Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080217377 | Fracture Resistant Friction Stir Welding Tool - Friction stir welding tool to facilitate stress reduction within the tool that may include a body, a pin, a tension member, and an end assembly, the tension member and end assembly facilitating axial compression of the pin. The tension member may be decoupled from the pin and/or body of the tool via one or more decoupling members. The end assembly may comprise spring members to provide an axial force to the tension member. The pin may include various features to facilitate stress reduction proximal the pin. | 09-11-2008 |
20090065553 | FRICTION STIR WELDING APPARATUS - Portable friction stir welding apparatus having a crawler which supports a motor for rotating a Friction Stir Welding tool and is coupled to a drive mechanism for urging the crawler along a predefined weld path on work pieces. The crawler can comprise one member or a set of two or three physically separated members each rotatably coupled to the friction stir welding tool. When one member is used to make a weld, it is located on top of the work pieces. When two members are used to make a weld, one member is located on the top of the work pieces and the second member is located on bottom of the work pieces. When three members are used to make two welds simultaneously on an upper work piece and a lower work pieces, one member of the crawler is located on the top surface of the upper work piece, a second member is located between the two work pieces, and a third member is located on the bottom surface of the lower work piece. The friction stir welding tool for making the weld is rotatably coupled to each member and restricts axial displacement of the physically separate members relative to each other. The members are adapted to engage rails on the work pieces which provide at least one of guiding, alignment, fixturing, torque compensation for the members as the friction stir welding tool is rotated and the crawler is moved along a joint. | 03-12-2009 |
20090230173 | ADVANCED MULTI-SHOULDERED FIXED BOBBIN TOOLS FOR SIMULTANEOUS FRICTION STIR WELDING OF MULTIPLE PARALLEL WALLS BETWEEN PARTS - The present invention discloses a multi-shouldered friction stir welding tool. The multi-shouldered friction stir welding tool comprises an integral shank-pin unit having a plurality of pin portions on the shank-pin unit, where the plurality of pin portions for driving into a plurality of joints to perform a friction stir welding operation on the corresponding plurality of joints and, where a shank portion of the shank-pin unit is for attachment to an optional axial tension rod, each of the friction stir welding modules comprises a pair of shoulders that is connected to the shank-pin unit where each shoulder has a distal end and a proximal end, where the proximal end of each shoulder faces the pin portion of the shank-pin unit, whereby the shoulder and pin(s) rotate in unison, and a pair of split collars or a pair of nuts that is connected to the shank-pin unit and faces the distal end of each shoulder, where the plurality of friction stir welding modules are connected to each other whereby the modules rotate in unison to simultaneously make a plurality of parallel welds. In addition, a method of friction stir welding a plurality of joints simultaneously comprising using at least one multi-shouldered friction stir welding tool is provided. | 09-17-2009 |
20100108742 | FRACTURE RESISTANT FRICTION STIR WELDING TOOLS - Friction stir welding tool to facilitate stress reduction within the tool that may include a body, a pin, a tension member, and an end assembly, the tension member and end assembly facilitating axial compression of the pin. The tension member may be decoupled from the pin and/or body of the tool via one or more decoupling members. The end assembly may comprise spring members to provide an axial force to the tension member. The pin may include various features to facilitate stress reduction proximal the pin. | 05-06-2010 |
20100163603 | ADVANCED MULTI-SHOULDERED FIXED BOBBIN TOOLS FOR SIMULTANEOUS FRICTION STIR WELDING OF MULTIPLE PARALLEL WALLS BETWEEN PARTS - A multi-shouldered friction stir welding tool ( | 07-01-2010 |
20120325895 | ADVANCED MULTI-SHOULDERED FIXED BOBBIN TOOLS FOR SIMULTANEOUS FRICTION STIR WELDING OF MULTIPLE PARALLEL WALLS BETWEEN PARTS - A multi-shouldered friction stir welding tool comprises an exterior threaded solid pin having a diameter and a length; a shoulder having a threadless inner diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the exterior threaded solid pin and at least one substantially radial threaded set screw hole; an monolithic shoulder-shank having a threadless inner diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the exterior threaded solid pin and at least one substantially radial threaded set screw hole; a pair of locking nuts having a threadless outer diameter and a threaded inner diameter operably compatable with the exterior threaded solid pin, wherein the shoulder and the monolithic shoulder-shank are capable of slidable engagement with the exterior threaded solid pin along the length of the exterior threaded solid pin to set a space slightly larger than a thickness of a work piece to be welded. | 12-27-2012 |