Laser pipe welder/cutter
AssigneeUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
InventorBrooke A. Ward
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laser pipe welder/cutter for use where a pipe to be welded or cut cannot be rotated, consisting of a focusing head mounted on a carriage which runs on a track surrounding a hole in a base plate through which a section of pipe to be operated upon can project. The focusing head is arranged to maintain the laser beam at normal incidence to the pipe as it traverses around the pipe and is linked to a laser source via a flexible laser beam guide which consists of at least two rigid sections joined by optical elbow joints which permit motion about two mutually perpendicular axes, the lengths of the rigid sections being such that the laser focusing head can traverse more than a full circle around the pipe without the rigid sections of the laser beam guide coming into contact with the pipe.
Claims3
A laser processing apparatus comprising, a focusing head which is mounted on a carriage which is adapted to follow a closed path around a position at which a stationary workpiece to be processed by a laser beam may be placed whilst maintaining the laser beam at normal incidence to the workpiece and bringing it to a focus at the surface of the workpiece, a flexible laser beam guide connecting the focusing head to a stationary laser beam guide, the flexible laser beam guide including at least three optical elbow joints each having an angular movement of more than two hundred and seventy degrees and means for reflecting the laser beam from one optical elbow joint to another and thence to the focusing head, a first of the optical elbow joints being associated with the focusing head, a second of the optical elbow joints being associated with the fixed laser beam guide and the third optical elbow joint being intermediate the first and second optical elbow joints and separated from them by distances such that the focusing head can traverse more than a full circuit around the workpiece without the flexible beam guide coming into contact with the workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.