Sonobond Ultrasonics’ metal welding technology is keeping pace with the growing number of increasingly complex electronic components used in automotive and other circuitry. The company even offers wire-to-terminal welders that produce single point ground terminals, and can also accommodate a variety of specialty applications through its custom tooling capabilities.
“Today’s automotive circuitry is particularly susceptible to electrical noise caused by multiple ground connections,” said Melissa Alleman, Sonobond vice president. “Our Single Point Ground Welder is a microprocessor-controlled, spot-welding system that ultrasonically welds as many as 18 wires onto a single terminal with just one pulse. Then, it automatically folds over the terminal arms to provide stress relief for the joint. Ground loops, that generate electrical noise, are eliminated.”
The ultrasonic metal welding technique, as employed by the Single Point Ground Welder and other Sonobond metal welding equipment, uses a welding tip to direct high frequency, ultrasonic vibratory energy to the surface between the metals being welded. That vibratory energy disperses the oxides and surface films between the work pieces, creating a true metallurgical bond. No materials are melted and no heat, current, fluxes or fillers are used, making the welding process particularly energy efficient and environmentally responsible.
But Sonobond’s unique, patented Wedge-Reed bonding system takes ultrasonic welding technology a step farther to assure precise, ultra-reliable welds are achieved by all its metal welding units. Shear mode vibration parallel to the welding surface is essential for metal welding to occur. Sonobond’s system generates the shear mode with high vibratory force and low amplitude while the line of force is directly over the parts to be welded. This creates maximum ultrasonic metal welding effectiveness without bending stress or stalling and exclusively enables most oxidized and tinned metals to be welded.
In addition to welding up to 18 wires, Sonobond’s Single Point Ground Welder can also weld wire bundles up to 20 square millimeters to a single terminal in one pulse. It utilizes heat-treated, tool steel, easily removed and replaced Taper Lock Tips that can be readily redressed and can perform up to 100,000 welds before being discarded. The 2,500-watt unit includes a microprocessor that stores and recalls up to 250 protocols. A digital display allows welding modes to be selected by time or energy and provides automatic frequency control and overload protection. Automatic control monitoring can also detect variations from preset limits. Plus, weld data can be transferred to or from a computer via the unit’s RS232 port.
For other spot and wire-to-terminal welding applications, Sonobond offers the SonoWeld 1600 Metal Spot Welder. This equipment welds foils, as well as foils to tabs for batteries and capacitors, and can join dissimilar metals, such as copper to aluminum. Its microprocessor stores and recalls up to 250 weld protocols. Sonobond’s Dual Head Spot Welder can accommodate up to 100 layers of foil for battery and capacitor applications. It can also weld non-ferrous sheet metal, including aluminum, up to 3mm in thickness.
In addition to machinery for wire-to-terminal and battery welding applications, Sonobond has its ultrasonic SpliceRite series for wire-to-wire welding of bare copper wire up to 100mm2 and tinned wire to 60mm2. These metal spot and wire welders, all made in the US, ultrasonically assemble electrical wire harnesses; bus bars; electrical contacts; fuses and circuit breakers; ignition modules; starter motors; assembly boards; circuit analyzers; and connectors, terminals and switches.
Finished welds are checked to ensure that dimensional tolerances and electrical and mechanical requirements are met. Customers are welcome to review the operation and have parts delivered to their facility so they can run their own tests. Sonobond’s technicians can also be at the customer’s site for final approval.
