Patent ID: 9248522
Filing Date: 2016-02-02
CPC Classification: B23K

Claim Text:
1. A friction stir welding apparatus comprising: a mounting member on which a processing target member is mounted; a welding tool having a probe, a holder having a coefficient of thermal expansion larger than that of the probe and holding the probe detachably, a drive mechanism that can drive the holder holding the probe to freely move the probe vertically with respect to a processing target side surface of the processing target member and can freely rotate with respect to the processing target member, and a detector that can freely detect a length of a member including the holder and the probe as the drive mechanism moves the holder holding the probe downward; a movement mechanism having an arm to which a fitting jig fitted with the welding tool is fixed so as to be able to freely move the welding tool with respect to the processing target member by moving the arm; and a probe detection mechanism that can freely detect a tip length, which is a length of a member of only the probe, as the drive mechanism moves the holder holding the probe downward, wherein the probe detection mechanism has a block member whose position is fixed and a displacement sensor fixed to the block member side, and at a time of detecting the tip length of the probe, after the movement mechanism moves the arm so that the welding tool faces the block member, the drive mechanism moves down the holder holding the probe to press an upper surface side of the block member by a tip of the probe, and a contact member of the displacement sensor comes in contact with an abutment member of the welding tool and is moved, thereby detecting displacement of the contact member.