The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 11, 1992
Filed:
Jul. 31, 1991
William M Fries, San Diego, CA (US);
Thomas L Ratledge, Carlsbad, CA (US);
William H Hill, Pala, CA (US);
Joseph E Donner, Vista, CA (US);
Hughes Aircraft Company, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
A parallel-gap welder applies a precisely controlled force to the weld head (40) by means of a solenoid (60) having a plunger (72) aligned with the axis of the welding electrodes (50,52). To precisely control the amount of force applied by the solenoid a load cell (80) is interposed between the weld head (40) and the solenoid plunger (72) to provide a feedback force signal (158) indicative of the force applied by the solenoid. The feedback force signal is used to control current through the solenoid coil (68) and thereby servo the applied force to a force command input. The solenoid plunger (72) and load cell (80) are axially aligned with the axis of the electrodes (50,52) and solenoid force is applied through a universal joint (76,78) connection to assure an in-line driving force on the electrodes.