Laser-welded driveshaft and method of making same
OwnerSuresh Raghavan, Mark L. Berns +2inventors
InventorsSuresh Raghavan, Mark L. Berns, Robert Dines, David M. Douglass
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Abstract
The present invention involves a laser-welded driveshaft and method of making same. The laser-welded driveshaft comprises a tube and a yoke laser welded to the tube. The tube has a driveshaft wall extending to an open end, wherein the wall has inner and outer surfaces. The yoke includes a tube-engaging pilot which is disposed through the open end and the yoke is laser-welded to the open end of the tube.
Claims20
A method of laser-welding a tube-yoke interface for a vehicle driveshaft, the method comprising:
- providing the driveshaft including a tube having an open end and a yoke having a tube-engaging pilot;
- disposing the tube-engaging pilot through the open end to engage the pilot and the tube, defining the tube-yoke interface;
- and
- laser-welding the yoke and the tube at the tube-yoke interface forming a welding joint to define the driveshaft.
A laser-welded driveshaft comprising:
- a tube having a driveshaft wall extending to an open end, the wall having inner and outer surfaces;
- and
- a yoke laser-welded to the open end of the tube.
A laser-welded driveshaft comprising:
- a tube having a driveshaft wall extending to an open end, the wall having inner and outer surfaces;
- and
- a yoke Nd:YAG laser-welded to the open end of the tube, the yoke having a body portion and a tube-engaging pilot extending from the body portion, the body portion having a head and an outer wall extending therefrom to the tube-engaging pilot, the pilot having a contact wall extending from the outer wall defining an outer shoulder to engage the open end of the tube, the contact wall being radially formed to insert through the open end and engage the inner surface of the driveshaft wall.
A method of laser-welding a tube-yoke interface for an aluminum vehicle driveshaft, the method comprising:
- providing the aluminum driveshaft including a tube having an open end and a yoke having a tube-engaging pilot;
- disposing the tube-engaging pilot through the open end to engage the pilot and the tube, defining the tube-yoke interface;
- and
- YAG laser-welding the yoke and the tube with a feed wire at the tube-yoke interface forming a welding joint to define the driveshaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.