US 10,648,056 B2Granted

Method and system for laser hardening of a surface of a workplace

AssigneeEtxe-Tar, S.A.

InventorsJesús Domínguez, Paula Sancho, Olatz Bilbao

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Abstract

A method of laser hardening a surface area of a workpiece, such as a surface of a journal of a crankshaft, includes the step of: generating a relative movement between the surface of the workpiece and a laser source to allow a laser spot to subsequently be projected onto different portions of said surface area. The method also includes the step of repetitively scanning the laser beam so as to produce a two-dimensional equivalent effective laser spot on said surface area, during the relative movement. The scanning pattern can include at least three substantially parallel lines which the laser spot follows in a certain order. When the workpiece includes several journals having different widths, two laser sources may be used to harden the surface area of the wider journals.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method of laser hardening of a surface of a workpiece, the workpiece comprising at least one surface area to be hardened, the method including the steps of:

projecting a laser beam from a laser source onto said surface area, so as to produce a laser spot on said surface area;
generating a relative movement between the surface of the workpiece and the laser source, thereby allowing the laser spot to be subsequently projected onto different portions of said surface area;
and
during the relative movement, repetitively scanning the laser beam across the respective portion of said surface area in two dimensions, following a scanning pattern so as to produce a two-dimensional effective laser spot on said surface area, said effective laser spot having an energy distribution,
wherein due to the relative movement, said effective laser spot travels along said surface area;
wherein said scanning pattern comprises at least three segments, and wherein said scanning of the laser beam is carried out so that said laser beam follows at least one of said segments more frequently than said laser beam follows at least another one of said segments.

3 more elements

A method of laser hardening of surfaces of journals of a crankshaft, said crankshaft having at least a first journal having a first width and at least a second journal having a second width, said second width being larger than said first width, each of said journals comprising a surface area to be hardened, said surface area extending in a first direction corresponding to a circumferential direction of the journal, and in a second direction parallel with an axis of rotation of the crankshaft, the method comprising:

A) during at least one stage of the method, simultaneously projecting a laser beam from a first laser source and a laser beam from a second laser source onto said surface area of said second journal;
and
B) during at least another stage of the method, projecting a laser beam from said first laser source onto said surface area of said first journal, while simultaneously projecting a laser beam from said second laser source onto another portion of a crankshaft,
wherein during at least one stage of the method, the laser beam from the first laser source is projected onto a journal of one crankshaft, and the laser beam from the second laser source is projected onto a journal of another crankshaft.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/125,063Filed 11 Feb 2015
Priority: EP 1438208611 Mar 2014
Published: US 2017/0022584 A126 Jan 2017
Granted: 12 May 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification15 codes

C21D 10/005
Modifying the physical properties by methods other than heat treatment or deformation: by laser shock processing
B23K 26/0604
Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing: by a combination of beams
B23K 26/082
Devices involving relative movement between laser beam and workpiece: scanning systems, i.e. devices involving movement of the laser beam relative…
B23K 26/0823
Devices involving relative movement between laser beam and workpiece: devices involving rotation of the workpiece