ELC 160 HP – “High-Performance” Laser Welding Machine for Gear Components and Clutches

ELC 160 HP: Increased Fexibility in Joining and Laser Welding of the Control Gear and Clutch

The ELC 160 HP was designed so that all production components are mounted to the machine's central column. A rotary indexing table arranged around this column controls the transport of parts to their respective process stations. Each processing position on the table has its own spindle unit, on which the workpiece is cycled horizontally to its processing positions. Position one is used as the loading and unloading station, and either gantries or robots can be used for loading. The joining station is next, and is equipped with three joining stamps that are mounted to a slide, which allows for rapid re-tooling for different part families.

The joining process itself is performed quickly and precisely by a screw spindle drive. Another quarter turn later, the workpiece reaches the processing station for induction pre-heating (if required by the workpiece material). Here as well, several inductors can be installed in order to permit rapid adaptation to different parts. One turn of the indexing table later, the workpiece has reached the core of the machine, the laser welding station. This station is equipped with a slide unit that has up to three counter bearings in order to ensure automatic re-tooling. The weld head is equipped with an X-axis for the seam position and a Z-axis for adjusting the focal position. All four processes described above run simultaneously, allowing for extremely short cycle times (only a few seconds).