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. 23, 1997
Filed:
Apr. 22, 1994
Henry Peter Offer, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Lawrence Michael Grycko, Lockport, IL (US);
General Electric Company, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A welding process and an apparatus used therein for providing a significant improvement in the detrimental tensile residual stress condition on the root side of welds, especially on the inside wall of piping welds. The method combines an extremely thin weld joint design with a non-circular cylindrical, thin welding electrode having an elongated cross-sectional shape. During welding, the elongated dimension is aligned parallel with the length of the weld joint. This combination enables joining of piping and other residual stress-sensitive components with both the initial weld joint preparation and the completed weld having a uniquely thin width and with a high aspect ratio of depth to width. Use of this high-aspect-ratio weld joint process substantially mitigates welding-induced residual stresses, without the normally required internal water cooling. The process is considered to be effective in mitigating residual stresses and the associated welding strains (distortion) in joints having any path shape, whether welded from one or more sides of the material.