High stiffness booster for ultrasonic welding apparatus with a cutting blade integrated into the horn

Abstract

An ultrasonic weld/seal-cut system having an ultrasonic cut stack assembly, including an ultrasonic cutting horn with a transducer arranged to impart an ultrasonic energy to the ultrasonic cutting horn (sonotrode) and allow for wider cutting applications while minimizing deflections of the cutting horn under force. The cutting horn has a cutting feature configured to contact a part to be cut and a major surface adjacent to the cutting feature and a booster. The booster can have a generally flat shape and a major surface that is generally coplanar with the major surface of the ultrasonic cutting horn. One or more controllers can be operatively coupled to the ultrasonic cut stack assembly and configured to apply ultrasonic energy through the ultrasonic cut horn via the transducer to cause the cutting feature to move back and forth along its length as the ultrasonic energy is applied by the transducer to the cutting horn. The cutting horn and booster can be a unitary piece, and can be produced by machining a solid plate of metal into the cutting horn with integrated the booster.