A device for joining material by anchoring an insert comprising a first material in a structure comprising a second material is provided. The first material is solid and comprises thermoplastic properties and the second material is solid and is penetrable by the first material when in a liquefied state. The device comprises a vibration device being configured to transmit vibrations to said insert to cause at least partial liquefaction thereof and being arranged to move, relative to said structure, along an insertion direction (ID) to insert said insert at least partly into said structure, a contact sensor being connected to the vibration device and being adapted to move together with the vibration device along the insertion direction (ID), the contact sensor having a sensor body being adapted to detect contact with said structure. A controller is further connected to the contact sensor and adapted for receiving a contact signal from the contact sensor indicating that the sensor body has come into contact with said structure.

A co-consolidation tool, including a heating assembly to receive one or more thermoplastic parts and to apply a consolidation temperature to the one or more thermoplastic parts, a pressure bladder to apply a consolidation pressure to the one or more thermoplastic parts, and a support insert shaped and configured to support and at least partially surround at least one of the one or more thermoplastic parts, wherein at least one of heating assembly and the pressure bladder is shaped to receive and support the support insert.

Pile articles (20,22), especially pile weatherstripping, and a method and apparatus (10) for making such articles where the backing (24) and the pile (26) are of unlike material, especially nylon yarn for the pile (26) and polypropylene containing material for the backing (24), wherein prior to the welding of the pile (26) to the backing (24) the pile is first pre-heated using ultrasonic energy to melt the pile in a region (65) thereof where the pile is ultrasonically welded to the backing and before the weld is made. The ultrasonic melting occurs upstream of the location where the pile (26) is welded to the backing (24) so that the ultrasonically pre-heated melted region (65) of the pile (26) can cool and become at least partially solidified. Then pile (26) at the pre-heated melted region (65) is welded to the backing (24) and causes a reactive or chemical weld to occur, thereby attaching the pile (26) to the backing (24).

A method of manufacturing a heat exchanger array that includes stacking a plurality of heat exchanger units in an aligned configuration with respective first ports of the plurality of heat exchanger units aligned. The method can further include generating heat in the first coupling elements at the same time and at a temperature sufficient to generate a first plurality of respective couplings between adjacent sheets of adjacent heat exchanger units about adjacent first ports and without a coupling being generated between the first and second sheets of a given heat exchanger unit.

A method of manufacturing a heat exchanger array that includes stacking a plurality of heat exchanger units in an aligned configuration with respective first ports of the heat exchanger units aligned. The heat exchanger units can include a first and second sheet coupled together to define an cavity between the first and second sheets; the first port at a first end of the heat exchanger unit defined by the first and second sheets; and a second port at a second end of the heat exchanger unit defined by the first and second sheets. The method further includes stacking the plurality of heat exchanger units in an aligned configuration with the first ports of the plurality of heat exchanger units aligned and generating a first plurality of respective couplings between adjacent sheets of adjacent heat exchanger units about adjacent first ports. The coupling can be generated by an adhesive.

A system and method are provided for manufacturing a plastic pallet having a plurality of runner assemblies with embedded support structures. Each runner assembly may include a top runner board, a bottom runner board, and a plurality of support structures embedded into the top and bottom runner boards. The pallet may be manufactured using heat to at least partially penetrate and soften the runner boards, to soften the support structures, and to weld the support structures to the runner boards in an embedded manner.

A supporting unit for supporting a rotatable member to feed a developer includes a frame including a first surface extending in a direction crossing an axis of the rotatable member and a second surface extending in a direction crossing the first surface, and a fixed member. The fixed member includes (i) a first opposing surface opposing and contacting the first surface, (ii) a second opposing surface opposing the second surface, and (iii) a first front side surface opposite from the second opposing surface. The second opposing surface is welded to the second surface by ultrasonic spot welding such that a first recess is formed on the first front side surface.

A novel spring-loaded device utilizes a linear or rotary measuring sensor to measure distance and control heat using a PID loop or other type of control loop feedback program. The power of the heating element is controlled by a program, which takes distance from the target into consideration when determining output power. For example, if the target distance is 10 mm away the algorithm will apply 100% power until reaching 9 mm, at which point it will lower power to 90%. When the distance is 5 mm from the target, the power level will be 50%, and so on and so forth. The closed loop nature of the system will reduce power automatically using pulse width modulation (PWM) of the input power. This will allow modulation of the power to the heating element on the fly.

The present invention relates to a honeycomb sandwich sheet or panel, based on thermoplastic polypropylene, comprising a structure consisting of two flat outer films, at the top and bottom (10, 12), welded to an inner or central film (11) blister thermoformed (13), with blisters repeated in a regular and continuous pattern, wherein said inner or central film (11) is thermoformed on both sides or faces.

An apparatus for manufacturing rectangular frames of plastic material includes an apparatus frame and welding heads. A material clamp cooperates with an associated frame member to hold the associated frame member in a desired location during a frame assembly operation. A heat plate is movably attached to each welding head. The heat plate can be selectively positioned to an operating position. The material clamp positions the associated frame member in close proximity to the heat plate to heat a set of ends of the associated frame member utilizing only radiation and convection of heat developed by the heat plate. The plurality of welding heads exert pressure on adjoining associated frame members after the heat plate is removed from the operating position in order to weld the adjoining associated frame members together to form a rectangular frame.