• 专利附录
  • 专利说明
  • 权利要求
  • 类似技术
  • 同族专利
  • 引用文献
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    • 专利摘要:
    POOS 144-R&D-MJ L APPLICATION OF SURFACE RELIEF TO SPOT WELDING ELECTRODES ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSKJRIEThe workpiece-contacting surface of the spot welcíirrg electrode may be suitably rnodiíied to incorporate a desired silape or form, generally cornprisinga depressed region outlining a recognizable shape, to form aestlretically-pleasingor functional features in the surface of a Workpiece during resistance spotwelding. Methods for creating the desired form in the spot weldirag electrodeincluding abrasion, upsctting, and electrical discharge rnachiraíng are disclosed.Preferabiy the electrode face is Shaped and subsequently redressed during Weldirtg Operations at the weidirig station.
    公开号:SE1051066A1
    申请号:SE1051066
    申请日:2010-10-12
    公开日:2011-04-27
    发明作者:James G Schroth；David R Sigler
    申请人:Gm Global Tech Operations Inc；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    Typically, the electrodes are round cylinders with one end (one shank end) maintained in the welding device while the other end has a welding side which is pressed into electrical contact with a surface of a workpiece. The electrodes are kept, mainly axially aligned, with their welding sides in opposite, facing direction to each other. These sides are intended as contact surfaces of one or more pieces of metal and to provide a suitable melting surface.
    Electrode sides for spot welding of steel have been formed with a spherical dome shape which can generally be concentric with the cylindrical axis of the round electrode body. The dome shape may have been machined with a flat bar for contact with a steel surface. However, these welding sides leave a sharp imprint on the steel surface which may have an excessive incision and / or an invisible, uneven angle with the workpiece surface. Such an electrode shape tends to cause layer deformation around the weld which is unattractive. In addition, metal expulsion from the layer surface can lead to unwanted hair-shaped protrusions or fingers of the metal protruding from the layer surface.
    Three co-pending U.S. patent applications, assigned to the assignee of this invention, describe welding electrodes which form high quality spot welds in metal workpieces. In addition to forming high-quality spot welds in steel workpieces, galvanized steel workpieces, aluminum alloy workpieces, or magnesium workpieces, these electrodes form a recognizable image, an attractive image, at the welding area. buyers of such welded articles have considered that these images have a high noticeable quality; ie they have a visual appearance that is interpreted as an indication of a high quality. These applications are no. 11/536 001 (Publ. No. US 2008/0078749), filed September 28, 2006, entitled "Welding Electrode with Contoured Face"; no. 12 / 251,636, filed October 15, 2008, entitled "Weld Electrode for Attractive Weld Appearance"; and no. 12 / 356,613, filed January 21, 2009 and entitled "Weld Electrode for Attractive Weld Appearance". These applications describe the use of protrusions or penetrations in the round-shaped (plan view) electrode side. When the shaped end of the electrode engages the workpiece and the current flow begins, the protrusions and / or the penetrating shapes which are visibly complementary (opposite) and recognizable images of welding area images, in the weld-heated and softened surface of the at least a layer in contact with the electrodes. These images are otherwise processed or formed in the side of one or both of the cooperating copper alloy electrodes. Sometimes the images are in the forms of raised or lowered rings or other geometric shapes in the surface of the electrode side, which are concentric with the center of the welding side and jointly concentric with the electrode axis.
    Other visible images may be in the form of letters or icons that are not circular or, if they are circular, they are not centered on the axis of the round weld side. Preferably, such images are formed at the welding areas in visible surfaces of a article of manufacture, such as motor vehicle body surfaces.
    This description for the use of such electrodes in the future, by enabling the formation and creation of initial electrode welding sides (the working contact surfaces of the electrodes) and their reprocessing after welding procedures have worn away the images on the welding side.
    SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides methods for rapidly and efficiently introducing specific patterns to the welding side surfaces of resistance welding electrodes. Previous work in this area has emphasized the use of rotary machining blades to create axially symmetrical patterns centered on the weld electrode sides. In essence, however, more complex patterns may be desirable for specific uses. In preferred embodiments of the invention, additional equipment can be applied to a welding cell to rearrange electrodes to desired patterns. Electrodes can also be prepared independently, although this is not preferred as the relatively rapid wear / deterioration caused by the welding processes would make in-line re-coating better suited to minimize production interruptions and enable continuous manufacturing in an environment with high volume. For example, when an electrode is used in a welding gun incorporated with a robot welding machine, the robot arm can be used to move a used electrode with a worn electrode welding side within the welding cell to a reprocessing process of the welding side as described herein.
    This invention provides means for transferring a shape or texture to the weld side (also referred to herein as a working contact surface) of a resistive spot welding electrode by selectively removing or displacing material to create a surface containing at least one raised and / or lowered area. . This area is created so that the electrode welding side forms an attractive, recognizable, inverted image at the welding area of a manufacturing article. The depressed and / or raised area may have a uniform or variable depth. Furthermore, contours or boundaries of the depressed area may be random or irregular or may include regular geometric elements which, when observed as a whole, are capable of forming a recognizable shape.
    In many embodiments of the invention, the image area of the weld side may substantially have some symmetry, but typically it is not parts of a circular symmetry centered around either the center of the weld side or the center of the axis of the electrode. It may be preferable to form such circular images by simply rotating a shaped tool about an axis of symmetry. In one embodiment, a permanent protective mask is placed over the working contact surfaces of the electrode and an abrasive, or mechanical material deformation and removal method, is applied to the masked surface. The protective masking will prevent material deformation and removal from the masked areas and only the areas of the electrode that are unprotected by the masking will be exposed and subject to deformation and removal. Thus, upon removal of the mask, the desired pattern will be visible in the electrode. In another embodiment, the desired pattern can be transmitted by electrical discharge processing. A high melting point tool that is complementary in shape to the desired electrode pattern is immersed in a suitable dielectric fluid such as kerosene. The electrode is then moved towards the tool so that it is also immersed in the dielectric åt uid at least to an extent sufficient to cover the patterned area. By creating a potential difference between the tool and the electrode, an electrical discharge will occur which wears away the surface of the electrode and transmits the tool pattern to the workpiece contact surfaces, i.e. the welding side of the resistance welding electrode.
    In yet another embodiment, the side end of the electrode can be heated to make it more plastic and driven against a hard tool, which is complementary in shape to the desired pattern, to deform the electrode and thereby transfer the tool pattern to the electrode side.
    In yet another embodiment, the electrode side material is a composite with a core made of a material surrounded by a shell of a second material. The variation in properties between the core material, and the material surrounding it, is then processed to result in selective material removal or molding. In some embodiments, the cross-sectional shape of the core material may provide the desired image that shapes the area of the welding side of the electrode. For example, materials of different hardnesses can be worn away at different speeds when they are blasted or felled as in the first embodiment, and thus this embodiment can be practiced without the use of a mask.
    Electrochemical differences between the core and the shell can be exploited by exposing the electrode to a corrosive medium and depending on the selective dissolution of the core and the shell to create the desired shape.
    In preferred applications of the invention, such visible image transfers on electrode sides may be prepared in or near a welding cell in which they are used. One or more of the above-described applications for deforming an image on the electrode side can be selected, and equipment for its use is arranged at the welding cell. New electrodes can have their welding sides designed in this way, and used electrodes with worn side images can be reprocessed in or near the welding cell to meet welding line speeds and productivity requirements. Since the initial machining of the welding surface and necessary reprocessing can remove electrode material, the length of a new electrode should be specified to meet such consumption of electrode material.
    Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of embodiments of the invention.
    BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 illustrates a machining method for an electrode end on a typical electrode side for resistive spot welding mounted in a welding device.
    Fig. 2 shows an embodiment of the invention where the working contact surfaces of the electrode are selectively sanded by the action of selectively masked abrasive articles. This figure also illustrates an offset and rotated view of a mask for selectively allowing abrasive particles to form the side of the electrode.
    Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment of the invention where the working contact surfaces of the electrode are ground by a rotating wire brush in a pattern determined by a mask inserted between the brush and the electrode.
    Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the invention where the working contact surfaces of the electrode are formed by electrical discharge machining. Fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the working contact surfaces of the electrode are formed by upsetting.
    Fig. 6A illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the working contact surfaces of a composite electrode are formed by the action of abrasive particles.
    Fig. 6B illustrates, in a plan view, an electrode side with an image formed either as an indented area or raised area by means of abrasive particles according to Fig. 6A.
    Fig. 7A illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the working contact surfaces of a composite electrode are formed by chemical dissolution.
    Fig. 7B illustrates, in a plan view, an electrode side with an image formed either as an indented area or raised area by the chemical dissolution process of Fig. 7A.
    DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A spot welding electrode has the main appearance of a hollow cylinder, open at one end and closed at the other. In operation, the open end is removably mounted to the welding device using a male or female cone and the closed end has a specific specific geometric shape to make it suitable for performing a spot welding process on sheet metal pieces. During repeated welding work, the original geometric shape is subjected to degradation either by erosion and adhesion to the workpiece, or deformation, or both, which progressively changes the geometry and makes it less suitable for its intended purpose.
    Historically, the welding side has not been designed to form an image in the welding surface and this deterioration in the welding electrode design was compensated by modifying the welding conditions. For welding of steel or galvanized steel, this usually required increasing or "stepping" the current with increasing number of welds according to a certain predetermined schedule. The intention was to maintain the current density and heat supply to ensure at least a minimum size of the melting surface. At some point, however, the electrode deterioration progressed to a point where either further modification of the scheme became impractical or where the electrode welding side had grown too large for the available welding surface and the welding electrode was discarded and replaced with a new electrode. For aluminum welding, the electrode deterioration was compensated by the use of modified parameters, ie very short welding times and electrodes with small welding sides.
    Recent practice has been to minimize welding process changes by limiting "stepping" and machining of the welding electrode, "tip machining", to recreate its original geometry after relatively little deterioration has occurred. This machining approach is much more efficient in controlling the heat supply to the weld over the life of the electrode; to control the welding side size for welding placement in restricted areas; to reduce electrical requirements; to extend the life of the electrode; and to maintain consistent and high quality welds.
    Tip machining is usually done, after approximately 200 welds, to minimize the amount of material removed during each machining. Since it is a machining process performed on a relatively simple machinable workpiece, conventional tool materials such as coated tool steels (eg quality grades S7 or M2) are used or carbide inserts are used and machining is performed with the electrode mounted in its work configuration. . The working contact surface or the welding side of the most commonly used electrodes is axially symmetrical, with a shape such as a dome, a flat surface or a generally convex shape. Thus, machining can be performed by a single tool or several tools in a common holder mounted in a fixed relation to each other. Often the tool shape comprises only half of the desired electrode geometry and the electrode geometry is created by rotating the tool (s) about an axis aligned with the center of the electrode. In other cases, the tool may comprise three or four cutting surfaces or blades which jointly form the electrode side as illustrated in Fig. 1.
    Fig. 1 illustrates a part of a welding device 10 comprising a shaft 12 with a tapered end 14 to which the welding electrode 16 is removably attached by frictional engagement between a mating cone 18 on the inner surface of the welding tip and the cone 14 of the shaft 12. In this In this embodiment, the welding electrode may be formed of a copper alloy having a high conductivity. A machining grinder unit 20, generally shown with four cutting edges 22, is supported in a device (not shown) which is capable of supporting the cutting forces during rotation of the unit 20 about the axis C, for example in the direction shown by arrow 24. Note that the shaft C is an axis of an axis-symmetrical symmetry that crosses the center line of the shaft and the welding electrode. The interaction of the welding electrode 16 with the rotating cutting blades will produce the desired round working contact surface 26 on the electrode 16. In this embodiment, in this method step, the working contact surface 26 has not yet been prepared to apply a desired image to the working surface in contact with the electrode. 16.
    Fig. 1 is intended to be illustrative and not limiting. In many cases, the machined welding surface will not be along the cylinder axis, but will intentionally be inclined relative to the cylinder axis to create a better partial accessibility during welding. The working contact surfaces, as shown dome-shaped, can also assume other rotationally symmetrical shapes. For example, the working contact surfaces are typically flat for steel and convex for aluminum.
    This invention is intended to further modify the working contact electrode surface after it has been formed to a desired size and general shape, either by the manufacturer or by machining during service to maintain the manufacturer's original shape. This invention is applicable to any workpiece but is particularly suitable for non-iron, aluminum and magnesium based workpieces which now take on a more prominent position in motor vehicle body construction due to the reduced density (relatively to steel).
    Resistance spot welding is always practiced to avoid the formation of a molten puddle of the workpiece alloy on the surfaces of the workpiece in contact with the welding tip. However, the surfaces of the workpieces are heated directly below the electrodes to an elevated temperature and as a consequence they are more plastic than they should be at a room temperature or around 25 ° C.
    Thus, the workpiece surfaces can be depressed under the pressure applied to the welding zone through the electrodes and assume the shape of the workpiece contact surface of the electrode.
    However, the workpiece contact surface of the electrode will be reshaped by machining at regular intervals, with some kind of decorative or functional shape applied to the electrodes initially having to be recreated after tip machining. Furthermore, for maximum efficiency, the procedure followed in recreating the imprinted shape of the electrodes should not require removal from the welding device but should be performed on site, such as tip machining. In the first embodiment shown in Figs. 2 and 3, an abrasive removal process is used to create a rough surface of Ra 1-30 μm. One such abrasion removal process, shown in Fig. 2, is sand grain blasting that can be performed using sand or steel grain media expelled to the surface by high pressure means (50-150 pounds per square inch) of gas flow. Alternatively, the tip can be brushed with a stainless steel wire or silicone carbide impregnated nylon brush as shown in Fig. 3. Regardless of the grinding removal process selected, a mask with a suitably shaped opening is inserted between the abrasive and the welding tip. The masking will in part limit the access of the abrasive to the tip and thereby ensure that the grinding process will create the desired shape of the welding tip. Such a masking is usually used where the welding side has an even composition across the side for the grinding removal process.
    In Fig. 2, the electrode 16 is subjected to a flow of abrasive particles 34 projecting from the nozzle 36. The mask 32, including an opening 38 shown by an example as a recognizable vehicle identifying logo, is inserted between the nozzle 36 and the electrode 16 so that only some particles 34 can pass through the opening 38 and collide with the electrode 16. The remaining particles collide with the mask and are dissipated as particles 34 'without colliding with the electrode 16. The kinetic energy of the colliding particles 34 will lead to deformation of the welding tip on its working contact surface 26 and can, depending on both their energy and their collision angle, also abrade the surface. A deformed and probably peeled and depressed area corresponding to the shape of the masking opening 38 will thus be created on the working contact surface 26 of the electrode.
    Of course, the masking may be intended to cause peeling of an area of an electrode side surrounding a desired image which forms an area so that the image on the side extends axially beyond the abraded areas.
    In the case of brushing, a similar design is used as shown in Fig. 3. Again, a mask 32 with an opening (not shown) is inserted between the electrode 16 and a grinding medium, here wires or similar grinding devices 42 mounted on a wheel 40, which is in contact with the working contact surface 26 only in the areas where the openings are present in the mask 32. The wires or the like thus deform and remove material from the electrode 16 due to abrasive action resulting from the rotation of the wheel 40 about axis 44 in the direction 46. The wheel 40 can be maintained in a fixed alignment relative to the electrode to create a pattern of aligned scratches or the wheel 40 may be body rotating or oscillating as indicated by the double arrow 48 to provide a more random scratching pattern.
    Since both sand grain blasting and wire brushing are extensive material deformation and / or removal processes, only the specific shape or desired pattern of the surface 26 is achieved by selectively masking the electrode so that the abrasive can access only a piece of the working contact surface. These processes will also generally create relatively shallow features and thus the pressure remaining in the workpiece will be less visibly reproduced after the vehicle has been painted. As a result, these processes may be more suitable for printing patterns on workpieces which are either left unpainted after welding or which have a much thinner layer of paint than is typical of conventional varnishing according to practice.
    In another embodiment shown in Fig. 4, the pattern is applied by electrical discharge processing which is able to develop patterns with significant differences in height of the electrode. An overview of the process is indicated at 70.
    By immersing the working contact surface of the electrode in a bath of circulating (the circulation system is not shown) dielectric liquid 78, eg kerosene, and applying an increasing electric potential, generated by a power source 80, between the electrode and a tool, the result will be an electric discharge 74. This discharge will vaporize a part of the electrode 16 and a part of the tool 72. By manufacturing a tool of a material with a high melting point and thus a high evaporation temperature, such as grease or any of the refractory materials, however, the evaporation bulk to be obtained at the lower melting point copper-based electrode. This introduces smaller particles of condensed copper-based alloy 75 into the electrolyte. Discharges will be obtained first at the areas of the shortest pitch between the tool and the electrode, and repetition of this process will remove an increasing volume of the electrode surface and continuously transfer the inverted tool shape of the tool 72 to the working contact surface 26 10 15 20 25 30 13 of the tip 16. The efficiency of the process depends only on the relative melting points of the tool and the workpiece and not on their hardnesses.
    Gra fi t is thus a very suitable tool material, as it can easily be reshaped with conventional cutting tools, unlike refractory metals. Thus, when a graphite tool 72 is worn to the extent that exact resemblance to the image it produces becomes insufficient, the desired shape can be easily restored.
    In a third embodiment, illustrated in Fig. 5, the desired pattern can be applied to the electrode by a mechanical upsetting process resulting from contact with a matrix as shown at 60. The electrode 16 is deformed by contact with a rigid tool 62. The reverse geometry of the contact surface 66 of the tool 62 is thus transmitted to the working contact surface 26 of the electrode 16. The required contact pressure P between the tool and the electrode can be generated by the welding device or generated externally, for example by electromagnetically or explosively accelerating a solid tool electromagnetically to strike with the electrode (not shown).
    Preferably, the electrode 16 will be heated to a temperature sufficient to reduce its surface boundary prior to upsetting, for example by exposing it to a tool 62 which has been heated with the heating elements 64. Alternatively, the electrode may be heated by passing electric current through the electrode.
    A suitable upset temperature is alloy specific but will generally be in the range of from about 350 ° C to about 750 ° C.
    Unlike the previous embodiments, the upsetting process will displace material rather than remove it. Depending on the properties of the pattern, it will thus be desirable to first apply the pattern to the worn electrode and then perform the machining work to remove upwardly displaced material from the welding side of the electrode. This will be most important for deep patterns that cover a large part of the working contact electrode side and result in a larger volume of offset metal. The methods and processes described so far are suitable for welding electrodes with homogeneous composition and microstructure. Typically, such electrodes are formed from high alloy copper of substantially pure copper to maintain high electrical conductivity. However, high-alloy copper for welding electrodes can be obtained in varying quality classes including, only for example, in which the copper contains small amounts of zirconium; or chromium; or chromium and zirconium in combination; or beryllium; or a dispersion of alumina. These additives are made to cure the electrode, especially at elevated temperatures. It is thus possible to manufacture a composite electrode, for example by co-extrusion of an ingot with a core of one alloy and a sheath or cladding of a second alloy. By further shaping the core into a desired shape, the design of the core can be exposed on the working contact surface by utilizing the property variation that will accompany the alloy or composition variation. Thus, in a fourth embodiment, the desired shape of the working contact electrode side is achieved by: first manufacturing a composite electrode whose core has a predetermined shape or shape; exposing the composite electrode to a material removal environment; and using the different reactions of the core and cladding for the material removal environment to achieve a suitable contoured working contact electrode surface.
    Consider, for example, the electrode design shown in Fig. 6A which shows a composite electrode 16 'comprising a core 19 of dispersion-reinforced copper with a slightly less abrasion-resistant cladding 17 of zirconium-containing copper alloy. When scraping a wire brush or, as shown by sandblasting with the abrasive 34 projecting from the nozzle 36, the areas of the cladding 17 and the core of 19 of the composite electrode will be peeled off unevenly. In this example, the cladding 17 will be removed with respect to the core 19 and the shape of the core 19 will remain more protruding as a star-shaped projection with eight beams illustrated in the plan view of Fig. 6B. Thus, depending on the relative abrasion resistance of the areas of the cladding 17 and the core 19 on the welding side, the core 19 may extend above, or be submerged below, the welding side level of the cladding 17. Either way, the abraded pieces of the core 19 and the cladding 17 of the composite working contact surface 26 'to cooperate to form a constellation in a sheet metal welding surface formed using the electrode 16'.
    Fig. 7A shows a similar situation, but here the difference between the core 19 and the cladding 17 used is their chemical reactivity. Submission of the composite electrode 16 'for chemical or electrochemical reaction, for example by immersion in a chemical solution 19 will thus lead to varying degrees of chemical removal of the areas of the core 19 and the cladding 17.
    This difference in chemical reactivity of the electrode materials allows the formation of a raised or lowered star-shaped core 19 as illustrated in the plan view of Fig. 7B. Again, the chemically eroded portions of the core 19 and the cladding 17 of the composite working contact surface 26 'will cooperate to form a protrusion or submerged constellation in a sheet metal welding area formed using the electrode 16'.
    Practical uses of the invention have been illustrated in which the welding side of a resistance welding electrode has been formed to form a constellation with a plurality of beams and a rosette image. Applications of the invention are considered suitable for forming many different visible images on a unit of welded parts which provide a noticeable sense of quality to an observer. When it is desired to form one or more circular images on the working contact surface of an electrode, it may be more convenient to shape the image by using a cutting tool and rotate it relative to the center axis of the electrode and towards the welding side. However, where the desired image does not have such a circular symmetry, the design applications of this invention can be used effectively and efficiently. The invention has been described in detail as it is to be applied in a first use, but as it has been described it is subjected to electrodes for abrasion and erosion and the printed images on the electrodes will, during repeated use, lose conformity with the original. This loss of exact resemblance can be detected manually by an operator or inspector or, alternatively, by automated vision-based inspection systems including cameras, frame grabbers and feature identification data systems as are well known to those skilled in the art. Once a threshold for lack of image identity is detected, the electrode can be completed again as described above. Such repairs can be performed in a welding cell with the electrode mounted on the welding machine or welding robot. In this case, suitable processing and image transfer means would be fed to the welding machine or more preferably the motor characteristics of the welding machine would be used to transfer the electrode to a station for close processing and image transfer. Alternatively, electrode tips can be removed from the welding machine, transferred to a remote processing and image transfer station, conveniently returned and returned to the welding machine, and reinstalled in the welding machine. It will be appreciated that placement of the nearby processing and image transfer station capability to enable electrode processing during assembly on the welding machine will minimize production downtime and is preferred in high speed production applications.
    These descriptions of the invention are of an exemplary nature only and variations thus do not deviate from the basic idea of the invention and are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations should not be construed as departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
    权利要求:
    Claims (18)
    [1] 1. l, A method of preparing a resistance spot welding e-íectrocle forimpartšng a visible image on a weldment, the electrode having a generally roundcylindricai body With a cylinder axis and a Workpiece-»contactiiig surface at oneend of the body, the method coïnprising: sliapiiig the electrode to create a generally flat or convex-shapedWorkpíece-contacting surface on the electrode; and selectively shaping portions of the workpiece-contacting surface of theelectrode with image-forming features other than for creating features of circularsyinmetry centered about the Weld face of the electrode body, the image formingfeatures coinprisiiig protrusions and/or intrusions extendiiig, respectively, aboveor below acljacent regions of the Workpiece Contacting surface such that theWorkpiece-contacting surface imposes a visible reverse image in a Weldiiient formed on a metal workpiece.
    [2] 2. The method of claiin i, Whereín the Workpiece-corltactirig surfaceof the electrode is seleetively Shaped using an abrasive medium.
    [3] 3. The rnethod of cšaim 2, further cornprisiiig restrictirig access of theabrasive :neclium to the nforlrpiece-contaetirig surface of the electrocle byinterposirtg a mask between the abrasive rnediuin and a pait of the electrodesurface, the mask having at least one opening enabling access of the abrasive xnediunl to the electrode.
    [4] 4. The rnethoci of clairri 2 vvherein the abrasive medium coniprises abrasive particles. 17
    [5] 5. The method of clairn 2 Wherein the abrasive medium cornprises a wire brush.
    [6] 6. The rnethod of claiin 1 wherein the woritpiece-coritacting surface of the electrode is selectively Shaped using electrical clischarge inachining.
    [7] 7. Tlie method of claim 1. wherein the Workpiece-contactirig surface of the eiectrode is selectively Shaped by upsetting.
    [8] 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the upseüiiig is performed with the electrode at a ternperature of between 350°C and 75Û°C.
    [9] 9. A method of prepariiig a resistance spot Welding electrode foritnparting a visible image on a vveldnteut, the electrode having a generally roundcylindrical body with a cylinder axis and a workpiece-cotitacting surface at oneend of the body, the workpiece-contacting surface end of the eiectrode bodyhaving one or more image surface regions displayiiig a reverse shape of a desiredimage and image boundary regions enclosing the image surface regions, theimage surface regions and image boundary regions being disposed generally co-axiaâly tvith the cylinder axis and formed of different electrode eompositioils thatrespond differently to a selected process for removal of electrode material indevelopment of image forrning features on the Workpiece-coiitactiiïtg surface, thernethod coinprising: siaaping the electrode to create a suitabEy-sliaped workpiece-Contacting surface on the electrode; and simultaneously exposing the image surface regions and imagebouncíary regions to a material removai process that seiectively removes electrocicmaterial to leave protrusions and/or intrusions in the iii-rage surface regions extending, respectively, above or below adjacent image boundaiy regions of the 18 workpiece-coritactiiig surface such that the workpiece-contactíng surface issuitable for irnposing a visibie reverse image in a ufeldinent formed on a rnetai varorkpieee.
    [10] 10. The rnethod of claim 9 whereiri the tvorkpiece-coratactiiig surface of the eíectrode is selectively shaped using an abrasive inediuin. i 1.
    [11] 11. The method of ciaim 10 witerein the abrasive medium comprises abrasšve gråt.
    [12] 12. The inethod of clairn 9 Whereiii the vvorkpiecewontacting surface of the electrode is seiectively Shaped. by dissoiution in a chemicai solution.
    [13] 13. The method of ciaim 9 vvhereíix the Workpiece-coiitactirxg surfaceof the electrode is selectively shaped by eIectricaHy-enhanced dissolution in a chemícai solution.
    [14] 14. A method of Operating a electricai resistance Weâciing operation inwhich a welding nlacilítte arm at a Weiding station presses the Workpiece-contacting face of a generaily round cylindricai weld electrode against the surfaceof a metal Workpiece, the rtïiethod cornprising: (a) initially seiectiveiy sliaping the weld face of the electrode withimage~forrning features other than for creating features of circuiar symmetrycentered about the weld face of the electrode body, the image forrning featuresconaprising protrusions and/or intrusions in the Workpiece-contacting surface suchthat the surface inrposes a visibie reverse .image in a Weldiiaeiit formed on the metai vvorkpiece, 19 (b) using the welding machine arm and weld electrode to form inanyWeids .in Which each weldnaeiit hears the reverse image; and, when the image onthe weld face no longer produces a visible reverse iniage, (c) moving the weld arm to a redressirig operation in the weld station and re-sliaping the weld face as specified in step (a).
    [15] 15. The niethod of claim 14 further cornprisiiig reinoving the electrodefrom the welcling machine; conveyiiig the electrodes to a remote dressing andimage-iniparting station; returning the electrode to the welding machine; and re- installing the electrode on the welding machine.
    [16] 16. The method of ciaim 14 Whereiii the absence of a visible reverse iniage is determined using an autoniated vision system.
    [17] 17. The method of claim 24 Wherein the workpiece-coiitacting surface of the electrode is selectively Shaped using an abrasive medium.
    [18] 18. The method of ciaiin 14 wherein the Workpiece-contacting surface of the electrode is seleetively Shaped by dissolution in a chemical solution.
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    DE102010049198B4|2021-03-25|
    US20110094999A1|2011-04-28|
    US8350179B2|2013-01-08|
    SE536749C2|2014-07-15|
    DE102010049198A1|2011-05-19|
    CN102049629A|2011-05-11|
    CN102049629B|2013-08-07|
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    法律状态:
    2018-05-29| NUG| Patent has lapsed|
    优先权:
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    US12/605,531|US8350179B2|2009-10-26|2009-10-26|Application of surface relief to spot welding electrodes|
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