Degradable Welding Spacer Eliminates Grinding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional welding methods require the use of a spacer rod that needs to be ground out after forming tack welds, complicating the process and potentially damaging the weld area.
Innovation Solution
A welding alignment and spacing article made from a combination of degradable and non-degradable materials that maintains a specified gap distance and can be degraded to allow removal after tack welding, eliminating the need for grinding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a conventional spacer rod is used to maintain welding gap, then the welding gap can be maintained, but the spacer rod must be ground out after welding which complicates the process and damages the weld area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of the spacer from conventional non-degradable materials (metal, plastic) to degradable materials that break down under specific conditions. This allows the spacer to automatically disappear after serving its gap-maintenance function, eliminating the need for grinding operations and simplifying the overall welding process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a disposable spacer designed to be temporary and sacrificial. The spacer is intentionally made to degrade and disappear after use, rather than being a permanent component that requires removal. This disposable approach eliminates complex removal operations and potential weld damage.
2Manufacturing precision
If a conventional spacer rod is used to maintain welding gap, then the welding gap can be maintained, but grinding is required to remove the trapped spacer material
Solution Approach 1:
By changing the material parameters to include degradable components, the spacer maintains its dimensional stability during welding (ensuring gap precision) but then degrades afterward (eliminating removal steps). This resolves the contradiction between maintaining precision and improving productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The disposable nature of the degradable spacer allows it to be left in place during welding to ensure precision, then automatically removed through degradation without requiring additional productivity-loss-inducing grinding operations.
3Ease of operation
If a degradable material is used for the spacer body, then the spacer can be removed without grinding, but the material must be sufficiently incompressible to maintain gap distance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes parameter changes in two different states: during welding, the material exhibits high compressibility resistance to maintain gap integrity; after welding, the same material undergoes degradation to become easily removable. This temporal parameter change resolves the contradiction between operational ease and structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer material dynamically changes its properties over time - maintaining rigidity during the welding process when strength is needed, then degrading afterward when ease of removal is needed. This dynamic property change allows the material to satisfy both contradictory requirements at different stages.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Simplifies the welding process by allowing the spacer to be removed without grinding, maintaining the integrity of the weld area and adhering to welding specifications.
Implementation Method 1
The body is formed from a non-metallic degradable body material in the region that can be wholly or partially degraded by exposure to a degrading agent
Data Source
AI summary
A welding alignment and spacing article is provided for forming a welding gap between two structures to be welded together. The article includes a body having first and second surfaces that are spaced from each other at a selected spacing distance to define a region of selected body thickness. The body is formed from a non-metallic degradable body material in the region that can be wholly or partially degraded by exposure to a degrading agent to reduce the body thickness. The body is also formed from a non-degradable body material in the region. The degradable body material and the non-degradable body material are sufficiently incompressible to be useable as a spacer that maintains a specified welding gap distance between the two structures to be welded.