Three-Axis Laser Welding Machine for Fan Blades of Motor Rotor Cores

Fan Blade Three-Axis Laser Welding Cell: Ten Blades Clamped At Once, A Part Every Twenty Seconds

Application story  ·  1500 W three-axis laser welding of fan blades onto a motor rotor core, two stations in one bench

The part is a rotor core with a ring of thin fan blades around it. Every blade has to be pressed flat against the core and welded along its root - the same short seam, ten times, at the same height and the same angle. Done by hand the tenth seam never matches the first. Here the fixture clamps the whole ring in one movement and the laser head travels the seam for each blade in turn.

The cell: laser head on its three-axis gantry over the rotary fixture, laser source built into the frame, chiller at the rear and touch screen on the swing arm

Ten Blades, One Clamp-Up

Each blade is a thin stamped part and its position against the core decides how the weld looks and how the fan balances. Placing ten of them by hand, one after another, gives ten slightly different gaps - and a weld that burns through the thin edge on one blade and sits on the surface of the next.

The fixture takes that job away from the operator. Blades are dropped into the locating slots around the hub, the start button fires a ring of pneumatic clamps, and all blades are pressed onto the core at the same time with the same force. The gap under every blade is then set by the fixture, not by the operator's hand.

The part: rotor core with a full ring of fan blades; the seam to be welded runs along the root of each blade

Three Axes Follow The Seam, Not A Straight Line

A blade root is a curve, and it sits at a different angle at each of the ten positions. The laser head is carried on X, Y and Z servo modules, so the seam is followed as a path from a stored program rather than as a straight push. Once the path for one blade is taught, the fixture indexes and the same path runs again at the next position - the geometry repeats, so the program repeats.

The weld is made by a 1500 W fibre laser in self-melting mode: no filler wire, no flux, and a narrow heat input that keeps the thin blade edge from pulling away from the core. Weld speed is about 15 mm/s along a seam of about 30 mm, which is where the cycle time comes from.

Head on the Z column over the fixture: the seam is welded with the beam vertical to the blade root, the pneumatic clamps holding the ring closed

Two Stations, Load One While The Other Welds

The bench carries two rotary stations. Each has its own clamp ring and its own index motor, and both are served by the same gantry: the head welds the station under it while the operator unloads and reloads the other one. On a single-station order the cell simply runs one side.

Between blades the fixture rotates by one pitch - about a second - and the head picks up the next seam. When the last blade is welded the clamps release, the operator lifts the rotor out and drops in the next core.

Layout: two rotary stations on the bench, one three-axis gantry between them, chiller at the rear and the HMI on a swing arm - 3D layout for reference, final machine built to the agreed design

Clamp ring in the fixture: one pneumatic cylinder per blade, all pressing on the blade at the same moment

What The Operator Actually Does

01   Place the rotor core in the locating seat and drop the blades into their slots

02   Press start - the clamp ring closes and presses every blade onto the core

03   The gantry brings the head to the first blade root and welds along the seam

04   The fixture indexes by one pitch and the head welds the next blade

05   Repeat until the ring is closed, then the clamps release

06   Lift the finished rotor out and load the next core

07   With two stations, step 6 happens on the other side while the first one welds

Weld speed is about 15 mm/s on a seam of about 30 mm, indexing between blades takes about a second, and the cell runs at roughly 20 seconds per part - the exact figure depends on the blade path and on how quickly the operator loads. The laser parameters, the seam path and the number of blades are stored per part, so a second product is a program and a fixture change.

Welding with the monitor in view: the camera image on the screen shows the seam under the beam, and the extraction hood takes the fume away from the operator

Watching The Seam While It Is Made

The head is set up on the seam with the monitor beside it, so the operator can see the weld pool position without leaning into the cell. The seam is short and the beam is narrow, which means a misplaced start shows up immediately on the screen rather than at the balancing station.

The laser source sits inside the machine frame and is cooled by the separate chiller behind the bench - a sealed water circuit, no plant water needed. The bench is built as one unit: frame, gantry, two stations, chiller, HMI and the control cabinet, delivered assembled and run off on sample parts before it ships. Lead time is 30 working days.

Seam under the beam: a 30 mm self-melting weld along the blade root, no filler wire, heat kept to the joint

Key Specifications

Where It Welds

· Axial fans and cooling fans with a welded blade ring

· Motor rotors with stamped fan blades welded to the core

· Centrifugal impellers and blower wheels with blade assemblies

· Appliance fan rotors - vacuum cleaners, dryers, air movers

· Similar thin-blade-to-core laser seams in small motor products

The fixture is built from the customer's part drawing or sample. We run the first parts on the bench and set the seam path and the laser parameters on the real blade before the machine ships.

How A Custom Cell Is Built

01   Part drawing, blade material and seam review

02   Weld trial on sample blades in our workshop

03   Process proposal and quotation

04   Fixture and clamp ring design in 3D

05   Gantry, laser and control integration

06   Assembly, run-off and weld trial before shipment

07   Delivery and on-site installation

08   Seam path teaching and operator training

09   After-sales service and spare parts

Talk to Pudian Technology

Guangdong Pudian Automation Technology Co., Ltd builds laser and resistance welding equipment in-house - laser cells, fixtures, gantries and controls - one team, one solution. Send us the blade, the core and the seam you need, and we will weld a sample and send it back with a parameter sheet.