The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 14, 1993
Filed:
Mar. 06, 1992
Vanon D Pratt, Hamilton, OH (US);
Paul J Monson, Loveland, OH (US);
Stephen Aleshin, Cincinnati, OH (US);
General Electric Company, Cincinnati, OH (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for welding together a plurality of portions of a workpiece with a complex geometric surface includes a laser source for generating a laser beam; the laser source is positioned at a predetermined distance from the workpiece portions to form a weld bead of a selected width. The apparatus also includes a powder feed mechanism with a nozzle for depositing a chosen volume of powder per unit of time onto the workpiece surface. The powder feed nozzle includes a structure for preventing a reflected laser beam from the workpiece surface and the weld bead from being incident upon an orifice of the nozzle and thereby preventing the powder from melting and clogging the nozzle orifice. Either the workpiece or the laser source in combination with the powder feed mechanism may be mounted on a manipulator arrangement for moving either the workpiece portions or the combination of the laser source and powder feed mechanism relative to one another to deposit the weld bead along a predetermined weld path.