DE8326015U1 - Device for cleaning a welding torch - Google Patents

Description

Busse & Busse Patent Attorneys

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. lur. V. Busse Masing-Kirkhof GntbH Dipl.-Ing. Dietrich Busse

_..',' '-^ „ - - DIpI.-Ing. Egon Bünemann

Assar-Gabrlelss o n-Straße 3-5

60S? JPietgenbach. % D-4 600 OintbrCek

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9 September 1983 VB/St

Device for cleaning a welding torch

The invention relates to a device for stoning a welding torch, in particular the torch of a welding robot, of the type specified in the preamble of patent claim 1.
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In such a cleaning device, which is specially designed for cleaning the torch of a welding robot, the rotating tool is designed as an elastically flexible spiral spring which is guided coaxially by a guide tube, the inner wall of which forms a guide for the gas nozzle, the rotation drive for the spiral spring and the guide tube being mounted in a floating manner and the winding direction of the spring being directed against the direction of rotation (DE-OS 29 43 650). This design of the cleaning device, in which the torch of the welding robot is guided by the robot against the tool, is intended to compensate for the positioning accuracy of the robot and to completely clean the torch without the risk of damaging it.

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These and other known welding torch cleaning devices, in which the welding torch is guided against the tool for cleaning, require that the reaction forces occurring on the torch during the cleaning process are absorbed properly by hand or by a mechanism holding the welding torch, as is provided for in robots.

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However, particularly for the torches on welding robots, a very light and quickly reacting mechanism is required, which is no longer able to absorb such reaction forces without the risk of increased wear of the robot mechanism and the torch and resulting inaccuracies in the positioning of the torch during the welding process. In addition, inaccuracies in the precise positioning of the torch and cleaning tool _cannot be avoided with such cleaning devices, which can lead to surfaces not being cleaned sufficiently or to wear on the welding torch ^.

The invention is based on the object of creating a cleaning device for welding torches in which the reaction forces occurring on the welding torch during the cleaning process are absorbed and thus the hand or robot mechanism holding the torch remains unaffected by such reaction forces and in which the cleaning process can continue to be carried out as a machining process with precise tolerances that excludes impurities or wear on the torch.

For this purpose, the cleaning device according to the invention is essentially characterized by the features specified in the characterizing part of claim 1. In a preferred embodiment, a tool designed according to claim 2 is provided.

The design of the cleaning device according to the invention, in which the welding torch is fixed in place to the tool for cleaning and the tool is moved against and into the torch, enables, on the one hand, the parts holding the torch, in particular a robot mechanism, to be completely relieved of the reaction forces that occur during cleaning, and, on the other hand, the cleaning of the torch can be carried out as a machining process with precise tolerances, which, taken together, in turn enables the use of a tool that is designed to be true to shape and that processes the torch precisely and without damage.

possible, which in the preferred version can be a two-faced form milling cutter.

Further features and details of the cleaning device according to the invention are specified in claims 3 to 8, whereby the design of the device according to claim 7 is to be regarded as particularly advantageous for cleaning the burners of welding robots.

The subject matter of the invention is explained in more detail below using an embodiment shown schematically in the drawing; in the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view of the cleaning device/partially sectioned;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Pig» 1;

Fig. 3 a partial section of the welding torch and the retracted cleaning tool in the operating position in the form of a form cutter, Fig. 4 a pressure medium control circuit for*· automatic pneumatic actuation of the cleaning device«

The device intended for cleaning a welding torch 1, which in the usual way comprises an inner contact nozzle 1a and a gas nozzle 1£ which concentrically surrounds the latter, forming an intermediate space 1b, consists essentially of a holding device for the welding torch 1, designated as a whole by 2, and a feed device which carries the rotating tool 3 and is designated as a whole by 4. The holding device 2 and the feed device 4 are precisely fixed in their position and alignment with respect to one another, expediently on a common mounting plate 5 or the like.

As can be seen in particular from Fig. 2, the holding device 2 for the welding torch 1 is designed as a clamping device and comprises a welding torch support 6 as

Counter bearing for a clamping piece 7 which cooperates with it and is actuated via a piston/cylinder unit Z1. The

The welding torch support 6 and the movable clamping piece 7 are designed with their surfaces coming into contact with the welding torch 1 in such a way that they form a clamping chamber that fixes the welding torch 1 prismatically at three points on the circumference (Fig. 2). An anti-twisting device indicated by 9 ensures that the movable clamping piece 7 with its prismatic clamping surface is always held in parallel alignment to the prismatic | clamping surfaces on the welding torch support 6, which acts as a counter bearing. The support 6, the clamping piece 7 and the cleaning tool 3 are designed to be interchangeable in order to clamp welding torches |, r with different diameters. %.,

The feed device 4 for the cleaning tool 3 is designed as a piston/cylinder unit Z2 and comprises a hollow piston 10 with an annular piston surface 11 formed on the circumference, which can be pressurized with pressure medium on both sides in a cylinder chamber 12. The cylinder chamber 12

is within a hollow piston 1O penetrated and \

This precisely holding and aligning guide block 13 is provided. Inside the hollow piston 10 is the motor 14 ^, which is also operated with pressure medium, for the rotation drive of the tool 3.
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If the welding torch 1 to be cleaned is fixed axially and securely against rotation by means of the holding device 2, it is in coaxial alignment with the tool 3, which is now set in rotation by its motor 14 and can be moved together with it by the hollow piston 10, 11 against the torch. By means of a suitable pressure medium control circuit, as shown in Fig. 4, the cleaning process can be carried out automatically.

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The control circuit shown in Fig. 4, intended for pneumatic actuation of the cleaning device, comprises a maintenance unit 15 (air oiler and water separator with pressure reducing valve), a mechanically operated valve Y1, which is located on the welding torch support 6 (Fig. 2), a time delay valve Y2 for the cleaning time, a time delay valve Y3 for the holding device 2 and a 4/2-way valve for the piston/cylinder unit of the feed device 4 designated Z2, as well as a throttle check valve Y5 connected upstream of this for setting the feed speed of Z2. Z.1 designates the piston/cylinder unit of the holding device 2 and 14 the air motor for rotating the tool 3. The function is as follows:

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The welding torch 1 is placed in the support 6 and actuates the valve Y1. This starts the motor 14 and the valve Y4 is reversed. According to the set delay, the valve Y3 is also reversed, Z1 is actuated and the torch 1 is clamped in its support with the clamping piece 7. Z2 is actuated and pushes the rotating cleaning tool 3 into the torch. According to the set cleaning time, the valve Y2 is reversed, whereupon the cleaning tool 3 extends out of the torch 1. ZI then moves to the starting position and releases the torch 1 (relaxes).

Since the cleaning process can be carried out as an exact machining process with the device according to the invention, a machining tool that is precisely adapted to the welding torch 1 in terms of design and dimensional accuracy can also be provided for cleaning. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the cleaning tool 3 is designed as a form milling cutter that is provided with cutting surfaces on the outside and inside and thus processes the outside surface of the contact nozzle 1a and the inside surface of the gas nozzle 1c separately, as can be seen from Fig. 3.

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The subject matter of the invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in the drawing and described above; rather, within the scope of the patent claims, modifications or other detailed designs are readily conceivable and possible.

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Claims (8)

G 83 26 015.3 Dipl.-Ing. Dr. iur. V. Busse Dipl.-Ing. Dietrich Busse ESAB-MASING GmbH Dipl.-Ing. E ₉ to Bünemann D-45 0 0 Osnabruck GroBhandelsring &bgr; PO Box 1226 Telephone: OS 41-58 60 81/82 Telegrams: patgewar Osnabrück Telecopier: OS 41-SB 81 64 VB/St claims: 1. Device for cleaning a welding torch, in particular the torch of a welding robot, with a rotating tool that carries out its cleaning work in the space formed on the welding torch between its contact nozzle and gas nozzle, characterized in that the cleaning device comprises a holding device (2) actuated by the supplied welding torch (1) and centering it in coaxial alignment with the tool (3) and fixing it axially and securely against rotation, and a feed device (4) operatively connected thereto, which introduces the rotating tool (3) into the fixed welding torch (1) at a predeterminable stroke speed, the functions of the holding device (2), feed device (4) and the motor (14) driving the tool (3) being controlled in a predeterminable time-dependent manner and automatically reversible. 2. Cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that the tool (3) is designed as a hollow cylindrical form milling cutter provided with cutting surfaces on the outside and inside and thus machining the outside surface of the contact nozzle (1a) and the inside surface of the gas nozzle (1b) separately. • I &Igr;· IX • 1 t * · · - II - 3. Cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the holding device (2) for the welding torch (1) is designed as a clamping device and comprises a welding torch support (6) as a counter bearing for a clamping piece (7) cooperating therewith, which can be actuated via a piston/cylinder unit (Z1). 4. Cleaning device according to claim 3, characterized in that the welding torch support (6) with the movable clamping piece (7) form a clamping chamber that fixes the welding torch (1) prismatically at three points on the circumference (Fig. 2). 5. Cleaning device according to claim 1 and a or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tool (3) with its drive motor (14) are part of a piston/cylinder unit (Z2) which effects their common feed movement. 6. Cleaning device according to claim 1 and one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the holding device (2) and the feed device (4) are fixed in their position and alignment to one another on a common mounting plate (5) or the like. 7. Cleaning device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the holding device (2), the feed device (4) and the motor (14) driving the tool (3) are coupled to one another via a common pressure medium control circuit (Fig. 4) with time elements (Y2, Y3), which is triggered by a welding torch (1) inserted into the torch support (6) by means of a valve (Y1) for a cleaning cycle. - Ill - 8. Cleaning device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that a spraying device for spraying the cleaned welding torch oil (1) with release agent is arranged on the mounting plate (5) or the like.