Welded component configuration and method for creating welded component configuration

Abstract

To provide a welded component arrangement and a method for producing the welded component arrangement.SOLUTION: The present invention relates to a component arrangement comprising at least a first component (2), a second component (3) and a welded joint with a weld seam (4) which connects the first component (2) to the second component (3), where the weld seam (4) is formed at an angle α≤90° to a surface (20) of the first component (2), so that the weld seam (4) extends obliquely through the first component (2) into the second component (3).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a welded component configuration in which at least a first component and a second component are connected by welding connection, a method for connecting at least the first component and the second component to each other by welding, and a laser welding machine for performing a welding process. [Background Art]

[0002] In laser welding, there are basically various weld joint shapes, and the requirements of each weld joint for the components to be connected and also for positioning accuracy vary. For example, there is a butt weld, in which two components are arranged in one plane, and the weld joint is formed perpendicular to the gap between the two components. Furthermore, so-called fillet welds are also known, in which components are arranged, for example, at right angles to each other and welded at right angles to each other. Overlap joints are also known, in which the components to be connected are arranged at least partially overlapping each other, and are connected perpendicularly to each other in the overlapping region in the same manner as a butt joint. However, in this case, basically, the requirement for positioning accuracy during the welding process is very high. Accordingly, appropriate preparatory measures must be taken when arranging the components, and the components must be accurately positioned before welding. If the deviation is too large, for example, if the gap at the desired butt joint is too large, this may lead to a reduction in the quality of the weld joint. [Summary of the Invention] [Means for Solving the Problems]

[0003] In contrast, the configuration according to the present invention, having the features described in claim 1, has the advantage that welded connections with welded seams can be carried out very easily and inexpensively. In particular, the requirements for positioning accuracy of the parts to be connected are not so high. This can significantly reduce the time of the entire welding process. This is an important criterion, especially in the manufacture of mass-produced parts. Therefore, for example, when creating a butt welded seam, according to the present invention, it is no longer necessary to precisely adjust the gap between the first part and the second part. Furthermore, the parts to be connected can have a height offset, and according to the present invention, the height offset no longer affects the welding process. Also, with respect to the creation of the welded seam, it is possible to allow for larger tolerances regarding the firing point of, for example, a laser beam or other welding device, without any drawbacks regarding connection quality. In particular, for example, in two parts to be connected, they can be functionally aligned with each other and then the two parts can be fixed across misaligned surfaces. This can be used in particular in the case of welded connections of solenoid valves. This is achieved according to the present invention by including at least first and second parts and a welded connection having a welded seam. The welded joint connects the first part to the second part, where the welded joint is formed at an angle α < 90° with respect to the surface of the first part. Thus, the connecting welded joint is introduced obliquely through the first part to the second part. Therefore, the welded joint extending through the parts connects the parts, particularly in the internal regions of the parts. Thus, the welded joint has a linear principal direction reaching the interior of the parts, and this principal direction is made to form an acute angle α with respect to the surface of the first part. This allows for the inexpensive, yet sufficiently reliable, connection of at least two parts.

[0004] The dependent claims represent preferred developments of the present invention. Preferably, the first outer surface of the weld joint is formed on the weld side of the part and only on the first part. This can further reduce the positioning accuracy required for deploying the welding equipment.

[0005] More preferably, the second outer surface of the weld joint is formed on the second part only, on the side opposite to the weld side of the part. This allows the weld joint to extend completely through the two parts to be connected, preferably such that the entry region of the weld joint is formed only on the first part and the exit region of the weld joint is formed only on the second part.

[0006] Preferably, the angle α defining the linear principal direction of the welded joint is in the range of 30° ≤ α ≤ 60°, particularly 40° ≤ α ≤ 50°, and even more particularly 44° ≤ α ≤ 46°, with angle α being 45°.

[0007] According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the welded joint is configured such that it does not extend completely through the two parts, but extends completely through the first part and only partially through the second part.

[0008] The welded seam is preferably a laser welded seam, particularly a fiber laser welded seam. Lasers, especially fiber lasers, have very high beam quality and can therefore produce very deep and narrow welded seams, and the welded seam can also be oriented at a certain angle to the surface of the parts being joined.

[0009] Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for connecting a first component to a second component, - The steps of positioning the first and second parts at the desired connection positions, - A method comprising the steps of creating a welded connection between a first part and a second part, wherein the welded joint is generated at an angle α ≤ 90° with respect to the surface of the first part and extends through the first part to the second part in the internal region of the parts. Here, the above advantages of the part configuration are achieved.

[0010] Preferably, the welded joint is created such that the first outer surface of the welded joint is formed only on the first part on the welded side.

[0011] More preferably, the welded joint is created such that the second outer surface of the welded joint is formed only on the second part on the side opposite to the welded side of the part. This makes it possible to create a completely through welded joint.

[0012] The method according to the present invention preferably uses a laser, particularly a fiber laser, to create a welded joint.

[0013] The welded joint can consist of one or more spot welds, or alternatively, a continuous joint, which may be a continuous annular joint, especially in the case of cylindrical parts. Multiple welded joints can also be provided side by side to increase the bonding strength between the two parts.

[0014] In particular, when multiple weld joints are provided, they can be provided alternately such that the first weld joint is introduced into the first part and reaches the second part, and the second weld joint is introduced into the second part and reaches the first part. Thus, when the weld joints are arranged alternately, the angle α can be used with alternating signs. Here, the same angle α can be used, or different angles α can be used as alternatives.

[0015] The method according to the present invention is preferably carried out such that only the welding apparatus is moved, only the component configuration is moved, or alternatively, both the welding apparatus and the component configuration are moved.

[0016] Furthermore, it should be noted that, due to its simplicity and, in particular, its relatively low positioning accuracy with respect to part positioning, the method according to the present invention can also be carried out, for example, by a laser welding machine that has already been in production for some time and can no longer be used for high-precision welding processes. The broader tolerance of the method according to the present invention allows, for example, the continued use of older laser welding machines.

[0017] Further, the present invention relates to a laser welding machine including a laser, particularly a fiber laser, the laser welding machine being designed to carry out the method according to the present invention.

[0018] The assembly including the first and second components and the welded connection is preferably an injector, particularly an injector provided with a magnetic actuator in which a cover is welded to an inner pole.

[0019] Hereinafter, preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] [Figure 1] It is a schematic sectional view of a component assembly according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] It is a schematic plan view of the component assembly of Fig. 1. [Figure 3] It is a schematic plan view of a component assembly according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] It is a schematic sectional view of a component assembly according to a third embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0021] Hereinafter, an exemplary component assembly 1 according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2.

[0022] As can be seen from Fig. 1, the component assembly includes a first component 2 and a second component 3, and these components are connected to each other via a welded connection having a weld seam 4.

[0023] The first component 2 and the second component 3 are arranged relative to each other such that a vertical butt joint 7 is formed therebetween.

[0024] As can be seen from Fig. 1, the weld seam 4 extending through the components extends obliquely relative to the surface 20 of the first component 2 in this case. Here, the weld seam 4 extends at an acute angle α of 45°.

[0025] In Fig. 1, the linear main direction 6 of the weld seam 4 is drawn in the form of an imaginary straight line as the center line of the weld seam 4. Here, the weld seam 4 extends completely through the component assembly, thus a first outer surface 41 is formed on the first component 2, and a second outer surface 42 is formed on the second component 3.

[0026] As can be seen from Fig. 1, the first outer surface 41 is formed only on the surface 20 of the first component 2.

[0027] Similarly, as can be seen from Fig. 1, the second outer surface 42 is formed only on the outer side of the second component 3. Therefore, the weld seam 4 extends linearly completely through the two components and forms a welded connection between the two components.

[0028] As can be seen from Fig. 2, the exemplary weld seam 4 of this embodiment is a spot weld seam.

[0029] In Fig. 1, a laser 5 is shown to illustrate the production of a welded connection, and in this embodiment, the laser 5 is exemplified as a fiber laser. Here, the weld seam 4 is produced by a laser beam 50. When producing a butt weld seam, it is not necessary to direct the laser beam 50 straight and perpendicular to the butt joint 7 as in the prior art, so the two components 2 and 3 only need to be positioned with very low accuracy before the welding process. In particular, the alignment of the laser beam 50 with the butt joint 7 can also be omitted. The laser beam 50 can easily be directed onto the surface 20 of the first component 2 at an acute angle α. Naturally, depending on the acute angle α, the distance between the first outer surface 41 and the butt joint 7 must not be too large, so that a suitable welded connection can be produced between the first component and the second component. Here, the alignment of the laser beam 50 must be performed such that, as shown in Fig. 1, the weld seam 4 extends through the first component 2 and also at least partially through the second component 3.

[0030] Fig. 3 shows an exemplary component assembly 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Here, identical or functionally identical components are denoted by the same reference signs.

[0031] In contrast to the example in the first embodiment where a spot weld is provided for connecting the two parts, the example in the second embodiment provides an elongated welded seam 4, where the welded seam extends across the entire width 8 of the first part 2. Thus, the first outer surface 41 illustrated in the second embodiment is designed as a wide, straight strip extending parallel to the butt joint 7. The welded seam 4 also extends completely through the first part 2 and the second part 3, and therefore a second outer surface is also formed on the second part 3, which is not shown in Figure 3. To create the welded seam 4 as illustrated in the second embodiment, relative motion between the laser 5 and the part configuration 1 is required. In this case, only the laser can be moved, only the part configuration can be moved, or both the laser and the part configuration can be moved.

[0032] Figure 4 shows an exemplary component configuration 1 according to a third embodiment of the present invention. Here, components that are identical or functionally identical to those exemplified in the first embodiment are indicated by the same reference numerals.

[0033] As can be seen from Figure 4, component configuration 1 has an offset 10. Here, the surfaces of the first component 2 and the second component 3 are no longer aligned in a common plane, but are offset in parallel. When components are aligned in such an offset manner, the prior art typically creates a fillet weld joint at the butt joint 7, with corresponding positioning requirements. According to the present invention, here, an oblique weld joint 4 can be provided between the two components 2 and 3 without requiring high alignment accuracy. Here, according to the present invention, a secure connection between the first component 2 and the second component 3 can also be achieved. The angle α is approximately 45°. Furthermore, as can be seen from Figure 4, the weld joint 4 is not formed through the second component 3, but extends through the first component 2 and only partially through the second component 3. Thus, the weld joint 4 has only one outer surface, namely the first outer surface 41. This welded connection is particularly applicable to components having relatively large thicknesses. Here, in order to provide a reliable welded connection, the welded joint 4 should have a certain depth into the second part 3 in its linear principal direction 6. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0034] 2. First part 3. Second part 4. Welded joints 20 surface 41 First outer surface 42 Second outer surface

Claims

1. A component configuration comprising at least a first component (2), a second component (3), a welded connection having a single welded joint (4) connecting the first component (2) to the second component (3), and a butt joint (7) formed by the first component (2) and the second component (3) being placed abutted against each other, wherein the welded joint (4) is formed at an angle α ≤ 90° with respect to the surface (20) of the first component (2), and thereby the welded joint (4) reaches the second component (3) obliquely to the surface (20) through the first component (2) and the butt joint (7), The first outer surface (41) of the welded joint (4) is formed in the shape of a straight strip that extends parallel to the butt joint (7) when viewed from the surface (20) and spans the entire width of the first part (2). The first part (2) and the second part (3) are connected to each other only by the welded joint (4). Component configuration.

2. The component configuration according to claim 1, wherein the first outer surface (41) of the welded joint (4) is formed only on the first component (2) on the welded side.

3. The component configuration according to claim 2, wherein the second outer surface (42) of the welded joint is formed only on the second component (3) on the side opposite to the welded side.

4. The component configuration according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the angle α is 30° ≤ α ≤ 60°, more particularly 40° ≤ α ≤ 50°, even more particularly 44° ≤ α ≤ 46°, and even more particularly 45°.

5. The component configuration according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the welded joint does not extend to completely penetrate the second component (3).

6. The component configuration according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the welded connection includes a laser welded joint, particularly a fiber laser welded joint.

7. A method for connecting at least a first component (2) to a second component (3), The steps include: arranging the first part (2) and the second part (3) so that they abut against each other to form a butt joint (7); In order to create a sufficient welded connection between the first part and the second part, a single welded joint (4) is generated at an angle α < 90° with respect to the surface (20) of the first part (2), and the welded connection having the welded joint (4) extends through the interior of the first part (2) and the butt joint (7) to the interior of the second part (3), Includes, The first outer surface (41) of the welded joint (4) is formed in the shape of a straight strip that extends parallel to the butt joint (7) when viewed from the surface (20) and spans the entire width of the first part (2). The first part (2) and the second part (3) are connected to each other only by the welded joint (4). method.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first outer surface (41) of the welded joint (4) is formed only on the first component (2) on the welded side.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the welded joint (4) is made to extend completely through the first part (2) and the second part (3), so that the second outer surface (42) of the welded joint (4) is formed only on the second part (3) opposite to the first outer surface (41) and not on the welded side.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein a laser, in particular a fiber laser, is used to create the welded joint.

11. A laser welding machine comprising a laser (5), particularly a fiber laser, which is designed to carry out the method described in any one of claims 7 to 10.

Images