Automatic Projection Welding Machine for Automotive Seat Slide Rail Reinforcement Plates

Projection Welding Machine for Seat Slide Rail Reinforcement Plates: Two Stations, Left and Right Rails on One Line

Application story  ·  Automatic projection welding of automotive seat slide rail reinforcement plates

Front and rear twin stations with a transfer fixture let the cell weld left-hand and right-hand rails in the same cycle - no tooling change between variants. Unloading, demagnetising and data upload run without an operator inside the cell.

The welding cell: twin-station projection welder with transfer fixture, HMI and stack light

Two Stations, One Line, Left And Right Rails

The machine is built as a front-and-rear twin-station welder. A twin-station transfer fixture shuttles the workpieces between the two stations, so the left-hand rail and the right-hand rail of the same seat set are welded on the same line without switching fixtures.

That removes the usual changeover step: the operator loads a part, the fixture indexes it into the welding position, and the second station is already welding the mirror-hand part. The heavy-duty medium-frequency inverter DC welder and its special-shaped projection electrodes - designed by 3D simulation for this reinforcement plate - sit in the same frame.

Inside the welding window: special-shaped projection electrode on the head, the transfer fixture rail below and the pneumatic clamps that locate the reinforcement plate

Weld Strength Above The Load Requirement

The plate is projection-welded to the rail with a special-shaped electrode matched to the part geometry, then load tested. The welded assembly passes a load test 50% above the standard requirement - the joint is intended to hold the parent metal, not just to pass a pull-off check.

Tear test, part 1: the rail is bent out of shape, the welded plates stay where they were welded

Tear test, part 2: the reinforcement plate tears away and the weld nugget still holds on the rail

Automatic Unloading And Demagnetising

An automatic unloading device lifts the welded part and pushes it out of the station, so nobody reaches into the welding area to take the part out.

A demagnetiser is integrated at the unloading station. The unloaded part is pushed straight into it, so residual magnetism is removed automatically after welding and the rail is ready for the next assembly step.

Every Weld Is Recorded

A host quality management system collects the welding parameters and the matching inspection data of each part and uploads them automatically. The interface set is prepared for the data and ports an EMS (intelligent plant) system needs, so the cell can be tied into the plant network instead of standing alone.

Weld Samples

Reinforcement plates welded on seat slide rails - single part, left/right pair and batch output. Welds are clean and consistent from the first part to the last, because the same setting runs through the whole batch.

Key Specifications

Where It Welds

• Automotive seat slide rails and seat frames
• Seat rail reinforcement plates, left and right hand parts
• Stamped brackets and reinforcement plates on slide assemblies
• Similar projection-welded parts in automotive seat structures

Fixtures and electrodes are built from the customer's part drawing or sample. We run a welding sample and a load test before the machine is released.

How A Custom Cell Is Built

• Inquiry and part drawing review
• Sample welding trial
• Process proposal and quotation
• Detailed design and 3D electrode simulation
• Manufacturing and in-house inspection
• Installation and operator training
• Pre-acceptance run at the customer plant
• Final acceptance and volume production
• After-sales service and spare parts

Talk to Pudian Technology

Guangdong Pudian Automation Technology Co., Ltd builds custom welding automation in-house: fixtures, electrode tooling, feeding, welding and inspection - one team, one solution.