Development of Novel Vacuum Electron Beam Welder with Rapid Workpiece Exchange Capability

A novel type of vacuum electron beam welder has been successfully developed for high precision welding of advanced materials in production line.The new vacuum e-beam welder comprised the main chamber, two transition chambers, conveying belt, industrial robot for accurately positioning workpiece, electron gun, welding workbench, pumping and control units.The original work included the workpiece manipulation and exchange in the main and transition vacuum chambers, respectively.After exposing to air for loading (unloading) a workpiece, the gatevalve isolated transition chamber can be independently and rapidly pumped to vacuum.A hollow-shaft disk-gear was welded with the newly-developed vacuum e-beam welder.The results show that the new vacuum e-beam welder outperforms the conventional one because of better welding quality, greater efficiency, lower energy consumption and higher degree of automation.