Patent Description:
In the field of welding, spot welding machines, are commonly used. The spot welding machine may comprise a power unit and a portable welding gun, where the welding gun in turn comprises a handle for holding the welding gun during operation thereof.

Moreover, the spot welding gun preferably comprises a housing containing various electronical and mechanical components, adapted to receive e.g. electrical power from the power unit.

A movable welding electrode is comprised with the welding gun, where the welding electrode is movable in relation to the housing. The welding electrode comprises a tip portion, also known as a welding cap, at an outer end thereof. The spot welding gun further comprises a stationary welding electrode also comprising a tip portion.

During a welding operation, a material to be welded, below referred to as a workpiece, is positioned between the tip portions of the movable and stationary welding electrodes, whereby the tip portions move towards each other such as to expose the material to a pressure, where after electric welding current is supplied through the material via the welding electrodes.

One of the major issues relating to spot welding is a possible presence of e.g. a nonconducting oxide film on the workpiece, resulting in an undesirably high resistance between the workpiece and the electrodes. This oxide film can cause excessive overheating at both the welding electrodes and the workpiece. Typical solutions to the problem of electrode/workpiece overheating include the use of welding electrodes designed with in comparison large, flat weld faces that reduce the current density and, thus, heating at these locations. However, the use of such large, flat electrodes produces undesired consequences for manufacturing.

An example of trying to overcome the problem with the above-mentioned oxide film and resulting undesirable resistance is presented in <CIT>. Specifically, <CIT> suggests applying a welding current at different levels during three specific steps of each spot weld cycle with cooling times between each step. In the first step, the welding current is brought up gradually over a few milliseconds to a level for decreasing the electrical resistance to a consistent low value at both the electrode/sheet interfaces and the underlying faying surfaces.

Even though <CIT> present an interesting approach to removing the above-mentioned oxide film and reducing the resulting undesirable resistance between the between the workpiece and the electrodes, the solution presented in <CIT> is static and thus not useful in applications where e.g. different types of workpieces and electrode assemblies are continuously used. Thus, there appears to be room for further improvements, allowing for further flexibility in regards to spot welding.

It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a spot welding machine which at least partially overcomes the above deficiencies. This is achieved, according an aspect of the present disclosure, by a welding machine as defined by claim <NUM>.

The principal idea behind the present disclosure resides in an automated (and if needed) iterative pre-conditioning of the workpiece before initiating the "actual" spot welding process (where the welding current is applied to the workpiece). That is, in line with the present disclosure the application the first/second welding pulse portion is solely for performing the pre-conditioning of the workpiece, i.e. not for welding e.g. two sheet metals of the workpiece together. In comparison to prior art, the present disclosure allows for an automated adaptation of for how long the pre-conditioning should be, by e.g. performing continuous measurements of the voltage and current applied during the first (and possibly the second) welding pulse portion.

The proposed solution allows for an adaptive scheme to be applied, thus not needing to reside in the use of fixed setting e.g. in regards to voltage, current and duration for performing the pre-conditioning of the workpiece. Rather, all of the voltage, current and duration (e.g. X Ampere (A) at Y Volt (V) for Z Time (s)) of performing the pre-conditioning of the workpiece may be allowed to vary dependent on e.g. an individual condition of the workpiece. For achieving such controllability, the welding machine according to the preset disclosure is adapted to allow for the voltage and current to be "sampled" at the secondary side of transformed comprised with the welding machine. That is, the measurements are essentially done "where" the pre-conditioning of the workpiece is performed. Accordingly, an in comparison fast feedback scheme may be implemented where e.g. the duration, voltage, current may be adapted for the preconditioning with the purpose of reducing the resistance at the workpiece to a desirable level, i.e. at or below the predetermined resistance threshold (as defined above).

Advantageously, since the proposed pre-conditioning scheme then continues with the actual spot welding process, it is possible to ensure that the pre-conditioning of the workpiece in fact is performed by the operator/user of the welding machine, and also until the resistance is below the predetermined resistance threshold. That is, in applications where the operator/user manually has to select if and possibly for how long the pre-conditioning of the workpiece is to be performed, it may be possible that the operator/user either forgets or performs the pre-conditioning of the workpiece for a too short (or long) duration, whereby the actual spot welding process possibly may be performed with an undesirable result (e.g. resulting in a low quality weld).

Generally, the first welding pulse portion has a setting and the second welding pulse portion has a setting. As indicated above, the setting for the first/second welding pulse portion may for example include setting a duration, voltage, current for the first/second welding pulse portion. Possibly, the duration may for example be between <NUM> and <NUM> (or even more) and the current may be between <NUM>% and <NUM>% (or even more) of the "normal" spot welding current. The setting for the first/second welding pulse portion may also be based on e.g. a thickness of the (e.g. overall) workpiece. The thickness of the workpiece may for example be determined by pressing the electrodes of the welding gun together or possibly by allowing the user to input corresponding details using e.g. a user interface of the welding machine. Correspondingly, the predetermined resistance threshold may be based on similar information, e.g. based on a determined or inputted thickness of the workpiece (or material of the workpiece).

In accordance to the present disclosure, the expression "welding pulse portion" should be interpreted broadly. That is, in a possible embodiment the first welding pulse portion and the second welding pulse portion may be applied consecutively without e.g. the current level for the welding pulse portion to "go back to zero" (i.e. without the prior-art suggested "pause"). Rather, the intermediate voltage and current measurements may result in a resistance value being higher than the threshold, whereby essentially just the duration of the pre-conditioning is increased when applying also the second welding pulse portion. However, in another embodiment there may possibly be applied an in comparison short pause between the application of the first and the second welding pulse portion. In a possible embodiment, the first and possibly the second (and possibly further) welding pulse portion(s) are provided prior to but successively with the (actual) spot welding pulse applied to the workpiece for spot welding of the workpiece, without applying a pause in between.

In line with the present disclosure, the measurement means may comprise a current sensor and a voltage sensor. An exemplary implementation of the measurement means in relation to the welding machine is provided below in relation to the detailed description of the present disclosure. Other implementations are possible and within the scope of the present disclosure.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit is further adapted to, if the second welding pulse portion has been applied to the workpiece using the welding gun, receive, from the measurement means arranged at the secondary output side of the transformer, an indication of a second voltage and a second current applied in relation to the first welding pulse portion, determine a second resistance value based on the indication of the second voltage and the second current, compare the second resistance value with the predetermined resistance threshold, and control the transformer for applying, prior to performing the spot welding process, a further third welding pulse portion to the welding gun if the second resistance value is above the predetermined resistance threshold. Consequently, the duration of the pre-conditioning may be further increased to ensure that the resistance is lowered below the thereto related threshold.

Accordingly, the pre-conditioning may as indicated above be performed as an iterative process by an application of the first, second and third welding pulse portion to the welding gun. Advantageously, the setting for the first welding pulse portion may possibly be different from the setting for the second welding pulse portion,
thereby allowing for e.g. an increasing current (e.g. an increase with e.g. <NUM>% - <NUM>% of the current) when applying the second welding pulse portion as compared to when applying the first welding pulse portion.

Correspondingly, the setting for second welding pulse portion may be set different from a setting for the third welding pulse portion. Also, the first and the second setting may be the same and only e.g. an increase of the current is used when applying the third welding pulse portion. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present disclosure a current value for at least one of the first and second welding pulse portion may be set lower as compared to a corresponding current value applied during the spot welding process. Similarly, in another embodiment, e.g. a duration of at least one of the first and second welding pulse portion may be set shorter as compared to corresponding duration applied during the spot welding process.

In a possible embodiment the welding gun comprises a housing, and the transformer and the control unit are arranged within the housing of the welding gun. In another possible embodiment the welding machine is movable, e.g. comprising means allowing the welding machine to be moved within e.g. a workshop. That is, the welding gun may be portable while the power unit as discussed above may be movable, thus making the welding machine movable.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of controlling a resistance at a workpiece prior to performing a spot welding process to a workpiece using a welding machine as is defined by claim <NUM>. This aspect of the present disclosure provides similar advantages as discussed above in relation to the previous aspect of the present disclosure.

The skilled addressee realize that different features of the present disclosure may be combined to create embodiments other than those described in the following, without departing from the scope of the present invention as claimed in the appended claims.

This present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided for thoroughness and completeness, and fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to the skilled person. Like reference characters refer to like features throughout.

Turning now to the drawings and to <FIG> and <FIG> in particular, there is in <FIG> shown a spot welding machine <NUM>, for example handled by an operator/user <NUM> when repairing e.g. a vehicle <NUM>. The spot welding machine comprises a power unit <NUM> and a welding gun <NUM> as is further detailed in <FIG>. The welding gun <NUM> is connected to the power unit <NUM> using a hose package <NUM>, e.g. providing electrical power and possibly compressed air (e.g. for possible pneumatic operations) for the welding gun <NUM>. In the illustration provided in <FIG>, the welding gun <NUM> is suspended in a support arm <NUM> that is arranged with the power unit <NUM>. In a possible non-limiting embodiment the power unit <NUM> may provide up to and possibly even more than <NUM> A to the welding gun <NUM>. The welding gun may in turn deliver a welding current of up to <NUM> A or more for performing the welding operation.

With detailed reference to <FIG>, there is provided a conceptual illustration of the welding gun <NUM>. The spot welding gun <NUM> comprises a housing portion <NUM> with a handle <NUM> for holding the spot welding gun <NUM> with one of the operator's hands. The housing portion <NUM> comprises electronics and mechanics for operating the spot welding arrangement <NUM> during the pre-processing scheme as for general spot welding. The electronics for example comprises a control unit <NUM>.

The control unit arrangement <NUM> may include one or a plurality of microprocessors, microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable devices. The control unit arrangement <NUM> may also, or instead, include one or a plurality of application specific integrated circuits, programmable gate arrays or programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or digital signal processors.

Where the control unit arrangement <NUM> includes programmable devices such as microprocessors, microcontrollers or programmable digital signal processors as mentioned above, the processors may further include computer executable code that controls operation of the programmable devices.

Moreover, an interface potion <NUM> of the welding hose is connected to the housing portion <NUM> for supply of electricity (and possibly compressed air) to the spot welding gun <NUM>, by means of the hose package <NUM> connected to the power unit <NUM>.

Furthermore, the spot welding gun <NUM> comprises a welding electrode <NUM> extending from the housing portion <NUM>. The welding electrode <NUM> is movable in its axial direction which will be described further below. Still further, the spot welding gun <NUM> comprises a welding tip portion <NUM> arranged at an outer end portion of the movable electrode <NUM>. The welding tip portion <NUM> is also commonly referred to as a welding cap, or cap electrode. The welding tip portion <NUM> is a wear part which is replaceable after extensive use.

Moreover, the spot welding gun <NUM> comprises a welding yoke <NUM>. The welding yoke <NUM> is in the example embodiment arranged in a C-shaped configuration. The welding yoke <NUM> comprises a portion <NUM> arranged at an outer end part <NUM> of the welding yoke <NUM>. The portion <NUM>, i.e. a welding tip portion is also arranged as a welding cap and which is a replaceable wear part.

As is further depicted in <FIG>, the spot welding gun <NUM> also comprises a distance detector <NUM> arranged to detect the distance moved by the movable welding tip portion <NUM>. The distance detector <NUM> is connected to the control unit <NUM> for transmitting control signals thereto. Further, the welding gun <NUM> may comprise a valve <NUM> arranged to control the supply of pneumatic pressure to the welding tip portion. Hereby, the valve <NUM>, preferably a proportional valve, can control the supply of high pressurized air for setting a preset force value. The valve <NUM> may also be used in addition or in combination with a force detector.

During a "general spot welding process", a workpiece (i.e. a material(s) to be welded) are placed between the welding tip portion <NUM> and the portion <NUM> of the welding yoke <NUM>. Due to the C-shaped configuration, the workpiece is given sufficient space for the welding operation. The movable welding tip portion <NUM> moves towards the welding yoke <NUM> when the workpiece is positioned between the welding tip portion <NUM> and the portion <NUM> of the welding yoke <NUM>. Once a sufficient pressure is obtained between the welding tip portions, electrical current is supplied between the welding tip portions for achieving a spot weld in the workpiece.

In accordance to the present disclosure, with further reference to <FIG>, there is provided a detailed illustration of a possible architecture of the welding gun <NUM>. As is illustrated, the welding gun <NUM> comprises said control unit <NUM>. The welding gun <NUM> further comprises a transformer <NUM> and a diode bridge <NUM>. The hose package <NUM> and the interface portion <NUM> is arranged to be connected to the welding gun <NUM>, for providing electrical power and compressed air to the welding gun <NUM> (as well as control signals between the power unit <NUM> and the welding gun <NUM>). As such, the welding gun <NUM> comprises an electrical connector <NUM> and means <NUM> for providing the compressed air to the welding gun <NUM>. The electrical connector <NUM> is arranged at a primary side of the transformer <NUM> for providing the electrical AC power from the power unit <NUM> to the welding gun <NUM>. Correspondingly, the diode bridge <NUM> is arranged at a secondary side of the transformer <NUM> and provided for rectifying the voltage at the secondary side of the transformer <NUM>, providing a pulsing DC voltage output.

Furthermore, the welding gun <NUM> also comprises measurement means arranged at a secondary output side of the transformer <NUM>. The measurement means may for example comprise a current sensor <NUM>, in a non-limiting example implemented as a current clamp provided at and around the welding electrode <NUM> (where the welding yoke <NUM> essentially forms a second electrode in the pair of electrodes of the welding gun <NUM>). The current sensor <NUM> is arranged in communication with the control unit <NUM>.

Additionally, a voltage sensor may be comprised (not explicitly shown) and arranged in communication with the control unit <NUM>. The voltage sensor may for example be adapted to measure a voltage level of the pulsing DC voltage output, in comparison to a ground level provided as an output at the secondary side of the transformer <NUM>.

With further reference to <FIG>, the pre-conditioning scheme according to the present disclosure is performed by controlling, S1, using the control unit <NUM>, the transformer <NUM> for applying, prior to performing the general spot welding process, a first welding pulse portion to the workpiece using the welding gun <NUM>.

The control unit <NUM> then receives, S2, from the current sensor <NUM> and the voltage sensor arranged at the secondary output side of the transformer <NUM>, an indication of a first voltage and a first current applied in relation to the first welding pulse portion. The control unit <NUM> will then determine, S3, a first resistance value based on the indication of the first voltage and the first current. This first resistance value is subsequently compared, S4, by the control unit <NUM> with a predetermined resistance threshold, where this predetermined resistance value for example is set based on a thickness of the workpiece.

Additionally, the control unit <NUM> controls, S5, the transformer <NUM> to apply a further second welding pulse portion to the workpiece using the welding gun <NUM> if the first resistance value is above the predetermined resistance threshold. Alternatively, in case first resistance value is below the predetermined resistance threshold, the control unit <NUM> controls the welding machine <NUM> to initiate the general spot welding process.

It should be readily understood that the components arranged in connection to the welding arrangement are merely schematically depicted and must not necessarily be arranged on/in the specific welding yoke arrangement <NUM>. For example, the control unit <NUM>, the force detector and the valve <NUM> may form part of a unit giving supply of electrical current to the welding arrangement <NUM>. In such a case, control signals are generated in the external unit, which unit thus forms part of the above described welding arrangement <NUM>.

The control functionality of the present disclosure may be implemented using existing computer processors, or by a special purpose computer processor for an appropriate system, incorporated for this or another purpose, or by a hardwire system. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure include program products comprising machine-readable medium for carrying or having machine-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such machine-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. By way of example, such machine-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of machine-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor.

When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a machine, the machine properly views the connection as a machine-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a machine-readable medium. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of machine-readable media. Machine-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing machines to perform a certain function or group of functions.

Although the figures may show a sequence the order of the steps may differ from what is depicted. Also two or more steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Such variation will depend on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designer choice. All such variations are within the scope of the disclosure. Likewise, software implementations could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule based logic and other logic to accomplish the various connection steps, processing steps, comparison steps and decision steps. Additionally, even though the present disclosure has been described with reference to specific exemplifying embodiments thereof, many different alterations, modifications and the like will become apparent for those skilled in the art.

Claim 1:
A welding machine (<NUM>) adapted for performing a spot welding process on a workpiece, wherein the welding machine comprises:
- a welding gun (<NUM>) including a welding yoke and a pair of opposed electrodes (<NUM>, <NUM>) for receiving the workpiece, the pair of electrodes comprising a movable welding tip portion (<NUM>);
- a transformer (<NUM>) having a primary input side and secondary output side, the secondary output side connected to the pair of electrodes;
- a control unit (<NUM>) adapted to control the spot welding process, and
- a distance detector (<NUM>) arranged to detect the distance moved by the movable welding tip portion, wherein the distance detector is connected to the control unit,
wherein the control unit is further adapted to:
- control the movable welding tip portion, prior to performing the spot welding process, to move towards a welding yoke (<NUM>) when the workpiece is positioned between the welding tip portion (<NUM>) and a portion (<NUM>) of the welding yoke to obtain a sufficient pressure between the welding tip portions,
- determine, prior to performing the spot welding process and once the workpiece is arranged with the sufficient pressure between the welding tip portions, a predetermined resistance threshold based on a thickness of the workpiece determined using information received from the distance detector,
- control the transformer for applying, prior to performing the spot welding process, a first pre-conditioning welding pulse portion to the workpiece using the welding gun,
- receive, from measurement means arranged at the secondary output side of the transformer, an indication of a first voltage and a first current applied in relation to the first pre-conditioning welding pulse portion,
- determine a first resistance value based on the indication of the first voltage and the first current,
- compare the first resistance value with the predetermined resistance threshold,
- control the transformer for applying, prior to performing the spot welding process, a further second pre-conditioning welding pulse portion to the workpiece using the welding gun if the first resistance value is above the predetermined resistance threshold, and
- initiate the spot welding process if the first resistance value is below the predetermined resistance threshold.