Cladding apparatus and method

摘要

The inventions disclosed by this application are for a cladding apparatus, a cladding head, and a method of cladding a relatively planar solid object such as a boiler waterwall. Cladding of non-horizontal surfaces is complicated by the effects of gravity as melted clad material trends to runoff the surface before the cladding material bonds to the appropriate location. The disclosed inventions overcome these limitations by controlling the relative angle of application by either rotating the workpiece or the cladding head through a pre-programmed sequence. Also presented in a compact design for a laser cladding head that facilitates such cladding by minimizing movement of the laser fiber and improves cladding speed over irregular shaped objects.

主权项

1. A metal cladding apparatus for cladding a workpiece comprising:
a. a cladding head, wherein said cladding head has a first end and a second end; b. wherein a laser energy is provided from a laser source to said first end and a focus laser beam is imparted from said second end to melt a cladding material; c. a cladding head motion system, that positions said second end of said cladding head above and directed toward a surface of a workpiece; d. a workpiece holding device that has means to maintain said workpiece at a relative angle to said focus laser beam projected from said second end of said cladding head; e. wherein said cladding head motion system is comprised of a gantry, a means of support for said gantry, and a track that extends along the length of said workpiece holding device, wherein said cladding head motion system has means to move said gantry along the length of said track; wherein said cladding head is attached to said gantry and wherein said cladding head has means to move along the length of said gantry; f. wherein said cladding head motion system also has means to move said focus laser beam projected from second end of said cladding head in a side-by-side sweeping motion to produce a first line of clad on said surface of said workpiece; g. wherein said cladding head motion system subsequently moves said cladding head incrementally in a direction perpendicular to said first line of clad where a second line of clad is laid adjacent to and continuous with said first line of clad through a subsequent side-by-side sweeping motion; h. wherein further repetition of said incremental movement of said cladding head in said direction perpendicular to said first and second lines followed by said side-by-side sweeping motion produces a first strip of clad on said workpiece; i. wherein a second strip of clad is laid on an unclad area of said workpiece through movement of the cladding head along the length of said gantry to said unclad location, followed by producing a first line of said second strip of clad through said side-by-side sweeping motions, followed by said incremental movement in a direction perpendicular to said first line of said second strip, followed by producing a second line of said second strip through said side-by-side sweeping motions, followed by subsequent repetitive said incremental movement and said cladding of lines until said second strip is completed; j. wherein said motion of said cladding head along the length of said gantry allows for cladding additional strips on said workpiece through repeated said side-by-side sweeping motions followed by said incremental movement of said cladding head in said direction perpendicular to said side-by-side sweeping motions until said additional strips are completed; and k. a control system configured to control said motion of said cladding head motion system and said cladding head.