Patent ID: 6339207
Filing Date: 2002-01-15
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
An apparatus for joining together proximal edge portions of two workpiece blanks along a seamline comprising,a coherent light source for emitting a composite beam to weld said blanks together along said seamline, said composite beam including a first laser beam and a second laser beam, each of said first and second laser beams being focused towards a portion of said blanks to be welded at respective focal areas having an optic centre, wherein the optic centres of said first and second laser beams are offset from each other and each define points on a focal line of said composite beam, a positioning mechanism operable to selectively alter the orientation of said focal line relative to said portion of said blanks, wherein said positioning mechanism includes at least three fiber optic coherent light source emitters selectively activatable to emit one of said first and second laser beams, a controller for controlling the positioning mechanism to selectively activate said coherent light source emitters to change the orientation of said composite beam and move said focal line to a preset orientation relative to said portion of said blanks to be welded.