KR102709752B1 - Welding and electropolishing apparatus and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention comprises: an electrolytic cell having a target object placed therein; an anode electrode connected to the target object; a cathode electrode placed on one side of the target object; a cathode electrode transport unit for moving the cathode electrode to selectively contact the target object; an electrolyte supply unit for supplying an electrolyte to the electrolytic cell after welding the target object using the cathode electrode;
The present invention provides a welding and electropolishing device including a control unit for controlling the electrode transport unit during a welding process of the target object to selectively contact the cathode electrode with the target object, controlling the electrolyte supply unit during an electrolytic polishing process after the welding process to supply electrolyte to the electrolytic cell, and controlling the electrode transport unit to place the cathode electrode at a position spaced apart from the target object; and a power supply unit for supplying power to the cathode electrode and the anode electrode.

Description

Welding and electropolishing apparatus and method therefor {Welding and electropolishing apparatus and method therefor}

The present invention relates to a welding and electropolishing device and a method thereof, and more specifically, to a welding and electropolishing device and a method thereof that enable welding and electropolishing at low cost and without being restricted by time and space.

In general, welding is a process of joining solids by applying heat and pressure to metal materials of the same or different types. It is performed by applying a welding part of an electrode to the workpiece by methods such as arc welding that utilizes the heat of an arc, gas welding that utilizes the combustion heat of gas, resistance welding that utilizes the heat generation of resistance, and special welding that utilizes special equipment such as electron beams, lasers, and robots.

At this time, since the electrode melts the material through heat and then joins it, as in the case of welding work, the weld becomes much less rigid than other parts due to changes in the arrangement of molecules, and since the roughness of the surface is also not constant, there is a concern that it may be exposed to safety accidents. Therefore, an electrolytic polishing process is performed to polish the weld to increase rigidity by rearranging the molecules through additional heat.

In this way, when polishing the weld joint using an electrolytic polishing process after welding, separate electrodes and power supply devices are additionally required, which takes a lot of time and has limitations in terms of space utilization.

Republic of Korea Publication Patent No. 10-1993-0019319 (Title of invention: Welding repair method for metal member, welding method, and welding device)

The present invention was created to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to provide a welding and electropolishing device and method capable of performing welding and electropolishing with a single electrode.

The present invention provides a welding and electropolishing device including: an electrolytic cell in which a target object is placed; an anode electrode connected to the target object; a cathode electrode placed on one side of the target object; an electrode transfer unit for moving the cathode electrode to selectively contact the target object; an electrolyte supply unit for supplying an electrolyte to the electrolytic cell after welding the target object using the cathode electrode; a control unit for controlling the electrode transfer unit to selectively contact the cathode electrode with the target object during a welding process of the target object, controlling the electrolyte supply unit to supply an electrolyte to the electrolytic cell during an electropolishing process after the welding process, and controlling the electrode transfer unit to place the cathode electrode at a position spaced apart from the target object; and a power supply unit for supplying power to the cathode electrode and the anode electrode.

The above cathode electrode includes an electrode body connected to the power supply unit and a coating layer formed on the surface of the electrode body and made of the same material as the target object.

In addition, the present invention provides a welding and electropolishing method including the steps of (A) arranging a target object in an electrolytic cell; (B) applying positive voltage to the target object and welding the target object using a cathode electrode; (C) supplying an electrolyte into the electrolytic cell and immersing the target object in the electrolyte; and (D) electropolishing the welded portion by moving the cathode electrode away from the target object.

A coating layer of the same material as the target object is formed on the outside of the cathode electrode.

The above step (B) welds the target object by intermittently contacting the cathode electrode with the target object.

In the above step (D), the current applied to the cathode electrode becomes smaller than the current applied to the cathode electrode in the above step (B).

According to the welding and electropolishing device and method according to the present invention, welding and electropolishing can be performed with a single electrode, thereby overcoming limitations in time and space required for welding and electropolishing work.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a welding and electrolytic polishing device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a drawing showing a state in which the cathode electrode of Figure 1 is in contact with a target object.
Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the cathode electrode of Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a drawing showing a state in which an electrolyte is supplied to the electrolytic cell in Figure 1 and the target object is immersed therein.
Figure 5 is a drawing showing a state in which electrolytic polishing is performed while the cathode electrode of Figure 3 is separated from the target object.
Figure 6 is a flow chart of a welding and electrolytic polishing method according to the present invention.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, these are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 1, a welding and electrolytic polishing device (100) according to the present invention includes an electrolytic cell (110), an anode electrode (120), a cathode electrode (130), an electrode transport unit (140), an electrolyte supply unit (150), a control unit (not shown), and a power supply unit (160).

In the above electrolytic cell (110), a target object (112) is placed in the internal space (111).

At this time, the target object (112) may be made of a metal material.

The above positive electrode (120) is connected to the target object (112).

The above cathode electrode (130) is placed on one side of the target object (112) and spaced apart from the anode electrode (120).

The above electrode transfer unit (140) moves the cathode electrode (130) to selectively contact the target object (112).

The above electrode transport unit (140) may be composed of a motor or cylinder that raises and lowers the cathode electrode (130).

The above electrolyte supply unit (150) supplies electrolyte (151) to the electrolytic cell (110) after welding the target object (112) using the cathode electrode (130).

At this time, the electrolyte (151) may be an electrolyte, which is a substance whose solution has electrical conductivity and causes an electrolytic decomposition phenomenon when current is passed through it.

The above control unit sends a control signal (not shown) to the electrode transfer unit (140) when welding the target object (112) to control the electrode transfer unit (140) to selectively bring the cathode electrode (130) into contact with the target object (112).

After the welding process, when attempting to electrolytically polish the welded area, the control unit sends an operation signal (not shown) to the electrolyte supply unit (150) to control the electrolyte supply unit (150) to supply the electrolyte (151) to the internal space (111) of the electrolytic tank (110), and controls the electrode transport unit (140) to place the cathode electrode (130) at a position spaced apart from the target object (112), and then applies power to perform the electrolytic polishing process.

In this way, the control unit controls the electrode transport unit (140) and the electrolyte supply unit (150) as needed according to welding and electropolishing to perform welding and electropolishing of the cathode electrode (130) in a combined manner.

The above power supply unit (160) is connected to the cathode electrode (130) and the anode electrode (120) and applies (-) and (+) power to the cathode electrode (130) and the anode electrode (120), respectively.

Hereinafter, the welding and electrolytic polishing method of the welding and electrolytic polishing device (100) will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

The welding and electrolytic polishing method of the above welding and electrolytic polishing device (100) is characterized by including a step of arranging a target object (A), a step of welding the target object (B), a step of immersing the target object (C), and a step of electrolytic polishing (D).

The above target object (112) placement step (A) is a step of placing the target object (112) in the internal space (111) of the electrolytic cell (110).

The welding step (B) of the above target object (112) is a step of applying the positive power from the power supply unit (160) to the positive electrode (120) to the target object (112) and welding the target object (112) using the negative electrode (130) to which the negative power is supplied from the power supply unit (160).

At this time, the cathode electrode (130) receives cathode power from the power supply unit (160), and intermittently contacts the target object (112) according to the operation of the electrode transfer unit (140) by a control signal from the control unit, thereby generating arc heat (not shown).

The above cathode electrode (130) is partially melted by the arc heat and becomes metal vapor or volume, and is transferred to a molten pool (112a) where a part of the target object (112) is melted by the arc heat.

The molten metal (112a) formed in this manner solidifies to become a weld metal (not shown), and the weld metal is bonded to the target object (112).

At this time, referring to FIG. 2, the cathode electrode (130) includes an electrode body (131) connected to the power supply unit (160) and a coating layer (132) of the same metal material as the target object (112) on one surface of the electrode body (131).

Since one end of the surface of the electrode body (131) is made of a coating layer (132) of the same metal material as the target object (112), the volume generated by the arc heat causes a portion of the target object to be melted and the weld metal to be easily generated.

Accordingly, the above target object (112) is smoothly bonded to the weld metal.

As described above, the welding step (B) of the target object (112) is described as arc welding, but may be performed by any one of gas welding utilizing combustion heat of gas, resistance welding utilizing heat generation of resistance, and special welding utilizing special equipment such as electron beam*?*laser*?*robot.

The above target object (112) immersion step (C) supplies the electrolyte (151) to the internal space (111) of the electrolytic cell (110) to immerse the target object (112) in the electrolyte (151).

The above target object (112) immersion step (C) controls the electrolyte supply unit (150) by an operation signal from the control unit to supply electrolyte (151) from the electrolyte supply unit (150) to the internal space (111) of the electrolytic tank (110) and immerses the target object (112) in the electrolyte (151) filled in the internal space (111) of the electrolytic tank (110).

The above electrolytic polishing step (D) is a step in which the cathode electrode (130) is separated from the target object (112) within the electrolyte (151) according to the operation of the electrode transfer unit (140) and then power is applied to electrolytically polish the welded portion of the target object (112).

The above electrolytic polishing step (D) applies power to the cathode electrode (130) from the power supply unit (160) to dissolve metal ions on the surface of the welded portion of the cathode electrode (130) to perform electrolytic polishing of the welded portion surface.

In the above electrolytic polishing step (D), the current applied from the power supply unit (160) to the cathode electrode (130) is a current amount smaller than the current applied to the cathode electrode (130) in the welding step (B) of the target object (112).

In the above welding step (B), the coating layer (132) of the end of the cathode electrode (130) is melted and removed, so that the end of the cathode electrode (130) is exposed. Accordingly, electrolytic polishing is performed more smoothly.

As described above, according to the welding and electropolishing device (100) and method according to the present invention, welding and electropolishing can be performed with a single electrode, so that after welding, the control unit operates the electrolyte supply unit (150) and the electrode transfer unit (140) to immediately perform electropolishing, thereby reducing the time required to separately prepare for electropolishing after welding and allowing electropolishing to proceed immediately within the same space, thereby overcoming the limitations of required time and space.

100: Welding and electrolytic polishing equipment 110: Electrolytic bath
111: Internal space 112: Object
112a: melting point 120: anode electrode
130: Negative electrode 131: Electrode body
132: Coating layer 140: Electrode transfer part
150: Electrolyte supply unit 151: Electrolyte
160: Power supply unit A: Target object placement stage
B: Welding stage of target object C: Immersion stage of target object
D: Cathode Electrolytic Polishing Stage

Claims (6)

An electrolytic cell in which a target object is placed;
An anode electrode connected to the above target object;
A cathode electrode placed on one side of the above target object;
An electrode transfer unit that moves the cathode electrode to selectively contact the target object;
An electrolyte supply unit that supplies electrolyte to the electrolytic cell after welding a target object using the cathode electrode;
A control unit that controls the electrode transfer unit during the welding process of the target object to selectively contact the cathode electrode with the target object, controls the electrolyte supply unit during the electrolytic polishing process after the welding process to supply electrolyte to the electrolytic cell, and controls the electrode transfer unit to place the cathode electrode at a position spaced apart from the target object; and
Including a power supply unit that supplies power to the cathode electrode and the anode electrode,
The above cathode electrode is,
An electrode body connected to the above power supply unit,
A welding and electrolytic polishing device formed on the surface of the electrode body and including a coating layer of the same material as the target object.
delete (A) A step of placing a target object in an electrolytic cell;
(B) A step of applying positive voltage to the target object and welding the target object using a negative electrode;
(C) a step of supplying an electrolyte into the electrolytic cell and immersing the target object in the electrolyte; and
(D) A welding and electropolishing method including a step of electropolishing a welded portion by separating the cathode electrode from the target object within the electrolyte. In claim 3,
A welding and electrolytic polishing method in which a coating layer of the same material as the target object is formed on the outside of the cathode electrode. In claim 3,
The above step (B) is a welding and electrolytic polishing method for welding the target object by intermittently contacting the cathode electrode with the target object. In claim 3,
In the above step (D), the current applied to the cathode electrode is
A welding and electrolytic polishing method in which the current applied to the cathode electrode is smaller than that applied to the cathode electrode in the above step (B).

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