CN114346491A - Optical component protection method and device applied to laser processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an optical component protection method and a device thereof.A gas protection device is coaxially arranged below an optical component along a light emergent direction, and at least two kinds of jet air flows with preset flow forms are generated in the gas protection device and used for preventing splashes and smoke dust generated during laser processing from flowing backwards upwards along an air blowing channel, so that the service life of an optical device in an optical path is effectively protected.

Description

Optical component protection method and device applied to laser processing equipment

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of laser processing, in particular to an optical component protection method and device applied to laser processing equipment.

[ background of the invention ]

The focusing lens is easily contaminated by metal vapor and splashed by liquid droplets during laser processing, and particularly during high-power welding, since the jet becomes very powerful, it is more necessary to protect the lens.

In the processing process, if the operation is not proper or the welding environment is complex, the phenomenon of burning of the protective lens often occurs, the protective lens is closer to the focus lens, if the phenomenon of burning of the protective lens is not found in time, the damage of the focus lens can be caused, meanwhile, the damage of an optical element of the whole welding gun can be caused, and the damage of the whole welding gun can be caused more seriously; a small amount of fine spatter flows backwards into the handheld welding gun, and the burning of the focusing lens is still easily caused in the high-temperature processing process.

[ summary of the invention ]

The embodiment of the invention aims to provide a method for effectively protecting an optical component, which can effectively prevent fine splashes from flowing backwards into laser processing equipment, particularly a handheld welding device, so that the probability of burning optical lenses is reduced.

The embodiment of the invention adopts the following technical scheme for solving the technical problems:

a method of protecting an optical assembly in a laser processing apparatus, comprising: and arranging jet air flow with at least two preset flow forms at the downstream of the optical path of the laser processing equipment, wherein the jet air flow is used for preventing splashes and smoke generated during laser processing from flowing backwards upwards.

In some embodiments, the last section of the jet air flow flows out of the laser processing equipment in a direct current mode, and the direct current jet air flow covers the laser spot processing area and simultaneously blows off splashes and smoke generated in the processing process.

In some embodiments, at least one section of the jet air flow flows in a spiral surrounding mode in the laser processing equipment at a constant speed, and the peripheral flow speed and the central flow speed of the spiral jet air flow are consistent and used for blowing out splashed materials and smoke which flow backwards into the laser processing equipment.

In some embodiments, at least one section of the jet air flow is formed by a plurality of inclined fine air flows which are converged in front of the optical assembly to form a wind blocking wall for blocking splashes and smoke flowing backwards into the interior of the laser processing equipment to the front of the optical assembly.

In some embodiments, a plurality of protective lenses are provided between the optical assembly and the jet of air, wherein at least one protective lens adjacent to the jet of air is removably replaceable.

In some embodiments, the jet of gas comprises at least two flow rates, wherein at least a portion of the gas flow in the middle zone has a lower flow rate than the gas flow in the two end zones.

The embodiment of the invention also provides an optical component protection device in the laser processing equipment, which comprises at least one gas protection device, wherein the gas protection device is coaxially arranged below the optical component and generates at least two jet air flows with preset flow forms, so that splashes and smoke generated in the laser processing are prevented from flowing backwards upwards.

In some embodiments, the optical component protection device includes an air flow injection device, the air flow injection device includes at least one air inlet channel and an air blowing channel, the air inlet channel is communicated with the air blowing channel and forms a certain inclination angle with the axis of the air blowing channel, so that the introduced protective gas enters the air blowing channel through the air inlet channel in a spiral winding manner, and the peripheral flow rate and the central flow rate of the spiral-shaped injection air flow are consistent, so as to blow out the splashes and the smoke dust flowing back into the laser processing equipment.

In some embodiments, the gas protecting device further includes a wind wall device, the wind wall device is disposed between the optical assembly and the airflow injection device, the wind wall device includes at least one air inlet channel and an air blowing channel, a plurality of airflow nozzles arranged at an inclined angle are disposed on an inner wall of the air blowing channel, at least one path of the protecting gas is introduced from the air inlet channel and is ejected from the airflow nozzles, and a blocking wind wall is formed below the optical assembly for blocking the remaining splashes and the smoke.

In some embodiments, the optical module further comprises a lens protection device, the lens protection device is coaxially installed between the optical assembly and the gas protection device along the light outgoing direction, the lens protection device comprises a plurality of protection lenses, and at least one protection lens is detachably installed.

Through the protective design of the protective glasses, the technical scheme adopted by the invention can effectively protect the service life of optical devices in the optical path, and has obvious effect from the practical verification result, the protective glasses are not burnt after being continuously processed for 96 hours, the protective glasses are detached from a welding gun as new, and the glasses are clean and dustless.

[ description of the drawings ]

One or more embodiments are illustrated in drawings corresponding to, and not limiting to, the embodiments, in which elements having the same reference number designation may be represented as similar elements, unless specifically noted, the drawings in the figures are not to scale.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an integrated handheld laser processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system of the integrated hand-held laser processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a laser processing head in the integrated handheld laser processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a laser processing head of the integrated handheld laser processing system of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a cooling block for an end cap of an integrated hand-held laser machining system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a cooling block for other optical components of the integrated hand-held laser processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the air flow in the air wall ring of the integrated hand-held laser machining system of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8A is a schematic view of the flow of a viscous fluid within a tube according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8B is a schematic view of the flow of a viscous fluid within a tube according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an exit nozzle in the integrated handheld laser processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the flow of a helical gas stream in an exit nozzle of an integrated hand-held laser machining system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[ detailed description ] embodiments

In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, the invention is described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific examples. It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to"/"mounted to" another element, it can be directly on the other element or one or more intervening elements may be present therebetween. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may be present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "left," "right," "inner," "outer," and the like as used herein are for descriptive purposes only.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Furthermore, the technical features mentioned in the different embodiments of the invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

In order to explain the technical solution described in the present application, the following description will be given by way of specific examples.

Referring to fig. 1, a schematic structural diagram of an integrated handheld laser processing system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is provided, where the handheld laser processing system 100 includes a laser 110, a cable transmission tube 120, and a handheld laser processing head 130. The laser 110 is used as a light source to output laser, and is also used as a processing control center, the laser processing control module and the laser control module are fused together, the transmission of energy and data of the handheld laser processing head 130 is completed by laser and control signals through a cable transmission pipe 120 connected with the laser 110, and the handheld laser processing head 130 directly replaces a standard QBH output head and can simultaneously support and complete processing functions of laser welding, cladding, cutting, cleaning and the like.

Referring to fig. 2, the laser 110 includes a circuit module 1101, a light path module 1113, an X-direction swing motor drive plate 1102, a Y-direction swing motor drive plate 1103, a power supply control plate 1117, a main control plate 1115, a three-way air pipe joint 1123, a first air distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1124, a second air distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1125, a first air distribution circuit flow regulator 1126, a second air distribution circuit flow regulator 1127, a first air distribution circuit transmission pipe 1128, and a second air distribution circuit transmission pipe 1129.

The internal components of the package, which are formed by the upper cover 1105, the lower cover 1130, the front plate 1116 and the rear plate 1132, are integrated and fixed together to form a complete laser structure. A mains supply interface 1107, an air switch 1108, a main water inlet interface 1109, a main water outlet interface 1110, a network cable interface 1111 and a main air pipe interface 1112 are distributed on a rear panel 1130 outside the laser; the laser front panel 1116 is distributed with a cable transmission tube fixing head 1118, a status indicator lamp plate 1119, an emergency stop button 1131 and an operation control screen 1133.

The cable transport tube 120 is connected outside the laser 110 by a cable transport tube retaining head 1118, the other end of which is connected to the hand held laser machining head 130. The X-direction swing motor drive plate connection line 1104 and the Y-direction swing motor drive plate connection line 1106 extend out from the inside of the laser 110, and enter the cable transmission tube 120 through the cable transmission tube fixing head 1118 with the first branch gas path transmission tube 1128, the second branch gas path transmission tube 1129 and the optical fiber output armor 1114, and finally enter the handheld laser processing head 130.

The 220V or 380V ac commercial power enters the circuit module 1101, and the circuit module 1101 converts the input ac commercial power into a constant-current dc suitable for the light path module 1113 and a 24V dc, and supplies the constant-current dc and the 24V dc to the light path module 1113, the power supply control board 1117 and the main control board 1115 respectively to ensure that the light path module 1113, the power supply control board 1117 and the main control board 1115 have sufficient power supply. The optical path module 1113 converts the electric energy input by the circuit module 1101 into laser, and the laser is transmitted to the handheld laser processing head 130 through the optical fiber output armor 1114 and finally acts on a workpiece to be processed.

The circuit module 1101, the X-direction swing motor drive board 1102, the Y-direction swing motor drive board 1103, the power supply control board 1117, the first air distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1124, the second air distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1125, the first air distribution circuit flow regulator 1126, the second air distribution circuit flow regulator 1127, the network cable interface 1111, the state indicator lamp panel 1140, the emergency stop button 1141 and the operation control screen 1133 are all connected with the main control board 1115, and the state, power supply and signals of the emergency stop button 1141 are comprehensively controlled by the main control board 1115. The X-direction swing motor driving board 1102 and the Y-direction swing motor driving board 1103 are connected to a power control board 1117, and the power control board 1117 supplies electric power alone.

An external gas source is connected with the main gas pipe connector 1112, protective gas required by laser processing is introduced into the main gas pipe 1122, and then is further connected into the three-way gas pipe connector 1123, and the protective gas is divided into two paths through the three-way gas pipe connector 1123: one path of protective gas enters the cable transmission pipe 120 through the first gas distribution path electromagnetic valve 1124, the first gas distribution path flow regulator 1126 and the first gas distribution path transmission gas pipe 1128, and is finally output by the handheld laser processing head 130 to act on a workpiece to be processed; and the other path of protective gas enters the cable transmission pipe 120 through a second gas distribution path electromagnetic valve 1125, a second gas distribution path flow regulator 1127 and a second gas distribution path transmission gas pipe 1129, and is finally output by the handheld laser processing head 130 to act on the workpiece to be processed.

The first gas distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1124, the second gas distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1125 and the operation control screen 1133 are all connected with the main control board 1115, and the software setting is carried out on the operation control screen 1133, so that the gas circuit on-off of the first gas distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1124 and the second gas distribution circuit electromagnetic valve 1125 can be controlled, the on-off of the gas flow of the first gas distribution circuit and the gas flow of the second gas distribution circuit is further controlled, the laser output is guaranteed to be switched on, the laser output is not switched off, and the functions of protecting processing and saving gas flow are met; the first gas distribution circuit flow regulator 1126, the second gas distribution circuit flow regulator 1127 and the operation control screen 1133 are all connected with the main control board 1115, the gas flow in the first gas distribution circuit and the second gas distribution circuit can be independently adjusted without influence by software setting on the operation control screen 1133, the relative and absolute quantity of the suitable gas flows of the first gas distribution circuit and the second gas distribution circuit have great influence on the processing quality, and an operator can flexibly and conveniently adjust the sizes of the two gas flows according to different processing requirements. In the embodiment, generally, the adjustment range of the air flow is between 5L/min and 20L/min.

The protective gas in the above embodiments can be provided by one external gas source, that is, the protective gas provided by one gas source is used for both the heat dissipation and air cooling of the optical assembly and the inert protective gas for preventing the material from being oxidized in the laser processing. In order to achieve the best performance, in some embodiments, two independent external gas sources may be provided, and the two external gas sources are respectively connected to two independent gas pipe interfaces, so that the cooling heat dissipation gas required by the handheld laser processing head 130 during operation and the inert shielding gas required in the laser processing environment are respectively introduced into the first gas distribution path for cooling the components and the second gas distribution path for preventing the processing oxidation. In a gas source for providing inert protective gas, the proportion of the inert gases such as helium, argon, nitrogen and the like in the mixed gas can be directly regulated and then output through a gas mixing device connected with a gas pipe interface according to the field processing requirement.

The circuit module 1101 and the operation control screen 1133 are both connected with the main control board 1115, the light path module 1113 is connected with the circuit module 1101 and is powered by the circuit module 1101, the size of electric quantity provided for the light path module 1113 by the circuit module 1101 can be set and adjusted on the operation control screen 1133 through software, the size of laser power output by the handheld laser processing head 130 is further controlled, and a proper processing effect can be obtained by adjusting parameters according to different processing requirements.

The status indicator lamp board 1119 is connected with the main control board 1115, and can be timely send the real-time operating condition signal of laser to the status indicator lamp board 1119 and carry out corresponding instruction, let the operator know real-time operating condition. The network cable interface 1111 is connected with the main control board 1115, so that an operator can read the internal state by connecting the laser with the network cable, know the real-time and historical working information of the laser and troubleshoot faults. The scram button 1131 is connected to the main control board 1115, so that the main control board 1115 can immediately turn off the laser by quickly pressing the scram button 1131 in case of an emergency.

The optical fiber armor 1114, the main air tube 1122, the laser control panel connecting line and the like are packaged in the cable transmission tube 120 to form a whole, so that the pipelines are prevented from being scattered and knotted, and the pipelines can be effectively protected from being damaged. The optical fiber armor 1114, the main air pipe 1122, the laser control panel connecting line and the cable transmission pipe 120 are the same in length and can be selectively configured between 5-15 meters, and the longer length can ensure that laser is transmitted to a longer distance for welding.

The laser 110 is preferably a continuous fiber laser, a pulsed fiber laser, or a quasi-continuous fiber laser in the present embodiment, and other types of lasers, such as a solid laser, a CO2 laser, etc., may be selected in some processing occasions, which are not limited herein.

The handheld laser processing head 130 provided in the embodiment of the present application is a full air-cooled integrated processing head, and the processing head is designed as a gun body, so as to be convenient to hold. According to different processing requirements, the laser welding device can be used for laser welding, cladding, cutting, cleaning and other functions, and a welding processing scene is taken as an example for specific description.

Referring to fig. 3, the processing head specifically includes a first branch gas transmission pipe 1128, a second branch gas transmission pipe 1129, a light extraction button 1311, a processing head main control board 1313, an operation display panel 1318, a swing motor 1319, an end cap 1321, an end cap cooling block 1322, a collimating lens 1323, a collimating lens cooling block 1324, a focusing lens 1325, a focusing lens cooling block 1326, a protective lens 1327, a protective lens cooling block 1328, a reflective lens 1329, and an exit nozzle 1330.

When the laser generated by the laser 110 passes through the fiber-optic cable 1114, the laser continues to be transmitted to the end cap 1321, and is output by the end cap 1321 as a spatially divergent laser beam, and the laser beam is collimated by the collimating lens 1323 and then becomes a parallel laser beam and is transmitted to the reflecting lens 1329; after being reflected by the reflection lens 1329, the transmission direction is changed into a reflected laser beam, and the reflected laser beam is transmitted to the focusing lens 1325 to form a converged beam, and finally is output through the protection lens 1327 and the exit nozzle 1330 to act on the material to be welded. The end cap 1321 is fixedly packaged in the end cap cooling block 1322, the collimating lens 1323 is fixedly packaged in the collimating lens cooling block 1324, the focusing lens 1325 is fixedly packaged in the focusing lens cooling block 1326, and the protection lens 1327 is fixedly packaged in the protection lens cooling block 1328 and is arranged below the focusing lens 1325 for providing a blocking protection for debris and dust flowing backwards in the processing process. The mirror 1329 is fixed to the swing motor 1319. The swing motor 1319 can swing in a specific direction within a range of 0-2 degrees, and drives the reflection mirror 1329 connected to the swing motor to swing the reflected laser beam together, so that the focused laser beam acts on the material to be welded and can swing in a one-dimensional direction, and the swing of the laser beam can increase the welding width to enable welding with a large gap to be smoothly completed and improve the welding quality.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the handheld laser processing head 130 only shows one swing motor, that is, the laser beam moves in only one dimension, while in the structural diagram of the handheld processing system in fig. 2, an X-direction swing motor driving board 1102 and a Y-direction swing motor driving board 1103 are respectively arranged inside the laser 110, which can support the two swing motors to work simultaneously, so that the present application proposes a laser processing system having two swing motors, and the laser beam can move in two dimensions.

Referring to fig. 4 together with fig. 2, a schematic structural diagram of a double-swing handheld laser processing head 130' is shown, in which a collimated laser beam emitted by the collimating lens assembly 400 is firstly reflected by the X-direction reflecting lens 403 and transmitted to the Y-direction reflecting lens 406, and then reflected by the Y-direction reflecting lens 406 and then strikes the focusing lens 1325, and the focusing lens 1325 converges the collimated laser beam and then outputs the collimated laser beam through the protection lens 1327 to act on a workpiece to be welded.

The X-direction swing motor 401 is connected with an X-direction swing motor drive board connecting line 1104, and then is connected to an X-direction swing motor drive board 1102 and a main control board 1115; the Y-direction swing motor 404 is connected with a Y-direction swing motor drive board connecting line 1106 and then connected to a Y-direction swing motor drive board 1103 and a main control board 1115; by adjusting the swing frequency and swing amplitude parameters in the X and Y directions on the operation control panel 1139, the X-direction swing motor 401 and the Y-direction swing motor 404 can be driven to respectively perform linear swing within 0 to 3 degrees, and the X-direction reflecting mirror 403 fixed on the X-direction swing motor 401 and the Y-direction reflecting mirror 406 fixed on the Y-direction swing motor 404 are driven to swing together; the swinging motion of the X-direction mirror 403 and the Y-direction mirror 406 will bring the collimated laser beam to swing accordingly, thereby forming a certain swinging pattern on the work to be welded. It is known that the locus of oscillation of the X-direction mirror 403 and the Y-direction mirror plate 406 are in two planes perpendicular to each other.

If the swing motors 401 and 404 generate excessive heat during operation and also need to dissipate heat, the X-direction swing motor 401 may be hermetically fixed in an X-direction swing motor cooling block 402, and the Y-direction swing motor 404 may be hermetically fixed in a Y-direction swing motor cooling block 405, which is also provided with an air inlet and outlet for introducing cooling air flow for heat dissipation and cooling.

In some embodiments of the present application, the mirror plate and the swing motor may also be replaced by a deformable mirror, so as to implement the dynamic movement of the laser spot in three directions, i.e. the X direction, the Y direction and the Z direction, through the reflection and the collection of the laser beam by the single deformable mirror in a smaller accommodating space.

The part of the shell of the handheld laser processing head 130 convenient for finger movement is provided with a light-emitting button 1311, as shown in fig. 3, the light-emitting button 1311 is connected with a processing head main control board 1313 through a light-emitting button connecting line, the man-machine interaction module, namely, an operation display panel 1318 is connected with the processing head main control board 1313 through an operation display panel connecting line, the swing motor 1319 is connected with the processing head main control board 1313 through a swing motor connecting line, the processing head main control board 1313 is connected with a laser swing motor driving board through a connecting line, and receives a control instruction sent by the laser main control board. The light-emitting button 1311 can trigger a light-emitting command manually, and when the button is pressed, light is emitted and released, and then light is not emitted, so that safe light emission during processing is realized.

The operation display panel 1318 is distributed with a rotary operation button, a status indicator lamp and a display screen (not shown), the rotary operation button can be rotated to control parameters such as laser power, swing amplitude and swing frequency, the status indicator lamp can indicate whether the current working state is working or fault to remind an operator of attention, and the display screen can display current welding parameters, status information, fault codes and the like, so that the operator can conveniently control the working state of the whole welding output head.

The working process of the embodiment of the application is as follows: starting up, modifying equipment operation parameters on an operation display screen, controlling the equipment to work, entering a preparation working state after the equipment is powered on, setting welding parameters in a dialog box of the display screen according to welding requirements, and storing the settings after the welding parameters are set; turning on laser, placing a gun nozzle on the surface of the material, pressing a switch button of the processing gun, and enabling the processing gun to work in a light emitting mode; the gas flow passes through the flow/pressure monitor during operation, and when the flow exceeded the setting value, equipment can show and warn through the display screen.

The external air is transmitted to the three-way air pipe joint 1123 along the main air pipe 1122, and is divided into two parts, which are transmitted to the first branch air passage transmission air pipe 1128 and the second branch air passage transmission air pipe 1129, respectively. The first branch gas path transmission pipe 1128 carries cooling gas flow to sequentially enter the end cap cooling block 1322, the collimating lens cooling block 1324, the focusing lens cooling block 1326 and the protective lens cooling block 1328, and finally flows into the emergent nozzle 1330 for discharge; the second branch gas path gas transmission pipe 1129 may directly enter the exit nozzle 1330, or may join with the first branch gas path gas flow before being discharged from the exit nozzle 1330; in the air flow path, the air flow in the first air distribution path transmission air pipe 1128 conducts and takes away and discharges heat generated by interaction of the laser and the optical lens in sequence, so that the temperature of the lens can be effectively reduced, and the lens can work reliably for a long time.

Fig. 5 shows the structure of the end cap cooling block 1322, the end cap cooling block 1322 has a hollow cavity structure inside for holding the optical fiber cable 1114 and at least a part of the quartz end cap 1321 therein, the cavity has an annular cooling air passage 2201 inside, and the two ends of the end cap cooling block 1322 are respectively provided with an air inlet 2202 and an air outlet 2206 which are communicated with each other. The air inlet 2202 is connected with the first air distribution path transmission air pipe 1128, and is used for guiding cooling air flow into the annular cooling air path 2201, so that the cooling air flow continuously rotates around the quartz end cap 1321 in the sealed cavity, thereby increasing the cooling contact area, and timely taking away heat generated when the optical fiber armored cable 1114 and the quartz end cap 13211 transmit laser, and the cooled air flow is guided out from the air outlet 2206 and then sequentially enters the collimating lens cooling block 1324, the focusing lens cooling block 1326 and the protective lens cooling block 1328, so that cooling and heat dissipation of the collimating lens 1323, the focusing lens 1325 and the protective lens 1327 are completed.

The basic structure of the collimating lens cooling block 1324, focusing lens cooling block 1326 and protective lens cooling block 1328 is the same as the end cap cooling block 1322. referring collectively to fig. 5, cooling block inlet 3301 is connected to the outlet of the previous cooling block to direct the cooling heat sink air flow into the sealed U-shaped rotary cooling air passage 3302, the U-shaped rotary cooling air flow 3302 surrounds the lens to be cooled 3304 and twists rotationally to increase the heat transfer contact area, and the heat generated by the lens is carried away and eventually conducted to the next cooling block through cooling block outlet 3303.

In the embodiment of the dual oscillating process head shown in fig. 4, the external air firstly enters the first air-dividing path transmission air pipe 1028 to guide the cooling air into the collimating lens assembly 400 to cool the optical assemblies therein, such as the energy-transmitting optical fiber, the quartz end cap, and the collimating lens, the cooled air then enters the Y-direction oscillating motor cooling block 405 to cool the Y-direction oscillating motor 404 fixed therein, the cooled air then enters the focusing lens cooling block 1326 to cool the focusing lens 1325 fixed therein, the cooled air finally enters the protective lens cooling block 1328 to cool the protective lens 1327 fixed therein and then enters the exit gun tube 1330. The external air passing through the second air dividing passage 1029 enters the X-direction swing motor cooling block 402 to cool and dissipate the heat of the X-direction swing motor 401, and then directly enters the exit gun tube 1330 ', or alternatively enters the protective lens cooling block 1328 to join with the cooling air flow of the first air dividing passage and then enters the exit gun tube 1330'.

In the flow direction design of the second gas branch path, as shown in fig. 3, the first gas branch path can cool the optical assembly, the air flow in the second gas branch path gas transmission pipe 1129 directly enters the emergent spray pipe 1330, the air resistance generated by the first gas branch path gas transmission pipe is relatively larger than the air resistance generated by the weaker air flow flowing out from the lens cooling blocks of the first gas branch path gas transmission pipe, and the larger air resistance can well inhibit smoke dust generated in the processes of welding, cladding and the like, so that the protective lens 1327 can not be easily burnt, and the service life of the protective lens is prolonged; in a second design, as shown in fig. 4, the second branch path airflow is merged with the first branch path airflow after the protective lens, and then enters the exit gun tube 1330, so that the merged airflow can provide a relatively sufficient airflow; the specific design adopted in practice depends on the structural design of the hand-held laser processing gun and the characteristics of the materials to be processed, the processing environment and the like.

In the embodiment of the invention, the laser output head in the laser in the prior art and the plug-in mounting laser processing head matched with the laser output head are integrated into a detachable and replaceable integrated structure, the integration level is high, the volume is small, the function is strong, the processing gun is light, the gas consumption is small, the use cost of a user is low, the welding quality is good, and when the output power of the laser is 1500W, the effect of whitening the welding surface can be achieved only by 15L/min of gas flow.

Meanwhile, in the embodiment, the handheld laser processing head eliminates a water cooling system with large volume and heavy weight, the cost of the whole machine is reduced, the design of full air cooling is adopted, two paths of air flows meet and converge into one air flow to be sprayed out, the splashes such as smoke dust and the like generated in the welding process can be well inhibited, the protective lens is protected, and the sprayed air flow acts on a welding workpiece, so that the welding seam can be effectively protected, the welding quality is improved, the heat affected zone is reduced, and the welding deformation is reduced; meanwhile, the cooling gas is close to the gun body, the gun body and the optical lens arranged in the gun body can be fully cooled, the service life of an optical device in the gun body is effectively protected, the service life of the handheld laser processing head is prolonged, the full air-cooled design is favorable for reducing the volume and the weight, and the whole handheld processing gun and the whole handheld processing equipment are convenient to carry, transport and move.

The defects that in actual processing, the converged air flow still cannot completely play the roles of blocking splashes and protecting lenses, and even a small amount of fine splashes flow backwards into the handheld welding gun, the focus lens is still easily burnt in the high-temperature processing process. Therefore, the embodiments of the present application also implement further designs to achieve complete protection of the optical lens group.

In one of the protection designs, the protection lens 1327 disposed between the focusing lens 1325 and the exit nozzle 1330 is composed of at least two protection lenses, namely, a front protection lens and a rear protection lens, wherein the front protection lens is used as a consumable and can be replaced once being contaminated to become a first barrier; the rear protective mirror does not need to be replaced under the condition of no damage, and further the inner focusing optical lens is isolated and protected to form a second barrier. The design of the double-protection glasses is convenient to disassemble and replace, and can play a double-protection role in the optical lens group.

In the second protection design, a wind wall is arranged between the protection lens 1327 and the emergent nozzle 1330, so that the backward flowing splash passing through the emergent nozzle can be reduced, and the probability of the splash attaching to the protection lens is reduced. Specifically, a wind wall ring 3040 is disposed between the protective lens 1327 and the exit gun tube 1330, in the embodiment of the present application, the structure and the working principle of the apparatus are as shown in fig. 7, the wind wall ring 3040 is a hollow cavity structure, an air inlet 3041 communicated with the first branch air channel transmission air tube 1128 is disposed at one end of the cavity close to the protective lens 1327, for introducing the first branch air channel air flow, a light through hole 3042 is disposed in the middle, the light through hole 3042 is coaxially installed with the focusing lens 1325 and the protective lens 1327, and the laser beam emitted from the lens can smoothly pass through the light through hole 3042 without being blocked. In some embodiments of the present application, the air wall ring 3040 further has an air inlet 3043 formed thereon for connecting with the second air branch passage air delivery pipe 1129, so as to guide the air flow of the first and second air branch passages into the air wall ring 3040 at the same time, thereby increasing the air flow guided by the air wall ring.

The air wall ring 3040 has an annular flow channel 3044 inside the cavity, and a plurality of air flow injection holes 3045 connected to the annular flow channel 3044 are distributed around the air wall ring 3040, the number of the air flow injection holes 3041 is preferably 6-12, the diameter of the injection holes is 0.5-3 mm, and the air flow injection holes are arranged at different included angles of 30-60 ° with the inner wall of the light through hole 3042. After the shielding gas is guided into the annular flow passage 3044, the shielding gas is ejected from the gas flow ejection holes 3401, the diameter of the ejection holes is small, the flow velocity of the compressed gas flow can be effectively increased, the ejection holes are arranged at a certain included angle, so that the ejected shielding gas flow can form multiple reflections on the inner wall of the light through hole 3042, and finally, an effective blocking gas wall is formed in the area close to the lower part of the gas wall ring 3040, and the blocking gas wall can well prevent and block splashing, smoke dust, impurities and the like generated by welding from being attached to the protective lens 1327 when splashing upwards, so that the protective lens 1327 is prevented from being polluted and damaged, the service life of the protective lens 1327 is greatly prolonged, and the replacement frequency of the protective lens is reduced.

Third, the flow state of the air flow is changed by a special design inside the exit nozzle 1330. Under ordinary circumstances, the fluid (air) is viscous, as shown in fig. 8A and 8B, under the action of viscosity, the fluid basically does not flow at a position close to the pipe wall in the circular pipe, and the fluid flows faster at a position farther away from the pipe wall, the flow speed at the center of the pipe is maximum, and the ideal flow speed of the fluid in the pipe body is uniform and non-viscous. Through a series of research verification, gaseous being spiral work of circling round in the rifle, can demonstrate to be the lower even flow state of viscidity at the body, spiral gas flows in the intraductal lower flow resistance that has, the vortex of formation can let the air current at the uniform velocity flow in the barrel to reach the mesh place that prevents foreign matter pollution protection lens and burnt out, prevent simultaneously that the high temperature from continuing to also playing the further cold exact effect to the barrel to the transmission of rifle body rear end, consequently, it is a very effectual method that prevents smoke and dust, splash and get into the inner chamber to form spiral air current to encircle the flow in the body.

Specifically, referring to fig. 1, 9 and 10, the laser processing head 130 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a gun body 1300 and an exit nozzle 1330, a switch button is installed outside the gun body 1300 and used for controlling light emission of the laser processing head 130 and on/off of an air path of a pressurized gas, an optical assembly including a collimating lens, a focusing lens and a protective lens is integrally disposed in the gun body 1300 along a light emission direction, and the gun body 1300 and the exit nozzle 1330 are formed by inserting, clamping or threaded split connection.

The exit nozzle 1330 includes a base 1331, a barrel 1332 and a nozzle 1333, which are sequentially installed, wherein the base 1331, the barrel 1332 and the nozzle 1333 are integrally formed or separately connected by plugging, clamping or screwing, and the interior thereof is provided with through inner holes along the axial direction and coaxially connected with the light through hole 3042 of the air wall ring 3040, for the unimpeded passage of laser beams and protective gas.

In the embodiment of the present application, an air inlet channel 1334 is further disposed on the outer sidewall or the bottom of the base 1331, the air inlet channel 1334 is communicated with the inner hole 1335 of the base, and forms an inclined angle α (not shown) with the axial direction, the angle of the inclined angle α is determined according to the material of the workpiece to be processed, when the workpiece to be processed is an aluminum substrate, the generated splash is small, the angle of the inclined angle α is small, the helicity in the helical airflow is denser, at this time, the airflow velocity can be reduced, the usage of the pressurized gas is saved, when the workpiece to be processed is stainless steel, the generated splash is large, the angle of the inclined angle α is large, the helicity in the helical airflow is more sparse, and the flow velocity is large, which is favorable for blowing away the splash.

The pressurized gas in the second branch gas passage 1129 flows in a helical flow from the gas inlet passage 1334 into the base bore 1335 and then into the barrel bore 1336. The barrel bore 1336 is tapered with its inner wall decreasing in diameter in the direction of travel of the laser beam so that as the helical gas stream flows into it, the velocity of the gas stream accelerates as the diameter of the inner wall of the tapered bore decreases. The barrel bore 1336 is also provided with a buffer 1337 at the end adjacent the nozzle 1333, the buffer 1337 being cylindrical and having a cylindrical inner wall diameter greater than the smallest diameter of the tapered inner wall, and the buffer 1337 being connected to the inner bore 1338 of the nozzle 1333, which also has a tapered orientation, so that the flow rate of the gas stream therethrough is again increased. Preferably, the tapered bore 1336 has a length in the axial direction of 5 to 15 times that of the buffer groove 1337, and the diameter of the cylindrical bore is 1.2 to 3 times the minimum diameter of the tapered bore.

When the spiral airflow reaches the buffer slot 1337 through the conical inner hole 1336 of the gun tube, the shape of the airflow changes, the flow rate is slowed down, the flowing form of the airflow also changes, the spiral flow is changed into straight-through flow, and the laser spot processing area is ejected along the tube wall to cover, so that the phenomena that oxygen contacts the welding surface, the blackens the surface of the material caused by welding and the like, and the related bonding effect is realized.

In the above design, the gas is ejected from the nozzle 1333, and a part of the smoke and splashes generated by the workpiece to be processed is blown away at this stage, so that the first layer protection of the protective lens 1327 is realized; the remaining smoke and splashes flow backwards upwards into the nozzle inner hole 1338 and then continue to enter the barrel buffer slot 1337, the velocity of the smoke and splashes in the section is reduced with the sudden reduction of the gas flow velocity, and meanwhile, the gas flow velocity at the front end of the barrel conical inner hole 1336 is the maximum, so that most of the smoke and splashes are blocked at the section, and the second layer of protection on the protective lens 1327 is realized; the residual smoke dust and splashes enter the tapered inner hole 1336, but because the pressurized gas in the tapered inner hole 1336 is uniform spiral gas flow, the formed air blocking wall can effectively increase the difficulty of the smoke dust and the splashes flowing to the protective lens at the upper end in the pipe, so that the protective lens 1327 is protected at the third layer at this stage; the wind blocking wall formed by the wind wall ring blocks the rest smoke and splashes outside the protective lens 1327 to form a fourth layer of protection.

The four-layer protective glass protection design effectively protects the service life of optical devices in a light path, and the effect is obvious from the actual verification result, the protective glass is continuously processed for 96 hours without burning, the protective glass is detached from a welding gun as new, and the glass is clean and dustless.

In the embodiment of the application, the nozzle, the gun barrel, the base, the wind wall ring, the front protective mirror assembly, the rear protective mirror assembly, the focusing mirror assembly, the gun body, the collimating mirror assembly, the reflecting mirror assembly, the first gas distributing channel transmission pipe, the second gas distributing channel transmission pipe and the optical fiber protective armor cable can be independently taken out and replaced, the service life of the handheld laser processing output head is prolonged, and the use comfort of an operator is improved.

Controllable double-air-path design can accurately control the size and relative proportion of two paths of air flows, effectively restrain smoke and dust and protect the light path system and the radiating lens, and simultaneously can also accurately utilize the air flow to reduce waste.

Finally, the embodiment of the application carries out depth fusion and integration on the traditional laser output head (QBH) and the handheld laser processing head, the control module and the laser and the processing head to form the integrated design of the laser and the control module and the integrated design of the laser processing head and the laser output head, thereby effectively reducing the development design difficulty, purchase maintenance cost, volume and weight of the whole handheld laser processing equipment, improving the reliability and the usability of products, and saving the debugging time consumed by the connection of the laser and the laser processing head.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, but not to limit it; within the idea of the invention, also technical features in the above embodiments or in different embodiments may be combined, steps may be implemented in any order, and there are many other variations of the different aspects of the invention as described above, which are not provided in detail for the sake of brevity; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. An optical component protection method applied to laser processing equipment is characterized by comprising the following steps:

and generating jet air flow with at least two preset flow forms below an optical assembly of the laser processing equipment, wherein the jet air flow is used for preventing splashes and smoke dust generated during laser processing from flowing backwards upwards.

2. The method for protecting optical components according to claim 1, wherein the final section of the jet air flow flows out of the laser processing equipment in a direct current mode, and the direct current jet air flow covers a laser spot processing area and simultaneously blows off splashes and smoke generated in the processing process.

3. The method for protecting an optical assembly according to claim 2, wherein at least one section of the jet air flow flows at a constant speed in the laser processing device in a spiral surrounding manner, and the peripheral flow rate and the central flow rate of the spiral jet air flow are kept consistent for blowing out splashes and smoke flowing backward into the laser processing device.

4. The method for protecting optical components of claim 3, wherein at least one section of the jet of air is formed by a plurality of inclined fine air streams converging in front of the optical components to form a wind blocking wall for blocking splashes and smoke flowing backward into the interior of the laser processing equipment to the front of the optical components.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the jet of air comprises at least two flow rates, wherein at least a portion of the air flow in the middle zone has a lower flow rate than the air flow in the two end zones.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of protective lenses are provided between the optical assembly and the jet of air, wherein at least one protective lens adjacent the jet of air is removably replaceable.

7. The optical component protection device is characterized by comprising at least one gas protection device, wherein the gas protection device is coaxially arranged below the optical component and generates at least two kinds of jet air flow with preset flowing forms, and the jet air flow is used for preventing splashes and smoke dust generated in laser processing from flowing backwards.

8. The optical module protection device according to claim 7, wherein the gas protection device comprises a gas flow injection device, the gas flow injection device comprises at least one gas inlet channel and a gas blowing channel, the gas inlet channel is communicated with the gas blowing channel and forms an inclined angle with the axis of the gas blowing channel, so that the introduced protection gas enters the gas blowing channel through the gas inlet channel in a spiral winding manner, and the peripheral flow rate and the central flow rate of the spiral injection gas flow are consistent, so as to blow out splashes and smoke flowing backwards into the laser processing equipment.

9. The optical module protection device of claim 8, wherein the gas protection device further comprises a wind wall device, the wind wall device is disposed between the optical module and the gas flow injection device, the wind wall device comprises at least one gas inlet channel and a gas blowing channel, a plurality of gas flow injection holes are formed in an inner wall of the gas blowing channel, the gas flow injection holes are arranged at an inclined angle, at least one path of the protective gas is introduced from the gas inlet channel and is injected from the gas flow injection holes, and a blocking wind wall is formed below the optical module in a converging manner and used for blocking residual splashes and smoke.

10. The optical device protection apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a lens protection apparatus coaxially mounted between the optical device and the gas protection apparatus along the light exit direction, wherein the lens protection apparatus comprises a plurality of protection lenses, and at least one of the protection lenses is detachably mounted.

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