Importance

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Abstract

A conformal skate for use in an inductive welding system for creating a fusion bond along a bond line between two thermoplastic parts includes a wheel having a circumferential casing made of fluid impervious flexible material. The wheel is rotatably mounted on a fixed axle by fluid tight bearings. The axle has an axial passage for admission of pressurizing and cooling fluid, and for power leads for the coil and for leads for sensors inside the wheel. A vertical mount on the axle supports the coil for vertical motion and biases the coil downwardly so that it remains in contact with the inside surface of the casing despite unevenness or contour changes in the upper surface of the top part or changes in the wheel shape when the fluid pressure in the wheel or downward force on the axel is changed. A supporting member such as a strut or frame supports the axle and applies the downward force which the wheel distributes over the footprint in contact with the top part, in line with the magnetic field generated by the coil. The size of the wheel footprint is a function of the amount to liquid in the wheel and the force exerted by the supporting member, which pressurizes the fluid sealed in the vessel and distributes pressure uniformly over the footprint of the wheel to press the top part against the bottom part and facilitate fusion bonding of the thermoplastic in the melt pool created by the inductively heated susceptor.

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First Claim