E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Susumu Fujita

Hideo Nakamura

Toshio Watanabe

Katsuhiko Nakajima

Hiroshi Mori

Mitsunobu Nakatani

A method and apparatus for welding members formed of thermoplastic resin material, with high welding strength and small strength variations. A laser welding apparatusbrings a first memberformed of a transmissive thermoplastic resin that transmits a laser beam into contact with a second memberformed of an absorptive thermoplastic resin that absorbs the laser beam, and joins the thermoplastic resin members by melting their contact surfaceswith the laser beam. The laser welding apparatusfurther comprises a laser beam generatorfor irradiating the contact surfaces with the laser beam shone from the side of the first memberso as to melt at least one of the contact surfaces of the first member and the second member. The apparatus also comprises a clamp mechanismfor pressing the first member and the second member together, a temperature sensoras an adjusting means for adjusting the pressing force applied to the first member and the second member, and a personal computerfor calculating the pressing force based on the output of the temperature sensor. The clamp mechanism is controlled with the calculated pressing force.

Method and apparatus for laser welding thermoplastic resin members

Resin air intake system provided with intake control valve

Growing community of inventors

Shimotsuke, Japan

Susumu Fujita