Apart from electrical energy, which usually only corresponds to around 10% of the usual amount for resistance welding, no other consumables are required. Even cooling of the welding transformer and/or the electrodes can normally be dispensed with.

The amount of material to be welded determines the size of the system. The more energy you need, the higher the basic investment. Without knowing the welding task, it makes no sense to make a statement.

The running costs are extremely low: very little energy is used, no high mains connection values are required, there are no consumables and the machine can work at a very high cycle rate. In addition, in most cases there is no need for pre-treatment or post-treatment of the parts to be welded. That means fewer staff!

Since there are hardly any moving parts on such a device apart from the movable upper electrode, a service life of over 10 years is quite common. One of our customers confirmed in a letter of thanks that he had made over 50 million good parts in 13 years with a 12,000 machine. During this time, the machine ran in 3 shifts, 7 days a week without any downtime.

The recharging time of the capacitors after welding is 1-3 seconds, depending on the size of the machine. This time also defines the theoretical cycle time. However, in most cases the actual cycle time is determined by the times spent feeding, positioning and unloading the parts. The production speed of the system therefore depends largely on the device. Depending on the size of the machine, the value that can be achieved in practice is a cycle rate of between 15 and 30 welds per minute for initial calculations.

Apart from an assembly check (monitors the presence of the parts to be welded), the so-called sinking distance is measured for each individual weld. This is the distance traveled when the softened metal is compressed during welding. Together with an additional current measurement at the welding point and checking that both values are within a previously defined tolerance range, a clear distinction can be made between good and bad parts.

The machine has an automatic interface to which a higher-level system can be connected. With the welding parameters stored in the block for an individual welding task and a suitable device, the system is of course suitable for integration into a fully automatic production line.

Basically all electrically conductive metals, although the material composition of the parts to be welded and the material combinations - unless the parts are made of the same material - have a significant influence on the welding result. Conductivity, melting behavior, degree of hardness and the proportion of non-metallic substances are just some of the parameters that play a role. A clear statement can only be made after precise knowledge of the material composition of the materials to be welded.

The amount of material to be welded determines the energy requirement, so as things stand today, the limit is reached when a peak current of around 600,000 A is no longer sufficient for an acceptable welding result. Of course, the requirements for the welded connection also determine the maximum size. For rotationally symmetrical parts with easily weldable material and using ring bosses, the following guideline values apply:

Impulse welding is a projection welding process, which is why the type and size of the projection or projections must be specified. In addition, care must be taken to ensure that the parts do not have any fluctuations in their geometric dimensions or in their material composition. With this process it is possible to largely maintain the tolerances of the parts to be welded even after welding. However, the machine can only maintain the quality, but of course not improve it.