Automatic Thermocouple Welding System

Abstract

Thermocouples are electrical devices used in temperature measurement, of simple design and have great use on industry. The basic principle of work of the Thermocouple involves two wires of different compositions that are joined at both ends and when one end was at the different temperature than other a current was created. The thermocouple needs an efficient junction for the two metal wires, which is commonly done by welding. The welding process used to construct a thermocouple can be done in several ways and the most common and efficient is the capacitive discharge welding. This work aims to develop an equipment able to performing this soldering, by capacitive discharge, whose value of energy to be discharged is determined using the principle of conservation of mass and energy in pre-established alloys and gauges of some most common types of thermocouples, in an inertial environment produced with argon gas. The equipment automation manages all the bank charge process. The results obtained with the welding of different types and thermocouple gauges were considered of good quality according to the established analysis parameters of Image, electrical resistance and use of all amount of energy at welding process. The equipment construction cost is approximately 10% of a commercial equipment with less technology.