A pair of mating sealing jaws for forming a seal between opposing heatsealable surfaces includes a first jaw and a complementary second jaw. Each jaw has a sealing surface that includes at least two peaks separated by a valley. Each peak includes a first face and a second face. A phantom line bisecting the valley defines a first angle between the phantom line and the first face and defines a second angle between the phantom line and the second face such that the first angle differs from the second angle.

A joint between at least one element of metal material and at least one element of plastic material is obtained by pressing these elements in contact against each other, with a simultaneous application of heat. A cladding of metal material and/or of plastic material is applied above the joint by additive manufacturing technology.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method of folding a pouch case of a battery cell, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method of folding a pouch case of a battery cell capable of preventing a meandering in a folding process and reducing non-uniformity of a folding amount by forming a pre-folding line on a pouch wing and folding the pouch wing on the basis of the pre-folding line.

Energy mechanism assemblies and methods of operating such assemblies are described. One method of providing energy to an item may comprise positioning an item proximate an energy mechanism assembly comprising a first and second energy mechanism and a translation system configured to move the second mechanism along between a first position and a second position along a first axis and a second axis, positioning the item between the first and second mechanisms, moving the second mechanism from the first position to the second position, moving the second mechanism along the second axis for a first length while the second mechanism is in contact with the item; and providing energy to the item at least while the second mechanism contacts the item.

A process for packaging a product arranged on a support comprising unrolling a film, moving the film to a packaging assembly defining at its inside a packaging chamber, progressively moving a number of supports inside the packaging chamber of the packaging assembly, closing the packaging chamber with the film sheets held above the respective support, optionally causing one or both of: a gas withdrawal from the hermetically closed packaging chamber and gas injection of a gas mixture of controlled composition, heat sealing the film to said support, wherein the heat sealing uses one or more heaters having heating surfaces which are heated for discrete and short time periods only. An apparatus for performing the above process is also disclosed.

In a fastening method and fastening apparatus, workpieces are fastened using a fastener made of a thermoplastic polymer comprising carbon fibers. The method and apparatus involve induction heating of the carbon fibers to soften the thermoplastic polymer and then plastically deforming axial ends of the fastener using a die or dies to form first and second heads while a shaft body or a shaft part of the thermoplastic polymer comprising the carbon fibers is inserted through respective through holes formed in the workpieces.

A fastening apparatus includes a fastening device (1, 3) that heats in a non-contacting state, and then applies pressure to, a shaft part (11b) or shaft body (111) while it is inserted through the through holes (W10, W20) of workpieces (W1, W2), thereby forming at least a second head part (11c) of a fastener (11). The fastening device (1, 3) includes: a fastening die (15) that forms the second head part (11c); and a shaft-part pressure-applying device (9) that applies the pressure to the fastening die (15). A determining device (5) determines whether the fastener (11) is defective or not by calculating a load curve defined by the time and the load during which the pressure was applied and then determining whether an amount of change per unit of time in the load curve after a reference load has been exceeded is within a range of a predetermined reference value.

A method of controlling an inductive heating circuit, having a varying load, to seal a packaging material is provided. The method comprises generating AC power of at least two frequencies on at least one inductor in the inductive heating circuit; determining of the resulting phase shift in the inductive heating circuit from the current generated at the at least two frequencies; determining the impedance of the inductive heating circuit for each of the at least two frequencies; determining a load characteristics of the inductive heating circuit based on the relationship between the determined impedance and the determined phase shift; determining an impedance operating range; and selecting an AC output frequency for an induction power generator based on the load characteristics which results in the least amount of phase shift from a set ideal value and which is associated with an impedance that is within the impedance operating range.

A clamping apparatus for clamping shaped parts which may be welded along a welding contour by irradiation with a laser beam, includes a first clamping plate used as a holder for a first shaped part, a second clamping plate which is designed to apply a clamping force to the first shaped part and a second shaped part arranged thereon, an outer clamping jaw including a recess and an inner clamping jaw arranged in the recess, which together form the second clamping plate, a passage gap for a laser beam formed in sections between the outer clamping jaw and the inner clamping jaw, and one or more fastening elements which connect the outer clamping jaw with the inner clamping jaw in sections and which bridge the passage gap. The clamping apparatus includes a mirror element arranged such that a laser beam is reflected onto a section of the welding contour.

A sealing device configured to create a frangible seal in a sample processing device is described. Methods of using the device to create one or more frangible seals in a sample processing device are also described.