Thermoplastic composite product welding device

Abstract

The utility model discloses a thermoplastic composite product welding device which comprises a movement system and a welding executing mechanism, and the welding executing mechanism comprises a welding driving mechanism, a welding assembly and a pressure maintaining mechanism. The welding driving mechanism drives the welding assembly to act, and the to-be-welded part and the thermoplastic prepreg component are welded to prepare a thermoplastic composite product; the pressure maintaining mechanism comprises a pressure maintaining driving part and a pressure maintaining part, the pressure maintaining driving part drives the pressure maintaining part to move up and down, and the pressure maintaining part which moves downwards pressurizes the welded thermoplastic composite product for a certain time; and the welding executing mechanism is connected with the motion system, and the welding executing mechanism is driven by the motion system to do multi-degree-of-freedom motion. The automatic welding device has high action flexibility and high efficiency, and high-efficiency and high-precision welding work of thermoplastic composite products can be achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of composite material production technology, and in particular to a welding device for thermoplastic composite products. Background Technology

[0002] Composite materials are mainly classified into thermosetting composites and thermoplastic composites, with thermoplastic composites exhibiting superior performance in aerospace applications. Because thermoplastic composites soften or melt upon heating and then re-solidify upon cooling, they possess reprocessability, excellent recyclability, environmental friendliness, and weldability. With the increasing development and proliferation of aerospace vehicles, their recycling is becoming increasingly important. The properties of thermoplastic composites give them significant advantages in aerospace vehicle recycling, reducing waste generation and supporting sustainable development. The weldability and plasticity of thermoplastic composites simplify the manufacturing process, allowing for precise assembly of complex shapes, reducing costs and weight, and accelerating production. Recycled thermoplastic composite parts can be repaired or reassembled, facilitating the repair or replacement of damaged parts. Weldable thermoplastic composites ensure reliable performance in harsh aerospace environments.

[0003] The production process of thermoplastic composite products includes thermoplastic layup, thermoplastic welding, online inspection, and online repair. Among these, thermoplastic welding is used to weld the parts to be welded onto the laid-up components. Existing welding equipment for thermoplastic composite products has low welding efficiency, poor welding flexibility, low precision, difficulty in multi-directional welding, and the welding results cannot meet high-quality requirements. Utility Model Content

[0004] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the purpose of this utility model is to provide a welding device for thermoplastic composite products, which has high operational flexibility and efficiency, and can realize efficient and high-precision welding of thermoplastic composite products.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned technical objectives and effects, this utility model is implemented through the following technical solution:

[0006] A welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products includes a motion system and a welding actuator. The welding actuator includes a welding drive mechanism, a welding component, and a pressure holding mechanism. The welding drive mechanism drives the welding component to weld the workpiece and a thermoplastic prepreg component to obtain a thermoplastic composite product. The pressure holding mechanism includes a pressure holding drive component and a pressure holding component. The pressure holding drive component drives the pressure holding component to move up and down, and the pressure holding component, after moving down, applies pressure to the welded thermoplastic composite product for a certain period of time. The welding actuator is connected to the motion system and performs multi-degree-of-freedom motion driven by the motion system.

[0007] Furthermore, the motion system includes a translation mechanism, which comprises a fixed platform, a moving platform, a translation guide rail, a parallelogram linkage mechanism, and a translation drive mechanism. The translation guide rail, the parallelogram linkage mechanism, and the translation drive mechanism are each provided in at least three sets. The welding actuator is mounted on the moving platform, and the translation guide rail and the translation drive mechanism are respectively mounted on the fixed platform. The parallelogram linkage mechanism is composed of four linkage components connected movably. One side of the parallelogram linkage mechanism is slidably connected to the translation guide rail, and its opposite side is connected to the moving platform. The translation drive mechanism drives the parallelogram linkage mechanism to move along the translation guide rail. During the movement, the parallelogram linkage mechanism links with the moving platform to drive the welding actuator on the moving platform.

[0008] Furthermore, the parallelogram linkage mechanism is slidably connected to the translation guide rail via a translation slider.

[0009] Furthermore, the parallelogram linkage mechanism is composed of four linkage components connected movably. These four linkage components are long side rod one, long side rod two, short side rod one, and short side rod two. The two ends of long side rod one and long side rod two are rotatably connected to a rotating shaft, and the rotating shaft is perpendicularly connected to the two ends of short side rod one and short side rod two. The short side rod one located on the upper side is rotatably connected to the connecting seat one provided on the translation slider, and the other short side rod two is rotatably connected to the connecting seat two provided on the moving platform.

[0010] Furthermore, the motion system also includes a rotating mechanism that can drive the welding actuator to rotate.

[0011] Furthermore, the welding actuator is mounted on the moving platform via the cooperation of a support plate and bearings.

[0012] Furthermore, the welding actuator also includes a pre-pressing mechanism; the pre-pressing mechanism includes a pre-pressing drive and a pre-pressing component, the pre-pressing drive drives the pre-pressing component to move up and down, and the pre-pressing component after moving down pre-presses the workpiece to be welded and the thermoplastic prepreg component.

[0013] Furthermore, the welding assembly is an ultrasonic welding assembly.

[0014] Furthermore, the pressure-holding component has a square block structure.

[0015] The beneficial effects of this utility model are:

[0016] The welding actuator of this utility model is equipped with a motion system, which includes a translation mechanism capable of three translational degrees of freedom and a rotation mechanism capable of rotational degrees of freedom. It has high flexibility, efficiency and precision. By using this motion system in conjunction with the welding actuator, the welding actuator can achieve multiple degrees of freedom of movement, thereby realizing precise and efficient welding of thermoplastic composite products in any direction in the plane.

[0017] The welding actuator of this utility model also includes a pressure holding mechanism, which can apply pressure to the welded thermoplastic composite for a certain period of time, so that the thermoplastic composite parts are more reliably fused together after welding, thereby improving the welding effect and the reliability of the product structure after welding. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the welding device for thermoplastic composite products according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the translation mechanism in an embodiment of the present utility model.

[0020] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the parallelogram linkage mechanism in an embodiment of the present utility model.

[0021] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the welding actuator in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 5 The thermoplastic composite product is formed using the thermoplastic composite product welding device of this utility model embodiment.

[0023] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the thermoplastic composite product welding device and the thermoplastic composite product production line according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] In the diagram, 100: translation mechanism, 101: fixed platform, 102: moving platform, 1021: mounting port, 103: translation guide rail, 104: parallelogram linkage mechanism, 1041: long side rod one, 1042: long side rod two, 1043: short side rod one, 1044: short side rod two, 1045: rotating shaft, 105: translation drive mechanism, 106: translation slider, 107: translation lead screw, 108: connecting seat one, 109: connecting seat two;

[0025] 200: Rotating mechanism; 201: Rotary motor; 202: Synchronous belt drive mechanism;

[0026] 300: Welding actuator; 301: Welding drive mechanism; 302: Welding assembly; 303: Pre-pressure drive component; 304: Pre-pressure component; 305: Pressure holding drive component; 306: Pressure holding component; 307: Support plate; 308: Bearing; 309: Mounting bracket.

[0027] 400: Workbench;

[0028] 500: Thermoplastic composite products; 501: Thermoplastic prepreg components; 502: Parts to be welded.

[0029] 600: Lay out the work area;

[0030] 700: Welding work area;

[0031] 800: Inspection work area. Detailed Implementation

[0032] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, so that the advantages and features of the present invention can be more easily understood by those skilled in the art, thereby making a clearer and more definite definition of the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0033] In the description of this utility model, it should be understood that the terms "front", "rear", "left", "right", "up", "down", etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this utility model and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this utility model.

[0034] like Figures 1 to 5 A preferred embodiment of the thermoplastic composite product welding apparatus shown includes a motion system and a welding actuator 300. The welding actuator 300 includes a welding drive mechanism 301 and a welding assembly 302 connected to the welding drive mechanism. The welding drive mechanism 301 drives the welding assembly 302 to weld the workpiece 502 and the thermoplastic prepreg component 501 to obtain the thermoplastic composite product 500. The welding actuator 300 is connected to the motion system and performs multi-degree-of-freedom motion driven by the motion system.

[0035] The motion system includes a translation mechanism 100 and a rotation mechanism 200. The translation mechanism 100 provides the welding actuator with three degrees of translation freedom, and the rotation mechanism 200 provides the welding actuator with a degree of rotation freedom about the Z-axis.

[0036] The translation mechanism 100 includes a fixed platform 101, a moving platform 102, a translation guide rail 103, a parallelogram linkage mechanism 104, and a translation drive mechanism 105. In this embodiment, the translation guide rail 103, the parallelogram linkage mechanism 104, and the translation drive mechanism 105 are provided in at least three sets.

[0037] The fixed platform 101 has a triangular structure. The translation guide rail 103 and the translation drive mechanism 105 are respectively installed at the three corners of the fixed platform 101, and the fixed platform 101 is fixed to the external frame. In this embodiment, the translation drive mechanism 105 is preferably a motor. The motor is connected to a translation lead screw 107. Each set of parallelogram linkage mechanisms 104 is slidably engaged with the translation guide rail 103 through a translation slider 106. The translation lead screw 107 is threadedly connected to the translation slider 106. The translation drive mechanism 105 drives the translation lead screw 107 to rotate, thereby driving the parallelogram linkage mechanism 104 to move along the translation guide rail 103 through the translation slider 106.

[0038] Each set of parallelogram linkage mechanisms 104 is composed of four linkage components connected in a movable manner. Specifically, the four linkage components are long side rod 1041, long side rod 2 1042, short side rod 1043, and short side rod 2 1044. The two ends of long side rod 1041 and long side rod 2 1042 are rotatably connected to the rotating shaft 1045, and the rotating shaft 1045 is perpendicularly connected to the two ends of the two short side rods. The short side rod 1043 located on the upper side is rotatably connected to the connecting seat 108 provided on the translation slider 106, and the other short side rod 2 1044 is rotatably connected to the connecting seat 2 109 provided on the moving platform 102.

[0039] The moving platform 102 is provided with an installation port 1021, and the welding actuator 300 is installed on the installation port 1021 of the moving platform 102.

[0040] The translation drive mechanism 105 drives the parallelogram linkage mechanism 104 to move along the translation guide rail 103. During the movement, the parallelogram linkage mechanism 105 links the moving platform 102, enabling the moving platform 102 to perform translation with three degrees of freedom while remaining parallel to the fixed platform 101. This allows the welding actuator installed on the moving platform 102 to perform translation in the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, and the front-back direction.

[0041] Since the translation mechanism 100 can only generate three translational movements and has no rotational degree of freedom, in order to achieve multi-directional welding, it is necessary to add a rotational degree of freedom around the Z-axis. This degree of freedom is realized by the rotation mechanism 200. The rotation mechanism 200 includes a rotary motor 201 and a synchronous belt drive mechanism 202. The rotary motor 201 drives the welding actuator to rotate around the Z-axis relative to the moving platform 102 through the synchronous belt drive mechanism 202.

[0042] The welding actuator 300 is connected to the moving platform 102 via a support plate 307 and a bearing 308. Specifically, the support plate 307 is mounted on the mounting port 1021 of the moving platform 102, the bearing 308 is mounted in the mounting hole of the support plate 307, and the welding actuator 300 is mounted on the bearing 308. The rotary motor 501 in the rotating mechanism 500 is fixed to the support plate 307.

[0043] A welding drive mechanism 301 is mounted on the upper end of the bearing. In this embodiment, the welding drive mechanism 301 is a cylinder. The welding drive mechanism 301 drives the welding assembly 302 to perform welding on the workpiece 502 and the thermoplastic prepreg component 501. The welding assembly 302 is an ultrasonic welding assembly, including an ultrasonic generator and an ultrasonic welding head. The ultrasonic welding assembly welds the two thermoplastic composite parts (the workpiece 502 and the thermoplastic prepreg component 501) together through high-frequency vibration heating; the ultrasonic welding head directly contacts the parts to be welded.

[0044] The welding actuator 300 also includes a pre-pressing mechanism; the pre-pressing mechanism includes a pre-pressing drive 303 and a pre-pressing component 304 connected to the pre-pressing drive. The pre-pressing component 304 is a roller structure; the pre-pressing drive 303 drives the pre-pressing component 304 to move up and down, and the pre-pressing component 304, after moving down, pre-presses the workpiece 502 to be welded and the thermoplastic prepreg component 501; the function of the pre-pressing mechanism is: since the ultrasonic welding head needs to be pressurized during the welding process, it is easy for the thermoplastic composite parts (workpiece to be welded and thermoplastic prepreg component) in front of the welding head to lift up during the welding process. Therefore, in order to ensure the tight contact between the thermoplastic composite parts, it is necessary to use the pre-pressing mechanism to bring the two parts to be welded together in advance.

[0045] The pressure-holding mechanism includes a pressure-holding drive component 305 and a pressure-holding component 306 connected to the pressure-holding drive component. The pressure-holding component 306 has a square block structure. The pressure-holding drive component 305 drives the pressure-holding component 306 to move up and down. After moving down, the pressure-holding component 306 applies pressure to the welded thermoplastic composite product for a certain period of time. The function of the pressure-holding mechanism is: since the thermoplastic composite parts are in a molten state after welding, they need to be pressurized and held for a period of time to allow the two to fuse together.

[0046] The pre-pressure drive 303 and the pressure holding drive 305 are respectively mounted on the mounting bracket 309 located below the support plate. In this embodiment, both the pre-pressure drive 303 and the pressure holding drive 305 are cylinders.

[0047] The thermoplastic composite product welding device of this invention can be applied to the production line of thermoplastic composite products, such as... Figure 6 As shown, the thermoplastic composite product production line includes a laying work area 600, a welding work area 700, and an inspection work area 800 arranged sequentially from left to right. The thermoplastic composite product welding device of this utility model is set in the welding work area. The laying work area is used to lay the molded thermoplastic composite component on the workbench of the production line. The welding work area is used to weld the part to be welded onto the thermoplastic composite component to obtain the thermoplastic composite product. The inspection work area is used for laying inspection and welding inspection.

[0048] by Figure 5 The working principle of the welding device for thermoplastic composite products of this utility model is explained using the thermoplastic composite product shown as an example. In this thermoplastic composite product, the part to be welded, 502, is a cap-shaped reinforcing rib. The working principle is as follows:

[0049] The thermoplastic prepreg component 501 is placed on the worktable 400 that cooperates with the welding device. The workpiece 502 to be welded is placed on the thermoplastic prepreg component 501. The motion system is started, and the translation mechanism 100 drives the welding execution mechanism 300 to perform translational motion in three degrees of freedom. The rotary motor 201 drives the bearing 308 to rotate through the synchronous belt transmission mechanism 202, so that the welding execution mechanism 300 rotates about the Z-axis relative to the moving platform 102. The rotation mechanism 200 and the translation mechanism 100 cooperate to drive the welding execution mechanism 300 to perform welding in any direction in the plane. During welding, the pre-pressure drive component 303 drives the pre-pressure component 304 to move downward. After moving downward, the pre-pressure component 304 pre-presses the workpiece 502 to be welded and the thermoplastic prepreg component 501. The welding drive mechanism 301 drives the welding assembly 302 to move, and welds the workpiece 502 to be welded and the thermoplastic prepreg component 501. The pressure holding drive 305 drives the pressure holding component 306 to move downward. After moving downward, the pressure holding component 306 applies pressure to the welded thermoplastic composite product for a certain period of time, so that the part to be welded 502 and the thermoplastic prepreg component 501 can be firmly fused together.

[0050] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above, and that it can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of this invention. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered illustrative and non-limiting in all respects, and the scope of this invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. Thus, it is intended that all variations falling within the meaning and scope of equivalents of the claims be included within this invention. No reference numerals in the claims should be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

[0051] Furthermore, it should be understood that although this specification describes embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. This narrative style is merely for clarity. Those skilled in the art should consider the specification as a whole, and the technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other embodiments that can be understood by those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products, characterized in that, The device includes a motion system and a welding actuator. The welding actuator includes a welding drive mechanism, a welding assembly, and a pressure holding mechanism. The welding drive mechanism drives the welding assembly to weld the workpiece and the thermoplastic prepreg component to obtain a thermoplastic composite product. The pressure holding mechanism includes a pressure holding drive and a pressure holding component. The pressure holding drive drives the pressure holding component to move up and down, and the pressure holding component, after moving down, applies pressure to the welded thermoplastic composite product for a certain period of time. The welding actuator is connected to the motion system and performs multi-degree-of-freedom motion driven by the motion system.

2. The welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 1, characterized in that, The motion system includes a translation mechanism, which comprises a fixed platform, a moving platform, a translation guide rail, a parallelogram linkage mechanism, and a translation drive mechanism. At least three sets of the translation guide rail, the parallelogram linkage mechanism, and the translation drive mechanism are provided. The welding actuator is mounted on the moving platform, while the translation guide rail and the translation drive mechanism are respectively mounted on the fixed platform. The parallelogram linkage mechanism is composed of four linkage components connected movably. One side of the parallelogram linkage mechanism is slidably connected to the translation guide rail, and its opposite side is connected to the moving platform. The translation drive mechanism drives the parallelogram linkage mechanism to move along the translation guide rail. During this movement, the parallelogram linkage mechanism links with the moving platform to drive the welding actuator on the moving platform.

3. The welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 2, characterized in that, The parallelogram linkage mechanism is slidably connected to the translation guide rail via a translation slider.

4. The welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 3, characterized in that, The parallelogram linkage mechanism is composed of four linkage components connected movably. These four linkage components are long side rod one, long side rod two, short side rod one, and short side rod two. The two ends of long side rod one and long side rod two are rotatably connected to the rotating shaft, and the rotating shaft is perpendicularly connected to the two ends of short side rod one and short side rod two respectively. The short side rod one located on the upper side is rotatably connected to the connecting seat one set on the translation slider, and the other short side rod two is rotatably connected to the connecting seat two set on the moving platform.

5. The welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 2, characterized in that, The motion system also includes a rotating mechanism, which can drive the welding actuator to rotate.

6. A welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 2 or 5, characterized in that, The welding actuator is mounted on the moving platform via a support plate and bearings.

7. The welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 1, characterized in that, The welding actuator further includes a pre-pressing mechanism; the pre-pressing mechanism includes a pre-pressing drive and a pre-pressing component, the pre-pressing drive drives the pre-pressing component to move up and down, and the pre-pressing component after moving down pre-presses the workpiece to be welded and the thermoplastic prepreg component.

8. The welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 1, characterized in that, The welding assembly is an ultrasonic welding assembly.

9. The welding apparatus for thermoplastic composite products according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pressure-holding component has a square block structure.

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