Patent ID: 8487990

Claim:
A method for positioning a master part with respect to a laser welding head, comprising the steps of: receiving a camera image of the master part, the master part having a reference marker and being fixed to a supporting body such that the reference marker is visible in the camera image and the master part is moveable along with the supporting body, emitting a positioning laser beam from the laser welding head onto the reference marker on the master part, such that the positioning laser beam creates a pointer that is visible in the camera image, determining a first position of the pointer with respect to the reference marker on the master part based on the camera image, and controlling a positioning unit to move either the laser welding head or the supporting body and master part in order to move the pointer from the first position to a predetermined second position with respect to the reference marker based on the camera image, emitting a welding laser beam from the laser welding head to perform a welding operation, wherein the positioning laser beam and the welding laser beam are emitted by the laser welding head through the same optical path extending from the laser welding head to the master part.