Development of a reconfigurable welding fixture system for automotive body

Welding fixtures are the most important devices for an automotive body welding assembly line. Current special fixtures used by many automotive manufactures are fit only for one or several specific welding processes. Reconfigurable welding fixtures for use in the automotive manufacturing factory are an important development for new vehicle models. The welding fixture is designed as a dowel pin modular fixture, with its clamps and locating pins adjusted in three directions. On account of dimensional problem due to several variation sources accumulation, measuring and adjusting techniques are developed to improve the localization accuracy. The cost-effective prototype of reconfigurable welding assembly fixture system for parts with similar characteristics of automotive body is developed. Experiments show the validity of reconfigurations, online detection and adaptive control system of the developed welding fixtures.