Controlling Digital and Analog Command Signal

Proportion-Air’s custom-designed technology can be used in industrial welding applications including:

  • Air/oil welding
    Proportion-Air’s closed loop technology allows a user to close the loop around pressure or, if required, a load cell.
  • Weld tip force control
    Weld tip force control can be proportionally controlled using a digital or analog command signal.

Spot Welding

With spot welding, you’re looking for a very repeatable force control. If you’re spot welding robotically, a robot may make twenty different welds on an automobile assembly line that use, for example, different thicknesses of metal or number of sheets of metal that need to be welded. This requires differing forces – so the welder needs to have adjustable force capability.

When a weld cylinder closes weld tips together, our product controls pressure on that cylinder to control force. Each weld can require slightly different forces, our technology allows adjustment to pressure on the fly to achieve the correct setting of force – every single time.

Also important is a method to verify achieving that correct setting. The Proportion-Air device offers a signal output to indicate we achieved the correct pressure, before you apply power to electrodes or weld tips. Our repeatability is +/-0.02 percent of full scale calibration.

When a cylinder welds tips together, our product controls pressure on that cylinder to control force. Each weld can require slightly different forces, our technology allows adjustment to pressure on the fly to achieve the correct setting of force – every single time.

Laser Welding

With laser welding, the need is for control of low pressure gas flow as a weld-assist gas. It works like laser-assist gas, except when you’re welding, the QPV actually keeps the weld from discoloration.

In this sketch, a QB2 is controlling air pressure over oil to control the pressure of the oil to the cylinder, while a DST transducer provides direct feedback to the QB2.
Air-Over-Oil Welding