An apparatus and method for laser processing a stainless steel plate for use in a hydrogen fuel cell comprises securing the stainless steel plate on a fixture and providing a laser beam from a fiber laser sufficient to cut the stainless steel plate. A flow of pure nitrogen gas is provided to an area of the stainless steel plate being cut by the laser beam. Exit ports in the fixture for nitrogen gas to exit from the area being cut such that a sufficient flow of nitrogen is provided to remove laser ablations from the cutting area and to maintain a temperature at the cutting area not deleterious to the stainless steel plate being cut by the laser.

The invention discloses a device for preheating before welding and post-welding heat treatment of tank. The device includes a first roller, two electric heating belts, calipers, a thermostat, two positioners and hinges. Both of the electric heating belts are arranged around the tank and distributed on both sides of the welded seam. A number of calipers are provided on both sides of each electric heating belt, one end of each caliper can operatively clamp the side of the electric heating belt, another end of each caliper is rotatably connected to a first roller. The hinge is connected to the electric heating belt, and one end of the hinge away from the electric heating belt is in a fixed state. The heating temperature of the electric heating belt is controlled, thereby realizing preheating of the tank before welding, heat preservation during welding and post-welding heat treatment without transferring. The electric heating belt will not rotate with the tank to ensure heat evenly, and the equipment connected with the electric heating belt will not be knotted, which improves the practicability.

A method for forming a component includes providing a first layer of a mixture of first and second powders. The method includes determining the frequency of an alternating magnetic field to induce eddy currents sufficient to bulk heat only one of the first and second powders. The alternating magnetic field is applied at the determined frequency to a portion of the first layer of the mixture using a flux concentrator. Exposure to the magnetic field changes the phase of at least a portion of the first powder to liquid. A change in power transferred to the powder during a phase change in the powder is calculated to determine the quality of component formation.

The system comprises a mold (6) which in turn comprises: a weld cavity (4), housings (5) for the components (1) to be welded, a crucible-funnel (7) communicated with the weld cavity (4) for housing filling material (3), at least one additional cavity (10) for housing an exothermic mixture (2); and an inner shell (11) that separates the crucible-funnel (7) and the at least one additional cavity (10) to transmit heat produced in the exothermic reaction from the additional cavity (10) to the crucible-funnel (7). It allows the exothermic mixture to be isolated to avoid contact with the filling material (3) and to prevent it from reaching the weld cavity (4). The system can further include a first filler (13) and a second filler (16), arranged to be mounted over the mold (6) for introducing the filling material (3) and the exothermic mixture (2), respectively.

Strip cladding heads having strip pressure limits and strip cladding systems with strip cladding heads having strip pressure limits are disclosed are disclosed. A disclosed example cladding head for a strip cladding system includes a first contact jaw comprising first and second contacts to deliver welding power to a cladding strip that is driven between the first and second contacts, a first contact pressure adjuster to set a first pressure applied by the first and second contacts to the cladding strip, and a first strip lock preventer to limit the first pressure applied by the first and second contacts to the cladding strip to less than a threshold pressure.

An apparatus and a method for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing involve a multiple-chamber design achieving a high efficiency and throughput. The multiple-chamber design features concurrent printing of one or more print jobs inside one or more build chambers, side removals of printed objects from build chambers allowing quick exchanges of powdered materials, and capabilities of elevated process temperature controls of build chambers and post processing heat treatments of printed objects. The multiple-chamber design also includes a height-adjustable optical assembly in combination with a fixed build platform method suitable for large and heavy printed objects.

Device for thermal joining of a heat exchanger for a motor vehicle. The device has a first and a second locating elements and at least one heat source. The locating elements are designed with at least one thermal insulation and with mutually aligned contact surfaces for joining an object between them. At least one locating element is designed movably in relation to the other locating element. At least the first locating element has at least one thermal mass, which is heatable by means of the heat source. The second locating element has a support element with a contact surface for the object, while at least a first thermal mass of the first locating element has a contact surface for heating the object via heat conduction.

Method for thermal joining with the device. The use of the method for manufacturing a heat exchanger of plate elements for a motor vehicle.

A robotic welding system comprises a supporting arm for attaching to a repositionable support structure, the supporting arm comprising a first mounting portion connectable to the repositionable support structure, and a second mounting portion rotatably coupled to the first mounting portion. A yaw rotary actuator rotates the second mounting portion about a yaw axis. A welding arm comprises a third mounting portion rotatably coupled to the second mounting portion of the supporting arm. A pitch rotary actuator rotates the third mounting portion about a pitch axis generally perpendicular to the yaw axis. A roll rotary actuator rotates a torch holder shaft about a roll axis generally perpendicular to the pitch axis. The shaft has a torch mounting portion for mounting a welding torch at an end thereof. A controller is operably coupled to the actuators to cause the welding torch to execute a welding pattern.

In one example, a system comprises a laser assisted bonding (LAB) tool. The LAB tool comprises a stage block and a first lateral laser source facing the stage block from a lateral side of the stage block. The stage block is configured to support a substrate and a first electronic component coupled with the substrate, and the first electronic component comprises a first interconnect. The first lateral laser source is configured to emit a first lateral laser beam laterally toward the stage block to induce a first heat on the first interconnect to bond the first interconnect with the substrate. Other examples and related methods are also disclosed herein.

The present invention relates to a turntable-type probe pin laser bonding apparatus. More particularly, a dual laser optic module of the turntable-type probe pin bonding apparatus of the present invention provides an integrated dual laser optic module that is overlappingly irradiated on a co-focus by improving the conventional first and second laser optic modules that have been completely separated and arranged independently with different focal points. During laser bonding of probe pins, which are getting miniaturized day by day, the power and density of the first and second laser beams overlappingly irradiated from the integrated dual laser optic module can be precisely controlled so that a turntable-type probe pin laser bonding apparatus of the present invention can significantly improve the bonding defect rate, as well as contribute to high integration and high precision of the apparatus.