JP2001025873A - Thermal cutting method and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the piercing time in a thermal cutting, in particular, a laser cutting of a work, to easily make selection form a plasma and a laser for piercing, to prevent a damage of a nozzle and to keep a cutting quality as specified. SOLUTION: The thermal cutting device 1 provided with a plasma torch and a laser head, is also furnished with an input selection unit 35 with which a plasma by a plasma torch or a laser by a laser head is selected for a piercing, with an operation sequence generation unit 47 having a plasma piercing generation unit 37, a laser piercing generation unit 39, a laser cutting generation unit 41 and a plasma cutting generation unit 43, with a program parameter memory 49, and with a thermal cutting control unit 51.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for thermally cutting a work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, when laser processing is performed as thermal cutting processing, particularly when processing is performed from the center of a work W with a laser head 101 as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. The piercing hole H is processed at the point where cutting is to be started. Then, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the laser head 10
1 is moved to start cutting, and cutting is performed.

[0003]

By the way, when the thickness of the work W becomes thicker, it takes much time for piercing. For example, if the material of the work W is SS40
When the thickness is 0, the thickness is 12 mm, and the output of the laser oscillator is a 6 kW class, the piercing time takes about 6 seconds.

[0004] For this reason, a product having more piercing steps requires more processing time. In addition, the fact that the piercing time is long means that the molten material from the workpiece W, that is, the cut material at the time of the piercing is blown back (sputtered), and the laser head 1
There is also a high possibility that the nozzle provided at the tip of 01 is damaged. In addition, under the above conditions, the cutting length is 500
mm, the product of one piercing, the cutting speed is 2m / min,
Cutting time: piercing time = about 20sec: 6sec = 10: 3
It turns out that piercing time accounts for a considerable proportion.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the piercing time when performing a thermal cutting process, particularly a laser cutting process on a work, and to easily select whether the piercing process is performed by plasma or laser. It is another object of the present invention to provide a thermal cutting method and apparatus for maintaining a constant cutting quality without damaging a nozzle.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal cutting method according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein when performing a thermal cutting process on a workpiece, whether the piercing process is performed by plasma or laser. After selecting and performing piercing with the selected plasma or laser, the workpiece is subjected to thermal cutting.

Therefore, when performing a thermal cutting process on a workpiece, the piercing process is selected so as to be performed by plasma, and the piercing process is performed.
Then, by performing the thermal cutting process on the work, the piercing time is shortened as compared with the related art, and the cutting quality can be kept constant without damaging the nozzle. This case is effective when the thickness of the work is large. Further, when the plate thickness is small, it is possible to cope with this by performing piercing with a laser as in the conventional case.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal cutting apparatus comprising a plasma torch and a laser head, wherein the piercing is performed by a plasma with a plasma torch or a laser with a laser head. An input selection unit to select, a plasma piercing generation unit, a laser piercing generation unit, an operation sequence generation unit having a laser cutting generation unit and a plasma cutting generation unit, a program parameter memory, and a heat cutting processing control unit. It is characterized by comprising.

Therefore, when performing a thermal cutting process on a workpiece, the input selection unit selects the piercing process to be performed by plasma using a plasma torch, and the program parameters for the plasma piercing and laser cutting are stored in the operation sequence generating unit from the program parameter memory. When the program for plasma piercing and laser cutting is generated by the plasma piercing generating unit and the laser cutting generating unit, respectively, the program is sent to the control unit for hot cutting and executed, and the thermal cutting apparatus is operated. At the same time, the work is controlled to perform plasma piercing and laser cutting. Thus, the piercing time is shorter than before, and the cutting quality can be kept constant without damaging the nozzle.

When performing a thermal cutting process on a workpiece, an input selecting unit selects piercing with a laser by a laser head, and a laser piercing and a laser cutting program parameter are stored in an operation sequence generating unit from a program parameter memory. When the program for laser piercing and laser cutting is generated by the laser piercing generating unit and the laser cutting generating unit, respectively, the program is sent to the thermal cutting processing control unit and executed. At the same time, laser piercing and laser cutting are performed on the work under control. Thus, laser cutting similar to the conventional one is performed.

Further, when performing a thermal cutting process on the workpiece, an input selecting unit selects the piercing process to be performed by a plasma using a plasma torch, and stores a plasma piercing and a plasma cutting program parameter from a program parameter memory into an operation sequence generating unit. When a program for plasma piercing and plasma cutting is generated by the plasma piercing generating unit and the plasma cutting generating unit, respectively, the program is sent to the control unit for hot cutting and executed, and the thermal cutting apparatus is operated. At the same time, plasma piercing and plasma cutting are performed on the work under control. Thus, a plasma cutting process similar to the conventional one is performed.

By providing an input selection unit for selecting whether to perform piercing with plasma using a plasma torch or using a laser with a laser head, it is easy to perform piercing with plasma or laser when performing piercing. And,
Easy to do.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal cutting apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the plasma torch and the laser head are provided in one processing head. It is.

Therefore, by providing the plasma torch and the laser head in one processing head,
Control is performed by control of the same axis.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal cutting apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the operation sequence generating section includes a laser / plasma cutting generating section. It is.

Therefore, when performing thermal cutting on a workpiece, the input selection unit selects whether to perform piercing with plasma using a plasma torch or with a laser using a laser head. By taking the program parameters for cutting into the operation sequence generator, the plasma piercing generator and the laser / plasma cutting generator generate the plasma piercing and laser / plasma cutting programs, respectively, and then send them to the controller for thermal cutting processing. When it is executed, the thermal cutting device is operated, and the work is controlled to perform plasma piercing and laser plasma cutting. Thus, the same laser / plasma cutting processing as in the prior art is performed.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, the thermal cutting apparatus 1 includes an upright box-shaped bed 3.
A plurality of work clamps 5 for clamping a work W to be machined are provided at one upper end, for example, at the right end. A frame 7 extending in the X-axis direction (the front-rear direction in FIG. 1) stands upright on the left side of the bed 3, and a support frame 11 having a guide rail 9 extending in the X-axis direction is provided on the frame 7. Is provided.

A plurality of legs 13 are erected on the right side of the bed 3 at appropriate intervals in the X-axis direction, and a support frame 15 extending in the X-axis direction is provided on the legs 13. A guide rail 17 extending in the X-axis direction is laid on the support frame 15. This guide rail 1
7 is provided with a support block 19 movable in the X-axis direction. The support block 19 and the guide rail 9
The X-axis moving body 21 supported by the X-axis moving body 21 is provided.

A guide rail 23 extending in the Y-axis direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 1) is provided on the front surface of the X-axis moving body 21.
Is provided, and a processing head 25 movable in the Y-axis direction along the guide rail 23 is provided. The processing head 25 has a laser head 27 movable in the Z-axis direction (vertical direction in FIG. 1) and a plasma torch 29.
Are provided at a certain distance.

On the left side of the frame 7, for example, a control device 31 for controlling the thermal cutting device 1 is arranged.

With the above configuration, the work W is clamped by the work clamp 5 and placed on the bed 3. In this state, the thermal cutting device 1 is controlled by the control device 31 and the X-axis moving body 21 is moved in the X-axis direction to the processing head 25.
Is moved in the Y-axis direction, and the laser head 27 or the plasma torch 2 provided on the processing head 25 is moved.
After the piercing process is performed in step 9, the laser cutting process, the plasma cutting process, and the laser / plasma cutting process are performed by the laser head 27 or the plasma torch 29.

Referring to FIG. 2, the control device 31 performs an input means 33 such as a keyboard, and performs a piercing process input from the input means 33 by a plasma torch 29 using a plasma torch. An input selection unit 35 for selecting whether to perform the operation with a laser by the laser head 27, a plasma piercing generation unit 37, a laser piercing generation unit 39, a laser cutting generation unit 41, a plasma cutting generation unit 43, and a laser / plasma combined generation unit 45. An operation sequence generation unit 47 having
A memory 49 and a control section for thermal cutting processing 51 are provided.

With the above configuration, a cutting method will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, in step S1, the input selection unit 35 determines whether or not to perform piercing using plasma. If piercing is not to be performed using plasma, the process proceeds to step S2, where a normal operation sequence is generated. That is, by taking the program parameters of the laser piercing and laser cutting from the program parameter memory 49 into the operation sequence generating unit 47, the laser piercing and laser cutting programs are generated by the laser piercing generating unit 39 and the plasma cutting generating unit 43, respectively. Then, in step S3, the program is sent to the thermal cutting processing control unit 51 and executed.
Is operated, and laser piercing and laser cutting are performed on the work W under control. Thus, the same laser cutting can be performed as in the conventional case.

If it is determined by the input selection unit 35 that the piercing is performed by using the plasma in step S1, the operation sequence of the plasma piercing that performs the piercing by using the plasma is generated in step S4. That is, the program parameters of the plasma piercing are taken into the operation sequence generation unit 47 from the program parameter memory, so that the plasma piercing program is generated by the plasma piercing generation unit 37 and then sent to the thermal cutting control unit 51. When executed, the thermal cutting device 1 is operated in step S5, and the work is controlled to perform plasma piercing on the work. Then, in step S6, the program parameters for laser cutting are taken into the operation sequence generating unit 47 from the program parameter memory, and the laser cutting program is generated by the laser cutting generating unit 41. When sent and executed, in step S7, the thermal cutting device 1 is operated and controlled to perform laser cutting on the work. Thus, the piercing time can be reduced as compared with the conventional case, and the cutting quality can be kept constant without damaging the nozzle provided at the tip of the laser head 27.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when a product G having a hole H is machined from a workpiece W, FIG.
As shown in (1), the workpiece W is subjected to plasma piercing with plasma. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the product G having the hole H through the hole formed by the plasma piercing in the workpiece W can be subjected to laser cutting.

The difference in the processing time between the plasma and the laser in the piercing process will now be described.
When a piercing process of 0 and t = 12 mm is performed, the piercing process can be completed in 1/3 since the time is 6 seconds with a 6 kw laser and 2 seconds with a 200 A plasma. Furthermore, when drilling 100 pierce holes under the above processing conditions, 6kw
Since it is 6 sec for laser and 2 sec for 200A plasma,
It takes 10 minutes and 3.3 minutes for each 100 holes. Therefore, the greater the number of piercing holes, the greater the difference in machining time.

Further, after the piercing process is performed by plasma or laser, a composite process of a plasma laser known until now is performed by the laser
It is also possible to perform this by generating and executing a laser / plasma cutting program in the plasma cutting / generating section 45.

Further, the example in which the laser head 27 and the plasma torch 29 are provided in the processing head 25 has been described.
The laser head 27 and the plasma torch 29 may be separately provided with two or more processing heads provided separately.

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

[0031]

As will be understood from the above description of the embodiments of the present invention, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when performing a thermal cutting process on a work, it is selected that the piercing process is performed by plasma. Then, by performing a thermal cutting process on the work, the piercing time can be shortened as compared with the related art, and the cutting quality can be kept constant without damaging the nozzle. This case is effective when the thickness of the work is large. Also, when the board thickness is thin,
It is also possible to cope with this by performing piercing with a laser as in the past.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when performing thermal cutting on a workpiece, the input selection unit selects to perform piercing with plasma using a plasma torch, and performs plasma piercing and laser cutting from a program parameter memory. When the program for the plasma piercing and the laser cutting are generated by the plasma piercing generating unit and the laser cutting generating unit, respectively, the program parameters are taken into the operation sequence generating unit. While the cutting apparatus is operated, the work can be controlled to perform plasma piercing and laser cutting. Thus, the piercing time can be shortened as compared with the related art, and the cutting quality can be kept constant without damaging the nozzle.

When performing a thermal cutting process on a workpiece, an input selecting unit selects piercing with a laser by a laser head, and a laser piercing and laser cutting program parameter is stored in an operation sequence generating unit from a program parameter memory. When the program for laser piercing and laser cutting is generated by the laser piercing generating unit and the laser cutting generating unit, respectively, the program is sent to the thermal cutting processing control unit and executed. At the same time, the work can be controlled to perform laser piercing and laser cutting. Thus, the same laser cutting can be performed as in the conventional case.

Further, when performing the thermal cutting process on the work, the input selecting unit selects to perform the piercing process by using a plasma torch, and the program parameters of the plasma piercing and the plasma cutting are stored in the operation sequence generating unit from the program parameter memory. When a program for plasma piercing and plasma cutting is generated by the plasma piercing generating unit and the plasma cutting generating unit, respectively, the program is sent to the control unit for hot cutting and executed, and the thermal cutting apparatus is operated. At the same time, the work can be controlled to perform plasma piercing and plasma cutting.

By providing an input selection section for selecting whether to perform piercing similar to the conventional one using plasma with a plasma torch or using a laser with a laser head, it is possible to perform piercing using plasma when performing piercing. Whether to perform with a laser can be simply and easily performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the plasma torch and the laser head are provided in one processing head, it is possible to perform control by controlling the same axis.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when performing thermal cutting on a workpiece, the input selection unit selects whether to perform piercing with plasma using a plasma torch or with a laser using a laser head, and a program parameter memory. After the program parameters of plasma piercing and laser / plasma cutting are taken into the operation sequence generator from the, the plasma piercing generator and laser / plasma cutting generator respectively generate the plasma piercing and laser / plasma cutting programs, When sent to the cutting processing control unit and executed, the thermal cutting device is operated,
The work can be controlled to perform plasma piercing and laser / plasma cutting. Thus, it is possible to perform the same laser / plasma cutting processing as in the past.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a thermal cutting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a thermal cutting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory diagrams for performing conventional laser processing.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are explanatory diagrams for performing conventional laser processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 thermal cutting processing device 25 processing head 27 laser head 29 plasma torch 31 control device 33 input means 35 input selecting unit 37 plasma piercing generating unit 39 laser piercing generating unit 41 laser cutting generating unit 43 plasma cutting generating unit 45 laser / plasma combined generation Unit 47 operation sequence generation unit 49 program / parameter memory 51 control unit for thermal cutting

Claims (4)

[Claims] When performing a thermal cutting process on a work, it is selected whether the piercing process is performed with a plasma or a laser. After performing the piercing process with the selected plasma or laser, the thermal cutting process is performed on the work. A thermal cutting method characterized by performing. 2. A thermal cutting apparatus provided with a plasma torch and a laser head, comprising: an input selection unit for selecting whether to perform piercing with plasma using a plasma torch or with a laser using a laser head; ,
A thermal cutting device comprising: an operation sequence generating unit having a laser piercing generating unit, a laser cutting generating unit, and a plasma cutting generating unit; a program parameter memory; and a thermal cutting processing control unit. . 3. The thermal cutting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the plasma torch and the laser head are provided in one processing head. 4. An operation sequence generating unit, comprising:
3. The thermal cutting apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a plasma cutting generator.