Fastening objects to each other

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11548234-B2
Application number	US-201816753173-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2018
Priority date	Oct 6, 2017
Publication date	Jan 10, 2023
Grant date	Jan 10, 2023

Abstract

A method of fastening at least one second object to at least one first object, wherein mechanical vibration acts from a sonotrode on the second object to fasten the second object to the first object. Between the sonotrode and the second object, an auxiliary sheet is placed, for example of paper. After the vibration stops, the auxiliary sheet is displaced relative to the sonotrode for a next fastening step.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fastening a second object to a first object, comprising the steps of:
providing the first object comprising a first attachment surface;
providing the second object being of a metallic or ceramic material or of a fiber composite material;
placing the second object relative to the first object;
placing a sonotrode relative to the second object;
placing an auxiliary sheet between the sonotrode and the second object; and
while the sonotrode is in contact with the auxiliary sheet and the auxiliary sheet is in contact with the metallic or ceramic material or the fiber composite material, causing mechanical vibration to act from the sonotrode on the second object via the auxiliary sheet to locally bond the second object to the first object;
wherein the auxiliary sheet is made of an auxiliary sheet material containing at least one of paper and of cardboard.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the step of causing the mechanical vibration to act from the sonotrode on the second object via the auxiliary sheet, the mechanical vibration acts via a first section of the auxiliary sheet, the method further comprising:
displacing the auxiliary sheet relative to the sonotrode,
and causing mechanical vibration to act from the sonotrode on a different location of the second object or to a different second object via a second section of the auxiliary sheet different from a first section.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the auxiliary sheet is continuous, the first and second sections of the auxiliary sheet being contiguous.

4. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising a step of providing an auxiliary sheet storage, wherein displacing the auxiliary sheet relative to the sonotrode comprises removing an amount of auxiliary sheet material from the auxiliary sheet storage.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the auxiliary sheet storage comprises an auxiliary sheet reel, and wherein removing the amount of auxiliary sheet material from the auxiliary sheet storage comprises unrolling the auxiliary sheet storage to a pre-determined extent.

6. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising a step of providing a waste auxiliary sheet storage, wherein displacing the auxiliary sheet relative to the sonotrode comprises placing an amount of auxiliary sheet material in the waste auxiliary sheet storage.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the waste auxiliary sheet storage comprises a waste auxiliary sheet reel.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet is a sheet of a pulp based material.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the auxiliary sheet is a paper sheet.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet is a sheet having multiple sheet layers.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein at the sheet layers or at least two of the sheet layers have a low adhesion between them.

12. The method according to claim 10 , comprising a polymer film between the sheet layers or at least two of the sheet layers.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet material is a low density paper material, the density being at most 670 kg/m 3 .

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the auxiliary sheet material is essentially free of any binder or filler.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet material is compressible.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet material is a sandwich material with at least a first and second outer layer and at least one intermediate layer of an average density lower than an average density of the first and second outer layers, the intermediate layer being between the first and second outer layers.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the auxiliary sheet material is corrugated cardboard.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet has at least one polymer coating.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet has a thickness of at least 0.2 mm.

20. The method according to claim 1 , and comprising the step of compressing the auxiliary sheet by a pressing force on the sonotrode.

21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein compressing the auxiliary sheet comprises starting to compress the auxiliary sheet before the mechanical vibration sets in.

22. The method according to claim 20 , wherein compressing comprises compressing the auxiliary element at a location of the sonotrode so that its thickness is reduced by at least a factor 1.5.

23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet has a grammage of at least 50 g/m 2 .

24. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the auxiliary sheet has a grammage of at least 100 g/m 2 .

25. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first object comprises liquefiable thermoplastic material in a solid state,
wherein the second object comprises a surface portion that has a coupling structure with an undercut and/or is capable of being deformed to comprise such a coupling structure with an undercut, whereby the second object is capable of making a positive-fit connection with the first object, and
wherein causing the first object to locally bond to the second object comprises pressing the coupling structure of the second object while the mechanical vibration acts until a flow portion of the thermoplastic material of the first object is liquefied and flows into the coupling structure of the second object, whereby after re-solidification a positive-fit connection between the coupling structure and the flow portion secures the second object to the first object.

26. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of placing the second object relative to the first object comprises placing the second object relative to the first object with a resin between the first attachment surface and a second attachment surface of the second object, and
wherein causing the first object to locally bond to the second object comprises activating the resin to cross-link by the mechanical vibration, whereby the resin, after cross-linking, secures the second object to the first object.

27. The method according to claim 26 , wherein the second attachment surface in the step of placing the second object relative to the first object is placed to abut against the first attachment surface, with the resin between the first and second attachment surfaces.

28. The method according to claim 26 , wherein the second attachment surface comprises at least one indentation or protrusion.

29. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the vibration is a longitudinal vibration.

30. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second object is a connector equipped for fastening a further object to the first object.

31. The method according to claim 1 , wherein placing the second object relative to the first object comprises mounting the second object on the auxiliary sheet and using the auxiliary sheet to place the second object relative to the first object.

32. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary sheet comprises a marking, and
wherein placing the auxiliary sheet comprises positioning the auxiliary sheet so that the marking is in a defined position relative to a marking sensor.

Assignees

• Woodwelding Ag

Inventors

• Mayer Jörg
• Rhême Martin

Classifications

• B29C66/7486

  Paper, e.g. cardboard · CPC title

• B29C66/721

  Fibre-reinforced materials (B29C66/729 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F16B5/00

  Joining sheets or plates {, e.g. panels,} to one another or to strips or bars parallel to them ({F16B17/00 takes precedence;} by sticking together F16B11/00; dowel connections F16B13/00; pins, including deformable elements F16B19/00; covering of walls E04F13/00; fastening signs, plates, panels or boards to a supporting structure, fastening readily-detachable elements, e.g. letters to signs, plates, panels, or boards, G09F7/00) · CPC title

• B29C65/645

  using friction or ultrasonic vibrations · CPC title

• B29C66/7392

  characterised by the material of at least one of the parts being a thermoplastic · CPC title