Patent Publication Number: US-9895762-B2

Title: Wire feeder connection

Description:
PRIORITY 
     The present application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/056,683 filed on Feb. 29, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Devices, systems, and methods consistent with embodiments of the present invention relate to wire feeders and more specifically, methods and systems to connect welding gun cables to wire feeders. 
     BACKGROUND 
     It is well known that in many welding operations a welding wire is used as a consumable electrode and is continuously delivered to the weld via a wire feeder. This is utilized in welding operations such as GMAW. An important aspect of using a consumable welding wire is maintaining a consistent and reliable flow of wire to the welding operation. As can be appreciated, interruptions in the flow of the welding wire may stop the welding process, thereby reducing its efficiency. 
     This consistent and reliable delivery of a welding wire is typically done using a wire feeder to which the welding gun is connected via a cable. The welding wire is pushed by the feeder through the cable and provided to the welding gun. To ensure proper delivery of the welding wire the welding cable has an internal wire guide (among other known components), which guides the wire to the torch. Because of friction between the wire and the guide, the wire guide wears over time and needs to be replaced. 
     In known wire feeder configurations, the replacement of the wire guide in the cable is a time consuming process that can result in damage to components of the wire feeder and/or the cable connection, at the point where the cable is connected to the wire feeder. This delay and damage can decrease the overall efficiency of a welding operation, due to increased delay and costs. 
     Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is a wire feeder and wire feeder connection assembly which provides improved accessibility. The wire feeder contains a power block connection and a connection which includes a liner guide assembly having a removable nipple portion which allows a wire guide liner to be removed from inside the wire feeder without having to disconnect the weld gun cable from the wire feeder. Other aspects and embodiments of the present invention will be discussed in more detail below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and/or other aspects of the invention will be more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatical representation of an exemplary welding system; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagrammatical representation of an exemplary wire feeder; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagrammatical representation of a side view of an exemplary wire feeder having an exemplary cable connection; 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  are diagrammatical representations of an exemplary power block; 
         FIGS. 5A and 5B  are diagrammatical representations of an exemplary cable connection portion; 
         FIG. 6  is a diagrammatical representation of an exemplary coupling to be used to couple a power block to a cable connector; 
         FIG. 7  is a diagrammatical representation of an exemplary liner guide assembly to be inserted into an exemplary power block: 
         FIG. 8  is a diagrammatical representation of an exemplary nipple for the liner guide assembly; and 
         FIG. 9  is a diagrammatical representation of components of the wire feeder coupled together. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to various and alternative exemplary embodiments and to the accompanying drawings, with like numerals representing substantially identical structural elements. Each example is provided by way of explanation, and not as a limitation. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure and claims. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure includes modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 
     Exemplary embodiments described herein are particularly applicable for use in connection with welding wire feeders and, therefore, embodiments of the present invention will be described with particular reference to wire feeders used in connection with a welding operation. However, the claimed invention has broader applications and may be used with other types of wire or other wire-like materials. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an arc welding system  100  having a wire feeder  140 . The system  100  includes a welding power source  110 , the welding wire feeder  140 , a welding wire source  160 , a gas source  120 , and a welding gun  130 . The wire feeder  140  includes a controller  150  and a wire gripping device  170 . The controller  150  may include a motor (not shown) that drives the wire gripping device  170  to pull a welding wire electrode from the welding wire source  160  through the wire gripping device  170  and into the welding gun  130  via a welding cable  135 . Such welding systems are well known in the art. A first electrical terminal of the welding power source  110  may be connected to a work piece  180  such that the welding wire electrode, which is electrically connected to a second electrical terminal of the welding power source, may be applied to the work piece  180  via the welding gun  130  to produce a weld in an arc welding operation. Embodiments of the present invention are concerned with improvements to the connection of the cable  135  to the wire feeder  140 , as will be explained further below. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a wire feeder  200  that may be used in the arc welding system  100  of  FIG. 1 . A cover  210  of the wire feeder  200  is opened to show a wire gripping device  220 . As shown, the cover  210  has a moveable portion, such as a door or moveable cover section which allows easy access to the interior of the wire feeder and the wire feeding mechanisms. The door portion can be hinged to the rest of the cover or housing to allow for easy opening. The wire feeder  200  also includes a controller  230  which may be similar to the controller  150  of  FIG. 1 , for example. The wire gripping device  220  includes a first pair or rotatable rollers  221  and  222 , and a second pair of rotatable rollers  223  and  224 . Each pair is capable of gripping a welding wire there between and rotating to feed the welding wire from a welding wire source  160  to a welding gun  130 . The wire gripping device  220  includes a force generating portion having two straight or linear adjustable force generating mechanisms (force generators)  225  and  226  (e.g., springs and adjustment elements) to adjust the gripping force between each pair of rollers, respectively. The construction of operation of exemplary wire feeders are well known and need not be described in detail herein. Exemplary wire feeders can include user input devices, controllers, CPUs and other components to facilitate the use of the wire feeder in multiple different types of welding operations. In fact, in some exemplary embodiments, the wire feeder  200  can be used in welding operations in which the torch is water cooled. Such systems need not be described in detail herein, as they are generally known. 
       FIG. 3  is a side view of another exemplary embodiment of a wire feeder which has a welding cable connection  300  consistent with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The connection  300  includes a power block portion  310  which is coupled to a cable connector portion  320 , where the power block portion is mounted to an inside surface of the wire feeder housing and the cable connector portion  320  is mounted to the power block portion  310  outside of the housing and the cable  135  is connected to the cable connector portion  320 . Also, as shown, the cable connection  300  and the power block portion  310  are configured such that the wire guide  400  for the cable  135  can be removed from inside the wire feeder  200  as shown. In prior wire feeder systems the cable  135  would have to be removed from the connector  320  for the wire guide  400  to be removed from the cable  135 . As stated previously, this process is time consuming and increases the risk of damaging components. A such, embodiments of the present invention represent an improvement over prior wire feeder systems. 
       FIGS. 4A and 4B  depict an exemplary embodiment of the power block portion  310 . The power block  310  has a mounting face  311  which butts up against the inside surface of the wire feeder housing such that the cable connection extension portion  312  extends beyond the housing of the wire feeder and extends out such that the cable connector portion  320  is connected in the outside of the wire feeder housing. As shown, in the exemplary embodiments the extension portion  312  is circular in diameter and has a plurality of passages  313 ,  314 ,  315  and  316  in distal end face of the extension portion  312 . The passage  313  extends from the distal end to the interior face  317  of the power block. When the power block  310  is mounted to the wire feeder  200  the interior face is positioned within the housing face the wire driving mechanisms in the wire feeder. 
     The passage  313  is the wire guide passage through which the wire guide from the cable  135  passes through the power block such that it couples the interior cavity of the wire feeder with the outside of the wire feeder. The wire guide assembly passes through this passage  313 , and during use of the wire feeder  200 , the wire consumable passes through this passage via the wire guide and into the cable  135 . The other passages  314 ,  315  and  316  can be used for shielding gas, cooling gas and/or cooling liquid (for liquid cooled torches) as needed. In the embodiment shown, the passages  314 ,  315  and  316  are connected to exit passages (not shown) at the bottom  318  of the block  310  where connections are made for the gas/liquid as needed. It should be noted that embodiments of the present invention are not limited to liquid cooled embodiments, but can apply to both liquid cooled and non-liquid cooled wire feeders. 
       FIGS. 5A and 5B  depict an exemplary embodiment of the cable connector portion  320 . The cable connection portion  321  has a connection end  321  which is coupled to the extension portion  312  of the power block  310  and a cable connection end  323  to which the cable  135  is connected. As shown, the cable connection end  323  has a smaller diameter of the connection end  321  and is positioned offset from the centerline of the connection end  321 . That is, as shown, the cable connection end  323  has a passage  324  which passes through the connector portion  320  from the distal end of the cable connector end  232  to the connector end  321  (see, e.g.,  FIG. 5B ). The passage  324  is shown offset with respect to the centerline of the connector end  321  such that the passage  324  aligns with the passage  313  of the power block  310 . Thus, when the connector  320  is connected to the power block  310  the passages  313  and  324  align with each other such that the liner for the cable  135  can pass directly through each of the power block and the connector  320 . Further, the connector  320  contains an additional passage  325  which aligns with one of the passages  314 ,  315  or  316  on the end  312  of the power block  310 . The passage  325  is in communication with the passage  323  such that shielding gas which passes through the power block  310  (through one of the passages  314 ,  315  and  316 ) is directed into the passage  325  and then ultimately to passage  323 . This shielding gas is then directed to the torch via the cable on the outside of the wire guide assembly. It should be noted that the connector  320  can have further passages to align with the other two of the passages  313 ,  314  and  315  to allow for fluid flow to the torch if the torch is a water cooled torch. One of the additional passages would be for outbound flow to the torch and the other would be for returning flow from the torch. 
       FIG. 6  depicts an exemplary coupling  330  that can be used to couple the connector portion  320  to the end  312  of the power block  310 . The coupling  330  can use threads or other engagement type structure to couple to connector  320  and the power block  310  to ensure a secure connection between the two components to provide proper function, security and proper gas flow. 
       FIG. 7  depict a liner guide assembly  700  to be used with embodiments of the present invention. The liner guide assembly  700  comprises a liner guide body portion  701  and a liner guide nipple  750  which is inserted into a cavity  703  of the body portion  701 . The cavity  701  extends the length of the body portion  701  and exits from the distal end  720  of the body portion.  FIG. 8  depicts an exemplary embodiment of the nipple  750 . The nipple  750  can be inserted into the cavity  703  at the wire feeder end  710  of the body  701  via a threaded connection. The nipple  750  has a wire guide passage  751  through which the wire/consumable passes to enter the wire guide and eventually pass to the torch. As shown, the distal end of the  720  of the body  701  can have a plurality of O-rings  721  to aid in stabilizing and securing the body  701  in the connector  320 . 
     Turning now to  FIG. 9 , which depicts an exemplary assembly of the components discussed above in a wire feeder. Some components and items discussed above are not shown for clarity. As shown, the power block  310  is coupled to the housing of the wire feeder such that the passage  313  is open to the interior of the wire feeder and the exterior of the wire feeder. The liner guide body  701  is inserted into the distal end of the passage  313  (the distal end is outside the feeder housing) such a shoulder portion  730  on the body  701  engages with a shoulder portion  319  within the passage  313  of the power block  310 . These shoulder portions  730  and  319  engage with each other such that the body  701  does not extend too far into the wire feeder interior and holds the body  701  in the desired dimensional relationship. The distal end of the body (with the O-rings, e.g.) extends from the distal end of the passage  313 . The connector portion  320  is then secured to the end  312  of the power block (via a threaded collar or the like—not shown) and the passage  324  of the connector  320  also has a shoulder portion  330  internal in the passage  324  which engages with the distal end face  720  of the body  701 , as shown. Thus, the shoulders  319  and  330  work in concert to hold the body  701  in a desired dimensional relationship. The passage  324  has a diameter at its end which couples with the block  310  such that the end of the body  701  can fit in and the O-rings can work properly, and the shoulder  330  has a height which is sufficient to secure the body  701  in place. The liner assembly  400  can then be inserted into the body  701  from the interior of the wire feeder such that the end cap  401  of the liner assembly engages with an interior shoulder  705  within the passage  703  and the flexible wire guide  403  passes through the passage  324  and extends to the torch via the cable  135  (not shown). Once the wire guide assembly  400  is inserted such that the cap  401  engages with the shoulder  705 , the nipple  750  can be inserted into the body  701 . Once fully inserted, the distal end face  752  of the nipple  750  and the shoulder  705  in the passage  703  create a containment cavity (having a larger diameter than the rest of the passage  703 ), where the containment cavity is used to hold the end cap  401  and thus the liner assembly  400  in a secured relationship with the remaining components. To use the wire feeder, the consumable is then directed through the passage  751  of the nipple  750  and into the liner assembly  400  and to the torch. 
     Unlike known systems, exemplary embodiments like those discussed herein allow for the liner assembly  400  to be removed simply by removing the nipple  750  from the interior of the wire feeder. The connector  320  need not be removed or disconnected from the power block  310  or the wire feeder. This significantly reduces the time needed to change the liner assembly  400  and greatly reduces the risk of damaging or losing any of the connection components. In known systems, many of the above described components had to be disconnected and/or removed to allow for removal of the liner assembly  400 . With embodiments described herein, only the housing need be opened and the nipple  750  be removed. 
     While the claimed subject matter of the present application has been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the claimed subject matter without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the claimed subject matter not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the claimed subject matter will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.