JP2002079385A - Method for cutting with laser beam and laser beam cutting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for cutting with a laser beam and a laser beam cutting machine, by which melt sticking among melt cut slugs of individual cut members is hardly produced even when plural materials are cut together. SOLUTION: Each of cloths 11 and 11 is cut by irradiating lapped plural cloths 11 and 11 with a laser beam in a diagonal direction. Thus, a positional deviation occurs between the cut positions of the upper cloth 11 and of the lower cloth 11 when the cloths are cut in a lapped state, unlike the conventional case where the lapped cloths 11 and 11 are irradiated with the laser beam from the top. As a result, some gap is formed among cut slugs of each of layers of cloths 11 and 11 and the melt sticking of individual melt cut slugs are prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser cutting method and a laser cutting machine, and more particularly to a laser cutting method and a laser cutting machine for cutting (fusing) a sheet-like material such as paper or cloth by a laser beam. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser cutting method and a laser cutting machine that do not weld fusing chips appearing at the cut end of each sheet material when cutting a sheet material at a time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a laser cutting machine includes a laser irradiation mechanism equipped with a laser head for irradiating a laser beam from an irradiation port, and a conveyor device for transferring a cloth (cutting material) to a cutting position immediately below the laser head. It is composed of That is, in a conventional laser cutting machine, a cloth is placed on the upper surface of a plurality of conveyor bodies constituting a conveyor band of a conveyor device, and the cloth is sucked and held on the upper surface by negative pressure. Then, the cloth is cut into an arbitrary shape by irradiating a laser beam from directly above the cloth (in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the cloth) from the irradiation port of the laser head. The conveyor body holding the cloth on the upper surface has a honeycomb structure in order to adsorb the cloth with a negative pressure from below. That is, 6
It is a honeycomb-like structure in which a large number of hexagonal cylinders are continuous. The conveyor body is made of aluminum, copper, or an alloy thereof. This is because the laser light is hardly cut and the laser light is reflected.

[0003]

By the way, in order to enhance the workability of cutting cloths, a plurality of cloths are superimposed, and these are collectively cut by a laser cutting machine (hereinafter sometimes referred to as overlap cutting). It is possible to do. However, when the overlap cutting is actually performed, there is a possibility that the melting chips appearing at the cut ends of the respective fabrics are fused. For this reason, the cut cloths must be carefully peeled off one by one, or when the fusion between the cloths is strong, the cut ends that have been fused must be cut and aligned at once.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser cutting method and a laser cutting machine in which even when a plurality of cut materials are cut at once, fusion of the cut pieces of each cut material is less likely to occur. For that purpose. In addition, the present invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser cutting machine that can arbitrarily change an irradiation angle of a laser beam from a laser head to a material to be cut.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a laser beam is applied to a plurality of superposed cutting materials from an oblique direction not including a direction orthogonal to the surface of the cutting material in the uppermost layer. And a laser cutting method for cutting these cut materials. The type of cut material is not limited as long as it is a member (usually a sheet material) that can be cut by laser light.
For example, various synthetic resin sheets such as a polyethylene sheet can be adopted. The number of sheets to be cut at the time of laser cutting is not limited as long as it is two or more. Further, the types of cut materials to be stacked may be the same or different materials. Specifically, a material sheet having a lower synthetic resin sheet, a middle sponge sheet, and an upper synthetic resin sheet, such as a synthetic leather raw material sheet, may be used. The inclination angle with respect to the direction perpendicular to the surface of the cut material disposed on the uppermost layer, which is the laser light irradiation surface of the cut material of the laser light, is not limited. Here, the oblique direction means, for example, when the surface of the cut material is an XY plane,
The direction orthogonal to the surface of the cut material includes not only the X direction and the Y direction, but also a direction (combined direction) in which the X direction and the Y direction are combined. These matters are described in claim 3
Also applies.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the inclination angle of the laser beam applied to the cut material is 20 to 45 degrees with respect to a direction orthogonal to the surface of the cut material. Laser cutting method. The tilt angle here is 20 ~
For example, 45 degrees means that, in the case where the surface of the cut material described above is an XY plane, only the X direction, the Y direction, and also the synthetic direction with respect to the direction orthogonal to the surface of the cut material. This means that each has an inclination angle of 20 to 45 degrees. Note that the inclination angle of the synthesis direction of 20 to 45 degrees means that the inclination angle is 20 to 45 degrees in both the X direction and the Y direction at the same time. The tilt angle of the laser beam is 20
If it is less than the degree, there is a possibility that the melting chips appearing at the cut end of each cut material at the time of cutting are fused. If the angle exceeds 45 degrees, the area of the swarf increases, and the feel when touching the cut end of the cut material is reduced. In addition, for example, when the material to be cut is a cloth, a large amount of sewing margin must be taken when sewing the cut ends together. These matters are defined in claim 4
Also applies.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conveyor device configured to be able to travel along an endless conveyor belt on which a plurality of cut materials to be cut by a laser beam are superimposed along a longitudinal direction thereof. A laser that is disposed above the conveyor band and irradiates a laser to the cut material, and a laser that cuts a plurality of cut materials on the conveyor band by laser light emitted from the laser head. In the laser cutting machine provided with an irradiation mechanism, the irradiation direction of the laser light emitted from the laser head, for the stacked cut material, including a direction orthogonal to the surface of the uppermost layer of the cut material It is a laser cutter with no oblique direction.

[0008] The structure of the conveyor belt is not limited. For example, a honeycomb structure in which honeycomb-shaped hexagonal cylinders are continuous may be used. Alternatively, the conveyor belt described in the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-20921, which was filed by the applicant of the present invention and published, may be used, that is, a structure in which holding plates are arranged in a cage shape. The laser head may be fixed to the laser cutting machine in an inclined state, or the angle may be changed by using, for example, a laser irradiation angle changing unit. The structure of the laser irradiation mechanism is not limited. It is only required that laser light capable of cutting the material to be cut can be irradiated from the laser head.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the angle of inclination of the laser beam emitted from the laser head to the cut material is set to 20 to 45 degrees with respect to a direction perpendicular to the surface of the cut material. Item 4 is a laser cutting machine according to Item 3.

The invention according to claim 5 is the laser cutting machine according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the laser head is provided with laser irradiation angle changing means for changing the irradiation angle of the laser beam. . The configuration of the laser irradiation angle changing means is not limited. For example, when the surface of the cut material to be irradiated with the laser light is an XY plane, the irradiation angle of the laser light may be changed only in the X direction or the Y direction. Alternatively, a configuration is possible in which the irradiation angle of the laser beam can be changed simultaneously in both the X direction and the Y direction.

[0011]

According to the first and third aspects of the present invention, a plurality of superposed cutting materials are irradiated with a laser beam from an oblique direction to cut the respective cutting materials at a time. Unlike the conventional method, unlike the case where the laser beam is irradiated from a direction orthogonal to the surface of the uppermost cut material, the cutting position of the upper cut material and the lower cut material are Misalignment occurs with the cutting position. As a result, a slight gap is formed between the fusing chips of each layer (each cut material), and fusion of the respective fusing chips can be prevented.

In particular, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the irradiation angle of the laser beam to the cut material is changed by using the laser irradiation angle changing means. Accordingly, the inclination angle of the laser light emitted from the laser head to the cut material can be changed.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a laser irradiation mechanism of a laser cutting machine according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a laser cutter according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a laser cutter according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a main part of a laser head of a laser cutting machine according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line S5-S5 of FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for comparing the cutting state of the conventional method and the method of the present invention in the overlap cutting.

First, the configuration of the laser cutting machine will be described with reference to FIGS. The laser cutting machine 10 generally includes a feeder 20 that supplies two cloths 11 and 11 in a stacked state, and a conveyor device that adsorbs the supplied cloths 11 and expands and holds the cloths 11 in a planar shape. 30, cloth 11, 11
And a carry-out mechanism 50 for carrying out the cut cloths 11 and 11. The feeder 20 is provided with roll-shaped cloths 11, 11.
(Two belt-shaped cloths each having a predetermined width wound around a roll) are continuously supplied to the upper surface of the conveyor belt 31 of the conveyor device 30. The feeder 20 extends in the length direction of the conveyor device 30 (the conveyor belt 31).
In the traveling direction of the vehicle). As the two cloths 11, 11 supplied as cut materials, the same material and the same thickness can be used. Note that cloths of different materials and different thicknesses may be used.

An unloading mechanism 50 for unloading the cut cloths 11 and 11 (product cloth or end cloth) from the conveyor device 30 is disposed on the other end of the conveyor device 30 and on the side opposite to the feeder 20. Have been. The unloading mechanism 50 has a belt conveyor 51 provided at a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal plane, and runs the endless belt of the belt conveyor 51 to mount the cut cloth on the upper surface thereof. This is a configuration for carrying out 11,11. The driving of the feeder 20 and the unloading mechanism 50 is controlled by a control device (computer) not shown.

The conveyor device 30 constituting the main body of the laser cutting machine 10 has an endless conveyor band 31 provided so as to be able to run along its longitudinal direction. Specifically, a machine base 32 having a predetermined width and a predetermined length is erected on the floor surface,
Sprocket wheels 33 and 34 are rotatably attached to the upper end of the machine base 32 at both ends in the length direction. These sprocket wheels 33, 3
4, the endless conveyor belt 31 is stretched over the conveyor belt 31.
2 are provided so as to be able to run along the length direction. A mechanism for rotating and driving the sprocket wheels 33 and 34 is provided inside the machine base 32, and the drive mechanism is configured to be controlled and driven by the control device. Also,
Although not shown, a roller-like cleaning brush is provided below and adjacent to the sprocket wheel 34 so as to clean the conveyor belt 31. The rotational drive of the cleaning brush is also managed and controlled by the control device.

In this conveyor device 30, an endless conveyor band 31 is provided so as to be able to run along its longitudinal direction, and the horizontal upper surface of the conveyor band 31 is a cloth 11,1.
1. And this conveyor belt 3
1 is configured by connecting a plurality of rectangular conveyor bodies 35 endlessly. That is, a plurality of conveyor bodies 3
5 are connected by a chain 31a so that the long sides of the rectangles 5 are adjacent and opposed to each other to form an endless conveyor belt 31. The length of the conveyor body 35 is the conveyor belt 31
Is the width of Each conveyor body 35 has an aluminum honeycomb structure having a large number of hexagonal cylindrical bodies (not shown). Each hole of each hexagonal cylinder is formed to penetrate the front and back surfaces of the conveyor body 35.

On the other hand, a negative pressure is generated in the space inside the conveyor belt 31 inside the machine base 32 of the conveyor device 30. For example, the upper side space inside the conveyor belt 31 is connected to a negative pressure source (such as a compressor). That is, the cloths 11 are adsorbed and held on the surface through the through holes of the hexagonal cylinder of each conveyor body 35. Reference numeral 51 shown in FIG. 2 is an exhaust duct. The upper surface of the machine base 32 of the conveyor device 30 is covered with a gull-wing-shaped cover 52.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG.
A laser light irradiation mechanism 40 is provided in the upper space of the machine base 32 covered with. This laser irradiation mechanism 40
Has a laser head 55 for irradiating a laser beam, and a traveling member 56 for traveling the laser head 55 on the upper surface of the conveyor belt 31 in the XY directions. Running member 5
Reference numeral 6 denotes, for example, a pair of rails disposed on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor belt 31 and a traverse member 57 erected in a direction transverse to these rails. The traverse member 57 is guided by the rails. To run.

The laser head 55 is attached to the traveling member 56 so as to be able to travel along the width direction of the conveyor belt 31 which is supported by the traverse member 57 and extends. Specifically, one thin guide rod 58 is provided on one end in the width direction of the traverse member 57 over substantially the entire length of the traverse member 57. The traverse member 57 is provided with a traveling body 59 that is guided by the guide rod 58 and can travel in the length direction of the traverse member 57 (the width direction of the conveyor device 30). The traveling body 59 is mainly composed of a vertical plate 59 connected in a V-shape.
a and a horizontal plate 59b. The laser head 55 is mounted on the outer surface of the upper end of the vertical plate 59a via an L-shaped mounting plate 59c fixed to the vertical plate 59a. On the other hand, the base of the horizontal plate 59b is bent downward. A rod hole into which the guide rod 58 is loosely inserted is formed in the bent portion. The traveling body 59 is arranged such that the upper surface of the traverse member 57 and one side surface adjacent to the upper surface of the traverse member 57 are separated from the outside with a slight gap around the upper corner of the traverse member 57 opposite to the guide rod 58. I'm wearing it. The output from the laser head 55 and the traveling of the traveling member 56 are, for example, program-controlled by the control device.

Next, the laser head 55 will be described in detail. As shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5, the laser head 55 mainly includes a small laser generating unit 60 that is a laser light generating source, and a laser light generated by the laser generating unit 60. , 11 to the cutting position on the surface. The laser generating unit 60 controls the laser guiding structure 6 so that the generated laser light can be irradiated into the laser light intake 61 a of the laser guiding structure 61.
1 is arranged on the side. The laser guiding structure 61 mainly includes an outer cylindrical body 62 having a laser light intake port 61a formed on one end surface, and a pair of rotating pins 63 inside the outer cylindrical body 62.
An inner cylindrical body 64 pivotally supported through the inner cylindrical body 63;
And a laser irradiation nozzle 65 erected at the end on the side of the laser light intake port 61a, and the laser light inserted into the inner cylinder 64 and taken into the laser guiding structure 61 from the laser light intake port 61a. , Always, laser irradiation nozzle 65
A parabolic converging mirror 66 for reflecting light into the inside and an air nozzle 68 for blowing compressed air, which has been pressure-fed from an external small compressor 67, onto the cloth 11, 11 at a laser beam irradiation position.

The outer cylinder 62 has a laser light inlet 6
The end opposite to 1a is rotatably supported by the mounting plate 59c about the axis of the outer cylinder 62.
On the inner peripheral surface of a substantially intermediate portion of the outer cylinder 62 in the axial direction,
A pair of built-up portions 62a, 62a to which the pair of rotation pins 63, 63 are respectively attached are arranged to face each other.
At this time, the two rotating pins 63, 63 are arranged to face each other such that the matching pin axes are orthogonal to the axis of the outer cylinder 62. An elongated hole 62b parallel to the axis of the outer cylinder 62 is formed in a range from the vicinity of the laser light intake port 61a side of the outer cylinder 62 to a substantially intermediate position in the axial direction of the outer cylinder 62. . The laser irradiation nozzle 65 is loosely inserted into the elongated hole 62b. Therefore, when the inner cylinder 64 is rotated about the respective rotation pins 63, 63, the laser irradiation nozzle 65 swings in the length direction of the long hole 62b.

The inner cylinder 64 is a small cylinder having a diameter approximately half that of the outer cylinder 62. A pair of bearings 64a, 64a are disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 64 at positions opposite to each other. The corresponding rotation pins 63, 63 are rotatably inserted into these bearings 64a, 64a. The laser irradiation nozzle 65 is an elongated circular tube.
A disk-shaped compressed air introduction portion 65a is provided at an intermediate portion of the laser irradiation nozzle 65 via a bypass pipe 69. The compressed air introduction part 65a has a function of sending a part of the compressed air flowing through the air nozzle 68 to the laser irradiation nozzle 65, and the nozzle 65 is cooled by the part of the compressed air. A branch valve 70 for adjusting the supply amount of compressed air flowing toward the laser irradiation nozzle 65 is provided at an intermediate portion of the bypass pipe 69. The air nozzle 68
Is provided at the lower end thereof with an air blowing amount adjusting valve 71 for adjusting the supply amount of compressed air blown to the laser light irradiation positions of the cloths 11 and 11.

The parabolic condensing mirror 66 has a mirror surface curved in the same manner as the surface of the concave lens. Therefore, all the laser light reflected on the mirror surface can be guided to the internal cavity of the laser irradiation nozzle 65. Of the laser guiding structure 61, mainly an outer cylinder 62, rotating pins 63, 63, an inner cylinder 64, a parabolic condensing mirror 66
Thus, a laser irradiation angle changing means 72 for changing the irradiation angle of the laser light is configured. Also, in this embodiment,
The axial direction of the outer cylinder 62 (the width direction of the conveyor device 30) in plan view is the X direction, and the direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the outer cylinder 62 (the length direction of the conveyor device 30) in plan view is Y.
Direction, the inclination angle of the laser light irradiated toward the cloths 11 is set to 30 degrees in the X direction and 30 degrees in the Y direction.
Degree.

In the laser cutting machine 10 having the above-described configuration, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cloths 11, 11 are spread from the feeder 20 and supplied onto the conveyor belt 31 in a state where the cloths 11, 11 are developed. Adsorb and hold by negative pressure. Then, the laser head 55 is driven and run to emit a laser beam to the cloth 11,
The cloth 11, 11 is cut into a predetermined shape while irradiating the cloth 11 from an inclined direction and while blowing compressed air from a compressor 67 from an air nozzle 68. Cut cloth 11,
11 and the end cloth are carried out by the transport mechanism 50.
Further, the laser irradiation angle changing means 72 may change the irradiation angle of the laser beam from the laser irradiation nozzle 65. When changing the angle in the X direction, the tip of the laser irradiation nozzle 65 may be grasped and pushed and pulled in the axial direction (X direction) of the outer cylinder 62 using the long hole 62b as a guide. At this time, the inner cylinder 64 rotates about the rotation pins 63, 63 (see FIG. 5). On the other hand, when changing the angle in the Y direction, the tip of the laser irradiation nozzle 65 may be grasped and rotated around the axis of the outer cylinder 62 (see FIG. 4).

As described above, the two cloths 11, 1 superposed on each other
1 is cut by irradiating a laser beam from an oblique direction, so that at the time of the overlap cutting, a positional shift occurs between the cutting position of the upper layer cloth 11 and the cutting position of the lower layer cloth 11 (FIG. 6). See the method of the present invention). Therefore, a slight gap appears between the fusing debris generated at the cut end of the upper fabric 11 and the fusing debris generated at the cut end of the lower fabric 11. In the conventional method, since the laser beam was irradiated from directly above the cloths 11, 11, this gap did not appear, and the fusing chips were welded to each other (see the conventional method in FIG. 6). On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the fusing chips are cooled and settled away from each other, fusion of the fusing chips can be prevented. As a result, there is no need to peel off the cloths 11 and 11 one by one after cutting, or to cut and align the cut ends that have become one block by fusion. In addition, the occurrence of defective products due to the fusion can be eliminated.

FIG. 6A shows a state of laser cutting by a conventional method. 6 (b) to 6 (g) show the state of laser cutting according to the present invention. Among them, FIG.
(A) shows that the inclination angle of the laser beam is 0 degree (the gap between the cloths is 0 m).
m), FIG. 6B shows an inclination angle of laser light of 20 degrees (gap between cloths 0.006 mm), and FIG. 6C shows an inclination angle of laser light of 25 degrees (gap between cloths 0.015 mm). , FIG.
In (d), the inclination angle of the laser beam is 30 degrees (the gap between the cloths is 0.
6 (e), the inclination angle of the laser beam is 35 degrees (gap between cloths 0.025 mm), and FIG. 6 (f), the inclination angle of the laser light is 40 degrees (gap between cloths 0.03 mm). , FIG.
In (g), the inclination angle of the laser light is 45 degrees (the gap between the cloths is 0. 0).
045 mm). In addition, since the irradiation angle of the laser beam to the cloths 11 is changed by using the laser irradiation angle changing means 72 as described above, for example, the cloths 11 and 1 are changed.
The inclination angle of the laser light emitted from the laser head 55 to the cloths 11 can be changed according to the various cutting conditions.

[0028]

According to the first and third aspects of the present invention, each of the plurality of cut materials is irradiated with laser light obliquely to cut each cut material. A slight gap is formed between the fusing chips, and as a result, fusion of the respective fusing chips can be prevented.

In particular, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the laser irradiation angle with respect to the cut material can be changed using the laser irradiation angle changing means, so that the cutting condition of the cut material can be changed. The inclination angle of the laser light emitted from the laser head to the cut material can be changed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a laser irradiation mechanism of a laser cutting machine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a laser cutter according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a laser cutter according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a main part of a laser head of a laser cutting machine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line S5-S5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for comparing a cutting state of the conventional method and the method of the present invention at the time of overlapping cutting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 laser cutting machine, 11 cloth (material to be cut), 31 conveyor belt, 30 conveyor device, 40 laser irradiation mechanism, 55 laser head, 72 laser irradiation angle changing means.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A laser beam is applied to a plurality of superposed cutting materials from an oblique direction that does not include a direction perpendicular to the surface of the cutting material in the uppermost layer to cut these cutting materials. Laser cutting method. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inclination angle of the laser beam applied to the cut material is 20 degrees with respect to a direction orthogonal to the surface of the cut material.
The laser cutting method according to claim 1, wherein the angle is −45 degrees. 3. A conveyor device in which an endless conveyor belt on which a plurality of cut materials cut by a laser beam are stacked is operable along the longitudinal direction thereof, and is disposed above the conveyor belt. Laser having a laser head for irradiating a laser to the cut material, and a laser irradiation mechanism for cutting a plurality of cut materials on the conveyor band by the laser light irradiated from the laser head. In the cutting machine, the laser beam emitted from the laser head is irradiated in an oblique direction not including a direction perpendicular to the surface of the cut material in the uppermost layer with respect to the superposed cut material. Machine. 4. The laser cutting device according to claim 3, wherein an inclination angle of a laser beam applied to the cutting material from the laser head is 20 to 45 degrees with respect to a direction orthogonal to a surface of the cutting material. Machine. 5. The laser cutting machine according to claim 3, wherein said laser head is provided with a laser irradiation angle changing means for changing an irradiation angle of a laser beam.