Laser Welding Application in Car Body Manufacturing

Laser welding application for car body manufacturing has many advantages in the stiffness and the lightness of vehicle, the productivity of assembly line, and the degree of freedom in design. This presentation will express the innovation of car body manufacturing including parameter optimization, process modeling, and system integration. In this application the investment for systems was cut down dramatically by real time switching over the laser path between two welding stations. Points of technical discussion are as follows; optimization of parameters such as laser power, robot speed and trajectory, compact and useful design of jig & fixture to assure welding quality for 3 sheet-layer zinc-coated steel, system integration between 4㎾ Nd:YAG laser device and the other systems, on-line real time welding quality monitoring system, perfect safety standards for high power laser, minimization of consumption costs such as arc lamp, protective glass for optic, etc. This application was successfully launched mass production line in 2001. The laser-welded line of side panel consists of 122 stitches totally. And the length is about 2.4m.