TUBE SEAM WELD STATION AND WELD SHOES

摘要

A welding station includes a weld shoe with a tube contact surface adjacent to a seam being welded to control the height and/or location of the tube at the seam. This facilitates alignment of the edges of the tube before, during and after the edges are welded together. The shoe provides a reduced contact surface area that may reduce heat build-up and friction, as well as reduce the build-up of any coatings, like zinc, or contaminants on the shoe contact surface. Among other things, this extends the useful life of a shoe and/or its contact surface, and reduces the need to clean the contact surfaces, all of which reduce the downtime of the weld station. Production rates may also be increased, and the rate of rejected parts may be decreased.

主权项

1. A laser welding apparatus, comprising:
a laser beam generator providing a laser beam onto a workpiece at a weld location; a weld station having an inlet side into which a workpiece to be welded is moved and an outlet side from which a welded portion of the workpiece is moved; and at least one weld shoe carried by the weld station and having a contact surface arranged to engage a portion of the workpiece upstream of the weld location to positively locate said portion of the workpiece for the welding operation and wherein the contact surface terminates at or upstream of the weld location.