Apparatus for welding a plastic component to the aperture of a plastic body

Abstract

An apparatus for welding a plastic component to a body's aperture comprises a frame element, a first heating head mounted to the frame element for heating the component, a gripper for gripping the component and for mounting the component to the body's aperture, a heater arm having a second heating head mounted thereto for heating the body's aperture, and an actuator for mounting both the heater arm and the gripper to the frame element for alternating between a heating position wherein i) ia) the gripper is generally aligned with the first heating head for abutment therewith following relative movement towards each other, while ib) the second heating head is positioned for heating the body's aperture, and a work position wherein ii) the gripper is generally aligned with the body's aperture for mounting the component to the body's aperture for welding therewith. The gripper is mounted to the actuator via a cylinder arm provided with a collision monitor in the form of a linear encoder to detect inadvertent collision between the component and the heating head or the body. The collision monitor is configured to trigger an alarm when the linear encoder detects an inadvertent collision.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to welding of plastic components. [0002] More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for welding a plastic component to a plastic body's aperture such as for example a component to a gas tank hole. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Robot tools for welding a plastic part to the aperture of a gas tank are already known in the art. Such tools include a first heater to heat the plastic part, a second heater to heat the gas tank around its aperture, and gripper means for positioning the part within the aperture for a certain time during welding to allow its securing to the tank. [0004] A drawback of such robot tools from the prior art is that misalignment of the plastic part during welding or during any other steps of the overall welding process might yield a resulting defective gas tank. At best, these defective gas tanks can be detected during a post-production visual inspection which of course takes addi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides an apparatus for welding a plastic component to a plastic body's aperture. The apparatus includes a frame element, a first heating head, a gripper, a heater arm, and an actuator. The gripper can hold the component and mount it to the body's aperture for welding. The heater arm has a second heating head for heating the body's aperture. The actuator can move the heater arm and gripper between a heating position and a work position. The invention also provides a gripper tool for a robot, which includes a gripper hand, a gripper arm cylinder with a collision monitor, and a controller for triggering an alarm upon detecting a collision. The invention is useful for welding plastic components to plastic bodies."

Problems solved by technology

A drawback of such robot tools from the prior art is that misalignment of the plastic part during welding or during any other steps of the overall welding process might yield a resulting defective gas tank.

At best, these defective gas tanks can be detected during a post-production visual inspection which of course takes additional time, is costly and is often unreliable.

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