JP2002079391A - Manually operated laser beam welding head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manually operated laser beam welding head which is moved at a stable speed whose focal point is not dislocated even when the posture of the head is varied. SOLUTION: The manually operated laser beam welding head is characterized by the fact that the manually operated laser beam welding head 1, which has a condensing means which condenses a laser beam LB, is provided with a running guide 9 which runs above a weld line 7 of a work W to be welded along the weld line, a receiving block 11 for the running guide which freely rotatably engages with a spherical surface 25 furnished at the upper part of the running guide is provided at the lower part of the manually operated laser beam welding bead, and the focal point of the condensing means is set nearly at the center of the spherical surface of the running guide.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a manual laser welding head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When welding is performed in a YAG laser processing machine, an attached manual laser welding head 10 as shown in FIG.
Welding may be carried out with the hand held in the hand.

The focal point of the laser beam in the manual laser welding head 100 is set so as to be near the tip of the nozzle 101.
By bringing the workpiece 1 into contact with the workpiece W, the focus is determined on the workpiece surface.

The manual laser welding head 100 is moved with the tip of the nozzle 101 kept in contact with the workpiece W. When it is desired to ensure the straightness of the movement path, a straight ruler 103 is placed on the surface of the work, and the straight ruler 103 is moved along the tip of the nozzle 101.

[0005] As shown in FIG. 8, several types of nozzle tips are prepared according to the shape of the welded portion. For example, for a butt joint having a flat nozzle tip (FIG. 8)
(A)), for a square joint with a heel at the tip of the nozzle (FIG. 8 (b)), and for a square joint with a chevron at the tip of the nozzle (FIG. 8 (c)).

[0006]

However, in the conventional manual laser welding head as described above, since the tip of the nozzle is moved in contact with the work, the nozzle may be caught on the work during the movement. There is a problem that the movement speed is unstable due to camera shake.

[0007] If the moving speed is not stable, there is a risk that welding penetration will not be constant and welding will be defective. In addition, the workmanship is easily affected by the skill of the worker.

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 obtain a relatively stable moving speed and to change the posture of a laser welding head. It is to provide a manual laser welding head whose light position does not change.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manual laser welding head having a light collecting means for collecting a laser beam. And a traveling guide receiver rotatably engaged with a spherical surface provided on the upper portion of the traveling guide is provided at a lower portion of the manual laser welding head. The gist of the invention is that the focal point of the means is set substantially at the center of the spherical surface of the travel guide.

The manual laser welding head according to claim 2 is the manual laser welding head according to claim 1,
The gist of the invention is that the traveling guide comprises guide means movably engaged on two outer surfaces near a welded portion which intersects the material to be welded at a substantially right angle.

The manual laser welding head according to claim 3 is the manual laser welding head according to claim 1,
The gist of the invention is that the travel guide includes a ruler provided along a welding line of the workpiece and a guide means movably engaged with the workpiece.

A manual laser welding head according to a fourth aspect is the manual laser welding head according to the second aspect,
The guide means comprises a roller rotatably engaged with two outer surfaces near a welded portion of the workpiece.

The manual laser welding head according to claim 5 is the manual laser welding head according to claim 3,
The guide means comprises a roller rotatably engaged with the workpiece and the ruler.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the manual laser welding head 1 has a cylindrical main body 3 extending vertically, and inside the main body 3, a laser beam emitted from an end of an optical fiber cable 5 is provided. An optical system (not shown) for collimating the (YAG laser) and a condensing optical system (not shown) composed of, for example, a convex lens are incorporated as condensing means for condensing the collimated laser light.

At the lower part of the above-mentioned manual laser welding head 1, a traveling guide receiver 11 removably engaged with a traveling guide 9 traveling over the welding line 7 of the workpiece W along the welding line 7. Is installed.

The shape of the travel guide 9 is approximately 3/2 which is notched from the center of the sphere at about 1/2 below and in the shape of a fan from the center.
The traveling guide 9 includes a workpiece W
A plurality of rollers 13 (a, b) rotatably engaged on two outer surfaces near the welded portion that intersect at substantially right angles are provided as guide means.

The above-mentioned guide means is described in more detail.
The guide means includes a first roller 13a running on a first surface (horizontal surface) 15 of the workpiece W and a plurality of (two in the embodiment) second rollers 13b running on a second surface (vertical surface) 17. It consists of

The right side of the traveling guide 9 (in FIG. 1).
Extends below the first surface (horizontal surface) 15 of the workpiece W on which the first roller 13a travels, and has two lower rollers 1 at the lower end of the traveling guide 9 extending downward.
A slide plate 19 rotatably supporting 3b is mounted with screws 21.

On the upper surface of the slide plate 19, a convex portion 19a extending in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 is provided. The convex portion 19a is provided in a concave portion provided at the lower end of the travel guide 9.
Are slidably fitted.

Therefore, if the screw 21 is loosened, the slide plate 19 can be moved and adjusted left and right. That is, the position of the second roller 13b is adjusted in the horizontal direction (the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1) with respect to the optical axis 23v of the laser beam LB in the focusing optical system (not shown) built in the laser welding head 1. can do.

The screw 21 is screwed into a screw hole (not shown) of the travel guide 9 through a long hole (not shown) extending in the left-right direction provided on the slide plate 19.

The traveling guide receiver 11 has a concave portion 27 formed of a lower concave hemispheric surface which is rotatably engaged with the spherical surface 25 of the traveling guide 9. As shown in FIG. 2, a cutout having an angle of about 30 ° (not particularly limited to 30 °) from the center is provided on the right side (the right side in FIG. 2) of the traveling guide receiver 11.

Further, a funnel-shaped hole 29 through which the laser light LB condensed by the condensing optical system is passed is provided at the center of the traveling guide 9.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the main body 3 of the manual laser welding head 1 is inclined by 30 ° in the moving direction. It rotates around the center O. In addition, as shown by an imaginary line, it can be similarly inclined in the opposite direction. The center O of the spherical surface 25 is on the first surface (horizontal surface) 15 of the workpiece W.

Therefore, the focal point of the laser beam LB is
If you set it to the center O of 5
Regardless of the direction in which the main body 3 is rotated, the focal point of the laser beam LB can always coincide with the center O of the spherical surface 25. That is, the focal point can always be brought on the first surface (horizontal surface) 15 of the workpiece W.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the traveling guide 9 and the traveling guide receiver 11 are separated from each other. During welding, an operator uses the traveling guide 9 to be used for a welded portion of a material to be welded. When the laser welding head 1 is set and the travel guide receiver 11 is engaged with the travel guide 9, the laser welding head 1 can be manually moved accurately and lightly along the welding line.

Next, how to set the focal position of the laser beam when welding with a step at the joint of the square joint will be described with reference to FIG.

In a square joint having a plate thickness of t (mm), the second surface (vertical surface) is in relation to the first surface (horizontal surface) 15 of the workpiece W.
17 is lowered by b (mm), and the optical axis of the laser beam LB is inclined 45 degrees from the vertical direction at the corner of the step (optical axis 23).
k), the position of the optical axis 23v when the laser welding head 1 is made vertical is the second surface (vertical surface) 17
, The intersection O between the first surface (horizontal plane) 15 and the moved optical axis 23v becomes the center of rotation of the laser welding head 1. Therefore, the laser beam LB passes through the intersection O and is applied to the corner of the step at an angle of 45 °.

The second plane (vertical plane) 17 of the optical axis 23v
The distance a from

Since a = t−b * cot45 ° is obtained, the second roller 1 is calculated based on this value.
What is necessary is just to adjust the position of 3b. For example, t = 1, b =
If it is 0.5, a = 0.5.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a travel guide 9 used for a butt joint. In this case, the material to be welded W
A ruler 31 is fixedly provided in parallel with the welding line 7 of the above, and a reference roller 35 which rotates by engaging with a reference side surface 33 of the ruler 31.
And the reference surface 37 on the ruler 31 and the surface 3 of the workpiece W
The traveling guide 43 is provided with traveling rollers 41a and 41b which engage with and rotate.

The reference surface 37 of the ruler 31 is provided so as to be parallel to the surface 39 of the workpiece W. Also,
The distance between the reference side surface 33 and the optical axis 23v is set to an appropriate value d, and the center of the spherical surface 25 on which the travel guide 43 is rotatably engaged with the travel guide receiver 11 is the surface of the workpiece W. 39 is provided.

Therefore, if the focal point of the laser beam LB is adjusted so as to be on the welding line 7 of the workpiece W, the focal point is always welded regardless of whether the laser welding head 1 is moved or tilted. It can be aligned on line 7.

It should be noted that a similar effect can be obtained by using a low friction material as a sliding bearing in place of the roller guide for the guide means.

[0034]

According to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention,
When moving along the welding line with the tip of the nozzle of the laser welding head in contact with the workpiece, the nozzle can be moved smoothly, so that the moving speed is relatively stable. Further, even if the attitude of the laser welding head is changed, the laser can always be focused on the processing position.

As a result, the penetration quality is constant without being affected by the skill of the operator, and no welding failure occurs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a manual laser welding head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which a main body of the laser welding head is inclined by 30 ° in a moving direction.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which a travel guide and a travel guide receiver are separated.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram when a laser beam focus is set at the joint of a stepped corner joint.

FIG. 6 is an example of an embodiment of a travel guide used for a butt joint.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of a conventional manual laser welding head.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a tip shape of a nozzle adapted to a shape of a welded portion in a conventional manual laser welding head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Manual laser welding head 3 Main body 5 Optical fiber cable 7 Welding line 9, 43 Travel guide 11 Travel guide receiver 13a First roller 13b Second roller 15 First surface (horizontal surface) 17 Second surface (vertical surface) 19 Slide plate 21 Screws 23k, 23v Optical axis 25 Spherical surface 27 Concave portion 29 Funnel-shaped hole 31 Ruler 33 Reference side surface 35 Reference roller 37 Reference surface 39 Surface of workpiece 41a, 41b Running roller LB Laser beam W

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A manual laser welding head having a condensing means for condensing a laser beam, a traveling guide for traveling along a welding line of a material to be welded along the welding line, and provided above the traveling guide. A traveling guide receiver rotatably engaged with the spherical surface provided below the manual laser welding head, wherein the focal point of the light condensing means is set substantially at the center of the spherical surface of the traveling guide. . 2. The manual laser welding head according to claim 1, wherein said travel guide includes guide means movably engaged on two outer surfaces near a weld portion intersecting at a substantially right angle to the workpiece. A manual laser welding head, characterized in that: 3. The manual laser welding head according to claim 1, wherein the travel guide includes a ruler provided along a welding line of the workpiece and guide means movably engaged on the workpiece. A manual laser welding head, comprising: 4. The manual laser welding head according to claim 2, wherein said guide means comprises a roller rotatably engaged with two outer surfaces near a welded portion of said workpiece. Welding head. 5. The manual laser welding head according to claim 3, wherein said guide means comprises a roller rotatably engaging said workpiece and said ruler.