for manufacturing a metallic fuel tank having a concavo-convex portion in a course of seam welding using a seam welder, wherein the seam welding is performed using the seam welder provided with a non-interfering space where interference with the fuel tank is avoided, while changing the position of the fuel tank relative to the seam welder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignees: Nippon Steel Corporation, Unipres Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuo Takahashi, Toshinori Mizuguchi, Hirohumi Kondo, Shinji Shiokawa, Yukikazu Takahashi, Nobuhide Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20110233173
    Abstract: A seam welding machine includes a first roller electrode and a second roller electrode that hold a layered body formed by layering a plurality of workpieces. The first roller electrode is in contact with a thinnest workpiece, which is disposed on an outermost side of the layered body. The seam welding machine has a current-branching electrode held in contact with the thinnest workpiece, and which is charged with a polarity opposite to that of the first roller electrode. Accordingly, when an electric current is applied between the first roller electrode and the second roller electrode that hold the layered body, a branch electric current is applied from the first roller electrode to the current-branching electrode, or a branch electric current is applied from the current-branching electrode to the first roller electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Publication date: September 29, 2011
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Mitsugu Kaneko, Eisaku Hasegawa, Akira Goto
  • Patent number: 8000831
    Abstract: A multi model registration (MMR) process performed using a computer, for registering a plurality of workpiece vision models representing features on a workpiece that define a marking location thereon, to corresponding part vision models stored on the computer representing features that define a desired part marking location. The MMR process includes capturing a new image of the workpiece that includes one of the plurality of features on the workpiece that define its marking location; generating a workpiece vision model of that one workpiece feature included in the new workpiece image captured; registering the new workpiece vision model generated to the stored part vision model representing the corresponding one of the features defining the part marking location; and repeating these process steps for the remaining workpiece features defining the marking location thereon, for which there is respective corresponding stored part vision model representing a feature defining the part marking location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Alltec Angewandte Laserlicht Technologie GmbH
    Inventor: Faycal Benayad-Cherif
  • Publication number: 20110163074
    Abstract: A pair of upper and lower pressure rollers 3, 4 is disposed so that their axes 15, 16 are tilted in a horizontal plane in respective directions opposite to each other with respect to a straight line perpendicular to a welding line of a joint portion J. The pressure rollers 3, 4 are positively driven by corresponding electric motors 63, 64 to thereby roll the joint portion. Thus, steps defined at the joint portion can be smoothed and a step gradient can be reduced to ensure a high degree of joint strength.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2008
    Publication date: July 7, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI-HITACHI METALS MACHINERY, INC.
    Inventors: Shinichi Kaga, Noriaki Tominaga, Takehiko Saito, Mitsuru Onose, Yasutsugu Yoshimura, Hirotoshi Tagata, Yujiro Watanabe, Satoru Zenitani, Ikuo Wakamoto
  • Patent number: 7972450
    Abstract: A magnet comprising grains of a ferromagnetic material whose main component is iron and a fluorine compound layer or an oxy-fluorine compound layer of fluoride compound particles of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals and rare earth elements, present on the surface of the ferromagnetic material grains, wherein an amount of iron atoms in the fluorine compound particles is 1 to 50 atomic %.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Matahiro Komuro, Yuichi Satsu, Takao Imagawa
  • Patent number: 7968816
    Abstract: A weld fairing apparatus and a welding method using the apparatus effectively prevent a weld metal zone from forming a humping bead. The welding method includes: butting first and second object pieces together; heating the butted first and second object pieces using a heating device, thus forming a weld metal zone; and placing a fairing device such that the fairing device comes into contact with the weld metal zone and fairs the weld metal zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hironari Mikata
  • Patent number: 7795563
    Abstract: A technique for the design of 3-D RF welding electrodes by first modeling the surface of the welded part perimeter as a spline in a 3-D CAD program, and then dividing the spline up into multiple, small straight segments. The straight segments are offset simultaneously in opposite directions from the spline, to form two sets of straight segments, each set being equidistant from the spline, with the gap between the two sets equal to the target thickness of the welded package. New die faces are constructed from each of the sets using smoothing techniques, and 3-D models of the die faces are manufactured to check accuracy of the design, making sure that all the corresponding points of the pair of electrodes are equidistant, thereby creating a strong weld with good cosmetic results all along the parts being joined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Dielectrics Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Adam S. Epstein, Stephen J. Wiater, Richard S. Mongeau
  • Patent number: 7718917
    Abstract: An improved fusion welding system having a heating unit and welding device is adapted for increasing the efficiency of welding a plurality of workpieces. The system preferably presents a single-sided process, and includes first and second electrode wheels operable to heat a portion of the workpieces to a minimum temperature, and a translatable laser cooperatively configured to form a continuous weld within the heated portion. The preferred system provides the advantages of laser welding, such as precision, while enabling weld production at lower laser power outputs or faster welding speeds than conventional laser welding systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2010
    Assignees: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc., Jilin University
    Inventors: Pei-Chung Wang, Xihua Zhao, He Zhao
  • Publication number: 20090120913
    Abstract: A system for and method of producing invisible welds for a plurality of workpieces, includes the steps of selecting a free-body projection, fixedly securing the projection intermediate the workpieces, and engaging the workpieces with a resistance welding apparatus such that the projection fuses to form the weld joint, and preferably, further includes autonomously securing the projection and an encircling portion of an adhesive tape intermediate the workpieces utilizing a roll dispenser, so as further cause to form an adhesive seal around the weld, and engaging the workpieces with modified electrodes having enlarged workpiece engaging faces over optimized weld force only application and weld force plus electric current application periods.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2007
    Publication date: May 14, 2009
    Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventor: Alexander D. Khakhalev
  • Patent number: 7476825
    Abstract: A process for producing a body for exhaust gas treatment having a plurality of metallic layers, includes bringing the layers into contact with each other in a connection region. A connection is made by a roller seam welding process in such a way that the layers form passages through which a gas stream can flow. A corresponding body for exhaust gas treatment can especially be used as a filter or catalyst carrier body in the automobile industry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2009
    Assignee: Emitec Gesellschaft Fuer Emissionstechnologie mbH
    Inventors: Peter Hirth, Rolf Brück, Thomas Härig
  • Patent number: 7423233
    Abstract: A butt welding apparatus and a butt welding method where end faces of at least one plate member to be welded are butted to each other to form a butt portion, and butt welding can be performed on respective plate members which have various thickness sizes on both side portions of the butt portion with electric resistance heat by a pair of electrode members which are common to the respective plate members. At least one electrode member (1) is provided on an outer face thereof with a convex portion (1A) which gradually retreats from one plate member (31) of two plate members (31, 32) as it extends from an intermediate portion, in a thickness direction, of the one electrode member (1) along the one plate member (31).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2008
    Assignees: Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd., Kikuchi Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Miyamoto, Takao Minagawa, Shinichi Inagaki, Kiyoyuki Fukui
  • Patent number: 7307235
    Abstract: A butt welding apparatus, a butt welding method, and a product manufactured by the butt welding method involves two electrode rollers disposed on both the front and back sides of a thick sheet member and a thin sheet member whose end surfaces are butted. The electrode rollers bridge across the sheet members and are composed of small diameter portions on the side of the thick sheet member and large diameter portions on the side of the thin sheet member. The small diameter portions come into contact with and press the thick sheet member before the large diameter portions come into contact with the thin sheet member. Thus, the end surface of the thick sheet member swells and deforms toward the thin sheet member and reliably comes into contact with the end surface of the thin sheet member, and power is applied between the end surfaces, even if not polished.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2007
    Assignee: Kikuchi Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Miyamoto, Takao Minagawa, Shinichi Inagaki, Kazu Uchida, Kiyoyuki Fukui
  • Patent number: 7281319
    Abstract: An apparatus for manufacturing a wire wound filter screen from wrapping wrap wire over a set of rib wires has a frame, a spindle for supporting the rib wires in a longitudinal orientation, a wire guide for delivering wrap wire around the rib wires as the spindle rotates the rib wires, an electrode for welding the wrap wires to the rib wires at each intersection thereof, and a translating mechanism positioned on the frame for moving rib wires and the welded wrap wire longitudinal along the frame. A laser measures a gap between adjacent surfaces of wrap wire. A processor is used to adjust the translating of the rib wires relative to the gap. An air cushion urges the electrode against the wrap wire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Inventor: Daniel Allford
  • Patent number: 7148444
    Abstract: A method and a system for resistance seam welding of a foil and at least one foil support of a fuel cell system. During welding, the thin foil, together with the thicker foil support, is moved relative to the roller electrode while resting on a flat support element. In a suitable welding system, a counter-electrode is designed as a flat support element, such as a welding strip, that is displaceable relative to the roller electrode, the roller electrode being in rolling contact with the foil support, but not with the foil. Depending on whether one foil is to be welded to one or two foil frames, the support element may be designed having a high or a low specific electric resistance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
    Inventors: Thomas Beisswenger, Arnold Lamm, Thomas Poschmann, Bernhard Vogel, Wolfgang Weger, Norbert Wiesheu
  • Patent number: 7112757
    Abstract: A resistance welding apparatus having a pair of programmable ball electrodes carried on universally movable positioners. The positioners are programmed to move the ball electrodes simultaneously along a seam line so that the ball electrodes clamp and support opposite sides of a pair of stacked workpieces and are electrically charged to form resistance seam welds along the seam lines to connect the workpieces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2006
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Peter C. Sun, Pei-Chung Wang
  • Patent number: 6931729
    Abstract: In response to the recent various requests, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing filler neck to facilitate jointing a mouthpiece and a feeding pipe which were manufactured separately into an integrated filler neck having an excellent hermeticity. The method for manufacturing a filler neck 1 comprises the following steps: jointing an inner face of the circumferential wall portion 16 of a feeding pipe and an outer face of the circumferential wall portion 12 of the mouthpiece, and integrating with the mouthpiece 2 and the feeding pipe 3, wherein the outer of the mouthpiece and the inner face of the feeding pipe are in relation to be fitted in a press-fitted condition, a seam welding is executed to the welding area W provided in a range of the overlapped area S defined by the width of the circumferential wall portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Asteer Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hiramatsu, Takayuki Ohmori
  • Publication number: 20030218049
    Abstract: A welding device has two mutually engaging welding wheels, together with a separating device having a blade with a cutting edge. Two film webs can be welded together in conventional manner using the welding device. The blade is able to separate a projecting length from the welded film, the blade being heated. Heating takes place by a heat bridge, which connects the blade to a heater of the welding device. This economizes a separate heater for the blade.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2003
    Publication date: November 27, 2003
    Inventors: Dominique Storck, Jens Kallfass
  • Patent number: 6545244
    Abstract: A welding arrangement comprises first and second parts to be welded with an edge portion of the first part and an edge portion of the second part juxtaposed to form a weld zone. An electrically-conductive sheet(s) with a higher melting temperature than a melting temperature of the first and second parts are placed over the weld zone and a force application device is used to apply a lateral compressive force to the weld zone. First and second electrodes are placed in contact with the electrically conductive sheet(s) which are resistively heated and in turn conductively heat the weld zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Assignee: Edison Welding Institute
    Inventors: Jerry E. Gould, Lawrence R. Lehman, David P. Workman
  • Patent number: 6518535
    Abstract: This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a member which makes a part of a car body of an automobile or the like by mash-seam welding a plurality of blanks. Standby areas (B) are provided at both right and left sides of an welding area (A) to/from which a seam welding machine (130) moves forward/backward, and a lapping device (100) for overlapping respective end portions of blanks (W1)(W2) and a temporary clamping device (80) for temporarily clamping the blanks (W1)(W2) are disposed on two transfer tables (70) which are sent from the standby areas (B) to the welding area (A) by turns. When the blanks (W1)(W2) with these end portions overlapped one another and temporarily clamped are sent to the welding area (A) by the transfer table (70), the blanks (W1)(W2) are permanently clamped by a permanent clamping device (180) and thereafter, subjected to a mash-seam welding by upper/lower electrode rollers (142)(148) of the seam welding machine 130.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Kikuchi Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Yoneya, Masayuki Inoue, Shunji Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro Yamashita
  • Publication number: 20030010757
    Abstract: This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a member which makes a part of a car body of an automobile or the like by mash-seam welding a plurality of blanks. Standby areas (B) are provided at both right and left sides of an welding area (A) to/from which a seam welding machine (130) moves forward/backward, and a lapping device (100) for overlapping respective end portions of blanks (W1)(W2) and a temporary clamping device (80) for temporarily clamping the blanks (W1)(W2) are disposed on two transfer tables (70) which are sent from the standby areas (B) to the welding area (A) by turns. When the blanks (W1)(W2) with these end portions overlapped one another and temporarily clamped are sent to the welding area (A) by the transfer table (70), the blanks (W1)(W2) are permanently clamped by a permanent clamping device (180) and thereafter, subjected to a mash-seam welding by upper/lower electrode rollers (142)(148) of the seam welding machine 130.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2001
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Inventors: Masataka Yoneya, Masayuki Inoue, Shunji Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro Yamashita
  • Patent number: 6452128
    Abstract: In a rolled seam welding machine which can be fed from the front for producing a lap seam, the welding roller which is disposed in front of the Z rail can be swung away in order to facilitate automatic feeding of the welding stock into the Z rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: Elpatronic AG
    Inventor: Eugen Müller
  • Patent number: 6448532
    Abstract: The invention relates to a resistance welding process for welding metal parts together. To improve the quality of the weld, at least one welding electrode (4) is embodied as a circular cylinder, which is seated so that it rotates around its cylinder axis. In accordance with the invention, the welding electrode (4) in the shape of a circular cylinder is caused to rotate at least during the welding of the metal parts (1, 2), so that by means of creating a sliding friction between the surface area of the welding electrode (4) and the surface of the metal part (2) resting against it the surface of the latter is freed of possible impurities. The process is particularly well suited for welding sand-blasted molybdenum foils and tungsten wires together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2002
    Assignee: Patent-Treuhand-Gesellschaft für elektrische Glühlampen mbG
    Inventors: Bodo Mittler, Joachim Mack
  • Patent number: 6444947
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method and a device for laser-beam welding, because the invention is especially suitable for deep welding a wide variety of materials. The object of the invention is to weld a wide variety of materials by means of laser radiation, especially by deep welding, with a reduced amount of work and at the same time good quality of the welded joint produced. The procedure adopted for this according to the invention is that the intensity of the laser radiation is set by beam-shaping in and on the surface of workpieces in such a way that a small area in the workpiece is irradiated with a great intensity, to form a steam capillary there, and a further, larger adjacent area on the workpiece surface is irradiated with a lesser intensity, and as a result a bell-shaped opening of the steam capillary is formed on the workpiece surface and the cooling rate of the melted material is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2002
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Steffen Bonss, Jens Standfuss, Eckhard Beyer
  • Patent number: 6443352
    Abstract: Resistance heating, preferably with applied pressure, is used to consolidate incremental volumes of material to produce a desired object in accordance with a description thereof. The joining of the material increments may occur in the solid state, liquid state, or ‘mushy’ state in conjunction an atomically clean faying surface between the increments without melting the material in bulk. Residual stresses are minimized, particularly in metal objects, by imposing a compressive residual stress on the surface of each deposited layer or increment, which offsets all or a portion of the tensile stress created as the next layer deposited above it cools. In terms of apparatus, a moving cathode is used to ensure uniform electrical current flow in an object with constantly changing geometry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2002
    Assignee: Solidica, Inc.
    Inventor: Dawn White
  • Patent number: 6396023
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for hermetically sealing a semiconductor laser element, by which the cleanness of a package can be maintained extremely satisfactorily in a stabilized state, in order to prevent organic substances from being adhered to the end faces of high output semiconductor laser elements due to photochemical actions. The method comprises the first step of introducing oxygen into a chamber of a hermetical-sealing apparatus and irradiating ultraviolet rays onto an unsealed package having a semiconductor laser element mounted, in the chamber, and the second step of purging the chamber with an inert gas and hermetically sealing an unsealed package in the inert gas atmosphere without being exposed to the outer atmosphere.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2002
    Assignee: The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takeshi Aikiyo
  • Publication number: 20020011466
    Abstract: Where can bodies of sheet metal are welded between the welding rollers of a welding machine, the welding current is not applied to the welding rollers until the body is between the welding electrode rollers. In this way, the quality of the weld at the initial weld point is improved, and where intermediate wire electrodes are used, wire breaks are reliably prevented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2001
    Publication date: January 31, 2002
    Inventors: Eugen Muller, Jean-Paul Rusher
  • Patent number: 6281467
    Abstract: A welding arrangement (10) consists of first and second parts to be welded (4a, 4b) with a portion of the first part and a portion of the second part juxtaposed to form a weld zone (8a, 8b). An electrically-conductive sheet (2) with a higher melting temperature than a melting temperature of the first part (4a) and a melting temperature of the second part (4b) is placed over the weld zone (8a, 8b). A first electrode (12) is placed in contact with the electrically conductive sheet material (2) and a second electrode (14) is positioned and aligned with the first electrode (12) to heat conducively the weld zone (8a, 8b) with an electrical current. For the butt weld configuration (10), a second electrically conductive sheet (6) is placed between the second electrode (14) and the weld zone (8a, 8b).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2001
    Assignee: Edison Welding Institute
    Inventors: Jerry E. Gould, Lawrence R. Lehman, David P. Workman
  • Publication number: 20010008228
    Abstract: The invention relates to a molded part (10) which is configured by initially forming a tubular body (2) with a soldered flange (7). Subsequently, the body (2) is shaped in a mold (8) by securing the flange (7) under high internal pressure to shape the form part or the preform (10). Thus, preforms with a secured flange that can be used to connect said preforms to other parts can be easily obtained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 1999
    Publication date: July 19, 2001
    Inventors: MARKUS MEIER, WERNER URECH
  • Patent number: 6069337
    Abstract: A fuel tank for a motorcycle includes a body panel, and a bottom plate. The bottom plate occludes an opening at a lower end of the panel and has an outer surface which is recessed inwards of the panel. A first junction flange portion which is integrally formed on a peripheral edge of the opening at the lower end of the body panel and a second junction flange portion which is integrally formed on an outer peripheral edge of the bottom plate, are superposed on each other and seam-welded to each other. The first and second junction flange portions are formed turned toward the center of the opening at the lower end of the body panel, so that they are not visible from the sides of the tank. Thus, the appearance of the fuel tank can be improved to enhance marketability, while enhancing the air-tightness of the tank and welding operability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2000
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshimitsu Takase, Joji Fujinami
  • Patent number: 6060681
    Abstract: In a process and apparatus for laser welding two metal sheets which overlap to form a flange seam and which are pressed together in the area of the flange seam, the metal sheets and the laser beam are moved relative to one another. Welding is performed using a laser beam situated in the plane of the flange seam. The metal sheets are simultaneously spread apart, at a position situated in front of the laser beam in the welding direction, and the laser beam is beamed into the area of the gap base of the spread-apart metal sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
    Inventors: Andreas Bachhofer, Alfons Rief
  • Patent number: 6011236
    Abstract: In a method for joining together two metal foils which are at least partly superimposed on one another, eg. at the margins, the metal foils are guided between two metal wires carrying an electric current and each rolling over a foil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2000
    Assignee: Elpatronic AG
    Inventor: Werner Urech
  • Patent number: 5951885
    Abstract: In a roller seam welding machine, the upper welding roller is led through a welding-force adjustment device with two spring elements. One spring is already effective when the initial deflection of the welding roller occurs. The other spring comes into operation only when a certain deflection (D) is reached. A marked improvement in weld quality can be obtained in this way, particularly at the start of the weld seam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 14, 1999
    Assignee: Elpatronic AG
    Inventors: Nobuo Takahashi, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Akira Takamatsu, Daniel Wenk
  • Patent number: 5883354
    Abstract: Conical separation discs of thin sheet metal intended for centrifugal separators have, as a rule, spacing members in the form of thin strips welded onto one of their sides. For avoiding local overheating of a separation disc, when a strip is to be welded onto the separation disc by roll welding, the strip is formed with at least one ridge extending in the longitudinal direction of the strip, the width of the ridge being substantially smaller than that of the strip. In this way, the contact area between the strip and the separation disc will become very small in the welding area, and only a limited amount of energy is needed for the welding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Alfa Laval AB
    Inventor: John Elofson
  • Patent number: 5883353
    Abstract: In a welding electrode protecting machine, welding electrodes are protected against a surface treating agent on strips to be welded by applying a proper amount of electrode protecting agent onto surfaces of welding electrodes prior to or during welding operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaru Yoshida, Akimichi Takeda, Junji Miyata
  • Patent number: 5866867
    Abstract: A seam welder for sealing a cover of a surface mount package to its carrier includes a table for receiving a fixture which itself carried surface mount packages to be welded for sealing an electronic component therein. Electrical current to welding electrodes is controlled for resistance welding the cover to the carrier. Electrode temperature and table temperature and monitored. Heat exchangers including a reservoir and heat transfer fluid interface with the electrodes and the table for controlling their respective temperatures and thus the temperature of the fixture and package during the welding of the cover to the carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Sawtek Inc.
    Inventor: John G. Gore
  • Patent number: 5841094
    Abstract: For welding sheet-metal blanks coated with electrically conductive material, the thickness of the coating is measured with a measurement device. The welding current source controls the welding current I as a function of the film thickness reading obtained, to keep the power input into the weld zone essentially constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1998
    Assignee: Elpatronic AG
    Inventor: Michael Baumgartner
  • Patent number: 5789718
    Abstract: Mash seam welding process and apparatus, wherein two plate-like workpieces having different thickness values are fed and guided by a guiding device such that a length W.sub.H of contact of the thick plate-like workpiece with one of two roller electrodes is smaller than a length W.sub.M of contact of the thin plate-like workpiece with the other roller electrode. In this arrangement, the amount of mashing of the thick plate-like workpiece by the roller electrode is made larger than that of the thin plate-like workpiece by the other roller electrode, so that an interface of the two plate-like workpieces is positioned intermediate between the pair of roller electrodes, whereby a weld nugget formed intermediate between the roller electrodes extends across the interface, permitting the weld to have a sufficient strength owing to a nugget ratio, which is a ratio of a width dimension W.sub.N of the weld nugget in the direction of the interface to a width dimension W.sub.G of the interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 4, 1998
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshihiro Fukushima, Masaki Tanzawa
  • Patent number: 5724712
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for automatically welding and handling welded tailored blank composites. The method comprises the steps of transferring first and second sheet component parts from respective input stacks to an assembly table of a welding machine. The sheet components are disposed in a butt joint or an overlapping lap joint configuration and the blanks are welded together along a weld seam thus defining a welded blank. The welded blank is conveyed in a timed step manner from the welding machine to an output stacking machine via a magnetic stepping conveyor and the blank is transferred from the conveyor to an output stack of completed blanks with a stacking machine. An apparatus is provided to carry out the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1998
    Inventor: Bob R. Bishop
  • Patent number: 5679272
    Abstract: When welding a series of container bodies, the welding speed is at first increased to prevent the first body from colliding with the second body at the intake to the welding machine. The welding speed is then reduced to a rated welding speed V.sub.s at which minimum gaps are maintained between successive bodies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 21, 1997
    Assignee: Elpatronic AG
    Inventor: Harry Aderhold
  • Patent number: 5676862
    Abstract: An electric resistance welder welds, hot reduces, tempers and planishes overlapped metal workpieces. The welder incorporates two transformers (50, 60) which are connected to two sets of wheel electrodes (26, 28 and 36, 38). Electric current from a first transformer (50) flows through workpieces (16) and returns through a second transformer (60). The first set of wheel electrodes (26, 28) creates a weld joint and the second set (36, 38), depending on the shape, area, and pressure of the wheels, either reduces the weld thickness, tempers the weld joint, or both. A control circuit (72) includes a current sensor (70) and power factor adjuster (80). The current sensor senses current flow through the first transformer during the welding process. As the current changes, particularly when the sets of wheel electrodes engage and disengage the workpieces, the power factor adjuster (72) adjusts the power factor to maintain constant heat to the workpieces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 14, 1997
    Assignee: Taylor Winfield Corporation
    Inventor: Robert P. Matteson
  • Patent number: RE36612
    Abstract: Mash seam welding process and apparatus, wherein two plate-like workpieces having different thickness values are fed and guided by a guiding device such that a length W.sub.H of contact of the thick plate-like workpiece with one of two roller electrodes is smaller than a length W.sub.M of contact of the thin plate-like workpiece with the other roller electrode. In this arrangement, the amount of mashing of the thick plate-like workpiece by the roller electrode is made larger than that of the thin plate-like workpiece by the other roller electrode, so that an interface of the two plate-like workpieces is positioned intermediate between the pair of roller electrodes, whereby a weld nugget formed intermediate between the roller electrodes extends across the interface, permitting the weld to have a sufficient strength owing to a nugget ratio, which is a ratio of a width dimension W.sub.N of the weld nugget in the direction of the interface to a width dimension W.sub.G of the interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2000
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshihiro Fukushima, Masaki Tanzawa