A HYBRID WELDING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM AND METHOD OF WELDING

摘要

A hybrid welding apparatus, and a system (10) and method for welding at least two adjacent components having a large gap (50) of approximately 3.0 millimeters that results in a full-penetration weld (54) is provided. The welding system (10) includes a hybrid welder (20) having a defocused laser beam (30), an electric arc welder (40), and at least one bridge piece (60) adjacent to one or more of the at least two adjacent components (62, 64). The defocused laser beam (30) and the electric arc welder (40) are arranged and disposed to direct energy onto the at least two adjacent components (62, 64) to create a common molten pool (52) operable to provide a full penetration weld (54) to bridge the gap (50) at a high constant weld speed, thereby joining the two adjacent components (62, 64) with a weld (54).