FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
Automated welding system for making HID lamp mounts
APPLICANT
Crompton Greaves Limited, CG House, Dr Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai 400 030,
Maharashtra, India, an Indian Company
INVENTOR
Rajashekar Palur, Baroda Lamp Works, Village Kural, Padra Jambusar Road, Padra Taluka,
Vadodara-391430, Gujarat, India, Indian National
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automated welding system, more particularly to an automated welding system for making .High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamp mounts.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamp is a type of arc lamp in which light is produced by generating electric arc between two electrodes situated inside a transparent tube. The transparent tube is held in a lamp mount which is made by welding several components like frame, wire, strip, sleeve and glass stem through spot welding processes. The total number of welds in an HID lamp mount may range from 6 to 11, where each weld may be of different type.
Conventionally, the welds of an HID lamp mount are sequentially formed through multiple single-point spot weld machines, which include manually forming a weld at a machine, waiting till the weld is completely formed, taking work piece to another machine and forming another weld thereof. This process is repeated till the HID lamp mount is formed. However the process of forming an HID lamp mount in this manner is quite time consuming, especially when a large number of mounts are required to be manufactured.
Further, as, the welding process is done manually; the quality of lamp mounts may not be consistent. There may be chances of failure of the mounts in their working life due to welding quality. Moreover, in existing welding process, oxidation takes place during welding which leads to deteoriation of lamp life and quality.
Therefore, there is a need for an automated welding system for making HID lamp mounts which is time efficient and form accurate, consistent and oxide free welds. The welding

system should facilitate welding of multiple types of mounts for HID lamps in minimum time and with manual intervention.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide an automated welding system for HID lamp mounts which reduces the time required to manufacture an HID lamp mount.
Another object of the invention is to provide an automated welding system which minimizes manual intervention in making HID lamp mounts.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an automated welding system which improves the quality of welds in the HID lamp mounts.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an automated welding system which automates and accelerates the process of manufacturing multiple mounts for HID lamps.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, there is provided an automated welding system for making high intensity discharge (HID) lamp mounts, which comprises a table disposed for rotation about a vertical axis in a cyclic manner about a plurality of welding stations and having a plurality of mount holder jigs corresponding to the stations, at least one of the welding stations being associated with a robotic welding arm, and a control panel for setting parameters of sequential welding of a mount through the robotic welding arms.
Preferably, each of the robotic welding arms is configured to detect the arrival of a mount holder jig and weld the mount components therein.

Preferably, the table indexes automatically after completion of a welding activity at a welding station.
These and other aspects, features and advantages of the invention will be better understood with reference to the following detailed description, accompanying drawings and appended claims, in which,
Fig. 1 illustrates a table disposed for rotation about a vertical axis in a cyclic manner and having a plurality of mount holder jigs in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and
Fig. 2 illustrates an automated welding system which comprises the table of Fig. 1 about a plurality of spot welding stations in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 1 illustrates a table 100 which comprises a plurality of mount holder jigs 1-10, and mount components 11-17 disposed in the mount holder jigs l-7, respectively.
The table 100 is a rotary table disposed for rotation about a vertical axis in a cyclic manner. The table 100 may be referred to as a central index turret and is indexed so that it rotates and stops in a predefined cyclic manner. The table 100 includes a servo drive system which controls the rotation of the table 100 and facilitates its indexing.

The mount holder jigs 1-10 are fixtures attached to the table 100 through fasteners such as screws, bolts, nuts, etc. Said mount holder jigs 1-10 are used for placing and supporting the mount components of one or more types of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps for facilitating their welding. It may be noted that for the sake of illustration, total ten equidistant jigs 1-10 are illustrated on the table 100, however, the number of jigs on the table 100 may be increased or reduced depending on the requirement of the end user.
The mount components 11-17 are temporally loaded and fixed in respective jigs 1-7 prior to their welding, and are removed when their welding process is complete. The mount holder jigs 8-10 are empty and reserved for future use.
Fig. 2 illustrates an automated welding system 200 which comprises the table 100, the mount holder jigs 1-10 on the table 100, component loading stations 21 and 25, spot welding stations 22, 23, 24, 26, component removal and inspection station 27, robotic welding arms 32. 33, 34, and 36 associated with respective welding stations and a control panel 30. Each component of the automated welding system 200 performs a specific function, each function being a contributory step in providing automated sequential welding of multiple welding points of one or more HID lamp mounts.
The table 100 is disposed for rotation about a vertical axis in a cyclic manner about the stations 21-27. The stations 21-27 are disposed around the table 100 in such a manner that each

of the stations 21-27 corresponds to a mount holder jig whenever the table 100 stops for a while after rotating for a predetermined period.
The component loading stations 21 and 25 are stations, at which the mount components required to be welded may be loaded in respective jigs either manually or automatically. In manual loading, one or more operators may be present at the loading stations 21 and 25, whereas in automated loading, one or more loading machines may be disposed at the stations 21 and 25.
The welding stations 22, 23, 24 and 26 are stations, at which the mount components of the respective jigs are automatically welded using respective robotic welding arms 32, 33, 34 and 36. Each of the welding stations 22, 23, 24 and 26 is equipped with a spot welding machine which comprises a power source, a current distributor connected to the power source, a robotic welding arm and weld heads of the robotic welding arm. The xyz position of the weld heads for carrying out welding can be set either manually or by a servo motor driven automatic means.
The component removal and inspection station 27 is a station at which a mount placed in the respective jig may be inspected and then removed. The removal and inspection of a finished mount from station 27 may either be manual or automated.
The control panel 40 comprises a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and Human Machine Interface (HMI) for facilitating an end user to control, monitor and set the parameters

of automated sequential welding of a HID lamp mount and synchronous welding of multiple mounts.
Operationally, the operator/machine at the component loading station 21 loads mount components 1 I in the respective jig say jig 1. When the loading activity is completed, the table 100 indexes and stops at the welding station 22. The spot welding machine thereof detects the arrival of jig 1 using sensors and automatically welds the mount components 11 using its robotic Welding arm 32, When the welding activity completes at the welding station 22, the table 100 indexes automatically and stops at next station 23 for further welding of the mount components 11 by the robotic welding arm 33. In this manner, the mount components 11 of the jig I are subjected to automated sequential welding at various welding stations 22, 23, 24, and 26. When the HID lamp mount is completely welded, it is inspected and removed at the station 27.
In an embodiment of the present invention, when the jig 1 leaves the station 21, jig 10 may arrive at the station 21. Therefore, during the time, the mount components 11 are welded at the station 22, the mount components of a second mount may be loaded in the jig 10 at the station 21. Further, when the jig 10 leaves the station 21, jig 9 may arrive therein, and the mount components of a third mount may be loaded in the jig 9 at the station 21. Thus, when the component loading takes place at the station 21, then welding operation may simultaneously takes place at the stations 22 and 23. Thus, alt the stations 21-27 are configured to synchronously operate for facilitating welding of more than one mount, thus reducing time and effort in welding of multiple mounts.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the parameters for automated welding of a type of HID lamp mount may be individually set at each of the welding stations 22, 23, 24 and 26 or may be collectively set at the control panel 40. The control panel 40 facilitates an operator to set the sequence of welding operation and desired welding parameters for each welding station through the touch screen parameters of the HMI. Examples of welding parameters for each welding station include, but are not limited to, weld current, weld voltage. squeeze time and gas purge time on a weld head, and position of weld heads. The welding parameters set by the operator for one cycle of operation may be stored in a memory of the control panel 40 for re-application in a next cycle of operation, thereby increasing the efficiency of the system 200.
The control panel 40 also facilitates an operator to select various modes of operation of the automated welding system 200 such as Test, Semi-auto, and Auto. In semi-auto mode, the welding process of one or more mounts may require some human intervention, whereas in auto mode, the welding process of one or more mounts may not require any human intervention and is automatically performed in a given cycle of operation. However, if any of the automatic operation is not executed due to a fault, an alarm may be activated and the fault generated is displayed on the HMI
In an exemplary embodiment, the station 21 is a tube & wire loading station, where a mount component such as a tube may be placed on respective jig and the two wires are placed on the jig and moved forward such that the ends gets inserted inside the tube. The station 22 is

a wire to tube welding station, where the respective robotic welding arm 32 is configured to weld the wire to the tube. The station 23 is a strip feeding, welding and cutting station, where a strip is placed on a de-coiler in coiled form and is fed automatically to the wire location. As the strip reaches the wire location, robotic welding arm 33 gets activated and the strip gets welded. Immediately after welding, the strip end is sheared by a pneumatic cylinder.
The station 24 is a strip folding on wire station where the welded strip is automatically folded by a set of pneumatic cylinders and actuators. The station 25 is a mount holder loading station, where a mount holder is placed in the respective jig. The station 26 is a mount holder welding station where the mount holder is welded to the wires on the tube. Thereafter, it is inspected and removed. In an embodiment of the present invention, the empty jigs 8, 9 and 10 may be used as ok/reject bins for placing the mount removed at the station 27.
In an exemplary embodiment, the automated welding system 200 is designed for providing a minimum output of 4000 lamp mounts per shift, i.e. 8 hours, where total time at each station for conducting a manual/automatic operation time is maximum 7.2 seconds.
In various embodiments of the present invention, the automated welding system 200 automates and accelerates the process of manufacturing multiple mounts, reduces the time required to manufacture an HID lamp mount, require minimum manual intervention during welding operation, and forms consistent and oxide-free welds.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiment, as well as alternate embodiments of the invention, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that such modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:
I. An automated welding system for making High Intensity Discharge (HID) tamp mounts comprising a table disposed for rotation about a vertical axis in a cyclic manner about a plurality of welding stations and having a plurality of mount holder jigs corresponding to the stations, at least one of the welding stations being associated with a robotic welding arm, and a control panel for setting parameters of sequential welding of a mount through the welding arms.
2. The automated welding system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the robotic welding arms is configured to detect the arrival of a mount holder jig and weld the mount components therein.
3. The automated welding system as claimed in claim 2. wherein the table indexes automatically after completion of a welding activity at a welding station.