Integrated Ultrasonic Horn Booster for Wide, Low-Deflection Welding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional ultrasonic welding systems experience significant deflections under high side-loaded forces due to multiple interfaces between the horn, booster, and transducer, leading to failure points from heating and wear, and limited welding surface width.
Innovation Solution
An ultrasonic horn assembly with an integrated planar booster machined from a single metal plate, featuring a greater vertical cross-section and coplanar flat profile, reducing deflections and increasing welding width by minimizing interfaces and enhancing stiffness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a traditional cylindrical booster is used with multiple interfaces between horn, booster, and transducer, then the assembly can be manufactured with standard components, but the assembly experiences significant deflections under high side-loaded forces and has multiple failure points
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the booster and horn into a single integrated component, eliminating the interface between them. This integration removes the source of multiple failure points and reduces deflection by creating a more rigid, unified structure that better resists side-loaded forces without the weakness of separate interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the horn into multiple sections with varying thicknesses, creating a tapered structure that is thicker at the base and thinner at the tip. This segmentation allows the horn to be stiffer where needed (at the base) while remaining flexible enough to transmit ultrasonic vibration effectively to the tip, resolving the contradiction between overall stiffness and vibration transmission.
2Strength
If the horn cross-section is increased to provide greater stiffness, then deflection is reduced, but the welding surface width is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a traditional circular cross-section to a rectangular cross-section for the horn. This dimensional change allows the horn to achieve greater moment of inertia (stiffness) in the vertical direction while maintaining a larger horizontal footprint for welding surface width, effectively resolving the trade-off between stiffness and welding area.
3Ease of manufacture
If multiple interfaces are used between horn, booster, and transducer, then component specialization is achieved, but heating and wear occur over time leading to failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the horn and booster into a single monolithic component, eliminating all interfaces between them. This eliminates the sources of heating and wear that occur at multiple interfaces, significantly improving reliability and durability while still allowing for easy manufacturing as a single piece.
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
The integrated ultrasonic horn and booster design provides increased stiffness, allowing for wider welding surfaces and reduced deflections, enabling consistent and efficient welding of both thick and thin parts without external heat, and supporting cut-and-seal operations.
Implementation Method 1
an ultrasonic stack assembly including an ultrasonic horn and a first transducer arranged to impart a first ultrasonic energy into the ultrasonic horn
Implementation Method 2
The ultrasonic horn and the ultrasonic booster can be machined from a single plate of metal such that the ultrasonic horn and the ultrasonic booster constitute a single, integrated piece
Data Source
AI summary
An ultrasonic weld/seal-cut system having an ultrasonic cutting horn with a flat ultrasonic booster to provide increased stiffness to the ultrasonic cutting horn (sonotrode) and allowing for wider cutting applications while minimizing deflections of the cutting horn under force. The flat booster has a small footprint but provides high stiffness to the cutting horn. The cutting horn and booster can be a unitary piece and can be manufactured, for example, by machining a solid plate of metal into the cutting horn with integrated booster.