Water Cooled Wire Feed Tip Collar for Laser Brazing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current robotic welders lack sufficient cooling for the wire feed tip in laser brazing systems, leading to overheating, premature wear, and braze defects due to reflected heat and laser light, resulting in equipment downtime and reduced braze quality.
Innovation Solution
A cooling collar is integrated into the laser brazing system, featuring a coolant conduit connected to a chiller, which provides additional cooling to the wire feed tip, reducing its temperature and extending its lifespan by maintaining consistent braze quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additional cooling is provided to the wire feed tip, then wire feed tip lifespan and braze quality are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling collar is nested around the wire feed tip, with the coolant conduit embedded within the collar structure. This nested arrangement allows the cooling function to be integrated into the existing wire feed tip assembly without requiring separate external cooling systems, thereby improving reliability while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling collar acts as an intermediary component between the coolant supply system and the wire feed tip. It receives coolant through the coolant conduit and distributes it to cool the wire feed tip, serving as a mediator that enables effective cooling while maintaining a modular and manageable system architecture.
2Loss of time
If additional cooling is provided to the wire feed tip, then equipment downtime is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling collar and conduit are pre-installed and integrated into the wire feed tip assembly before operation begins. This preliminary preparation ensures that cooling is immediately effective from the start of brazing operations, preventing overheating and premature wear that would otherwise lead to equipment downtime, while avoiding the need for complex post-installation cooling systems.
3Manufacturing precision
If the wire feed tip is cooled to ambient temperatures, then braze quality consistency is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system maintains the wire feed tip at ambient temperatures by controlling the coolant flow parameters through the conduit in the cooling collar. This parameter control ensures consistent thermal conditions at the wire feed tip, resulting in uniform braze quality, while the coolant system is designed to achieve this temperature control efficiently without excessive energy consumption.
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 cooling collar significantly extends the wire feed tip's lifespan, reduces equipment downtime, and ensures consistent braze quality by maintaining the wire feed tip at ambient temperatures, allowing it to be used for over 250 vehicles before replacement, compared to 40 vehicles without the cooling collar.
Implementation Method 1
The coolant conduit has an end portion that is attached to the collar body and a leg portion that is disposed in fluid communication with the end portion
Implementation Method 2
A cooling collar is disposed on the nozzle section of the torch body for cooling the wire feed tip during laser brazing operations
Implementation Method 3
During laser brazing operations, the leg portion of the coolant conduit communicates coolant to and from the end portion of the coolant conduit
Data Source
AI summary
A laser brazing system including a torch body, a wire feed tip, a laser processing head, and a cooling collar. The torch body includes nozzle, mounting, and cooling sections. The nozzle section has a nozzle wall and a feed wire conduit. The cooling section has a cooling barrel, a coolant supply connection, and a coolant return connection. The wire feed tip has a feed wire outlet and is connected to one end of the torch body. The laser processing head directs laser light toward the feed wire outlet. The cooling collar is disposed on the nozzle section and includes a collar body and a coolant conduit. The collar body has a through-bore that receives the nozzle wall. The coolant conduit has an end portion attached to the collar body and a leg portion that transports coolant to and from the end portion.