Welding Torch Wire Feed Layout for Low-Friction Angle Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing welding torches face challenges with high friction and difficulty in adjusting the feed angle of consumable welding wires, leading to unstable welding processes due to large construction and limited adjustment options.
Innovation Solution
The welding torch incorporates a feed device with strategically arranged deflection elements on a base support, optimizing the wire path to minimize friction and vibration, allowing for adjustable feed angles and secure guidance of the welding wire to the tool center point, using a combination of rollers, sliding pins, and adjustable base supports to ensure precise and stable wire feeding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a compact feed device with deflection elements is used, then wire friction is reduced and wire feeding stability is improved, but the device complexity increases due to the need for precise arrangement of deflection elements
Solution Approach 1:
The feed device is segmented into a base support and multiple deflection elements (at least two) that can be independently arranged. This segmentation allows each deflection element to be positioned to optimize wire guidance and minimize friction, while the modular structure makes the complexity manageable through functional decomposition.
Solution Approach 2:
The feed device incorporates adjustable components that allow dynamic adaptation of the wire feeding path. The deflection elements can be positioned to accommodate different wire thicknesses and materials, enabling the system to optimize performance for various welding applications while maintaining a relatively simple base structure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the feed device construction is made large to accommodate adjustment mechanisms, then feed angle adjustability is improved, but the installation space requirement increases and wire vibration is exacerbated
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment mechanisms are nested within the compact feed device structure. The deflection elements are arranged on the base support in a space-efficient manner, with adjustment capabilities integrated into the existing structure rather than adding separate external mechanisms, thus minimizing the overall volume while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The feed device achieves feed angle adjustability through parameter changes in the arrangement of deflection elements rather than through large mechanical adjustments. By varying the positions and orientations of the deflection elements on the base support, the system can adapt to different wire feeding requirements without increasing the overall device volume.
3Ease of operation
If rollers are used to reduce wire friction, then wire feeding smoothness is improved, but the installation space increases and wire vibration occurs
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using rollers along the entire wire path, the invention applies deflection elements only at critical locations where wire direction changes are needed. This localized approach reduces friction at key points without requiring the continuous contact of rollers, thereby minimizing installation space and avoiding wire vibration that would result from extended roller contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The deflection elements act as intermediaries between the wire feed source and the tool center point. These elements guide and redirect the wire through strategic positioning on the base support, providing smooth wire feeding through precise geometric arrangement rather than through continuous mechanical contact surfaces like rollers.
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 design achieves a more stable and efficient welding process by reducing wire friction and allowing for precise adjustment of the feed angle, ensuring high-quality welds with minimal vibration and optimal wire guidance, even with different wire thicknesses and materials.
Implementation Method 1
the welding wire experiences a relatively high friction during the feeding
Implementation Method 2
feed devices comprising rollers, as described, for example, in JP H11-342471 A
Data Source
AI summary
A welding torch includes a torch body and at least one device for feeding a consumable welding wire towards the tool center point that has an attachment device for attachment to the torch or an element connected thereto. A base support, which is connected to the attachment device, includes at least two deflection elements for guiding the wire towards the center point. The at least two deflection elements are arranged on the base support so that a first wire path length from the last deflection element located closest to the center point to the center point is shorter than a second wire path length between the last deflection element and a further deflection element as viewed counter to a main wire feed direction, and so that the arcuate wire has a greater segment height along the second path length than the segment height along the first path length.