Welding device and method for photovoltaic equipment
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of photovoltaic welding, and particularly relates to a welding device and a welding method for photovoltaic equipment.
Background
The photovoltaic equipment industry is used as a supporting industry of the photovoltaic industry, china is used as the largest solar cell production country worldwide, and the development of the solar cell industry drives the whole photovoltaic industry to rise, so that the photovoltaic equipment industry in China is promoted. By virtue of the accumulation of abundant technical experience in the field of semiconductor equipment manufacturing, enterprises in China rapidly realize breakthrough in the field of photovoltaic equipment. The photovoltaic device comprises a protective structure which is formed by packaging a plurality of solar cells (monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon or thin film batteries) in series or in parallel, and is externally covered with glass, a back plate and an aluminum frame, wherein the photovoltaic support is called as a support component and is used for adjusting an optimal inclination angle, and the types of the photovoltaic support comprise such as fixed type (low cost), tracking type (improved efficiency) and the like;
At present, when the photovoltaic bracket is assembled and produced, a metal plate provided with threaded holes and a metal support column are required to be welded respectively, in the technical process of the prior welding, workpieces are generally placed on a workbench directly, the workpieces are not limited and fixed by extra equipment, welding work between two workpieces is carried out by experience of workers alone, welding offset operation is inevitably generated, and the welding process needs to be carried out by the workers to rotate the workpieces one by one according to the welding progress, so that the welding process is too time-consuming and labor-consuming.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the problems in the prior art, the invention provides a welding device and a welding method for photovoltaic equipment.
The welding device for the photovoltaic equipment comprises a machine base, wherein four baffles are fixedly connected to the inner wall of the top end of the machine base, a movable plate is connected to the plate bodies of the four baffles in a combined sliding mode, two springs are fixedly connected to the two side plate bodies of the bottom end of the movable plate, the bottom ends of the two groups of springs are fixedly connected to the inner wall of the top end of the machine base, two clamping blocks are fixedly connected to the outer walls of the two ends of the movable plate, two groups of clamping grooves capable of being respectively clamped with the two clamping blocks in a discontinuous mode are formed in the inner walls of the two ends of the machine base, a plurality of photovoltaic welding plates are connected to the inner walls of the top end of the movable plate and the four baffles in a combined joint mode, and photovoltaic struts can be tightly attached to the outer wall of the top end of each photovoltaic welding plate in a discontinuous mode;
Be equipped with spacing welding portion on the machine base, including fixed connection in respectively wide grillage and the narrow plate frame on the machine base top both sides in the spacing welding portion, one fixedly connected with positive and negative rotation type's motor on the one end outer wall of wide grillage, fixedly connected with screw rod in the pivot of motor, and be equipped with the clamping structure on the screw rod, still be equipped with friction revolution mechanic on the machine base.
Preferably, the clamping structure comprises a guide rod fixedly connected between the two wide plates, two side plate bodies of the guide rod are respectively and slidably connected with a sliding plate, one side plate body of each sliding plate is respectively and spirally connected with two sides of a rod body of the screw rod, and the screw rod is specifically composed of two sections of mutually-reversed threaded rod bodies.
Preferably, two equal fixedly connected with external splint on the end plate body of slide, two T-shaped grooves have all been seted up in the inner wall of external splint, two equal laminating joint has the T shape cardboard in the T-shaped groove, just still fixedly connected with two sets of elastic components in the inner wall of external splint, two sets of the other end joint laminating of elastic component is connected with an interior splint, the outer wall of interior splint and two the one end inner wall of T shape cardboard carries out fixed connection, and two the one section plate body that T shape cardboard and interior splint carry out the connection is specifically the expansion plate.
Preferably, a rectangular groove plate is further connected to one side rod body of the screw in a threaded manner, a welding gun is fixedly connected to one end of the rectangular groove plate, a muzzle of the welding gun can be connected with the photovoltaic welding plate and the photovoltaic support in a fit manner in a discontinuous manner, and the rectangular groove plate is specifically connected with one side rod body of the guide rod in a sliding manner.
Preferably, a side plate body of the sliding plate far away from the screw rod is provided with a supporting rod in a penetrating and sliding manner, and two side rod bodies of the supporting rod are respectively and fixedly connected with the two narrow plate frames.
Preferably, the friction rotating structure comprises a support plate fixedly connected to a side plate body at the top end of the machine base, a vertical rod is fixedly connected to a side plate body at the top end of the support plate, a hinged plate is movably sleeved on the vertical rod, and square groove plates are respectively hinged to two ends of the hinged plate.
Preferably, a support is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the square groove plate, the other end of the support is fixedly connected with the outer wall of the bottom end of the rectangular groove plate, a plate is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the square groove plate, a cross rod is slidingly connected to the plate, and one end rod body of the cross rod is fixedly connected with the plate body of the narrow plate frame.
Preferably, a plurality of butt plates are fixedly connected to the inner walls of the square groove plates and a plurality of rotating rods are rotatably connected to the square groove plates, a plurality of arc blocks are fixedly connected to the rod bodies of the rotating rods in a vertical array mode, and one end outer wall of each arc block and the outer wall of each photovoltaic strut can be in intermittent fit sliding connection.
Preferably, each rotating rod is fixedly connected with a torsion spring on a rod body close to the upper end and the lower end, and the other end of each torsion spring is fixedly connected with the inner walls of the upper end and the lower end of the square groove plate respectively.
A welding method for photovoltaic equipment comprises the following specific welding operation steps:
S1, supporting one end of a photovoltaic strut on the top end of a photovoltaic welding plate by a worker, starting a motor on a wide plate frame to enable the motor to operate so as to drive a screw to rotate, driving two sliding plates, an outer clamping plate and an inner clamping plate to correspondingly move in a mutually reverse path, and horizontally guiding the two sliding plates through the guide rod in the process of oppositely moving the two sliding plates until the two inner clamping plates are attached to the outer wall of the photovoltaic strut;
s2, when the welding gun is driven to translate through the sliding plate, the rectangular groove plate and the welding gun are synchronously driven to translate, when the inner clamping plate is contacted with the photovoltaic support, an elastic piece arranged between the inner clamping plate and the outer clamping plate and a section of the telescopic plate body of the T-shaped clamping plate can delay the welding gun in continuous transmission of the screw rod, so that the welding gun and the inner clamping plate can be flushed at a specific time position, the sliding plate and the welding gun are enabled to uniformly move to be contacted with the photovoltaic support, and when the welding gun is contacted with a connecting point between the photovoltaic support and the photovoltaic welding plate, welding is carried out;
S3, the support and one square groove plate can be pushed to translate passively through the rectangular groove plate, after the square groove plate is pushed to move obliquely, the hinge plate is driven to move obliquely, the other square groove plate is driven to conduct horizontal guiding on the cross rod, the two square groove plates translate in the opposite directions, a plurality of arc blocks on each rotating rod are driven to contact the surface of the photovoltaic support column, the torsion spring is deformed, the same time and the corresponding resisting plate are in contact, friction force can be generated between the arc blocks and the surface of the two ends of the photovoltaic support column, the photovoltaic support column is driven to rotate at a certain angle, after the motor rotates reversely, a plurality of groups of arc blocks in the motor can not generate pressing friction force with the photovoltaic support column, the arc blocks can be automatically driven to reset by the torsion spring, and the photovoltaic support column is not driven to rotate during reset.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:
(1) According to the invention, one end of the photovoltaic support is propped against the top end of the photovoltaic welding plate by a worker, and then the motor on the wide plate frame is started to drive the screw rod formed by two sections of opposite threaded rods to rotate, so that the two sliding plates, the outer clamping plate and the inner clamping plate are driven to correspondingly move along mutually opposite paths, the outer wall of the photovoltaic support is clamped in a fitting way, the limiting and fixing of an automatic mechanical structure are carried out, and the stability of welding operation is ensured;
(2) According to the invention, through the passive moving process of the rectangular groove plates, the support and one square groove plate are pushed to translate, so that the hinged plate is indirectly driven to move obliquely, the two square groove plates translate in opposite directions, a plurality of arc blocks are enabled to contact the surface of the photovoltaic support, the torsion springs deform at the same time and collide with the corresponding resisting plates, friction force can be generated between the arc blocks and the surfaces of two ends of the photovoltaic support to drive the photovoltaic support to rotate at a certain angle, after the motor reversely rotates, a plurality of groups of arc blocks in the arc blocks can not generate pressing friction force with the photovoltaic support any more, and the arc blocks can be automatically driven to reset by the torsion springs, so that the photovoltaic support can not be driven to rotate any more during reset.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the overall planar structure of the present invention;
FIG. 3 shows a base of the machine of the present invention schematic overall cross-sectional structure;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a partially disassembled structure of a limit weld of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a partial structure of a limit welding portion according to the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a part of a limit welding portion (second part) according to the present invention;
fig. 7 is a schematic view of a partial enlarged structure at a in fig. 6 according to the present invention.
In the figure:
1. The machine comprises a machine base, 11, a baffle, 12, a movable plate, 13, a spring, 14, a clamping block, 15, a clamping groove, 16, a photovoltaic welding plate, 17 and a photovoltaic strut;
2. The welding device comprises a limit welding part, 21, a wide plate frame, 22, a narrow plate frame, 23, a motor, 24, a screw rod, 25, a guide rod, 26, a sliding plate, 27, an outer clamping plate, 28, a T-shaped groove, 29, an elastic piece, 230, an inner clamping plate, 231, a T-shaped clamping plate, 232, a welding gun, 234, a supporting rod, 236, a bracket, 237, a supporting plate, 238, a vertical rod, 239, a hinging plate, 240, a square groove plate, 241, a plate, 242, a cross rod, 243, a bearing plate, 244, a rotating rod, 245, an arc block, 246 and a torsion spring.
Detailed Description
The following description of the embodiments of the present invention will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the invention.
As shown in fig. 1 to 7, the invention provides a welding device for photovoltaic equipment, which comprises a machine base 1, wherein four baffle plates 11 are fixedly connected to the inner wall of the top end of the machine base 1, a movable plate 12 is jointly and slidably connected to the plate bodies of the four baffle plates 11, two springs 13 are fixedly connected to the two side plate bodies at the bottom end of the movable plate 12, the bottom ends of the two groups of springs 13 are fixedly connected to the inner wall of the top end of the machine base 1, two clamping blocks 14 are fixedly connected to the outer wall of the two ends of the movable plate 12, two groups of clamping grooves 15 which can be respectively and discontinuously clamped with the two clamping blocks 14 are formed in the inner walls of the two ends of the machine base 1, a plurality of photovoltaic welding plates 16 are jointly and jointly connected to the top end of the movable plate 12 and the inner walls of the four baffle plates 11, and photovoltaic struts 17 can be discontinuously and tightly connected to the outer wall of the top end of each photovoltaic welding plate 16;
Be equipped with spacing welding portion 2 on the machine base 1, including wide board frame 21 and the narrow board frame 22 of fixed connection on machine base 1 top both sides respectively in the spacing welding portion 2, the motor 23 of positive and negative rotation model is fixedly connected with on the one end outer wall of a wide board frame 21, fixedly connected with screw rod 24 in the pivot of motor, and is equipped with the clamping structure on the screw rod 24, still is equipped with friction revolution mechanic on the machine base 1.
After one photovoltaic welding plate 16 and one photovoltaic strut 17 are welded, a finished photovoltaic bracket is separated from the base 1 of the machine, so that when the movable plate 12 is not pressed any more, part of the pressure borne by the springs 13 can automatically drive other photovoltaic welding plates 16 to move upwards to supplement materials on the baffles 11, and in the moving up process of the movable plate 12, the movable plate 12 is clamped into the clamping groove 15 in real time through the clamping blocks 14 to ensure stability, and thus automatic material supplement and supporting effects are realized;
It should be noted that, the clamping block 14 is made of natural rubber material, so when the passive upward movement is performed, the passive upward movement can be performed to be clamped into the clamping groove 15 of the previous cell under the action of the passive force, and the spring 13 is specifically arranged, the elastic expansion force of the spring 13 is directly proportional to the received force, so that the reduction of the photovoltaic welding plate 16 can automatically drive the clamping block 14 to move upward by one cell through the elastic force of the spring.
The clamping structure comprises a guide rod 25 fixedly connected between two wide plate frames 21, sliding plates 26 are slidably connected on rod bodies on two sides of the guide rod 25, one side plate body of each sliding plate 26 is in threaded connection with two sides of the rod body of each screw 24, each screw 24 is specifically composed of two sections of mutually opposite threaded rod bodies, an outer clamping plate 27 is fixedly connected on one end plate body of each sliding plate 26, two T-shaped grooves 28 are formed in the inner walls of the two outer clamping plates 27, T-shaped clamping plates 231 are fixedly connected in the two T-shaped grooves 28 in a fit manner, two elastic pieces 29 are fixedly connected in the inner walls of the outer clamping plates 27, one inner clamping plate 230 is jointly and fixedly connected with the outer walls of the inner clamping plates 230 and one end inner walls of the two T-shaped clamping plates 231, and one section of plate body, which is connected with the inner clamping plates 230, is specifically a telescopic plate.
By adopting the scheme, the motor 23 on the wide plate frame 21 is started to operate so as to drive the screw 24 to rotate, so that the two sliding plates 26, the outer clamping plates 27 and the inner clamping plates 230 are driven to correspondingly move along the mutually opposite paths, and the two sliding plates 26 are horizontally guided by the guide rod 25 in the process of oppositely moving until the two inner clamping plates 230 are attached to the outer wall of the photovoltaic support 17, and in the follow-up process, the photovoltaic support 17 rotates in the corresponding T-shaped groove 28 along with the two inner clamping plates 230 and the two T-shaped clamping plates 231 which are tightly connected.
The screw rod 24 is provided with a rectangular groove plate in a threaded connection mode, a welding gun 232 is fixedly connected to one end of the rectangular groove plate, the muzzle of the welding gun 232 can be connected with the joint of the photovoltaic welding plate 16 and the photovoltaic strut 17 in a fit mode, the rectangular groove plate is connected with one side rod body of the guide rod 25 in a sliding mode, a sliding plate 26 is far away from one side plate body of the screw rod 24, a supporting rod 234 is connected in a penetrating and sliding mode, and two side rod bodies of the supporting rod 234 are fixedly connected with the two narrow plate frames 22 respectively.
By adopting the scheme, when the sliding plate 26 is driven to translate, the rectangular groove plate and the welding gun 232 are synchronously driven to translate, when the inner clamping plate 230 contacts the photovoltaic support 17, the elastic piece 29 arranged between the inner clamping plate 230 and the outer clamping plate 27 and a section of telescopic plate body of the T-shaped clamping plate 231 can delay the welding gun 232 in the continuous transmission of the screw 24, so that the welding gun 232 can be leveled with the inner clamping plate 230 at a specific time position, the sliding plate 26 and the welding gun 232 uniformly move to contact the photovoltaic support 17, and when the welding gun 232 contacts a connecting point between the photovoltaic support 17 and the photovoltaic welding plate 16, a laser beam can be automatically emitted to weld the two.
The friction rotating structure comprises a support plate 237 fixedly connected to a side plate body at the top end of the machine base 1, a vertical rod 238 is fixedly connected to the side plate body at the top end of the support plate 237, a hinged plate 239 is movably sleeved on the vertical rod 238, square groove plates 240 are respectively hinged to two ends of the hinged plate 239, a support 236 is fixedly connected to the outer wall of one square groove plate 240, the other end of the support 236 is fixedly connected to the bottom outer wall of the rectangular groove plate, a plate 241 is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the other square groove plate 240, a cross rod 242 is slidably connected to the plate 241, one end rod body of the cross rod 242 is fixedly connected to the plate body of the narrow plate frame 22, a plurality of retaining plates 243 are fixedly connected to the inner walls of the two square groove plates 240 in a rotating mode, a plurality of arc blocks 245 are fixedly connected to the rod bodies of each of the two square groove plates 244 in a vertical array mode, one end outer wall of each arc block 245 and the outer wall of the photovoltaic strut 17 can be attached to and slidably connected in a discontinuous mode, torsion spring 246 is fixedly connected to the rod bodies of the two ends close to the upper ends and the lower ends of the rod bodies of the two ends of each arc blocks 246, and the two ends of each torsion spring 246 are fixedly connected to the upper ends of the square groove plates 240 respectively.
By adopting the scheme, when the rectangular groove plates are passively moved, the bracket 236 and one square groove plate 240 are pushed to translate, after the square groove plate 240 is passively pushed, the hinging plate 239 is driven to obliquely move, so that the other square groove plate 240 is driven to horizontally guide on the transverse rod 242, the two square groove plates 240 are horizontally moved in opposite directions, the arc blocks 245 on each rotating rod 244 are driven to contact the surface of the photovoltaic strut 17, the torsion springs 246 are deformed, the same time and the corresponding resisting plates 243 are in contact, friction force is generated between the friction plates and the surfaces of two ends of the photovoltaic strut 17, the photovoltaic strut 17 is driven to rotate at a certain angle, after the motor 23 reversely rotates, the plurality of groups of arc blocks 245 in the motor 23 can not generate pressing friction force with the photovoltaic strut 17, and the torsion springs 246 can automatically drive the photovoltaic strut 17 to reset, so that the photovoltaic strut 17 is not driven to rotate when reset.
A welding method for photovoltaic equipment comprises the following specific welding operation steps:
S1, supporting one end of a photovoltaic strut 17 on the top end of a photovoltaic welding plate 16 by a worker, starting a motor 23 on a wide plate frame 21 to enable the motor to operate so as to drive a screw 24 to rotate, so that two sliding plates 26, an outer clamping plate 27 and an inner clamping plate 230 are driven to correspondingly move in mutually opposite paths, and in the process of oppositely moving the two sliding plates 26, the two sliding plates are horizontally guided by a guide rod 25 until the two inner clamping plates 230 are attached and clamped on the outer wall of the photovoltaic strut 17;
S2, when the sliding plate 26 is driven to translate, the rectangular groove plate and the welding gun 232 are synchronously driven to translate, when the inner clamping plate 230 contacts the photovoltaic support 17, the elastic piece 29 arranged between the inner clamping plate 230 and the outer clamping plate 27 and a section of telescopic plate body of the T-shaped clamping plate 231 can delay the welding gun 232 in continuous transmission of the screw 24, so that the welding gun 232 can be leveled with the inner clamping plate 230 at a specific time position, the sliding plate 26 and the welding gun 232 uniformly move to contact the photovoltaic support 17, and when the welding gun 232 contacts a connecting point between the photovoltaic support 17 and the photovoltaic welding plate 16, welding is performed;
S3, the support 236 and one square groove plate 240 are pushed to translate passively through the rectangular groove plates, after the square groove plate 240 is pushed to move obliquely, the hinge plate 239 is driven to move obliquely, the other square groove plate 240 is driven to conduct horizontal guiding on the transverse rod 242, the two square groove plates 240 translate in opposite directions, the arc blocks 245 on each rotating rod 244 are driven to contact the surface of the photovoltaic strut 17, the torsion springs 246 deform, the corresponding retaining plates 243 collide at the same time, friction force is generated between the surfaces of the two ends of the photovoltaic strut 17, the photovoltaic strut 17 is driven to rotate at a certain angle, after the motor 23 rotates reversely, the arc blocks 245 in the motor do not generate pressing friction force with the photovoltaic strut 17, the motor is driven to reset automatically by the torsion springs 246, and the photovoltaic strut 17 is not driven to rotate any more during reset.
The arc block 245 which is contacted with the surface of the photovoltaic support 17 and drives the photovoltaic support 17 to rotate is formed by a natural rubber material, and other parts are made of metal materials, so that the reverse translation generated when the square groove plate 240 is passively reset can not drive the arc block 245 to rub the surface of the photovoltaic support 17;
As shown in fig. 7, when the square groove plate 240 passively moves to the right, the part of the arc block 245 with the natural rubber material at one end is abutted against the outer wall of the photovoltaic strut 17, and the abutting plate 243 can act as a pressing and blocking force on one end of the right moving abutting plate 243 due to the existence of the abutting plate 243, so that the arc block 245 can generate friction force on the outer wall of the photovoltaic strut 17 with enough force, thereby driving the photovoltaic strut 17 to perform intermittent unidirectional rotation, and realizing intermittent spot welding between the photovoltaic strut 17 and the photovoltaic welding plate 16 by matching with the reciprocating movement of the welding gun 232 until the two completely rotate for one circle, so that the welding is firm, and the welding operation is completed immediately.
The working principle and the use flow of the invention are that one end of a photovoltaic strut 17 is propped against the top end of a photovoltaic welding plate 16 by a worker, then a motor 23 on a wide plate frame 21 is started to operate to drive a screw 24 to rotate, thereby driving two sliding plates 26, an outer clamping plate 27 and an inner clamping plate 230 to correspondingly move along mutually opposite paths, and the two sliding plates 26 are horizontally guided by a guide rod 25 in the process of oppositely moving until the two inner clamping plates 230 are attached and clamped on the outer wall of the photovoltaic strut 17;
When the middle sliding plate 26 is driven to translate, the rectangular groove plate and the welding gun 232 are synchronously driven to translate, when the inner clamping plate 230 contacts the photovoltaic strut 17, the elastic piece 29 arranged between the inner clamping plate 230 and the outer clamping plate 27 and a section of telescopic plate body of the T-shaped clamping plate 231 can delay the welding gun 232 in the continuous transmission of the screw 24, so that the welding gun 232 can be flushed with the inner clamping plate 230 at a specific time position, the subsequent rotation of the inner clamping plate 230 can continuously keep the tight extrusion of the elastic piece 29, so that the welding gun is compressed to the tightest degree, thus the inner clamping plate 230 is not driven to rotate together when the inner clamping plate 230 rotates, the sliding plate 26 and the welding gun 232 uniformly move to contact the photovoltaic strut 17, and when the welding gun 232 contacts a connecting point between the photovoltaic strut 17 and the photovoltaic welding plate 16, the welding gun is automatically subjected to spot welding operation, thereby automatically limiting and fixing the photovoltaic strut 17, and simultaneously automatically carrying out spot welding on the welding rod, and greatly reducing manual participation;
Meanwhile, when the rectangular trough plates move passively, the bracket 236 and one square trough plate 240 are pushed to translate, after one square trough plate 240 is pushed to move passively, the hinging plate 239 is driven to move obliquely by taking the vertical rods 238 on the supporting plates 237 as axes, so that the other square trough plate 240 is driven to translate, the plate 241 on the other square trough plate 240 is horizontally guided on the cross rod 242, so that the two square trough plates 240 translate at the positions opposite to each other, so that the arc blocks 245 on each rotating rod 244 are driven to contact the surface of the photovoltaic support 17, the torsion spring 246 is deformed, the corresponding abutting plates 243 are in contact at the same time, friction force is generated between the torsion spring 246 and the two end surfaces of the photovoltaic support 17, the photovoltaic support 17 is driven to rotate at a certain angle, and the motor 23 is driven to rotate reversely and then indirectly drive the welding gun 232 to reset at a certain distance, at the moment, the square trough plate 240 is indirectly driven to reset, the inner parts of the square trough plates 240 are not in contact with the photovoltaic support 17 again, and the torsion spring 17 is driven to rotate again, so that the torsion spring 17 is not driven to reset;
After a photovoltaic welding plate 16 and a photovoltaic strut 17 are welded, the finished photovoltaic support is separated from the base 1 of the machine, so that when the movable plate 12 is not pressed any more, a part of the movable plate is stressed by the springs 13, other photovoltaic welding plates 16 can be automatically driven on the baffles 11 to move upwards for feeding, and in the process of moving the movable plate 12 upwards, in order to ensure stability, the movable plate can be clamped into the clamping groove 15 through the clamping blocks 14 in real time, and therefore automatic feeding and supporting effects are achieved.
It is noted that relational terms such as first and second, and the like are used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made therein without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.