Abstract:
A welding spatter protection screen formed primarily of magnetic sheeting or being a magnet is provided to further safety by halting or restricting the motion of magnetic and paramagnetic by-products, thereby preventing flame, light, magnetic material, sparks and dust from being scattered during welding or post-weld grinding. This improvement can be applied to various type of welding screens (welding curtain, welding windshield), by using a flexible magnetic sheet material as the primary barrier material.

Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates to devices used to protect persons and property in the vicinity of welding and grinding operations, and the use of screens, curtains or shields for this purposes. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Welding is a dangerous industrial activity which requires specialized devices to protect both the persons engaged in the activity, as well as other workers on a project site in the vicinity of welding activity. Welding sparks, slag materials, metallic dust, and metallic shards, are often expelled from a weld site during a weld or during post weld grinding. Wind near the site may also debris to blow back against the welding or affect the quality of the weld. The light produced by welding itself is a hazard. To protect themselves against the dangerous byproducts of welding, welders wear protective clothing. However, bystanders near the welder&#39;s workspace may be exposed to the same byproducts of welding as welders, often without the advantage of protective clothing. Moreover, welding byproducts pose a general threat to property. For example, superheated particulate matter could damage nearby property or cause fire, and when cooled, the particulate and dust needs to be cleared. 
         [0003]    Various different sizes and shapes of screens have been used to fulfil this purpose, and are typically configured as a frame bearing a protective translucent or opaque screen or curtain material, which meets standards to ensure it is sufficiently flame resistant, UV resistant &amp; abrasion resistant and durable. The welding screen can be set or even detachably attached to a work area. Under various embodiments, these devices are referred to as, among other names, welding shields, welding windshields, welding curtains, welding screens, and the like. As discussed herein, the term welding screen is meant to include curtains, screens, windshields and similar devices adapted to protect the welding workspace from disturbance and to restrict (to the extent practical) the welding materials from escaping the workspace. 
         [0004]    However, in many instances, the sheet plastic that tends to be used is easily melted and frequent replacement is required. 
         [0005]    There is a need for a safer welding screen. 
         [0006]    There is a need for a welding screen that assists in maintaining the cleanliness of the welding work space and lessens the concern that melding slag will ricochet. 
         [0007]    There is a need for a welding screen of more resilient materials not normally used for this purpose, which resists melting. 
         [0008]    There is a need for a replacement welding screen material of improved safety performance. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0009]    Welding screens in which the barrier portion includes magnetic sheeting material as a primary component, attract and restrict the motion of magnetic and paramagnetic materials, including iron, cobalt and nickel dust, metal shards, slag and other waste materials extruded during a welding operation susceptible to magnet fields. Once adhered to the magnetic surface of the portion of the screen formed using the magnetic sheeting material; dust, metal shards and ferromagnetic debris (“magnetic waste”) are restricted from rebounding or being blown around. The screen can be advantageously used to clean the work environment as it attracts retains the magnetic waste. In an optional embodiment, a smooth exterior to the magnetic sheeting material allows the ferromagnetic waste to be wiped along its surface for cleaning, or removed using a stronger magnet. 
         [0010]    Instead of magnetic sheeting materials using permanent magnets embedded within a resin, in another embodiment, the welding screen may comprise one or more electromagnets to create an electro-magnetic field attracting magnetic waste into a barrier within the magnetic field. In such an embodiment, the barrier may comprise magnetic materials to assist in strengthening the field wherein a current is passed through the windings of the electromagnet. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of one embodiment of a magnetic welding screen. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of a second embodiment of a flexible magnetic sheet configured as a free standing magnetic welding screen. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of a configuration of four joined welding screens of magnetic material about a workspace. 
           [0014]      FIGS. 4A-4D  show views of  4  configurations of joined welding screens of magnetic material. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  shows a prototype welding screen used in testing in which the magnetic sheet material used was 0.76 mm (0.03 inches) thick, using strontium ferrite powder (SrFe 12 O 19 ) as the permanent magnetic powder bonded within the flexible polymer sheet and having approximate maximum energy BH max  of between 5000 J/m 3  and 6000 J/m 3 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    One or more preferred embodiments of the magnetic welding screen of the present disclosure will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  shows a magnetic welding screen  10  having a frame  11  to support a primary barrier  12  comprised of ferromagnetic sheeting material and is provided with support elements  13  and  14 . Optional flexible edge barriers  15 ,  16  and  17  are secondary barriers which may be used to improve the fit of the magnetic welding screen  10  to the work space, floor or walls. An optional adjustable roof barrier  18  may also be provided as a secondary barrier. Where the optional flexible edge barriers  15 ,  16  and  17  and optional adjustable roof barrier  18  are also be formed of flexible ferromagnetic sheeting material, they may be used to connect the welding screen to other welding screens  10  or to other different welding screens having polls of a suitable material. This option has the dual function of allowing the device to be affixed to a ferromagnetic workspace (e.g. girders in a tower, or ship hull in marine manufacture, etc.) to both keep the magnetic welding screen  10  in position and to create an improved seal against ferromagnetic waste and other waste, or air currents, escaping or entering the work space. 
         [0018]    The ferromagnetic sheeting material can be of various commercially available types, usually formed using of magnetic particles/powders embedded within a resin, rubber and/or plastic layer (referred generally as a polymer bonded magnets). New magnetic sheeting material is created, but the use of any magnetic sheeting material for the purpose of the primary barrier in a welding screen should be considered within the scope of the present disclosure. Flexible magnetic sheeting is typically used as signage or labelling which can be adhered to ferrous metal surfaces; but is not known to be used to as primary material in a welding screen to protect against welding byproducts. 
         [0019]    While flexible magnets tend to have much less magnetic pull than neodymium &amp; ceramic magnets, they are also much less expensive, and provide sufficient attraction forces to slow ferrous metals and prevent rebound of particles. In the prototype discussed below, the magnets are based on strontium ferrite powder (SrFe 12 O 19 ) and having approximate maximum energy BH max  of between 5000 J/m 3  and 6000 J/m 3 , isotropic, as deposited in rubber substrate normally used for refrigerator magnets or automotive decoration applications. Other ferromagnetic powders, including anisotropic ones, can be used, including barium ferrite powder, magnesium zinc powder and nickel zinc powder, embedded and oriented within a flexible rubber or plastic matrix; and these may achieve higher maximum energies. A person of skill in the art will appreciate that various magnetic powders could be used, including, without limitation, those in the group consisting of any rare earth ferrous oxide permanent magnet powders, rare earth iron boron permanent magnet powders, Samarium Iron Nitride permanent magnet powders, Magnesium Zinc permanent magnet powders, Nickel Zinc permanent magnet powders and strontium ferrite powders. This can be bonded into a suitable polymer sheet. 
         [0020]      FIG. 2  shows a second embodiment of a self standing magnetic welding screen  20  formed in a doom configuration, having a shell  21  of flexible magnetic sheeting, affixed to a base  22 , to define a safe workspace within a cavity  23 . The welding screen  20  may be viewed as a portable free standing welding splatter protection device comprising a partial doom of flexible magnetic sheeting  21  affixed to a rigid base  22 , the flexible magnetic sheeting to magnetically attract and collect welding and grinding byproducts from passing beyond a cavity  23  in which a welding job is performed. 
         [0021]      FIG. 3  shows a configuration of four joined welding screens about a workspace. By replacing existing curtain/barrier material on existing welding screens, they can be refurbished. This is often required as existing materials burn and degrade easily. An existing curtain or barrier of appropriate size may be used as a template to permit the creation of a flexible magnetic sheet of similar size, dimensions and attachment locations (holes, buttons etc, if required) so that a flexible magnetic sheet may be cut and used as a replacement barrier on existing welding screen frames. 
         [0022]      FIGS. 4A-4D  show views of  4  configurations of joined welding screens of magnetic material, which can be joined using flaps of flexible magnetic sheeting material where the screen abut. 
         [0023]      FIG. 5  shows a prototype magnetic welding screen  50  comprised of a rubber magnetic sheet, in which strontium ferrite powder (SrFe 12 O 19 ) is the bonded magnetic material. The specifications of the magnet provided a thickness of 0.7 mm (0.03 inches) and the magnet provided approximate maximum energy BH max  of between 5000 J/m 3  and 6000 J/m 3 , and such materials are readily available in the market place for use in other contexts, but not as welding shields. As the material is opaque, magnetic welding screen  50  may also have a transparent window  51  to permit viewing into the welding area. In the prototype, the frame  52  was also provided with support struts  53 . These would not be required in all instances where the magnetic welding screen  50  of the present invention is used; but provide a convenient way to connect the screen  50  to the frame  52 , and where the struts  53  are themselves magnetic, may provide a useful improvement to frames with which this type of screen are used. 
         [0024]    In the pilot using the prototypes, six screens were deployed for use in an industrial environment for a 10 month period. During this time, none of the screens exhibited any damages due to melting—unlike the other standard plastic screens, virtually all of which showed significant melting damage. 
         [0025]    The welding curtain is positioned to protect the vicinity from welding byproducts, including light from the welding and metallic projectiles and sparks from the grinding step. The curtains are not affixed to the materials being welded themselves. 
         [0026]    The foregoing examples and advantages are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure. The present teaching can be readily applied to other types of devices. Also, the description of the examples of the welding shield/screen/curtain/windshield is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims, and many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.