Vibration Welding of Hollow Thermoplastic Flanges Without Internal Tooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing welding techniques for aircraft components, particularly hollow fibre-reinforced thermoplastic structures, are time-consuming, costly, and require complex processes, often necessitating internal devices that increase tooling costs and welding cycle time.
Innovation Solution
A method of vibration welding that eliminates the need for internal devices by applying a bending load to the flange of one component, allowing it to be biased against another component, thereby generating the necessary weld load without the need for internal support structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional welding techniques are used for hollow structures, then weld strength can be achieved, but internal devices are required which increase tooling costs and welding cycle time
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the need for internal devices (such as mandrels, bladders, or support structures) from the welding process. By applying vibration welding from the external surface, the method removes the disturbing element of internal support devices that complicate tooling and increase cycle time, while still achieving adequate weld strength through surface-level vibration application.
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow structure itself serves as the welding tool by utilizing its own external surface geometry to generate the necessary friction and heat during vibration welding. The external surface features (such as protrusions or textured patterns) enable self-contained welding without requiring separate internal support devices, allowing the structure to weld itself from the outside.
2Reliability
If traditional welding techniques are used for hollow structures, then weld joints can be formed, but welding cycle time increases due to insertion and removal of internal devices
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the time-consuming steps of inserting and removing internal devices from the welding cycle. By performing vibration welding exclusively from the external surface, the method removes these wasteful time elements while maintaining reliable weld joint formation through direct external vibration application.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention skips the unnecessary intermediate steps of internal device insertion and removal by proceeding directly from component positioning to external vibration welding. This rushes through the welding process in a single continuous operation, eliminating idle time and significantly reducing the overall welding cycle time while maintaining joint reliability.
3Reliability
If traditional welding techniques are used for hollow structures, then welds can be formed, but tooling costs increase due to complex internal support devices
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the need for expensive internal support devices, mandrels, and complex tooling from the welding process. By using external vibration welding, the method removes these costly elements entirely, significantly reducing tooling costs while maintaining the capability to form reliable welds on hollow structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces expensive, complex internal support devices with a simple, external vibration welding approach that requires minimal tooling. The external surface features of the hollow structure itself serve as the welding interface, eliminating the need for costly reusable internal fixtures and reducing overall manufacturing costs.
4Device complexity
If vibration welding is applied to hollow structures without internal devices, then tooling costs and cycle time are reduced, but adequate weld load must be generated from external surface only
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by concentrating vibration welding forces and friction heat generation at specific external surface locations (protrusions, textured areas, or localized contact zones) rather than requiring uniform force distribution. This localized approach generates sufficient weld load at the critical bonding interface using only external vibration, eliminating the need for internal support structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes the curved external surface geometry of hollow structures to generate weld load through vibration-induced friction. The external surface features (such as protrusions or textured patterns) convert vibrational motion into localized compressive forces and friction heat, generating adequate weld load from external surface contact alone without internal support.
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
This method reduces tooling costs, simplifies the welding process, and allows for the manufacture of hollow structures with complex geometries that would be difficult or impossible to produce using traditional methods, while maintaining high weld strength.
Implementation Method 1
a bending load is applied to the flange
Implementation Method 2
one of the two components is vibrated relative to and against the other of the two components in order to generate heat at a welding interface
Implementation Method 3
The heat from the generated friction between the components may melt a material of the components locally at the welding interface
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A method of forming a weld joint provides a first component (210) having a base portion (211) and a flange (212) extending from the base portion (211), and a second component (230). The second component (230) and the flange (212) are brought into abutment and a load is applied to the flange (212) via the second component (230). The flange (212) is biased against the second component (230) by a reaction of the first component (210) to the load. This occurs due to the resilience of the first component (210) which acts a spring. One of the first and the second components (210, 230) is vibrated to form a weld joint (250) between the second component (230) and the flange (210). A welding system including a welding machine is also provided.