Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Tiejun Ma

Romeo N Cossette

Thomas Roger Jaeger

Craig Matthew Bondy

Romeo Cossette

Robert D Ryan

Paul William Garvey

Chris John Roehl

Jeffrey G Wells

Ryan M Lizotte

Jeffery K Arcand

Paul David Pinsonneault

David A Bellamy

Paul-David Pinsonneault

A rotating power connection for connecting an electrical supply power cable to an electric welding torch body is provided. In the rotating power connection, the mechanical load is carried by steel bearings, and the electric load is carried by multi-contact, spring loaded fins made out of highly conductive materials or coatings. In some examples, a rotating power connector is affixed to a torch before the power connection to a wire feeder. The rotating power connector advantageously allows for rotation of the welding torch relative to the unicable while providing continual electrical connection at the high current levels employed in welding applications.

Rotating power connector for welding torch cables

An example wire feeder includes: a frame; a receptacle configured to transfer welding-type current to a welding torch via a torch connector, and to position the torch connector to receive a wire electrode; one or more drive rolls configured to drive the wire electrode to the welding torch, the one or more drive rolls being electrically insulated from the frame, and wherein the wire electrode is electrically insulated from the frame; and a sensor configured to determine at least one of a voltage or an impedance between a first point electrically coupled to the wire electrode and a reference point.

Systems and methods to monitor the life of a welding torch

A method of monitoring and assessing contact tip useful life in a GMAW-pulse application. The pulse welding waveform includes current and voltage that periodically change between peaks and background. The welding current and voltage are measured on a series of repeated representative welds. The data that corresponds to the arc start and the arc stop of a weld is removed. The data is averaged for each representative weld, which corresponds to production of welded parts and/or usage of the contact tip. The deterioration of the contact tip is assessed based on one or more of (i) a decrease in the frequency of the peaks, (ii) an increase in the length of the background, and (iii) an increase in the occurrence of abnormal low voltage. The assessment is outputted as contact tip life data, and continuously fed to a controller or operator.

Method to monitor the life of the contact tip in GMAW-pulse

The welding contact tips presented herein include contoured inner bores that include a front inner bore section and a back inner bore section. In certain embodiments, the front inner bore section is approximately 0.3-0.6 inches long and includes an inner wall having a substantially constant inner diameter. The back inner bore section is configured to conform to the specific welding wire used with the welding contact tip. In particular, the back inner bore section includes an inner wall having an inner diameter that is substantially larger at an axial end of the welding contact tip than at an axial transition location where the front and back inner bore sections abut. As such, the welding contact area between the welding contact tip and the welding wire is enhanced in the front inner bore section, especially when the welding wire twists inside the contact tip and the welding torch.

Contact tip with contoured bore

A jump liner for a push-pull MIG welding torch includes an elongated tubular body having front and back ends. The tubular body is made of a flexible plastic material. A front adapter is disposed at the front end of the tubular body. The front adapter is fittable in a retaining head of the torch. A back adapter is disposed at the back end of the tubular body. The back adapter is fittable in a gooseneck or body block of the welding torch. The front adapter provides sealing between the jump liner and the retaining head to prevent back flow leakage of shielding gas, and the front adapter prevents deformation of the tubular body at elevated temperatures. The back adapter provides sealing between the jump liner and the gooseneck or body block.

Jump liner for push-pull MIG torch

A drive roll assembly is disclosed for a push-pull MIG welding torch including a handle connected to a power cable assembly at one end, and a gooseneck-contact tip assembly at the other end. The drive roll assembly includes a body block disposed in the handle, a motorized driving gear mounted on the body block, and an idler wheel rotatably mounted on a mounting arm via a mount. The mounting arm is pivotally connected to the body block. The idler wheel is cooperable with the driving gear to pull welding wire from the cable assembly through the handle and towards the gooseneck. One of the idler wheel and the driving gear is made of a highly conductive material that allows for transfer of welding current to the welding wire, providing a secondary current transfer channel in addition to the conductive contact tip. The electric resistance from the body block to the surfaces of the idler wheel and driving gear at which they contact welding wire is below 15 milli-ohms, preferably below 2.0 milli-ohms.

High conductive drive roll assembly for push-pull MIG torch

A welding system, in certain embodiments, includes a torch having a neck with an arcuate portion, and a resilient jump liner disposed in the neck and extending through the arcuate portion. The resilient jump liner includes a pathway having a curvature configured to bend a welding wire passing through the pathway. The system also includes an annular support disposed about the resilient jump liner inside the neck, wherein the annular support is configured to at least substantially fix the curvature to force the welding wire to achieve a wire curvature. The system also includes a contact tip coupled to the neck, wherein the wire curvature is configured to bias the welding wire into substantially consistent contact with an interior pathway through the contact tip.

Welding system and method having controlled liner contour and welding wire curvature

A dispenser for drum packed welding wire comprised of numerous coils includes a circular lid having an upper surface and a lower surface. The lower surface is floatingly positionable on top of the packed welding wire. A frame extends from the upper surface. The frame includes a hub and a radially extending support extending from the hub to the upper surface. The hub includes an aperture. The dispenser also includes a de-coil conduit having inlet and outlet ends for guiding welding wire therethrough. The inlet end and outlet end are generally at 90&#xb0; to one another. The inlet end is disposed to receive welding wire in the drum parallel to the coils, and the inlet end is moveable relative to the circular lid as the wire is fed into the de-coil conduit. The outlet end directs the fed welding wire to the aperture in the hub.

Floating dispensing mechanism for drum packed welding wire

A method for tracking contact tip deterioration in real time in accordance with the present invention includes establishing a reference that relates welding parameters during welding production to contact tip life; monitoring welding parameters of a contact tip during use; comparing the monitored welding parameters to the reference; providing real-time feedback to an operator; and predicting contact tip failure from the comparison.

Method for providing real-time monitoring of contact tip performance

A method of maintaining welding current to compensate for deterioration of a welding contact tip includes: monitoring in real time at least one of welding current and welding voltage during welding production; comparing the at least one of the welding current and the welding voltage to a reference value for a given set of parameters; and adjusting one or more welding parameters in real time to increase energy output in response to the comparison so that consistent energy is consumed across the welding arc, whereby the quality of the welding production is maintained as the welding contact tip is consumed.

Method and apparatus to maintain welding current to compensate for deterioration of welding contact tip

A retaining head for a MIG welding device includes a contact tip mounting end, an opposite retaining head mounting end, and a throughbore extending from one of the ends to the other end. A deflector is disposed along the throughbore and is adjustable for imparting a bend in welding wire passing through the throughbore. The deflector provides a straight wire contour for the welding wire that is fed out of the welding torch, while maintaining sufficient contact force between the welding wire and the contact tip. The deflector also reduces the effect of wire twist on the contact point between the welding wire and the contact tip.

Retaining head and contact tip for controlling wire contour and contacting point for GMAW torches

A contact tip for a welding torch includes a body having a front discharge end, an opposite rear feed end, and a bore extending through the body. A cap is mounted on the body at the front end. The cap has an aperture generally aligned with the bore. The cap is composed of a material having an electrical conductivity between 1.74&#xd7;10and 4.35&#xd7;10Siemens per meter at 20&#xb0; C. The body is composed of a material selected from the group consisting of copper and a copper alloy. The body has an electrical conductivity that is higher than the electrical conductivity of the cap. A portion of the bore at the front end of the body and at least a portion of the aperture in the cap define a contact area for a consumable electrode wire.

Welding contact tips for pulse applications

A contact tip for a welding torch in accordance with the present invention includes an elongated, generally cylindrical body having a front contact end and an opposite rear retaining end. A central aperture is defined by an inner wall of the body. The aperture extends through the body from an opening at the rear retaining end to an opening at the front contact end. The aperture has a front portion and a wider diameter portion adjacent the front portion. The front portion generally has a length that is shorter than a length of the wider diameter portion. A consumable electrode wire fed through the aperture contacts the inner wall in the front portion but does not contact the inner wall in the wider diameter portion.

Front consumables for pulse GMAW torches

A method of monitoring contact tip useful life in a welding torch includes measuring at least one of welding current (I) and welding voltage (V) of the contact tip mounted in the welding torch. Deterioration of the contact tip is quantified based on one or both of (i) a decrease of the welding current and increase of a standard deviation of the welding current (sd_I), and (ii) an increase of the welding voltage. Deterioration of the contact tip may be quantified by calculating an index of contact tip life (ITL) based on the welding current and standard deviation of the welding current and/or by calculating a reference index of contact tip life (ITL_v) based on the welding voltage.

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Tecumseh, Canada

Tiejun Ma