The invention is based on a method for positioning two components, to be connected to one another along a common joint line, as generically defined by the preamble to claim 1.
Components that are to be connected to one another, for instance by soldering, must be positioned positionally correctly to one another for the connection process—also called the joining process—and the positioning must be maintained during the joining process. The precision and durability of the positioning and the gap between the components to be joined along the joint line are of decisive significance, particularly in the automated joining process, for a high-quality outcome of the process.
It is known for metal components to be joined together by soldering, for instance, components that have no form lock with one another, to be tacked by welding methods, such as laser welding or hand-guided TIG welding. Short weld seams are created along the joint line, in the form of fillet welds or I seams. The provision of individual manually made weld spots along the joint line is also known. As a rule, fillet welds in particular are subject to stringent demands in terms of the positioning of the laser beam. For the laser positioning, complicated tactile or imaging systems are presently used, which—because they are tailored to the specific component geometry and surface structure of the parts to be joined—cannot be used universally for laser positioning, or in other words for high-precision adjustment of the focal point and of the focal position/introduction position of the laser beam.
The method according to the invention for positioning the components, having the characteristics of the claim has the advantage that because of how the tack welds are embodied according to the invention, in such a way that they cross the joint line at least once; that is, they intersect the joint line at an angle that is other zero, reliable tacking between the components to be joined is produced, without having to make stringent demands in terms of the positioning of the welding laser or of the adjustment of the focal point of the welding laser with regard to the joint line. Moreover, existing joining gaps between the components are bridged quite well by the tack welds.
By means of the provisions recited in the further claims, advantageous refinements of and improvements to the method defined by claim 1 are possible.
The invention is described in further detail in the ensuing description in terms of exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings. In the drawings:
In
With platelike components 11, 12 of equal size, as are shown in
Instead of the rectilinear embodiment of the tack welds 14, they may also be embodied in curved form, as is shown in
In the exemplary embodiments of
It is understood that the method of the invention for positioning components is not limited to platelike components. For instance, hollow-cylindrical components, which with their cylinder axes stand vertically to one another, can be fixed to one another by way of the tack welds 14 in the various embodiments described.
The type of tacking is not limited to the production of weld seams as tack welds in metal components. Similar tack welds can also be used for fixing components before the thermal hardening of adhesive bonds that are employed for joining the components.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2008 001 798.1 | May 2008 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2008/067981 | 12/19/2008 | WO | 00 | 12/21/2010 |