JP2000343263A - Method for aligning laser beam and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible for a single worker, even an unskilled worker, to align laser beam without need of consumables such as acrylic plate, being free from generation of poisonous gas and safe in working, and having no restriction in working circumstance nor need of ambient devices. SOLUTION: When laser beam LB is emitted on a beam target 15 of a beam absorption body 17, the beam absorption body 17 absorbes the laser beam LB and gets its temperature risen. By infrared sensors S1-S4 uniformly arranged on a same circumference of a circle centered on a beam set point 11, ambient temperature of the beam absorption body 17 is detected at least on not less than three points. Temperature detecting signal of each position is converted to 7 positional coordinate to the beam set point 11 as a distance between the beam absorption body 17 and each of the infrared sensors S1-S4 and then are visually displayed on a screen of a display device. An operator, observing the screen, is able to easily adjust a mirror or others so as to fit practical passing position of the laser beam LB to the beam set point 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for aligning a laser beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, alignment of a laser beam oscillated from a laser oscillator of a laser processing machine is performed at the time of installation, relocation, replacement of a mirror, or re-adjustment at the time of periodic inspection of the laser processing machine. ing. Alignment jig 10 for laser beam alignment
12 is provided as an accessory to a mirror holder 103 of a laser processing machine as shown in FIG. 12, and a user performs alignment of a laser beam using the alignment jig 101 described above.

The alignment jig 101 has, for example, a cross-shaped pattern 105 at the tip of a cylindrical body, and a laser beam passing through the pattern 105 is applied to an acrylic plate 107. The acrylic plate 107 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the portion irradiated with the laser beam burns, and the burned portion is blown off by the air blow 109, so that a cross-shaped pattern shape, a so-called burn pattern 111 remains. The worker has a burn pattern 111
The position of the actual laser beam is adjusted to a predetermined beam set point while confirming the center point of.

[0004]

In the conventional alignment method as described above, the burn pattern 111 is obtained by actually burning the acrylic plate 107.
There is a problem that when the acrylic plate 107 burns, methyl acrylate harmful to the human body is generated.

Further, since the laser beam is radiated, there are restrictions on the place, sufficient attention must be paid to the surrounding environment, and various devices such as equipment for safe operation and a dust collector for collecting the above harmful vaporized gas are used. There was a problem that safety was required.

An acrylic plate 1 is used for alignment work.
07 or more, and the alignment work cannot be performed by one person, so that two or more workers are required, and furthermore, there is a problem that the skill is required and the work is time-consuming.

As described above, there is a problem that the conventional alignment is not an environmentally friendly method and apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to eliminate the necessity of consumables such as an acrylic plate, generate no harmful gas, work safely, and restrict the working environment. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser beam alignment method and a laser beam alignment method which can be performed by one worker and unskilled person without requiring peripheral equipment.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laser beam alignment method for irradiating a laser beam on a beam target at a center position of a beam absorber for absorbing a laser beam. At least three or more positions around the cross section of the beam absorber, around a predetermined beam set point through which the laser beam should pass, the temperature detection sensors are equally arranged on the same circle center and the periphery of the beam absorber. Temperature, and converts a temperature detection signal detected by each of the plurality of temperature detection sensors into position coordinates with respect to the beam set point. Based on the position coordinates, the actual passing position of the laser beam is determined by the beam. It is characterized in that it is adjusted to be located at a set point.

Therefore, when the beam target of the beam absorber is irradiated with the laser beam, the beam absorber absorbs the laser beam and the temperature rises. At least three or more temperatures around the beam absorber are detected by temperature detection sensors equally arranged on the same circle centered on the beam set point. Since the temperature detection signals at a plurality of locations are converted into the position coordinates with respect to the beam set point as the distance between the beam absorber and the temperature detection sensor, the actual passing position of the laser beam is adjusted to the beam set point based on the position coordinates. So that the mirror etc. can be adjusted easily. As a result, no consumables such as an acrylic plate are required, no harmful gas is generated, the operation is safe, the work environment is not restricted, no peripheral equipment is required, and only one worker and an unskilled person can perform the operation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the laser beam alignment method according to the first aspect, the converted position coordinates are displayed on a screen of a display device, and based on the display. The actual passing position of the laser beam is adjusted to be located at the beam set point.

Therefore, the position coordinates with respect to the beam set point as the distance between the beam absorber and the temperature detection sensor are visually displayed on the screen of the display device. Mirrors and the like can be easily adjusted to match the position to the beam set point.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laser beam alignment apparatus including a beam target for irradiating a laser beam at a central position, a beam absorber for absorbing the laser beam, and at least a periphery of a cross section of the beam absorber. Temperature detection sensors for detecting the temperature around the beam absorber at three or more positions are provided, and the plurality of temperature detection sensors are arranged on the same circle centered on a predetermined beam setting point through which a laser beam should pass. And an arithmetic processing unit for converting a temperature detection signal detected by each of the plurality of temperature detection sensors into a position coordinate with respect to the beam set point. It is.

Therefore, when the laser beam is applied to the beam target of the beam absorber, the beam absorber absorbs the laser beam and the temperature rises. At least three or more temperatures around the cross section of the beam absorber are detected by temperature detection sensors equally arranged on the same circle centered on the beam set point. Since the temperature detection signals at a plurality of locations are converted into the position coordinates for the beam set point as the distance between the beam absorber and the temperature detection sensor, the actual passing position of the laser beam is adjusted to the beam set point based on the position coordinates. So that the mirror etc. can be adjusted easily. As a result, no consumables such as an acrylic plate are required, no harmful gas is generated, the operation is safe, the work environment is not restricted, no peripheral equipment is required, and only one worker and an unskilled person can perform the operation.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the laser beam alignment apparatus according to the third aspect, the position coordinates converted by the arithmetic processing unit are displayed on a screen on the control device. A display device is provided.

Therefore, the position coordinates with respect to the beam set point are visually displayed on the screen of the display device as the distance between the beam absorber and the temperature detection sensor. Can easily adjust a mirror or the like so that the actual passing position of the laser beam matches the beam set point while watching the screen.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a laser beam alignment method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, an alignment apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a heat source made of nickel chrome or the like on an alignment apparatus main body 3 (right side in the figure) provided in a laser processing machine (not shown). An isolation body 5 is provided upright. The thermal isolation body 5 is provided with a through hole 7 through which a laser beam LB passes at substantially the center in a vertical plane. As shown in FIG. 1, S2, S3, and S4 are provided at four locations, up, down, left, and right, toward the inner surface of the through hole 7. In this embodiment, a pyroelectric infrared sensor is used as the infrared sensor. Each of the four infrared sensors S1 to S4 is electrically connected to a control device 9 such as a notebook computer as shown in FIG.

Referring again to FIG. 1 and FIG.
The distal ends of the infrared sensor elements S1 to S4 at the locations are equally arranged on the same circle centered on a predetermined beam setting point 11 through which the laser beam LB passes. It should be noted that the infrared sensors are provided at at least three or more positions, and it is desirable that four or more infrared sensors, for example, eight, as in the present embodiment, improve the detection accuracy.

A filter 13 is provided in front of each of the four infrared sensors.

A beam absorber 17 having a beam target 15 for irradiating a laser beam LB at a center position is provided in front of the through hole 7 of the thermal isolation body 5. Is the laser beam L
It is made of a material that absorbs B. Beam absorber 17
Is not limited. For example, FIGS. 3A and 3B
And a cone type beam absorber 17B as shown in FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B). Cross beam absorber 17A
In the cross-section, the crossed portion becomes the beam target 15, and the cone-shaped beam absorber 17B becomes the beam target 15 at the tip of the cone.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the beam absorber 17
A beam damper cone 19 for gradually dissipating the laser beam LB is provided in a conical shape in front of (left side in FIG. 2).
A heat sink 21 for cooling heat is provided in front of the radiator 2.
3 are provided.

Referring to FIG. 6, each of the four pyroelectric infrared sensor elements S1 to S4 is connected to the control device 9 via an amplifier 25.

Referring to FIG. 7, as the control device 9,
An input device 29 such as a keyboard for inputting various data such as a conversion program for converting outputs of the plurality of infrared sensors S1 to S4 into position coordinates on a screen, and a converted position coordinate to a CPU 27 serving as a central processing unit. And a memory 33 for storing input data and a conversion program are electrically connected to each other.

The CPU 27 has a plurality of infrared sensors S1 to S4 based on the conversion program.
An arithmetic processing unit 35 for calculating the output of the laser beam into the position coordinates for the beam set point 11 and a command unit 37 for giving a command to display the position coordinates calculated by the arithmetic processing unit 35 on the screen of the display device 31 are electrically connected. Connected.

With the above configuration, the laser beam LB is
When the beam is irradiated on the beam target 15 of the beam absorber 17 as shown in (1), the beam absorber LB absorbs the laser beam LB and the temperature rises, for example, to 36 to 37 ° C.

The infrared sensors S1 to S4 detect only the temperature change of the beam absorber 17 as a detection object and output a pulse signal, and this output voltage is applied to the infrared sensor S1 as shown in FIGS. Is inversely proportional to the distance L between S4 and the beam absorber 17. For example, in FIG.
Is about 20 cm, the output voltage V0 is 3.7 mV, and FIG.
At 0, when the distance L is about 10 cm, the output voltage V0 is 13.2 mV
It is.

Therefore, each of the infrared sensors S1 to S1 when irradiating the beam target 15 of the beam absorber 17
As shown in FIG. 8, the output form of S4 is 1V in the infrared sensor S1, 3V in the infrared sensor S2, 1.6V in the infrared sensor S3, and 2.4V in the infrared sensor S4. Is calculated based on the conversion program by the arithmetic processing unit 35 of the control device 9 and is converted into position coordinates with respect to the beam set point 11.

The position coordinates calculated by the arithmetic processing section 35 are given a command by the command section 37 and displayed on the screen as the display device 31 of the notebook personal computer as shown in FIG.

That is, in the personal computer screen output mode, the position coordinates with respect to the beam set point 11 converted corresponding to each of the infrared sensors S1 to S4 are indicated by P1 to P4, and the laser beam is formed as a circular cross section. When represented by a circle passing through P1 to P4, the center position of the actual laser beam LB is set to the beam set point 11 as shown in FIG.
At a glance, it is clearly shifted to the lower right.

Therefore, the operator can easily adjust the actual position of the laser beam LB so as to be positioned at the beam setting point 11 while looking at the screen.

On the basis of the data displayed as described above, for example, a message "Move the mirror adjustment microclockwise (or mm) to the right (left) or how many mm" in the vertical direction is displayed on the screen. It can also be displayed. The adjustment instruction can be displayed on the screen in the horizontal direction in the same manner as described above.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, but can be embodied in other forms by making appropriate changes.

Further, the processing function used in the above embodiment may be added to the control device of the laser beam machine itself, and a jig may be directly connected to the control device and displayed on a screen.

Further, the infrared sensor is not limited to the pyroelectric infrared sensor described above, and an element having characteristics such as a phototransistor and a thermopile may be used.

[0036]

As will be understood from the above description of the embodiment of the invention, according to the first aspect of the invention, at least three or more temperatures around the cross section of the beam absorber are detected by the temperature detection sensor. Then, the detection signal is converted into a position coordinate with respect to the beam set point as a distance between the beam absorber and the temperature detection sensor, and the actual passing position of the laser beam can be adjusted to match the beam set point based on the position coordinate. Therefore, no consumables such as an acrylic plate are required, no harmful gas is generated, the operation is safe, there is no restriction on the working environment and no peripheral equipment is required, and the environment is friendly to one worker and even an unskilled person. An alignment method and apparatus can be provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the position coordinates with respect to the beam set point are visually displayed on the screen of the display device as the distance between the beam absorber and the temperature detection sensor. However, the mirror and the like can be easily adjusted so that the actual passing position of the laser beam matches the beam set point.

According to the third aspect of the invention, it is the same as the effect of the first aspect, that is, at least three or more temperatures around the cross section of the beam absorber are detected by the temperature detection sensor, and this detection signal is detected. The distance between the body and the temperature detection sensor is converted into position coordinates with respect to the beam set point, and based on the coordinates, the actual passing position of the laser beam can be adjusted to match the beam set point. Therefore, there is no need for consumables such as an acrylic plate, no harmful gas is generated, and the operation is safe.
An environment-friendly alignment method and apparatus that can be performed by humans and by unskilled persons can be provided.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the same as the effect of the second aspect, the position coordinates with respect to the beam set point as the distance between the beam absorber and the temperature detection sensor are visually displayed on the screen of the display device. Since the display is performed, the operator can easily adjust a mirror or the like so that the actual passing position of the laser beam matches the beam set point while watching the screen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a laser beam alignment method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a laser beam alignment device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A and 3B show a cross-type beam absorber, wherein FIG. 3A is a front view and FIG. 3B is a side view.

4A and 4B show a cone-type beam absorber, wherein FIG. 4A is a front view and FIG. 4B is a side view.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a notebook personal computer type control device used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a connection circuit diagram between each infrared sensor and a control device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration block diagram of a control device.

FIG. 8 is an output form diagram of an infrared sensor.

FIG. 9 is an oscilloscope diagram showing a state of an output voltage of the infrared sensor.

FIG. 10 is an oscilloscope diagram showing a state of an output voltage of the infrared sensor.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an output form of a personal computer screen.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a conventional laser beam alignment device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 alignment device 9 control device 11 beam set point 15 beam target 17 beam absorber 25 amplifier 27 CPU 31 display device 33 memory 35 arithmetic processing unit 37 command unit S1 to S4 infrared sensor (temperature detection sensor)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A laser beam is applied to a beam target at a center position of a beam absorber that absorbs a laser beam.
At least three or more positions around the cross-section of the beam absorber, a temperature detection sensor arranged equally on the same circle centered on a predetermined beam setting point through which the laser beam should pass is used. Detecting a temperature, converting a temperature detection signal detected by each of the plurality of temperature detection sensors into position coordinates with respect to the beam setting point, and setting an actual passing position of the laser beam based on the position coordinates to the beam setting; A method for aligning a laser beam, wherein the method is adjusted to be positioned at a point. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the converted position coordinates are displayed on a screen of a display device, and based on the display, the actual passing position of the laser beam is adjusted to be positioned at the beam set point. The method for aligning a laser beam according to claim 1. 3. A beam target for irradiating a laser beam is provided at a central position, and a beam absorber for absorbing a laser beam is provided. At least three or more positions of the beam absorber around a cross section of the beam absorber are provided. A temperature detection sensor for detecting an ambient temperature, and the plurality of temperature detection sensors are equally arranged on a same circle centered on a predetermined beam set point through which a laser beam passes, and the plurality of temperature detection sensors are provided. A controller for converting a temperature detection signal detected by the controller into a position coordinate with respect to the beam set point. 4. The laser beam alignment device according to claim 3, wherein the control device includes a display device that displays the position coordinates converted by the arithmetic processing unit on a screen.