Wire Straightener Assembly for Welding Feed
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Solution Overview
Problem
Coiled wire, when uncoiled for welding, often forms a sine wave configuration that can become helical, leading to snarled, crimped, or bent wire, disrupting the welding process and requiring frequent equipment shutdowns, especially for long weld beads.
Innovation Solution
An assembly comprising a wire straightener unit with a mounting plate, guide sheaves, and a wire drive puller/driver unit with idler and drive rolls, which modifies the wire's cast from a sine wave to a straight configuration, ensuring controlled delivery to a welding gun through a plastic conduit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If coiled wire is uncoiled for welding, then the wire becomes available for use, but it forms a sine wave configuration that can become helical, leading to snarled, crimped, or bent wire
Solution Approach 1:
The wire straightener modifies the cast of the wire from the sine wave of the stored wire before it forms into a helical coil and presents problems. The device provides a simple system to provide straight wire to a welding gun by preliminarily straightening the wire as it is fed through the conduit, preventing the sine wave configuration from developing into problematic helical forms during the welding process
Solution Approach 2:
A conduit is provided that carries the wire from the storage location to the welding gun. The conduit acts as an intermediary that constrains and guides the wire, preventing it from forming unwanted configurations while being transported through the manufacturing facility
2Productivity
If long segments of wire are used, then productivity increases, but the wire tends to re-coil or bend out of linearity, causing disruptions in the equipment
Solution Approach 1:
The wire straightener preliminarily modifies the cast of long wire segments before they enter the welding gun, preventing them from re-coiling or bending out of linearity during the welding process. This allows long segments to be used without causing equipment disruptions
Solution Approach 2:
The assembly provides controlled delivery of wire to the welding gun, ensuring that the wire maintains its straight configuration throughout the welding process. The system effectively manages long wire segments by continuously guiding and straightening them as they are fed, preventing disruptions and maintaining welding process continuity
3Device complexity
If wire is not controlled before entering the welding gun, then the setup is simpler, but the wire bends in any given direction and does not lay into the channel to form the bead
Solution Approach 1:
The conduit serves as an intermediary that carries and positions the wire from storage to the welding gun. It provides a simple yet effective means of controlling wire position and preventing unwanted bending, ensuring the wire lays properly into the channel to form the bead
Solution Approach 2:
The wire straightener preliminarily positions and straightens the wire before it enters the welding gun, ensuring proper alignment with the welding channel. This preliminary control action prevents bending issues without requiring complex control systems during the welding process
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 assembly effectively straightens wire segments up to 100 feet long, preventing snarling and bending, ensuring consistent welding and reducing equipment disruptions and wire waste.
Implementation Method 1
a wire straightner wherein the wire straightner is comprised of a mounting plate... a wire guide sheave mounted to the front flat surface such that the bottom edge of the wire guide sheave contacts a wire being processed through the unit... a first roll straightner sheave mounted on the front flat surface and beneath the wire guide sheave
Implementation Method 2
Contained in the second unit housing is an idler drive roll and a driven drive roll, the idler roll and drive roll contact each other on a portion of the outer circumferential surfaces... the second unit is then allowed to provide the wire through the conduit to the welding gun at a predetermined rate provided by the second unit
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
An assembly for moving wire from one point to a second point distant from the first point. The assembly comprises a first unit comprising a wire straightner and a second unit that moves the wire through the assembly.