APPARATUS FOR WELDING A PLASTIC COMPONENT TO THE APERTURE OF A PLASTIC BODY

摘要

An apparatus for welding a plastic component to a body's aperture comprises a frame element, a first heating head mounted to the frame element for heating the component, a gripper for gripping the component and for mounting the component to the body's aperture, a heater arm having a second heating head mounted thereto for heating the body's aperture, and an actuator for mounting both the heater arm and the gripper to the frame element for alternating between a heating position wherein i) ia) the gripper is generally aligned with the first heating head for abutment therewith following relative movement towards each other, while ib) the second heating head is positioned for heating the body's aperture, and a work position wherein ii) the gripper is generally aligned with the body's aperture for mounting the component to the body's aperture for welding therewith. The gripper is mounted to the actuator via a cylinder arm provided with a collision monitor in the form of a linear encoder to detect inadvertent collision between the component and the heating head or the body. The collision monitor is configured to trigger an alarm when the linear encoder detects an inadvertent collision.