Tandem strip cladding method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9289843-B2
Application number	US-201113175188-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2011
Priority date	Jul 1, 2011
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

A system and method of cladding is provided where first and second cladding heads are provided, where each cladding head delivers its own respective cladding electrode to a common molten puddle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electro-slag cladding apparatus, comprising:
a first cladding head capable of delivering a first strip cladding electrode to a workpiece using a first cladding signal from a first power source:
a second cladding head capable of delivering a second strip cladding electrode to said workpiece using a second cladding signal from a second power source, where said second cladding signal is not said first cladding signal; and
at least one magnetic steering probe positioned proximate to at least one of said first and second cladding heads,
wherein each of said first and second cladding heads is positioned and oriented relative to each other to deliver the respective first and second cladding electrodes to the same molten puddle on said workpiece during an electro-slag cladding operation,
wherein said first strip cladding electrode is in contact with said molten puddle at a first contact point and said second strip cladding electrode is in contact with said molten puddle at a second contact point,
wherein said first contact point is ahead of said second point in a cladding travel direction,
wherein at least one of said frist and second cladding heads is angled with respect to said workpiece such that the respective first or second strip cladding electrode impinges said molten puddle at an angle less than 90 degrees,
wherein each of said first and second cladding heads is oriented such that said respective first and second strip cladding electrodes have different stick out distances when said first and second strip cladding electrodes are contacting said molten puddle, and
wherein said at least one magnetic probe is positioned between said first and second cladding heads in said cladding travel direction.

2. The cladding apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said first and second cladding heads are angled with respect to each other such that and angle between said first and second strip cladding electrodes is in the range of 0 to 75 degrees.

3. The cladding apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of said first and second cladding heads are oriented such that said respective first and second strip cladding electrodes contact said molten puddle at a distance in the range of 5 to 50 mm from each other.

4. The cladding apparatus of claim 1 , wherein side edges of said first and second strip cladding electrodes are aligned with each other in said cladding direction.

5. The cladding apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said first cladding head is disposed tandem with respect to said second cladding head in said cladding direction.

6. The cladding apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said electro-slag cladding apparatus further comprises a controller configured to provide an electro-slag cladding signal to said first and second cladding heads to perform an electro-slag operation.

7. An electro-slag cladding system, comprising:
a first cladding head capable of delivering a first strip cladding electrode to a workpiece, wherein said first cladding head is coupled to a first power supply; and
a second cladding head capable of delivering a second strip cladding electrode to said workpiece, said second cladding head coupled to a second power supply,
at least one magnetic steering probe positioned proximate to at least one of said first and second cladding heads,
wherein each of said first and second cladding heads is positioned and oriented relative to each other to deliver the respective first and second cladding electrodes to the same molten puddle on said workpiece during an electro-slag cladding operation,
wherein said first strip cladding electrode is in contact with said molten puddle at a first contact point and said second strip cladding electrode is in contact with said molten puddle at a second contact point,
wherein said first contact point is ahead of said second contact point in a cladding travel direction,
wherein at least one of said first and second cladding heads is angled with respect to sais workpiece such that the respective first or second strip cladding electrode impinges sais molten puddle at an angle less than 90degrees,
wherein each of said first and second cladding heads is oriented such that said respective first and second strip cladding electrodes have different stick out distances when said first and second strip cladding electrodes are contacting said molten puddle, and
wherein said at least one magnetic probe is positioned between said first and second cladding heads in said cladding travel direction.

8. The cladding system in claim 7 , wherein said first power supply provides a first cladding signal to said first cladding head and said second power supply provides a second cladding signal to said second cladding head which is different from said first cladding signal.

9. The cladding system of claim 7 , wherein each of said first and second power supplies provides an electro-slag cladding signal to said respective first and second cladding heads.

10. The cladding system of claim 7 , further comprising a control system coupled to each of said first and second power supplies to control an operation of said first and second power supplies.

11. The cladding system of claim 7 , wherein each of said first and second power supplies operate in a constant voltage mode.

12. The cladding system of claim 7 , wherein said first power supply provides a first cladding current to said workpiece and said second power supply provides a second current to said workpiece where said first current is higher than said second current.

13. The cladding system of claim 7 , wherein said system provides a heat input into said workpiece in the range of 0.1 to 0.25 kJ/mm 2 , and a total deposition rate in the range of 1 to 1.5 m 2 /hr.

14. The cladding system of claim 7 , wherein said first and second cladding heads are angled with respect to each other such that an angle between said first and second strip cladding electrodes is in the range of 0 to 75 degrees.

15. The cladding system of claim 7 , wherein each of said first and second cladding heads is oriented such that said respective first and second strip cladding electrodes contact said molten puddle at a distance in the range of 5 to 50 mm from each other.

16. An electro-slag cladding system, comprising:
a first cladding head capable of delivering a first strip cladding electrode to a workpiece, wherein said first cladding head is coupled to a first power supply; and
a second cladding head capable of delivering a second strip cladding electrode to said workpiece, said second cladding head coupled to a second power supply; and
at least one magnetic steering probe positioned proximate to at least one of said first and second cladding heads,
wherein each of said first and second cladding heads is positioned and oriented relative to each other to deliver the respective first and second cladding electrodes to the same molten puddle on said workpiece during an electro-slag cladding operation,
wherein said first strip cladding electrode is in contact with said molten puddle at a first contact point and said second strip cladding electrode is in contact with said molten puddle at a second contact point,
wherein said first contact point is ahead of said second contact point in a cladding direction, and
wherein said at least one magnetic probe is positioned between said first and second cladding heads in said cladding travel direction.

17. The cladding system of claim 16 , wherein each of said first and second cladding heads is oriented such that said respective first and second cladding electrodes contact sa

Assignees

• Golding Mark S
• Lincoln Global Inc

Inventors

• Golding Mark S

Classifications

• B23K25/005

  Welding for purposes other than joining, e.g. build-up welding · CPC title

• B23K9/1735

  making use of several electrodes · CPC title

• B23K9/162

  making use of a stationary fluid · CPC title

• B23K9/121

  Devices for the automatic supply of at least two electrodes one after the other · CPC title

• B23K9/04 Primary

  Welding for other purposes than joining, e.g. built-up welding · CPC title