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:
May. 14, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 28, 1999
Jukka M. Torvinen, Raleigh, NC (US);
ABB T&D Technology Ltd., Zurich, CH;
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for arc welding a stud to a workpiece without the use of a ferrule are disclosed. Apparatus according to the invention include a stud arc welding gun having a spacer at a distal end thereof, and a chuck adapted to receive a stud having a diameter of more than about ⅜ inch. A stud feeding device is coupled to the gun for automatically loading studs into the gun. The stud feeding device can include a bowl feeder and a stud feeding conduit via which studs are transferred from the bowl feeder to the stud gun. A gun positioning device, such as an arm of a robot, is coupled to the gun, and automatically positions the gun such that the spacer is against a receiving surface of the workpiece. A controller coupled to the stud gun initiates a stud arc welding process to arc weld the stud to the workpiece.