SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING POWER TO ULTRASONIC WELDING PROBES

摘要

An ultrasonic generator for an ultrasonic welding system comprises a chassis with an AC power line input 20 and a housing a motherboard assembly 14 that includes fixed connectors for directly connecting the motherboard 14 to a plurality of modules 10, 11, 12 without wire harnesses to form a modular system. One of the fixed connectors is an option module connector 32 for connection to an option module. The modular system 10, 11, 12 is operable to rectify and filter the AC power from the AC power line input 20 to DC power, to convert the DC power to AC power with an ultrasonic frequency, and to match an impedance of the AC power with an ultrasonic frequency to efficiently transfer that AC power to an ultrasonic transducer that delivers the ultrasonic frequency energy to a load. The motherboard assembly 14 further includes a digital controller configured to control and monitor the plurality of modules 10, 11, 12. The digital controller is configured to control a probe actuator device in a welding process, to begin the welding process by applying a low level of adjustable ultrasound output to parts joined by the welding process, to monitor a power level as a force applied to the parts increases, and to start the welding process in response to detecting a user-programmed trigger power level, without using a load cell or force transducer to directly measure the force applied to the parts.