Anti-slide splice welder

Details Anti-slide splice welder Anti-slide splice welder

2000-06-28

2001-10-09

Dunn, Tom (Department: 1725)

Metal fusion bonding

Process

Using high frequency vibratory energy

C228S001100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06299052

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an ultrasonic welding apparatus and a method of operating the same. Particularly, the invention relates to an ultrasonic apparatus including a plurality of anvils displaceable controllably to produce a desirable cross-section to allow electrical conductors to be welded substantially in at least one column and automatically formed before each welding operation. The invention relates a method for sequentially displacing a plurality of anvils to produce the desirable cross section to obtain a weld including at least one column of welded conductors.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Use of devices adapted to ultrasonically weld electric conductors, preferably in stranded form, has become a preferable method of welding in electronic industry. An ultrasonic welder is typically provided with a welding tip which produces ultrasonic vibration and an anvil as a mating tool. The anvil includes a plurality of faces, each movable along a linear path to define a space in which the conductors can be compressed to varying dimensions while ultrasonic vibration is being applied to them. When the anvil is closed and the conductors are being compressed to one another, the anvil faces form a peripherally closed compartment. When the anvil is open, the end faces are left open for the conductors to pass through it.
A device of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,370 to Welter et al. (Welter '370), where provision is made for variously dimensioned wires which are to be welded while maintaining a tight grip around the conductors.
FIGS. 1-4
of this application illustrate a mode of operation of Welter '370 that starts with having a wide open working area
4
receiving a bundle of wires
2
loosely inserted in this area. Upon positioning the wires in an arbitrary manner, components forming the working area move inwardly to tightly enclose the wires to be welded. As is disclosed in Welter '370, displacement of the components is a function of the fineness of wire ends and is sequenced to move a gathering block
6
following moving of anvil
16
and welding tip
8
to reduce the working area, as illustrated in
FIGS. 1-3
. Finally, as shown in
FIG. 4
, subsequent to the welding of the wires, the gathering tool moves away from the working area beyond its initial position, and then it is displaced back to its initial position.
It has been found that there is a greater efficiency of welding wires that are vertically stacked between a vibrating horn and stationary anvil, as compared to those wires that are adjacent to each other. The above discussed reference is representative of the state of art and discloses a multiplicity of wires many of which are positioned adjacent to each other along a welding surface of the tip. Others, however, although welded in a vertical plane tend to fill interstices between subsequent wires of the adjacent column and welded diagonally therewith which produces a relatively inefficient weld. As a consequence, some welds are weaker than others based on the way the wires have been loaded.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an ultrasonic welding apparatus for wire splicing which automatically sets the position of the tooling so as to restrict a wire nest and require the operator to stack the wires in at least one vertical row extending from a welding tip. It is also desirable to provide a method of operating the ultrasonic apparatus and allowing the tooling to move away from the wire nest for a predetermined period of time, and subsequently to move back in an initial position characterized by a preset width.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This is obtained by a welding apparatus in accordance with the invention that automatically sets the position of the tooling so as to restrict a wire nest and require an operator to vertically stack the wires, thus assuring the highest quality weld.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the welding apparatus is provided with a memory unit containing a table of desirable dimensions of the wire nest in accordance with type and cross-section of the wires to be welded.
Still, further, the memory can contain a table of desirable pressures which is preferably inserted by an anvil upon a stack of wires placed in the pre-set wire nest in accordance with the type and approximate quantity of the wires to be welded.
According to another aspect of the invention, a gathering tool constituting one of the anvil surfaces, which form a wire nest of the ultrasonic apparatus, automatically reciprocally moves away from and back to an initial position corresponding to the preset dimension of the wire nest. The displacement of the gathering tool is arrested for a preset period of time before moving back to the initial position to allow the operator to safely remove the splice.
In accordance with still a further aspect of the invention, a method of operating the apparatus is disclosed.
It is an object of the invention to provide a welding apparatus preventing side splices in order to improve splice quality.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a welding apparatus automatically setting a desirable dimension of a wire nest before a plurality of wires to be welded are placed in the nest, so as to provide a vertical stack of wires between the vibrating horn and stationary anvil.
A further object of the invention is to provide a plurality of wires to be welded with a desirable pressure sufficient to efficiently weld a stack of wires in accordance with the number and size of the wires to be spliced and with pre-set dimensions of the wire nest.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of operating the ultrasonic apparatus in accordance with the invention.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4596352 (1986-06-01), Knapp
patent: 4730764 (1988-03-01), Hawkins et al.
patent: 4782990 (1988-11-01), Patrikios et al.
patent: 4789095 (1988-12-01), Kobayashi
patent: 4799614 (1989-01-01), Welter et al.
patent: 4867370 (1989-09-01), Welter et al.
patent: 4869419 (1989-09-01), Nuss
patent: 5011062 (1991-04-01), Nakanishi et al.
patent: 5772100 (1998-06-01), Patrikios
patent: 5921457 (1999-07-01), Patrikios
patent: 6070777 (2000-06-01), Patrikios et al.

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