Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Patent
1990-08-29
1991-12-24
Shaw, Clifford C.
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
B23K 932
Patent
active
050755340
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an arc sensor for detecting welding positions, i.e., welding spots, by a scanning method, and attached to a welding torch of an arc-welding machine capable of an automatic welding, such as an automatic arc-welding machine or an arc-welding robot. More particularly it relates, to an arc sensor provided with a transparent objective window having a contamination preventing construction and capable of not only improving the measuring sensitivity thereof but also facilitating and simplifying a maintenance operation of the arc sensor, which comprises, as principal components, an optical welding spot detecting unit including therein a light emitting element and a light receiving element, an objective lens disposed in front of the optical welding spot detecting unit to project the light emitted by the light emitting element onto a region of a work to be welded and to focus the light when reflected by the region of the work to be welded, and a transparent objective window disposed in front of the objective lens.
BACKGROUND ART
Automatic arc-welding machines and arc-welding robots are used for unmanned, labor-saving automatic welding operations in, for example, an automatic welding line in an automobile assembly shop The welding torch of such,.automatic arc-welding machines and arc-welding robots is provided with an arc sensor for continuously detecting welding spots, to thereby achieve an accurate and precision arc-welding. The arc sensor has a light emitting element, a light receiving element and an objective lens, which are contained in a container disposed behind a transparent objective window made of a transparent material, projects a beam of light for the detection of welding spots through the transparent objective window onto a work to be welded, receives a beam of the light reflected by the work via the transparent objective window, protects the welding spot detecting system by the transparent objective window from an ingress of external foreign substances such as sputtered particles and soot generated during arc welding, and prevents adverse effects of the arc light on the transmission of the detecting light beam. The conventional arc sensor incorporates various devices including a transparent objective window made of a transparent resin or a heat-resistant glass, so that the attaching of sputtered particles to the surface of the transparent objective window is prevented, and employs a laser beam emitted as a detecting light by a semiconductor laser beam emitter and having a frequency within a specific frequency band, to thereby permit the detecting light to be transmitted through the arc light.
Nevertheless, the conventional arc sensor of the above-mentioned construction has a drawback in that the accuracy and sensitivity of the detection are lowered due to a loss of the transparency of the transparent objective window resulting from not only the scorching of the transparent objective window by sputtered particles scattered from the surface of the work during arc welding but also a smoking of the window by soot from the arc-welding flux, and thus the transparent objective window must be often periodically cleaned.
Further, the periodical cleaning of the transparent objective window requires manual labor to implement such a cleaning operation, and therefore, reduces the labor-saving effect of the unmanned, labor-saving assembly line.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems by eliminating the troublesome periodical cleaning, and to provide an arc sensor fitted with a transparent objective window having a protective construction and capable of improving the welding spot detecting function of the arc sensor.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an arc sensor for detecting a welding spot of a work to be welded and able to be attached to an arc welding torch, and including a detecting unit provided with an arc sensor able to be attached to an arc welding torch to detect
REFERENCES:
patent: 4497996 (1985-02-01), Libby, Jr. et al.
patent: 4859829 (1989-08-01), Dufour
Hagihara Masahiro
Torii Nobutoshi
Wakio Hiroshi
Fanuc Ltd.
Shaw Clifford C.
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