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. 16, 1997
Filed:
May. 03, 1996
Applicant:
Inventors:
William E Pirl, Penn Twp., PA (US);
Wesley G Pope, Port Vue, PA (US);
William G Cole, Greensburg, PA (US);
Rodney A Lutz, Penn Township, PA (US);
Frank X Ponko, Youngwood, PA (US);
Assignee:
Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B23K / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
21912164 ; 21912163 ; 376260 ;
Abstract
A laser welding apparatus and method are used to weld the inner surface of small diameter tubes such as nuclear heat exchanger tubes. A weld filler metal carried by a rotatable laser weld head is fed into the weld zone to produce deeply penetrating weldments of low profile. The apparatus and method can effectively be used to repair cracks in heat exchanger tubes to thereby provide extended service life.