JPH0368781B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Technical Field> The present invention relates to a welding torch whose curved state can be freely set.

<Prior Art> In general, in order to easily adapt to the welding posture and the shape of the workpiece, a torch neck assembly TN is used to connect a welding torch holder assembly H and a nozzle assembly N, as shown in FIG.
is formed to be freely curved as appropriate.

Conventionally, a welding torch including a torch neck assembly TN' shown in FIG. 2, for example, has been proposed. That is, FIG. 2 is an upper half sectional view showing the main parts of a welding torch that uses a consumable electrode wire (hereinafter referred to as electrode wire), and in the same figure, 9' is a braided thin copper wire. 21 is a reinforcing spring that supports the conductive member from inside, and 24 is a material press-fitted from the outside between the coil spring 22 formed in a cylindrical shape and the pitch portion of the coil spring 22. 12 is a flexible tube 2 consisting of a holding member 23 which is a spring with an inverted triangular cross section;
4 is a flexible insulating jacket, and 13 is a flexible wire guide for guiding the electrode wire.

In the conventional welding torch described above, the torch neck assembly TN' can be freely curved and fixed at any desired position, but there have been various practical problems. First, the torch neck assembly TN' is repeatedly bent to an appropriate degree, but since the conductive member 9' is formed by braiding thin copper wires, the conductive member 9' is easily broken.
For this reason, it did not have good aging performance as a welding torch. Furthermore, in order to maintain the hollow shape of the conductive member 9' regardless of the curved state of the torch neck assembly TN', it is necessary to provide the reinforcing spring 21. In addition to the troublesome work of arranging the reinforcing spring inside, the work of press-fitting the inverted triangular holding member 23 between the pitch parts of the coil spring 22 from the outside is troublesome, so it is difficult to use a welding torch. Productivity was not good.

<Object of the Invention> The object of the present invention is to provide a welding torch that is durable over time and has good productivity, which was made in view of the above problems.

<Examples> The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to illustrated examples.

For example, referring to a welding torch using an electrode wire, in FIGS. 3 and 4,
Reference numeral H denotes a holder assembly held by an operator. Of this holder assembly H, a torch body 1 is integrally or detachably supported by an electrically insulating holder 2. Note that the holder assembly H includes a shield gas supply means (not shown),
A wire guide means and a power supply means are connected to each other so that power is supplied to the torch body 1 and shielding gas is flowed into the inner part of the torch body 1. N
is a nozzle assembly at the tip of a welding torch, and this nozzle assembly N includes, for example, a tip member 3, a welding tip 4, a gas nozzle 6 connected to the tip member 3 via an electrically insulating tube 5, It is composed of an electrically insulating orifice 7.
8 is the axial direction of the conductive member, which will be described later, in order to appropriately restrain expansion and contraction in the X direction, the X ₁ direction and the K ₂ direction.
Each end in the direction is a restraining member held by the tip member 3 and the torch body 1, respectively, and in the case shown in the figure, the restraining member 8 is formed of a coil spring in which a spring with a circular cross section is wound in a substantially tight state, and The coil spring 8 is held by screwing each end of the coil spring 8 into a screw portion slightly larger than the winding pitch of the coil spring 8 screwed onto each end of the tip member 3 and the torch body 1. There is. 9 is a torch body 1 made by winding a plurality of rectangular wires in a spiral tube shape with the same radius in a non-adhesive state.
The conductive member 9 is connected to the tip member 3, and as shown in FIG. It is formed by being wound into a spiral tube shape. Reference numeral 10 denotes a first cylindrical member fixed to the tip member 3 so as to cover the end of the conductive member 9 in the _X1 direction.
is fixed by caulking, brazing, welding, etc. A second cylindrical member 11 covers the end of the conductive member 9 in the _X2 direction, and the second cylindrical member 11, the torch body 1, and the conductive member 9 are integrally fixed. Reference numeral 12 denotes an insulating jacket that covers the space between the first and second cylindrical members 10 and 11 in the X direction, and has airtightness, electrical insulation, and flexibility.

According to 8 to 12 above, the holder assembly H
A bendable torch neck assembly TN is configured to connect the nozzle assembly N and the nozzle assembly N. 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes a flexible hollow wire guide, which is appropriately disposed at the axial center of the torch neck assembly TN.

In the above configuration, the electrode wire is guided by the wire guide 13 and fed in the _X1 direction via the welding tip 4, and is connected to the torch body 1 of the holder assembly H, the conductive member 9, the tip member 3 of the nozzle assembly N, and the welding tip 4. Power is supplied to the electrode wires via the chip 4. Further, the shielding gas supplied from the holder assembly H to the torch neck assembly TN is supplied to the internal space 121 of the tip member 3 and the nozzle 122.
The gas then flows out through the outlet 123 of the orifice 7 into the gas nozzle 6 in the _X1 direction. In this way, the welding work is performed while feeding the electrode wire, as well as supplying the shielding gas and power.

By the way, depending on the work situation, the torch neck assembly TN section is appropriately curved, for example, as shown by the dashed line in FIG.

In this case, since the torch neck assembly TN is appropriately restrained from expanding and contracting in the axial direction by the restraining member 8, the torch neck assembly TN can be rotated against the curved shape of the restraining member 8 without almost any positional displacement in the longitudinal direction. Assembly TN curves smoothly. When the external force on the torch neck assembly TN is released while the torch neck assembly TN is appropriately curved, the curved restraining member 8 acts to return to its original straight state. In this case, the conductive member 9, which is made by winding a plurality of rectangular wires such as copper or copper alloy into a spiral tube shape with the same radius in a non-adhesive state, is bent into a curved state similar to the restraining member 8; Since the conductive member 9 is a rectangular wire having a large section modulus and is self-supporting, the torch neck assembly TN maintains an appropriate curved state even if the external force on the torch neck assembly TN is released. In other words, become independent.

Since the conductive member 9 is formed of a plurality of rectangular wires, the conductive member 9 will not be disconnected even if the torch neck assembly TN is repeatedly bent as appropriate, and therefore the welding has good long-term durability. The torch can be realized. In addition, since the conductive member 9 has a plurality of flat rectangular wires wound in a non-adhesive spiral tube shape with the same radius, the cross-sectional area of the torch neck assembly TN can be reduced, that is, the outer diameter can be reduced, and the welding Good bendability and workability as a torch.

That is, when using a conductive member having a wire wound around it, the power supply capacity is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the wire. Therefore, if a single rectangular wire is used, the cross-sectional area of the rectangular wire must be made as large as possible in order to increase the power supply capacity. For example, it is necessary to increase the value of at least one of the thickness: t and the width: w of this rectangular striation. By the way, if the thickness of the rectangular striations: t is increased in order to increase the power supply capacity, the conductive member is formed by winding the rectangular striations; Increment amount: becomes thicker in the diametrical direction by twice Δt. Therefore, the cross-sectional area of the torch neck assembly TN becomes large, that is, thick, and its workability as a welding torch deteriorates.

On the other hand, if the width of the rectangular striations is increased in order to increase the power supply capacity, the torch neck assembly TN will not become thicker. However, since the rectangular wire has a flat shape, a conductive member in which the flat rectangular wire is wound inevitably has poor bendability.

By the way, in the present invention, the conductive member 9 is formed by winding a plurality of flat rectangular wires 901 and 902 into a spiral tube shape with the same radius, and the plurality of flat rectangular wires 9
Since power is supplied by dividing the current into 01 and 902, the above problem does not occur even when the power supply capacity is increased.
That is, when increasing the power supply capacity, the increase in the cross-sectional area of each flat wire is divided by the number of flat wires used, and therefore the torch neck assembly TN
The cross-sectional area can be kept as small as possible. Furthermore, since the increase in the cross-sectional area of each rectangular striation can be kept small, the bendability of the torch neck assembly TN is hardly impaired.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, the torch neck assembly
Since TN has a simple structure, productivity as a welding torch can be increased.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention, which relates to a welding torch using a non-consumable electrode. In the figure, a plurality of rectangular wires, for example, two rectangular wires 90 made of copper or copper alloy.
1,902 wound into a spiral tube shape with the same radius in a non-adhesive state, both ends of the conductive member 9 are connected to the tip member 3, respectively.
and is fixed to the torch body 1. This conductive member 9 is covered with an airtight and flexible cylindrical member 14, for example, a hose made of rubber or synthetic resin, and a shielding gas supply space is formed inside the cylindrical member 14. . A restraining member 8 is held between the tip member 3 and the torch body 1, and the restraining member 8 is covered with an insulating jacket 12, and the restraining member 8, the conductive member 9, the cylindrical member 14, and the insulating jacket 12 are covered with an insulating jacket 12. The torch neck assembly TN is constructed by the following.

6 and 7 respectively show other embodiments of the present invention, the one shown in FIG. A conductive member 9 is arranged in which a plurality of rectangular wires are wound in a helical tube shape having the same radius in a non-contact state, and are wound in a substantially close contact state outward from the sealed flexible tube 14. A restraining member 8 made of a coil spring and an insulating jacket 12 are provided.

What is shown in FIG. 7 is similar to that shown in FIG. 6, and the conductive members 9,
Restraining member 8, sealed flexible tube 14 and insulating jacket 12
is installed. Sealed flexible tube 14 in this case
As shown in FIG. 8, the thin metal pieces 141,
141 is spirally engaged and wound so as to enclose a shield member 142 having airtightness.
A so-called serpentine tube is advantageously used.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, if a flexible airtight member 14 is disposed inside the insulating jacket 12 as the torch neck assembly TN, even if the insulating jacket 12 is torn, the shielding gas can be removed. This is advantageous because a supply route for Note that if the sealed flexible tube 14 made of a bellows tube or a flexible tube is provided as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the bendability of the torch neck assembly TN will be somewhat deteriorated, and the torch neck assembly TN will not be repeated. Since there is a risk that the sealed flexible tube 14 may be damaged by the bending operation, if we focus on the bendability of the torch neck assembly TN, it is more advantageous to not use the sealed flexible tube 14, for example, the one shown in FIG. 3. be. In addition, in FIG. 7, the arrangement of the restraining member 8 is omitted and the sealed flexible tube 1 is
4 may be considered to restrict the expansion and contraction of the conductive member 9 in the axial direction. However, in this case, the hermetically sealed flexible tube 14 is made of thin metal pieces 141, 141 that are wound together in a spiral manner to enclose the airtight shield member 142, so that the hermetically sealed flexible tube 14 itself is Since there is some tolerance in the radial and longitudinal directions, a torch neck assembly without the restraining member 8 will be in a so-called "boneless" state in which there is almost no restriction in the axial and radial directions. For this reason, when the torch neck assembly is bent, it does not bend smoothly, and furthermore, repeated bending operations cause early damage to the flexible tube, which is disadvantageous.

Note that if the conductive member 9 is placed inside the restraint member 8, the restraint member 8 will also restrain the conductive member 9 from expanding outward, so that the torch neck assembly
Torch neck assembly during repetitive bending operations of TN
The cross-sectional state of TN will not be deformed. In addition, if two to four flat wires are used as the plurality of flat wires, the winding work of the flat wires is easy.
It's practical.

In addition, if a coil spring made of a material with a circular cross section is wound in a substantially tight state as a restraining member,
This is advantageous because it is easy to manufacture, has good bendability, and has good restorability of the restraining member during repeated bending operations. Despite this, the restraint member can also be formed by winding a material having a cross section other than circular in a cylindrical shape.

Although various embodiments of the present invention have been shown above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and can be modified by appropriately combining each part of the above embodiments or replacing them with equivalent members. Various modifications can be made.

<Effects of the Invention> As detailed in the above embodiments, the present invention includes a holder assembly to which a shielding gas supply means and a power supply means are connected and which is held by an operator, a nozzle assembly at the tip of a welding torch, and a holder assembly. In a welding torch comprising a curved and self-supporting torch neck assembly that connects an assembly and a nozzle assembly, the torch neck assembly is wound with at least a plurality of rectangular wires in a non-adhesive spiral cylinder shape having the same radius. The torch neck assembly is made up of a conductive member, a restraining member that appropriately restricts expansion and contraction of the conductive member in the axial direction, and a flexible insulating jacket that encloses the restraining member and the conductive member. The structure is simpler and the productivity of the welding torch can be increased.
Moreover, as mentioned above, the conductive member is formed by winding a plurality of rectangular wires such as copper or copper alloy into a spiral tube shape with the same radius in a non-adhesive state, and the current is divided between the plurality of rectangular wires to supply electricity. Therefore, even when increasing the power supply capacity, the cross-sectional area of each rectangular wire that is the material can be reduced. Therefore, the cross-sectional area of the conductive member, which is formed by winding a plurality of rectangular wires in a non-adhesive spiral tube shape with the same radius, is also small, and the cross-sectional area of the torch neck assembly is therefore as small as possible. , good workability. In addition, since the cross-sectional area of each rectangular wire that is the raw material is small, the curvature of the conductive member wound in a spiral cylindrical shape, that is, the curvability of the welding torch is good. Furthermore, even if the torch neck assembly is repeatedly bent to an appropriate degree, the conductive member made up of a plurality of rectangular wires will not be disconnected, so it is possible to realize a welding torch with good aging performance. Of course, due to the arrangement of the restraint member, the torch neck assembly can curve smoothly in accordance with the curved shape of the restraint member with almost no positional displacement in the longitudinal direction, and also has a plurality of rectangular strips with a large section modulus. The provision of the wire conductive member allows the torch neck assembly to stand on its own in a suitably curved state.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a welding torch to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is an enlarged upper half sectional front view of a conventional example corresponding to section A in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an inventive method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an upper half sectional front view showing the main part of FIG. 3, FIG.
7 and 7 respectively show other embodiments of the present invention and correspond to FIG. 2, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged upper half sectional view of the main part of FIG. 7. 1...Torch body, 3...Tip member, 8...
Restriction member, 9... Conductive member, 12... Insulating jacket, H... Holder assembly, N... Nozzle assembly, TN... Torch neck assembly.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A holder assembly to which a shielding gas supply means and a power supply means are connected and which is held by an operator, a nozzle assembly at the tip of a welding torch, and a curved and self-supporting structure that connects the holder assembly and the nozzle assembly. In a welding torch comprising a flexible torch neck assembly, the torch neck assembly includes at least a conductive member in which a plurality of rectangular wires of copper or copper alloy are wound in a non-adhesive spiral cylinder shape with the same radius. A welding torch comprising: a restraining member that appropriately restrains expansion and contraction of the conductive member in the axial direction; and a flexible insulating jacket that encloses the restraining member and the conductive member. 2. The welding torch according to claim 1, wherein the restraining member is a coil spring formed by winding a material having a circular cross section in a substantially tight state. 3. The welding torch according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the restraining member is formed in a cylindrical shape and includes the conductive member.