Patent ID: 11958124
Assignee: KULICKE AND SOFFA INDUSTRIES, INC.
Field: Machine tools (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 20:
21. An ultrasonic welding system comprising:
a support structure for supporting a workpiece;
a weld head assembly including an ultrasonic converter carrying a sonotrode;
a z-axis motion system carrying the weld head assembly, the z-axis motion system including (i) a z-axis forcer for moving the weld head assembly along a z-axis of the ultrasonic welding system, the z-axis forcer including a ball screw system for moving the weld head assembly along the z-axis of the ultrasonic welding system, and (ii) a z-axis overtravel mechanism disposed between the z-axis forcer and the weld head assembly, the z-axis overtravel mechanism including an inline spring;
a z-axis encoder for sensing motion of (i) a moveable portion of the z-axis forcer with respect to (ii) a stationary portion of the z-axis forcer along the z-axis of the ultrasonic welding system; and
an overtravel encoder for sensing motion of (i) the moveable portion of the z-axis forcer with respect to (ii) the weld head assembly along the z-axis of the ultrasonic welding system.