Devices which shorten the time needed for the assembly of electrode capsules on welding grippers are provided. Such devices may have two stations for withdrawal of electrode capsules. The withdrawal stations may have a mirror-image arrangement with respect to a given intermediate plane and may be situated in a peripheral zone of the apparatus. Two guide ducts may house two respective rows of electrode capsules. Two prechambers can be provided, each one being arranged between the associated withdrawal station and an outlet end of the associated guide duct. A retractable stop pin may be mounted between each prechamber and the associated withdrawal station, said pin, when extracted, blocking an electrode capsule inside the withdrawal station. To transfer an electrode capsule from the prechamber to the associated withdrawal station, the apparatus may be provided with two positioning devices which can be selectively operated in order to accomplish this.

A head for a swing arm assembly is provided for a spot welding machine. The head can accommodate a tip dresser or a tip exchanger.

A system managing a polishing state of tips of a welding gun of each welding robot installed in a production line of a vehicle includes: a robot controller storing tip polishing data including the number of polishing of the tips and a polishing amount of the tips generated after each tip dressing of the welding gun; and a server collecting the tip polishing data from the robot controller to store the collected data according to robot identification information of the robot and learning the store data through artificial neural network to generate reference data determining the polishing state of the tips corresponding to the robot identification information. The robot controller sets artificial neural network of the robot based on the reference data and determines whether a polishing state of the tips according to the number of polishing and the polishing amount of the tips is normal.

A robot is provided which has: a first arm portion to which an end effector is attached, a second arm portion configured to support, at a tip portion thereof, the first arm portion swingably about a first axis, a third arm portion configured to support a base end portion of the second arm portion rotatably about a second axis orthogonal to the first axis, a tube arranged from the base end portion side toward the tip portion side of the second arm portion and connected to the end effector; and a first recess portion and a second recess portion, which are formed along an arrangement direction of the tube between the base end portion and the tip portion on one side and the other side in a direction orthogonal to both of the first and second axes, respectively.

A mechanism for releasing a pair of electrode caps from a pair of electrode cap holders of a spot welding gun. A rotatable member (11) which can be rotated about an axis (x) has an axially extended through cavity (19) with an inner cylindrical wall in which there are formed two axially spaced sets of niches (20, 21). The niches each have a curved axial wall (20c, 21c) with an eccentric profile relative to the axis of rotation (x). The niches of each set have depths and curvatures progressively increasing in a same circumferential direction. Two sets of gripping rollers (24, 25), partially received in the two sets of niches (20, 21), are provided for gripping two electrode caps (E) on a same welding gun.

On an inner peripheral surface defining a through hole of a first rotator, provided is a positioning member for bringing the center axis of a contact tip, housed in the through hole, into alignment with a rotational axis, or making the former axis proximate to the latter axis, by coming into contact with an outer peripheral surface of the contact tip.

A first electrode coolant path is configured to cool a first welding electrode by liquid coolant flowing from a supply path through the first electrode coolant path to a return path. A second electrode coolant path is configured to cool a second welding electrode by liquid coolant flowing from the supply path through the second electrode coolant path to the return path. Three or more valves are configured to stop or reduce liquid coolant flow through the first or second electrode coolant path and configured to stop or reduce liquid coolant backflow from the return path when the first or second welding electrode is at least partially detached. At least one valve is coupled in the first or second electrode coolant path. A drawback apparatus generates a suction force to draw liquid coolant away from a gap formed when the first or second welding electrode is at least partially detached.

Embodiments described herein are generally directed to a venturi valve. The venture valve includes an inlet; an outlet opposite of the inlet; a passage, a primary orifice, and an insert. The passage is positioned between the inlet and the outlet and fluidly coupling the inlet to the outlet. The primary orifice is positioned between the inlet and the outlet and in fluid communication with the passage such that the primary orifice permits fluid to enter the passage. The insert is positioned between the inlet and the outlet, the insert configured to enclose at least a portion of the passage.

A first electrode coolant path is configured to cool a first welding electrode by liquid coolant flowing from a supply path through the first electrode coolant path to a return path. A second electrode coolant path is configured to cool a second welding electrode by liquid coolant flowing from the supply path through the second electrode coolant path to the return path. Three or more valves are configured to stop or reduce liquid coolant flow through the first or second electrode coolant path and configured to stop or reduce liquid coolant backflow from the return path when the first or second welding electrode is at least partially detached. At least one valve is coupled in the first or second electrode coolant path. A drawback apparatus generates a suction force to draw liquid coolant away from a gap formed when the first or second welding electrode is at least partially detached.

A tip case (3) stores a plurality of contact tips (10) linearly aligned in a horizontal direction and each having a tip end facing downward. A reciprocator (5) reciprocates the tip case (3) in a direction in which the plurality of contact tips (10) are aligned to move the tip case (3) into or out of a tip supplying space (S2). A tip ejector (6) ejects a contact tip (10) of the plurality of contact tips (10) upward from the tip case (3) moved into the tip supplying space (2). A holder-rotator (4) screws the contact tip (10) ejected by the tip ejector (6) into a torch body (11) or detaches the contact tip (10) from the torch body (11).