US3766355A — Apparatus for use with electron beam welding mach…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 275 words

Apparatus for determining, detecting and controlling the position of a welding spot as resulting from interaction of a beam of radiant energy and a workpiece or workpieces in relation to a joint to be welded, comprising: optical means oriented to observe the light rays emanating from the welding spot; first detecting means disposed in relation to the optical means to be responsive to the light rays as observed and providing electrical signals in response thereto, the optical means and the first detecting means establishing reference position for a scale in relation to which the welding spot is to be ascertained; a source of monochromatic light directing a light beam towards the joint in the immediate vicinity of but removed from the welding spot, the light being poor in radiation characteristic in the emission by the welding spot; second detecting means disposed in relation to the joint for providing electrical signals representing the relative position thereof and including filter means narrowly responsive to said monochromatic light as reflected by the workpiece near the joint and to block reception of radiation emission from the welding spot by the second detecting means; circuit means connected to the first and second detecting means to receive the electrical signals and providing for position control signals for the position of the welding spot in relation to the joint; and means connected to the circuit means and responsive to the control signals for controlling the position of the welding spot in relation to the joint, the position of the latter being detected by the second detecting means and defined on basis of the electrical signals as provided by the second detecting means.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 275 words

Apparatus for determining, detecting and controlling the position of a welding spot as resulting from interaction of a beam of radiant energy and a workpiece or workpieces in relation to a joint to be welded, comprising: optical means oriented to observe the light rays emanating from the welding spot; first detecting means disposed in relation to the optical means to be responsive to the light rays as observed and providing electrical signals in response thereto, the optical means and the first detecting means establishing reference position for a scale in relation to which the welding spot is to be ascertained; a source of monochromatic light directing a light beam towards the joint in the immediate vicinity of but removed from the welding spot, the light being poor in radiation characteristic in the emission by the welding spot; second detecting means disposed in relation to the joint for providing electrical signals representing the relative position thereof and including filter means narrowly responsive to said monochromatic light as reflected by the workpiece near the joint and to block reception of radiation emission from the welding spot by the second detecting means; circuit means connected to the first and second detecting means to receive the electrical signals and providing for position control signals for the position of the welding spot in relation to the joint; and means connected to the circuit means and responsive to the control signals for controlling the position of the welding spot in relation to the joint, the position of the latter being detected by the second detecting means and defined on basis of the electrical signals as provided by the second detecting means.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 75 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, the first detecting means including two pairs of detector cells positioned in relation to the optical means, so that luminous inputs of the cells of the pair of the two pairs vary inversely when the welding spot is deflected along a first axis, the liminous inputs of the cells of the other pair vary inversely when the welding spot is deflected along a second axis transverse to the first axis.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 58 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, the first detector means including at least two detector cells, inputs and outputs thereof varying inversely when the welding spot is displaced along a particular axis, the circuit means processing the outputs of the two cells; and compensating means included in the apparatus to provide compensation for brightness variations of the welding spot.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 38 words

Apparatus as in claim 3, the compensating means being included in the circuit means and operating to form a signal representing the quotient of the two detector outputs, the quotient signal provided as representation of welding spot position.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 78 words

Apparatus as in claim 3, the compensating means including a beam splitter in the path of the optical means, one component of the split beam being passed to the first detecting means; variable light attenuating means included in the optical path of the one component; a second component of the sPlit beam being received by a light detector providing an output; and means for controlling the light attenuating means in response to the output of the light detector.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 89 words

Apparatus as in claim 5, there bing a first and a second polarizing filter and a first and a second analyzing filter included in the path of the one and of the second component of the split beams, respectively; there being further means to provide relative rotation of the plane of polarization as between the planes of polarization of the components as leaving the polarizing filters and the respective planes of polarization of the analyzing filters, the output of the light detector controlling the relative rotation in both paths.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 13 words

Apparatus as in claim 6, the relative rotation being provided by Kerr cells.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 15 words

Apparatus as in claim 3, the detector cells subdivided into a plurality checkerboard arranged cells.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 71 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, the source of light providing a movable beam, there being means to control the motion of the beam, the deflecting means including means to control return of the beam to a home position when the beam is reflected by a spot about to be subjected to welding; and means connected to derive a position representing signal from the motion control means at the time of return.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 39 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, the position representing signal and the signal provided by the circuit means being fed to control means coupled to the source of radiant energy to control the direction of the beam of radiant energy.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 108 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, the optical means including a pivotable reflector disposed for variably directing light rays as observed; a sawtooth generator operatively connected to the reflector to control the position thereof; the detecting means including a detector positioned to be responsive to light rays as observed and deflected by the reflector during pivoting thereof under control of the sawtooth generator; means for connecting the detector to the sawtooth generator for resetting the generator upon detection of the deflected rays by the detector; and circuit means connected to the sawtooth generator for being responsive to the output signal peaks thereof in representation of the welding spot position.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 45 words

Apparatus as in claim 2, the first detector means including at least two detector cells, optical inputs and electrical outputs thereof varying inversely with displacement of the welding spot along a particular axis, the circuit means including a bridge circuit which includes the detector cells.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 26 words

Apparatus as in claim 12, there being means to control the direction of the beam of radiant energy, the bridge circuit controlling the last mentioned means.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 35 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, there being means to control the direction of the beam of radiant energy, the circuit means connected to control the last mentioned means in response to the position representing signal.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 42 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, there being means to control the position of the first detecting means, the circuit means connected to control the last mentioned means in response to the position representing signal to follow the position of the welding spot.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 12 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, the optical means including a telescope optic.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 40 words

Apparatus as in claim 1, the second detector means including means to provide a signal representation of the workpiece location about to be subjected to welding and means responsive to the signal representation to shift the position of the workpieces.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 35 words

Apparatus as in claim 17, and including means responsive to the electrical signal and to said signal representation to control deflection of the beam of radiant energy in response to comparison of the two signals.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1976-10-15	1977-04-16	1977-10-16	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1980-10-15	1981-04-16	1981-10-16	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1984-10-15	1985-04-16	1985-10-16	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Apparatus for use with electron beam welding machines

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