IP Library Granted Patent US 12,708,958
Granted Patent B2
US 12,708,958 · App. 17/457,573 · Granted Aug 18, 2026

Welding method and welding apparatus

Inventors: Takashi Kayahara (Tokyo, JP); Takeshi Tanabe (Tokyo, JP); Tomomichi Yasuoka (Tokyo, JP); Takashi Shigematsu (Tokyo, JP); Tomofumi Sato (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
B23K26/067B23K26/064B23K26/08B23K26/21B23K2103/10
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,708,958
App. No.
17/457,573
Granted
Aug 18, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A welding method includes: placing a workpiece including aluminum in a region to which laser light is emitted; and irradiating the laser light to the workpiece to melt an irradiated portion of the work piece to perform welding. Further, the laser light is formed of a main beam and plural auxiliary beams, and the plural auxiliary beams are positioned so as to surround a periphery of the main beam.

Claims (58)

1 . A welding method comprising:

placing a workpiece including aluminum in a region to which laser light is emitted; and

irradiating the laser light to the workpiece to melt an irradiated portion of the work piece to perform welding, wherein

the laser light is formed of a main beam and a plurality of auxiliary beams,

the plurality of auxiliary beams are positioned to overlap each other continuously so as to form a single ring shape with the main beam as a center of the single ring shape,

a ratio between power of the main beam and a total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9 to 3:7,

a sweep speed of the laser light is 16.7 mm/sec to 300 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with a laser output of 4 kW to 12 kW.

2 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein

the laser light and the workpiece are moved relatively to each other so that the laser light sweeps the workpiece to perform welding by melting.

3 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein the workpiece includes at least two members to be welded together, and when the workpiece is placed in the region to which the laser light is emitted, the at least two members are superimposed onto each other, brought into contact with each other, or placed adjacently to each other.

4 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein the laser light is split into the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams by a beam shaper and emitted to the workpiece.

5 . The welding method according to claim 4 , wherein the beam shaper is a diffractive optical element.

6 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein the workpiece is pure aluminum, an aluminum-copper alloy, an aluminum-manganese alloy, an aluminum-silicon alloy, an aluminum-magnesium alloy, an aluminum-magnesium-silicon alloy, an aluminum-zinc-magnesium alloy, or an aluminum-zinc-magnesium-copper alloy.

7 . A welding apparatus, comprising:

a laser device; and

an optical head configured to emitting laser light output from the laser device to a workpiece including aluminum and melting an irradiated portion of the workpiece to perform welding, wherein

the laser light emitted to the workpiece is formed of a main beam and a plurality of auxiliary beams,

the plurality of auxiliary beams are positioned to overlap each other continuously so as to form a single ring shape with the main beam as a center of the single ring shape,

a ratio between power of the main beam and a total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9 to 3:7,

a sweep speed of the laser light is 16.7 mm/sec to 300 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with a laser output of 4 kW to 12 kW.

8 . The welding apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein

the optical head is configured to enable the laser light and the workpiece to move relatively to each other, sweeps the workpiece with the laser light, and perform welding by the melting.

9 . The welding apparatus according to claim 7 , comprising a beam shaper that splits the laser light into the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams.

10 . The welding apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the beam shaper is a diffractive optical element.

11 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 83.3 mm/sec to 300 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 5 kW to 11 kW.

12 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 33.3 mm/sec to 200 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 5 kW to 8 kW.

13 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 3:7,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 100 mm/sec to 300 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 4 kW to 6 kW.

14 . The welding method according to claim 1 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 16.7 mm/sec to 183.3 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 6 kW to 12 kW.

15 . The welding apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 83.3 mm/sec to 300 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 5 kW to 11 kW.

16 . The welding apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 33.3 mm/sec to 200 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 5 kW to 8 kW.

17 . The welding apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 3:7,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 100 mm/sec to 300 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 4 kW to 6 kW.

18 . The welding apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein

the ratio between the power of the main beam and the total power of the plurality of auxiliary beams is 1:9,

the sweep speed of the laser light is 16.7 mm/sec to 183.3 mm/sec, and

the main beam and the plurality of auxiliary beams are generated with the laser output of 6 kW to 12 kW.