Bending structure and method for producing same
AssigneeNHK Spring Co., Ltd.
InventorsTakafumi Hirata, Yuki Hotoda, Yuki Hayakawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bending structure includes a bending part that is elastically bendable with respect to the axial direction, a movable part serving as an end member that is attached to an end of the bending part in the axial direction, a thin part that is formed at the movable part and is thinner than the movable part in the axial direction, a notch that is provided at the movable part and exposes the thin part in the axial direction in a manner capable of being irradiated with a laser light of laser welding, and a welding part that is formed at the thin part by laser welding and joins the thin part to the bending part.
Claims8
A bending structure comprising:
- a bending part that is elastically bendable with respect to an axial direction;
- an end member that is attached to an end of the bending part in the axial direction;
- a thin part that is formed at the end member and is thinner than the end member in the axial direction;
- an exposing part that is provided at the end member and exposes the thin part in the axial direction in a manner capable of being irradiated with a laser light of laser welding;
- and
- a welding part that is formed at the thin part by the laser welding and joins the thin part to the bending part,
- wherein the thin part is composed of a plate material that is laminated and joined to the end member.
A method for producing a bending structure, which attaches an end member by laser welding to an end in an axial direction of a bending part that is elastically bendable with respect to the axial direction to produce a bending structure, the method for producing a bending structure comprising:
- forming a thin part, which is thinner than the end member in the axial direction, at the end member, and exposing the thin part by an exposing part provided at the end member in a manner capable of being irradiated with a laser light of the laser welding;
- positioning the end member with respect to the bending part to cause the thin part to be located on a bending part side;
- and
- joining the thin part to the bending part by the laser welding via the exposing part,
- wherein the thin part is formed by laminating and joining a plate material to the end member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.