DE102020134406A1 - Laser processing system with suction - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a laser processing system with a workpiece support (16, 29) or with a connection interface (20) for fastening a workpiece holder for workpieces (26) to be processed, with a laser processing device (18) arranged above the workpiece support (16, 29) for processing the workpiece (26) resting on the workpiece support (16, 29), with a housing (12) which encloses an interior space (14) and separates the workpiece support (16, 29) and the laser processing device (18) from their external environment, with an inflow opening (31) through which a flow belt (43) above the workpiece support (16, 29) can be fed into the interior (14), with at least one suction opening (33) which sucks off the contaminated air flow and leads it out of the interior (14), wherein in operation, the flow band (43) between the laser processing device (18) and the workpiece support (16, 29) is formed, which the interior (14) of The housing (12) is divided into a laser processing area (46) below the flow band (43) and a laser-interaction-free area (47) above the flow band (43), the at least one suction opening (33) being opposite the inflow opening (31). wall section (34) of the housing (12), and below a plane (15) formed by the workpiece support (16, 29) at least two guide elements (38, 39) are aligned at a distance from one another and inclined to one another, so that at least one of the workpiece supports (16, 29) flowing around circular flow (44) is formed.

Description

The invention relates to a laser processing system with a workpiece support or with an interface for fastening a workpiece holder for a workpiece to be processed according to the preamble of claim 1.

From the DE 10 2011 033 426 A1 such a laser processing system is known. This laser processing system includes a workpiece holder for workpieces to be processed. A laser processing device for processing the workpiece resting on the workpiece support is provided above the workpiece support. The workpiece support and the laser processing device are delimited from their surroundings by a housing which encloses a process space.

A flow belt is fed into the process space above the workpiece support through an inflow opening. A contaminated air flow is sucked off via at least one suction opening and guided out of the process space. During operation of the laser processing system, a flow band is formed between the laser processing device and the workpiece support, which separates the process space of the housing into a laser processing area below the flow band and a laser-interaction-free area above the flow band.

In this laser processing system, a waste conveyor device is also provided below the workpiece support, which includes the at least one suction opening. The air band flowing around the workpiece support is discharged via at least one suction opening provided below the workpiece support. This waste conveying device with the suction is intended for machine concepts with a high degree of automation. In the case of simpler machine concepts for such a laser processing system, such a waste conveying device and thus also the possibility of effecting suction via this waste conveying device are eliminated.

The invention is based on the object of maintaining the separation of the interior space in the housing by the flow belt into a laser processing area and a laser-change-free effective area located above the laser processing area in a simple machine concept for a laser processing system, and yet effective and uniform suction of the contaminated air flow, preferably above the entire work area.

This object is achieved by a laser processing machine in which at least two guide elements are aligned at a distance from one another and at an angle to one another below a plane formed by the workpiece support, so that at least one circular flow is formed which flows around the workpiece support and at least one suction opening is provided, and that through the opposite the inflow opening and assigned to a wall section of the housing, which is provided with at least one suction opening for sucking off the contaminated air flow. This configuration of the laser processing system enables a circular flow or a flow roller to be formed by the at least two guide elements, which is formed in the laser processing area and this circular flow can be sucked off via at least one suction opening opposite the inflow opening. Furthermore, the arrangement of the at least two guide plates below the plane of the workpiece support and the suction opening on the wall section of the housing, which is arranged opposite the inflow opening, maintains the division in the interior of the housing with regard to the laser processing area and a laser-interaction-free area located above the flow band flowing into the interior.

The at least one guide element is preferably assigned to the wall section of the housing and positioned below the at least one suction opening, and the at least one further guide element is assigned below the workpiece support and the inflow opening. This arrangement and alignment of the at least two opposing guide elements enables a flow-optimized deflection of the inflowing flow band in order to generate a circular flow which flows around the workpiece support and preferably also the workpiece lying on it.

The guide elements are preferably designed as planar, strip-shaped flow surfaces. This enables simple manufacture and simple alignment for the flow guide.

The length of the inlet opening in the housing is preferably smaller than the length of the workpiece support. As a result, not only does a flow band flow over the workpiece to be machined, but a flow band is also supplied to the interior space laterally adjacent to the workpiece support, so that lateral shielding by the circular flow to form the laser processing area is made possible. In particular, the at least one guide element in its Longitudinally aligned parallel to the inflow opening. This enables a simple structure of the machine concept and favors the circular flow.

Furthermore, the length of the at least two guiding elements is preferably equal to or longer than the length of the air inflow opening. As a result, the circular flow is formed over the entire length of the flow band, which is discharged through the inflow opening.

A further advantageous embodiment for forming the circular flow provides that the at least two guide elements, which are arranged at a distance from one another, are aligned closer to the workpiece support than to the inflow opening and the suction opening.

According to a first embodiment, two suction openings or groups of suction openings arranged at a distance from one another can be provided on the wall section, the distance between which is equal to or greater than the length of the workpiece support. Alternatively, only one suction opening can be provided instead of a group of suction openings. By arranging the suction openings outside the length of the workpiece support, a circular flow is generated in the area of the workpiece support, which flows outwards on both sides of the longitudinal center axis of the workpiece support, in order to then be sucked off by the respective suction opening.

The at least two suction openings are preferably each positioned in a deflection surface on a deflection element, which forms part of the wall section of the housing. Starting from a longitudinal center axis of the workpiece support, these deflection elements are aligned, preferably mirror-symmetrically, and support the circular flow, which migrates outwards to the right and left of the longitudinal center axis of the workpiece support in order to suck off the suction openings positioned there.

According to a further embodiment, the deflection elements are aligned as a mirror image of the longitudinal center axis of the workpiece support, and the deflection surfaces of the deflection elements increase with increasing distance from the longitudinal center axis. This has the advantage that the outward migration of the circular flow, starting from the longitudinal center axis of the workpiece support, is increasingly limited, so that controlled suction is made possible in the edge area of the laser processing area.

The deflection elements are triangular, for example, with their deflection surfaces being aligned at an angle of less than 90° to the longitudinal center axis of the workpiece support and facing one another. As a result, a flat V-shaped alignment of the deflection surfaces relative to one another can be provided, which promotes the outwardly migrating circular flow being concentrated on the outer edge section of the deflection surface and being sucked off through the suction opening.

Furthermore, the deflection elements can be inclined in the direction of a parting plane between the laser processing area and the area free of laser interaction. Thus, the deflection surfaces of the deflection elements between the suction openings continue to promote the circular flow.

According to a preferred embodiment, the suction openings are at the same height. Alternatively, the suction openings can also be arranged at different heights.

At least two suction openings arranged at a distance from one another are preferably arranged in the plane of the workpiece support. As a result, the circular flow can be optimized on the one hand and the suction effect of the contaminated air flow can be optimized on the other. “Contaminated airflow” is understood to mean an airflow that carries dust, dirt, smoke and/or other particles produced during laser processing and removes it from the interior.

Alternatively, at least two suction openings arranged at a distance from one another can be arranged above and/or below the workpiece support and assigned to the wall section of the housing. In some embodiments it can be advantageous to create an enlarged suction area.

Furthermore, a circular flow is preferably generated by the flow belt through the suction openings positioned outside of the workpiece support in the area of the workpiece support, and a transition to a laminar flow is formed outside of the workpiece support through the supplied flow belt, which is aligned with the at least two suction openings. This results in preferred working conditions within the laser processing area.

The at least two guide elements are preferably arranged at a distance from one another below the workpiece support plane, so that a waste container or a waste conveyor is located between them direction can be positioned. In this case, this waste conveying device can be designed without a suction opening or suction device. Nevertheless, the circular flow generated by the guide elements is maintained.

• 1 eine perspektivische Ansicht einer Laserbearbeitungsmaschine,
• 2 eine schematische Seitenansicht der Laserbearbeitungsmaschine gemäß 1 mit einer Strömung, und
• 3 eine schematische Ansicht von oben auf die Laserbearbeitungsmaschine gemäß 1 mit dem Strömungsband gemäß 2.

The invention and other advantageous embodiments and developments thereof are described and explained in more detail below with reference to the examples shown in the drawings. The features to be found in the description and the drawings can be used according to the invention individually or collectively in any combination. Show it:

• 1 a perspective view of a laser processing machine,
• 2 a schematic side view of the laser processing machine according to FIG 1 with a current, and
• 3 a schematic view from above of the laser processing machine according to FIG 1 with the flow band according to 2 .

1 shows a perspective view of a laser processing system 11. This laser processing system 11 includes a housing 12, which encloses an interior 14. This housing 12 is only partially shown to show the interior 14 with the individual components of the laser processing system 11 . The laser processing system 11 includes a workpiece support 16 and a laser processing device 18 arranged above the workpiece support 16. This laser processing device 18 includes at least one linear axis system 19, which has a linear axis 21 oriented in the X direction and a linear axis 22 oriented in the Y direction as well as a linear axis 22 in the Z direction. Direction aligned linear axis 23 has. A laser processing head 24 is provided on the linear axis 23 aligned in the Z-direction, through which a laser beam is directed onto a workpiece 26 ( 2 ) is directed. The laser beam is fed from a laser source 27 to the laser processing head 24 via a beam guidance device that is not shown in detail.

The workpiece support 16 is, for example, a component of a so-called rotary changer 28. This comprises at least one further workpiece support 29, which is opposite the workpiece support 16 or is adjacent thereto. This has the advantage that while the workpiece 26 located in the interior 14 of the housing 12 is being machined, the workpiece support 29 located outside the housing 12 can be loaded and unloaded. The workpiece support 16 can, for example, comprise two support arms 17, on which the workpiece 26 can be fastened directly or by means of a clamping device. Alternatively, an interface 20 can also be provided, to which the workpiece support 16 or a workpiece holder can be fastened.

At least one inflow opening 31 is provided in the housing 12 . This inflow opening 31 is arranged above the rotary changer. This inflow opening 31 is designed in one or more parts in a row and enables a continuous flow band 43 to be fed into the interior space 14.

At least two suction openings 33 are provided opposite the inflow opening 31 . These suction openings 33 are associated with a vertical wall section 34 of the housing 12 . These suction openings 33 are accommodated in deflection elements 35 . The suction openings 33 are preferably flush with the deflection surfaces 36 of the deflection elements 35. Behind the deflection elements 35 and separately from the interior 14, an exhaust air line 37 is provided, through which the extracted air flow is guided out of the housing 12. The exhaust air line 37 can preferably lead into a filter before this exhausted air flow is discharged into the environment.

At least two guide elements 38 , 39 are positioned below a plane 15 formed by the workpiece support 16 . These guide elements 38, 39 are aligned at a distance from one another and inclined towards one another. Below the guide elements 38, 39, a shielding plate 41 can be provided. The guide elements 38, 39 and/or the shielding plates 41, 42 are spaced apart from one another, so that a waste container or a waste conveyor device can be inserted in between and positioned below the workpiece support 16.

In 2 12 is a schematic side view of the laser processing system 11 in FIG 1 with an inflowing flow band 43 and a circular flow 44 around the workpiece support 16, preferably around the workpiece 26 and the workpiece support 16.

3 shows a schematic view from above of the laser processing system 11 according to FIG 2 again with the inflowing flow band 34 and the circular flow 44.

The inflow opening 31 has a length (X direction) which is smaller than the length of the workpiece support 16 . The workpiece support 16 is represented by two spaced support arms 17, for example. The length of the workpiece support 16 (in the X-direction) is determined in the exemplary embodiment by the distance between the support arms 17. Alternatively A workpiece support surface can also be provided to form the workpiece support 16 or the workpiece holder. The guide elements 38 , 39 extending in the X-direction below the plane 15 of the workpiece support 16 have a length which is greater than the length of the workpiece support 16 . The guide elements 38, 39 are preferably of the same length as the inlet opening 31 or longer, so that they project beyond the respective edge of the inlet opening 31 on both sides. The guide elements 38, 39 are preferably also longer than the workpiece support in the X direction. The guide elements 38, 39 are preferably in the form of strips and have a planar flow surface. For example, these two guide elements 38, 39 can be set up at an angle of 20 to 60° with respect to the plane 15 of the workpiece support 16.

According to the top view 3 a size of a working space 25 is shown, for example. The size can be determined by the length (X direction) of the opening in the wall of the housing 12 so that the rotary changer 28 can rotate freely. The edge areas of the working space 25 can preferably be limited so that the distance between the suction openings 33 limits the length (X-direction) of the working space 25 or the length of the working space 25 determines the distance between the suction openings 33 so that they are preferably aligned with the respective edge area of the working space 25 are.

To form a circular flow 44, the flow band 43 is fed via the inlet opening 31 and flows over the workpiece 26 on the workpiece support 16. This simultaneously forms a parting plane, so that a laser-interaction-free area 46 is formed above the parting plane and a laser processing area 47 is formed below the parting plane. This flow band 43 falls down after the workpiece 26 and/or is directed downwards by the opposite wall section 34 . The guide element 38 then directs the flow to the guide element 39 and this in turn directs the flow from below in the direction of the inflowing flow band 43. This creates the circular flow 44 or a flow roll. The circular flow 44 picks up smoke, burned-off material and/or other particles that occur during the machining of the workpiece 26 , so that this contaminated air flow is subsequently sucked off via the suction openings 38 and guided out of the interior space 14 .

To optimize the suction on the one hand and to form the circular flow 44 on the other hand, deflection surfaces 36 of deflection elements 35 are designed to protrude and/or be inclined relative to the wall section 35 of the housing.

Advantageously, the deflection elements 35 are aligned and formed as mirror images of the longitudinal central axis 49 of the workpiece support 16 . These are preferably triangular. The deflection surfaces 36 are aligned at an angle of less than 90° to the longitudinal center axis 49 in relation to the longitudinal center axis 49 . As a result, the outer edge areas of the deflection surfaces 36 are inclined in the direction of the workpiece support 16 and reduce the outer distance to the opposite inlet opening 31.

Furthermore, the deflection surfaces 36 are aligned at an angle to the parting plane between the area 46 free of laser interaction and the laser processing area 47 . This alignment of the deflection surfaces 36 promotes the guidance of the circular flow 44. In each case in the outer edge region of the deflection elements 34, a suction opening 33 is preferably positioned.

The suction openings 33 are preferably in the plane 15 of the workpiece support 16. They are preferably arranged at a distance from one another, so that they lie outside the length of the workpiece support 16.

This arrangement results in an air flow in the interior 14 of the housing 12, which is preferably 3 is shown. The flow band 43 is divided along the longitudinal central axis 49, also due to the design of the deflection elements 35, into a right and left circular flow 44, which migrate outwards in the opposite direction relative to the workpiece support 16.

Outside the workpiece support 16, the circular flow 44 is superimposed with the laminar flow 45, which is possible outside the workpiece support 16. This prevents the circular flow 44 from migrating further outwards. The superimposed circular flow 44 and laminar flow 45 are subsequently sucked off via the suction opening 33 .

Such a design allows the circular flow 44 and laminar flow 45 formed to envelop the work piece support 16 and the work piece 26 with the air flow in order to enable the impurities produced during laser processing to be completely removed.

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• DE 102011033426 A1 [0002]

Claims (15)

Laser processing system with a workpiece support (16, 29) or with a connection interface (20) for attaching a workpiece holder for workpieces (26) to be processed, - with a laser processing device (18) arranged above the workpiece support (16, 29) for processing the material on the workpiece support (16, 29) resting workpiece (26), - with a housing (12) which encloses an interior (14) and the workpiece support (16, 29) and the laser processing device (18) delimited from their external environment, - with an inflow opening ( 31), through which a flow belt (43) above the workpiece support (16, 29) can be fed into the interior (14), - with at least one suction opening (33), which sucks off the contaminated air flow and leads it out of the interior (14), - wherein during operation the flow band (43) is formed between the laser processing device (18) and the workpiece support (16, 29), which flows through the interior (14) of the housing (12) in separates a laser processing area (46) below the flow band (43) and a laser-interaction-free area (47) above the flow band (43), characterized in that - the at least one suction opening (33) of the inflow opening (31) is opposite a wall section (34) is assigned to the housing (12), and - that below a plane (15) formed by the workpiece support (16, 29) at least two guide elements (38, 39) are aligned at a distance from one another and inclined to one another, so that at least one of the Workpiece support (16, 29) flowing around circular flow (44) is formed. laser processing system claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one guide element (38) is assigned to the wall section (35) of the housing (12) and is positioned below the at least one suction opening (33) and the at least one further guide element (39) is below the workpiece support (16, 29 ) and the inflow opening (31) is positioned assigned. laser processing system claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the at least two guide elements (38, 39) have planar strip-shaped flow surfaces. Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the length of the inflow opening (31) is less than the length of the workpiece support (16, 29), and preferably the at least one guide element (38, 39) in its longitudinal direction parallel to the inlet opening (31 ) is aligned. Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the length of the at least two guide elements (38, 39) is the same as or longer than the length of the air inflow opening (31). Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least two guide elements (38, 39) are aligned closer to the workpiece support (16, 29) than the inflow opening (31) and the at least one suction opening (33). Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that two suction openings (33) aligned at a distance from one another or two groups of suction openings (33) arranged at a distance from one another are assigned to the wall section (35), the distance between which is greater than the length of the workpiece support (16 , 29). Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one suction opening (33) is positioned in a deflection surface (36) of a deflection element (35), which preferably forms part of the wall section (35) of the housing (12). laser processing system claim 8 , characterized in that the deflection elements (35) are aligned as a mirror image of a longitudinal center axis (49) of the workpiece support (16, 29) and the deflection surfaces (36) increase with increasing distance from the longitudinal center axis (39). laser processing system claim 8 or 9 , characterized in that the deflection elements (35) are triangular and their deflection surfaces (36) are each aligned at an angle of less than 90° to the longitudinal center axis (49) of the workpiece support (16, 29). Laser processing system according to one of Claims 8 until 10 , characterized in that the deflection elements (35) are inclined in the direction of a parting plane between the laser processing area (46) and the laser interaction-free area (47). Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the suction openings (33) are at the same height and/or are arranged at different heights. Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least two suction openings (33) arranged at a distance from one another are in the plane (15) of the workpiece support (16, 29) and/or at least two suction openings or further suction openings (33) above the plane (15) of the workpiece support (16, 29). Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flow band (43) entering the interior (14) is formed into two circular flows (44) in the region of the workpiece (26) positioned on the workpiece support (16, 29), which each migrate outwards in the opposite direction to the longitudinal center axis (49) of the workpiece support (16, 29) and are superimposed outside of the workpiece support (16, 29) with a laminar flow (45) of the flow band (43) and the respective suction opening (33) or the group of suction openings (33) can be supplied. Laser processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least two guide elements (38, 39) are arranged at a distance from one another, so that a waste container or a waste conveyor device can be positioned between them.

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