Side portions of a guide member mounting portion of the instrument panel include a panel side welding guide surface integrally formed therewith. The panel side welding guide surface is spaced apart from the back surface of the instrument panel. Side portions of the guide member include a guide side welding guide surface integrally formed with the guide member. The panel side welding guide surface and the guide side welding guide surface overlap each other. One of the guide side welding guide surface and the panel side welding guide surface includes a position regulating recess. The other of the guide side welding guide surface and the panel side welding guide surface includes a position regulating protrusion that fits into the position regulating recess during vibration welding.

Systems and methods are presented herein for a method of attaching a strip to a housing. An internal support member is inserted into a collapsible housing, such that it is arranged along a longitudinal axis of an inner surface of the collapsible housing. An outer support member is arranged along an outer surface the collapsible housing opposite the internal support member. A strip is positioned along the outer surface using the outer support member and the internal support member. Then the strip is permanently welded to the outer surface using a welding element. Welding is performed by a welding element located in one (or both) of the internal support member or the outer support member.

A method for joining two objects by anchoring an insert portion provided on one of the objects in an opening provided on the other one of the objects. The anchorage is achieved by liquefaction of a thermoplastic material and interpenetration of the liquefied material and a penetrable material, the two materials being arranged on opposite surfaces of the insert portion and the wall of the opening. Before such liquefaction and interpenetration, an interference fit is established in which such opposite surfaces are pressed against each other, and, for the anchoring, mechanical vibration energy and possibly a shearing force are applied, wherein the shearing force puts a shear stress on the interference fit.

Two workpieces 30, 40 are joined by means of ultrasound. First, a workpiece 30 with at least one energy direction sensor 31 and a second workpiece 40 are provided. The workpieces are brought into contact with each other in such a way that the energy direction sensor 31 comes into contact with a first surface 41 of the second workpiece 40. Ultrasonic vibrations are then introduced into one of the workpieces 40 via a working surface 11 of a sonotrode 10. A sonotrode 10 is used, which has a contour with contact lines 12 on the working surface 11. The sonotrode 10 is positioned with respect to the first workpiece 30 in such a way that the contact lines 12 run transversely to the energy direction generator 31.

A cartridge for a dispensing device contains at least one elongate film pouch, which is inherently non-rigid and which has a chamber for receiving a composition. The cartridge also contains a head part for interacting with the film pouch. The film pouch has an opening on a side facing the head part, which is closed by a cover. The cover has a predetermined breaking region. A method can be used for producing such a cartridge.

A method of forming a component includes additively manufacturing a first subcomponent, the first subcomponent including a first polymer material with a first porosity. The method further includes mating the first subcomponent with a second subcomponent and ultrasonically welding the first subcomponent to the second subcomponent at a weld frequency. The first porosity can be 5% or less.

The present disclosure is directed to a for manufacturing a switching apparatus for electric systems. The method includes (i) providing a first housing shell of the switching apparatus; (ii) providing a second housing shell of the switching apparatus; (iii) assembling the first and second housing shells and a number of operating components of the switching apparatus, thereby obtaining a preliminary assembly of the switching apparatus; and (iv) joining first and second coupling edges of the first and second housing shells through a vibration welding process, thereby forming a junction between the first and second housing shells and obtaining a sealed outer casing for the switching apparatus.

A method of manufacturing a lightweight building element assembly is disclosed. The assembly firstly comprises a first object (1) being a lightweight building element that has a first outer building layer (11) and an interlining layer (13). The assembly further comprises a second object (2) secured to the first object. The method comprises firstly providing the first object, wherein the first object has an indentation (19) formed by the first outer building layer. The indentation may form a blind opening or a through opening in the first object. The method further comprises providing the second object (2), wherein the second object comprises an outer surface portion of a thermoplastic material, wherein the outer surface portion is a lateral outer surface portion with respect to an axis. The second object is brought in contact with the first object so that the lateral outer surface is in physical contact with the sidewall (14), and mechanical energy is coupled into the second object so as to cause energy absorption due to friction between the lateral outer surface and the lateral wall, until a flow portion of the thermoplastic material becomes liquefiable and flows relative to the lateral wall. After re-solidification of the thermoplastic material, the flow portion secures the second object to the first object.

A method of bonding a first object to a second object includes the steps of: providing the first object including thermoplastic material in a solid state, providing the second object including a proximal surface, applying a mechanical pressing force and a mechanical excitation capable to liquefy the thermoplastic material until a flow portion of the thermoplastic material is flowable and penetrates into structures of the second object, and stopping the mechanical excitation and letting the thermoplastic material resolidify to yield a positive-fit connection between the first and the second object. The second object has a region of low density, wherein the protrusion penetrates the region of low density at least partly before the thermoplastic material is made flowable, and wherein the first object includes a protruding portion after the step of letting the thermoplastic material resolidify, the protruding portion at least partly penetrates the region of low density.

A method and a device for the ultrasonic welding of a first component to a second component of an electronic cigarette cartridge, wherein both components are made of a plastic material; the device includes an ultrasound generator, which delivers an electric pulse to a vibrating assembly, which, in turn, includes a converter designed to turn the electric pulse into a mechanical vibration movement and transfers it to a sonotrode, which directly transmits the energy in the form of vibrations to the two components to be welded; the sonotrode is designed so as to simultaneously weld a plurality of first components to the respective second components and cooperates with a plurality of striker elements, each associated to a respective first component and to a respective second component to be welded; and wherein each striker element is connected to a sensor, which is designed to detect a parameter of the welding process carried out to weld the first component to the second component and to control the welding process carried out to weld the first component to the second component based on the parameter.