General Electric Company

Richard M Lund

Donald C Peroutky

Nelson R Corby, Jr

Carl M Penney

Allen W Case, Jr

Thomas P Povlick

Stuart G Miller

An optical sensor head has deep, pitched grooves or screw threads in the walls of the gas channel, and a gas flow swirled along the grooves to protect optics against atmospheric debris and moving particles such as is generated by an industrial process. The grooves are pitched to support swirling motion of the gas. Use of swirled flow increases allowable flow velocity and diverts incoming particles toward the channel walls. The windows of an optical profiler, for instance, are protected against the smoke and weld spatter created by a metal-inert-gas welding torch.

System to protect optics against dirty environments

A high response servodriven robotics tool carrier assembly is especially well adapted for carrying a tool, such as an arc welding torch. The robotics tool carrier assembly mounts the torch such that its tip is on the center line of the arm rotation axis of a robot welding machine. The robotics tool carrier assembly modulates the coarse robot movements which are programmed into the robot arm. A tilt linkage is used to tilt the torch about its tip so as to avoid obstructions. The tilt linkage is mounted upon a Z slide which adjusts the distance between the tip of the torch and a work surface. The Z slide is in turn mounted upon an X member movably mounted to an arm support so as to modulate the torch in a cross seam direction. The robotics tool carrier assembly mounts upon a robotics arm.

Robotics tool carrier assembly

A compact gas tungsten arc welding torch, which may have an integral puddle view optical system, utilizes an inert gas supply line and coolant supply and return lines, one carrying current for the weld process. The torch body has passages for flow of cover gas from a connection tube to the gas nozzle. The gas supply hose additionally carries the filler wire for the weld process, which passes into the gas connection tube and out of the torch body to an integral wire feed guide tube that is alternatively inside or outside of the gas nozzle.

Arc welding torch having integrated wire feed

A robotic welding system has a remote light pattern generator and a remotely located video camera and controller connected to an arc welding torch by flexible coherent fiber optic bundles. The improved torch has integral projection and viewing optical systems supported on the ring-shaped torch body. The first projects the light pattern onto the workpiece to measure workpiece profile and detect the joint location; the second produces an image of the weld puddle and light pattern for use as feedback information. The optical systems are tilted away from one another at a small angle corresponding to the angle of reflection to provide for optimum interception of the projected light pattern by the viewing optics.

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Scotia, NY, United States of America

Richard M Lund