Patent ID: 6750421
Filing Date: 2004-06-15
Classification: B23K,H01S

Abstract:
A method of laser welding comprising:providing a part having sections to be welded together; rotating the part on a constant speed rotary; generating a laser beam; directing the laser beam onto a surface of the part to weld the sections of the part together; and controlling the laser beam such that an angle of incidence of the laser beam on the surface of the part remains constant, the laser beam remains in focus on the surface of the part, and the laser beam moves at a constant surface speed along the surface of the part as the part is rotated on the constant speed rotary; wherein the controlling step is provided by manipulating a focus head outputting the laser beam using a robot, and wherein a programming method is used to program the robot, the programming method comprising: determining a surface distance around the part; segmenting the surface distance of the part into a plurality of increments having equal surface distances; determining an incremental angular displacement of the constant speed rotary based on the surface distance of the part and the number of increments; positioning the part at a reference angular start point corresponding to a selected programming point; manipulating the focus head to brine the laser beam into focus at the anile of incidence on the surface of the part at the selected programming point, and storing positional information for the focus head in a path program for the robot; rotating the part by the incremental annular displacement to the next programming point; and repeating the manipulation and rotating steps for each successive programming point.