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AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsWilliam E. Pirl, Edward H. Smith, Charles H. Roth, Jr., Rodney A. Lutz, John J. Anderson
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Both a system and method are provided for laser welding the inner walls of conduits, such as the sleeves used to repair the heat exchanger tubes of nuclear steam generators. The system generally comprises an elongated tubular housing, a fiber-optic cable for conducting remotely generated laser light into the tubular housing, a beam deflection mechanism supported within the distal end of the tubular housing and including a rotating mirror for radially reflecting and focusing light received from the fiber-optic cable around the inner wall of the sleeve, and a tracking assembly mounted on the distal end of the tubular housing for maintaining a constant radial distance between the mirror of the beam deflection mechanism and the inner wall of the sleeve despite any irregularities which may be present in the roundness of the sleeve. The tracking assembly includes at least one roller which is resiliently mounted in the tubular housing of the system behind the front portion of the mirror of the beam deflection mechanism. To facilitate mirror replacement, the distal end of the tubular housing is easily removable. To ensure reliable rotation of movement, an electric motor and gear train is mounted in the proximal end of the tubular housing. Finally, the fiber-optic cable that extends through the proximal end of the tubular housing is configured to traverse the electric motor and drive train with a single S bend in order to maintain a high light transmission efficiency through the cable.
A system for laser welding the inner wall of a conduit, comprising:
A system for laser welding the inner wall of a tube, comprising
A system for laser welding the inner wall of a tube, comprising
A system for laser welding the inner wall of a tube, comprising
A system for laser welding the inner wall of a tube, comprising
A method of laser welding the inner wall of a conduit by means of an elongated housing, a fiber-optic cable means that conducts remotely generated laser light into the housing, a beam deflection mechanism rotatably supported within the housing having a front portion for radially directing and focusing laser light around the inner wall of the conduit, comprising the step of simultaneously biasing the front portion of the beam deflection mechanism while rotating the mechanism to maintain a constant distance between the front portion of said mechanism and said inner wall while said mechanism radially directs a beam of laser light around said inner wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.