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Spot-welding technique is less expensive than secondary-brazing and electron-beam methods. With procedure, standard plates can be modified in quantity for various mounting configurations without need for special tooling.
Different companies involving a wide range of products and manufacturing processes were studied to define the requirements for industrial robots. A survey of all such automatic units offered on the world market was made to establish a data base. Principal applications include coating, spot welding, and loading and unloading operations.
A description is presented of an automated space fabrication technique for basic structural elements, taking into account as representative the design loads and requirements of the solar power satellite structure. Roll forming for continuous cap and brace members is applicable for all proposed metallic materials. Spot-welding, electron beam welding, ultrasonic welding, laser welding, cold welding, and various mechanical fastening techniques are applicable for the automated fabrication process. Termination of the formed cap and brace members can be accomplished by sawing, shearing, punching, and laser cutting. The most cost effective materials were found to be the aluminum alloys. Selected for further study were AL20224T3 and AL2219-T62. In the area of fiber composites, thermoplastic matrix materials with graphite fibers were selected for future studies.
Welder produces spot-welds in place of rivets and saves time and money. Unit comprised of concical copper electrode base diameter of 11.5 ft is also capable of welding very thin, hard aluminum alloys.
The type and cause of corrosion in spot welded joints were determined by X-ray and chemical analysis. Fatigue and static tests showed the degree of degradation of mechanical properties. The corrosion inhibiting effectiveness of WD-40 compound and required renewal period by exposing typical joint specimens were examined.
Mechanical strength of titanium-alloy structures that support thermocouples is preserved by first spotwelding thermocouples to titanium tabs and then attaching tabs to titanium with a thermosetting adhesive. In contrast to spot welding, a technique previously used for thermocouples, fatigue strength of the titanium is unaffected by adhesive bonding. Technique is also gentler than soldering or attaching thermocouples with a tap screw.
A subcutaneous electrode structure suitable for a chronic implant and for taking a low noise electrocardiogram of an active animal, comprises a thin inflexible, smooth disc of stainless steel having a diameter as of 5 to 30 mm, which is sutured in place to the animal being monitored. The disc electrode includes a radially directed slot extending in from the periphery of the disc for approximately 1/3 of the diameter. Electrical connection is made to the disc by means of a flexible lead wire that extends longitudinally of the slot and is woven through apertures in the disc and held at the terminal end by means of a spot welded tab. Within the slot, an electrically insulative sleeve, such as silicone rubber, is placed over the wire. The wire with the sleeve mounted thereon is captured in the plane of the disc and within the slot by means of crimping tabs extending laterally of the slot and over the insulative wire. The marginal lip of the slot area is apertured and an electrically insulative potting material such as silicone rubber, is potted in place overlaying the wire slot region and through the apertures.
Progress in the mechanical/structural assembly of the beam builder is reported. The following structures were investigated: cross brace magazine/dispenser subsystem; and rolling mill supply reel, guide, and drive. The fabrication facility design and a detail design of all major subsystem components are discussed. The number of spot welds per structural joint were reduced which enables the doubling of length of truss which can be produced within known electrode life limits.
The development of a long life Li/SO2 battery (one that could operate continuously for periods of at least five years) is discussed. The causes of premature failures in battery concepts are defined and solutions to these problems are described. In particular the corrosion of the glass in a glass-to-metal seal and a spot welded positive lead are addressed.
New implantable electrocardiogram electrode much less sensitive than previous designs to spurious biological potentials. Designed in novel "pocket" configuration, new electrode is intended as sensor for radiotelemetry of biological parameters in experiments on unrestrained subjects. Electrode is esentially squashed cylinder that admits body fluid into interior. Cylinder and electrical lead are made of stainless steel. Spot welding and crimping are used for assembly, rather than soldering.
Low-cost lightweight waveguides formed from rolls of aluminum. Array formed from sheared, punched, and bent aluminum sheets. Sheets alined with punched jig holes and joined by laser-beam or resistance spot welding. Process permits use of thin metal to reduce raw material costs and mass. Also holds closer tolerances than usually attained in sheet-metal work.
High productivity requires that manipulators perform complex tasks quickly. Recently, optimal control algorithms have been developed which enable manipulators to move quickly, but only for simple motions. A method is presented here which combines simple time optimal motions in an optimal manner to yield the minimum time motions for an important class of complex manipulator tasks composed of point to point moves, such as assembly, electronic component insertion and spot welding. This method can also be used to design manipulator actions and work places so that tasks can be completd in minimum time. The method has been implemented in a CAD software package. Examples are presented which show the methods effectiveness.
Reliability is a serious problem in computer controlled robot systems. Although robots serve successfully in relatively simple applications such as painting and spot welding, their potential in areas such as automated assembly is hampered by programming problems. A program for assembling parts may be logically correct, execute correctly on a simulator, and even execute correctly on a robot most of the time, yet still fail unexpectedly in the face of real world uncertainties. Recovery from such errors is far more complicated than recovery from simple controller errors, since even expected errors can often manifest themselves in unexpected ways. Here, a novel approach is presented for improving robot reliability. Instead of anticipating errors, researchers use knowledge-based programming techniques so that the robot can autonomously exploit knowledge about its task and environment to detect and recover from failures. They describe preliminary experiment of a system that they designed and constructed.
A method is presented which combines simple time-optimal motions in an optimal manner to yield the minimum-time motions for an important class of complex manipulator tasks composed of point-to-point moves such as assembly, electronic component insertion, and spot welding. This method can also be used to design manipulator actions and work places so that tasks can be completed in minimum time. The method has been implemented in a computer-aided design software system. Several examples are presented. Experimental results show the method's validity and utility.
During the period since January 1990, work was concentrated on the problem of the buckling of the structure of an ALS (advanced launch systems) tank during the boost phase. The primary problem was to analyze a proposed hat stringer made by superplastic forming, and to compare it with an integrally stiffened stringer design. A secondary objective was to determine whether structural rings having the identical section to the stringers will provide adequate support against overall buckling. All of the analytical work was carried out with the TESTBED program on the CONVEX computer, using PATRAN programs to create models. Analyses of skin/stringer combinations have shown that the proposed stringer design is an adequate substitute for the integrally stiffened stringer. Using a highly refined mesh to represent the corrugations in the vertical webs of the hat stringers, effective values were obtained for cross-sectional area, moment of inertia, centroid height, and torsional constant. Not only can these values be used for comparison with experimental values, but they can also be used for beams to replace the stringers and frames in analytical models of complete sections of tank. The same highly refined model was used to represent a section of skin reinforced by a stringer and a ring segment in the configuration of a cross. It was intended that this would provide a baseline buckling analysis representing a basic mode, however, the analysis proved to be beyond the scope of the CONVEX computer. One quarter of this model was analyzed, however, to provide information on buckling between the spot welds. Models of large sections of the tank structure were made, using beam elements to model the stringers and frames. In order to represent the stiffening effects of pressure, stresses and deflections under pressure should first be obtained, and then the buckling analysis should be made on the structure so deflected. So far, uncharacteristic deflections under pressure were obtained from the TESTBED program using two types of structural elements. Similar results were obtained using the ANSYS program on a mainframe computer, although two finite element programs on microcomputers have yielded realistic results.
An electrical resistance strain gage that can provide accurate static strain measurement to a temperature of 1500 F or above is being developed both in fine wire and thin film forms. The gage is designed to be temperature compensated on any substrate material. It has a dual element: the gage element is a special alloy, palladium-13wt percent chromium (PdCr), and the compensator element is platinum (Pt). Earlier results of a PdCr based wire gage indicated that the apparent strain of this gage can be minimized and the repeatability of the apparent strain can be improved by prestabilizing the gage on the substrate for a long period of time. However, this kind of prestabilization is not practical in many applications and therefore the development of a wire gage which is prestabilized before installation on the substrate is desirable. This paper will present our recent progress in the development of a prestabilized wire gage which can provide meaningful strain data for the first thermal cycle. A weldable PdCr gage is also being developed for field testing where conventional flame-spraying installation can not be applied. This weldable gage is narrower than a previously reported gage, thereby allowing the gage to be more resistant to buckling under compressive loads. Some preliminary results of a prestabilized wire gage flame-sprayed directly on IN100, an engine material, and a weldable gage spot-welded on IN100 and SCS-6/(beta)21-S Titanium Matrix Composite (TMC), a National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) structure material, will be reported. Progress on the development of a weldable thin film gage will also be addressed. The measurement technique and procedures and the lead wire effect will be discussed.
Past production work has shown that cryogenic tank structure for the Shuttle Booster Rockets and the Titan system have very high life cycle costs for the fuel tank structure. The tanks are machined stiffener-skin combination that are subsequently formed into the required contour after machining. The material scrap rate for these configurations are usually high, and the loss of a tank panel due to forming or heat treatment problems is very costly. The idea of reducing the amount of scrap material and scrapped structural members has prompted the introduction of built-up structure for cryogenic tanks to be explored on the ALS program. A build-up structure approach that has shown improvements in life cycle cost over the conventional built-up approach is the use of superplastically formed (SPF) stiffened panels (reducing the overall part count and weight for the tank) resistance spot welded (RSW) to outer tank skin material. The stiffeners provide for general stability of the tank, while the skin material provides hoop direction continuity for the loads.
Superplastic forming (SPF) of aluminum alloys effective technique for making strong, lightweight structural components conforming to close dimensional tolerances. Technique applied in experimental fabrication of prototypes of stiffening ribs for cylindrical tanks. When making structural panel, stiffening ribs spot-welded to metal skin. Use of discrete eliminates machining waste, and use of SPF. Cost of fabrication reduced.