JP2002160078A - Marking device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a high-priced laser beam marking device which reduces degradation of circularity in a laser beam diameter, does not cause lowering in exposure density, and has good manufacturing property and maintainability. SOLUTION: An optical lens is mounted on a carriage 5 which moves on a X-Y stage 2, and two pairs of carriage driving pulse motors 7 and 9 and each origin sensor 10 are arranged on the X-Y stage 2. A laser beam source, a laser driving circuit, a driving circuit which has a micro step switching function for the driving pulse motors 7 and 9, an origin sensor detection circuit, and a controlling device 1 which controls the above-mentioned circuits, receives a command from a circuit for receiving an instruction from a host device 3 and has a function for controlling the above-mentioned mechanisms are provided in a different place from the X-Y stage 2. A laser beam from the laser beam source inside of the controlling device is guided to the optical lens which is mounted on the carriage 5 on the X-Y stage 2 by a fiber optic cable, and a X-Y stage interface cable 11 which comprises an exciting cable for the two pairs of the carriage driving pulse motors 7 and 9 and the origin sensor detection cable is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a marking device using a laser beam or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional marking device that uses a laser beam as a light source for exposure and prints a symbol and an exposure pattern, a galvano scanner is used to scan the laser beam in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. Uses a moving mirror.

In this structure, the position of the laser beam on the medium reflected and irradiated by the moving mirror changes due to the rotating operation of the moving mirror. Therefore, it is easier to move the laser light source itself in the X and Y directions, and the exposure density is higher. High marking can be performed.

However, when the laser beam is reflected by the moving mirror, there is a problem that the laser beam shape changes depending on the position on the medium due to the difference in the angle of incidence on the moving mirror. As a means for avoiding this problem, it is necessary to perform correction using an expensive f-θ lens or the like.

For this reason, when the above mechanisms are mounted around a light source such as a laser tube, all these mechanisms must be arranged at a limited position around the medium, for example, above the medium. Maintenance becomes difficult.
Also, it was necessary to make the base part in a structure capable of withstanding the weight of these mechanisms.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention reduces the roundness of the laser beam diameter, which is a problem, and reduces the roundness of the laser beam without lowering the exposure density. Another object of the present invention is to provide a laser beam marking device.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a first invention is to provide a carriage moving on an XY stage with a focus below the XY stage. Attach an optical lens so as to tie, and
Two pairs of carriage driving pulse motors and respective origin sensors are arranged on a stage, and a laser light source, a laser driving circuit, and a drive having a micro-step switching function of the carriage driving pulse motor on the XY stage are provided at different places. A control device provided with a control circuit having a function of controlling a circuit, the origin sensor detection circuit, and the above circuit, receiving a command from a circuit for receiving an instruction from a host device, and controlling the above mechanism. Means for mounting the laser light from the laser light source on a carriage on the XY stage with an optical fiber cable to guide the laser light to an optical lens; and an excitation cable for the two pairs of carriage drive pulse motors; , An origin sensor detection cable is wired between the XY stage and the control device, The control circuit receives the excitation content and the print command from the higher-level device to excite the carriage drive pulse motor by a specified excitation method, and the presence or absence of laser emission data at a position for each excitation of the carriage drive pulse motor. And marking is performed on the medium arranged below the XY stage.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the main control unit of the control circuit incorporates vector data corresponding to the character code data, and the printing instruction circuit receives a marking instruction by the character code from the host device. , According to the XY coordinates by the vector data,
This is a marking device in which the carriage moves only at the position of the laser emission dot to perform marking.

In a third aspect based on the first aspect, an arbitrary dot is designated by an instruction from a host device.
A marking device characterized in that laser light energy is variable.

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. Between an XY stage 2 controlled by a control device 1, an optical fiber cable 6, an X-axis drive motor excitation, and a Y-axis Interface with drive motor excitation, X-axis origin sensor signal, Y-axis origin sensor signal cable 11, X
-It is configured to control the Y stage mechanism.

The interface between the control device 1 and the host device 3 uses a parallel or serial interface, and a print command from the host device 3 is received by the host interface cable 13.

The inside of the XY stage 2 includes a carriage 4
, The X-axis drive motor 9 and the Y-axis drive motor 7 are connected to the X-axis and the Y-axis, respectively.

X-axis and Y-axis are X-axis origin sensors 1
0, the installation position of the Y-axis origin sensor 8 is set as the origin, and from that position, the operation of the carriage 4 and the printing area are performed on the positive coordinate system of the X-axis and Y-axis.

A lens guide 5 having a structure shown in FIG. 2 is mounted on the carriage 4. FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of the optical fiber cable 6.

The laser light 16 guided by the optical fiber cable 6 is applied to an inner core 1 which is an optical fiber structure.
9. Light is guided to the outlet of the connector 14 while being rebounded by the clad 18 due to the difference in the refractive index of the clad 18 surrounding the outer periphery thereof. The lens guide 5 arranges the optical lens 15 at a position where the focal length of the laser light emitted from the connector 14 exit is determined on the medium 12.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 1.
It is controlled by a control signal from 0. This part is managed by the CPU so that the control content can be easily changed, added, or corrected.

In the figure, reference numeral 25 denotes an X-axis origin sensor detecting circuit;
Reference numeral 6 denotes a Y-axis origin sensor detection circuit, and X
This is a circuit for notifying the main control unit 20 that the axis origin sensor 10 and the Y axis origin sensor 8 have detected the carriage 4.

When the print command receiving circuit 30 receives a print command from the host device 3 via the host interface 31, the setting of each mechanism is performed. The print command for changing the exposure resolution causes the main control unit 20 to
Is the X-axis motor normal excitation / microstep switching circuit 2
1. The step angle according to the command is set in the Y-axis motor normal / micro step switching circuit 23.

[0019]

[Outside 1]

[0020]

[Outside 2]

[0021]

[Outside 3]

[0022]

[Table 1]

In the case of two-phase excitation, a table value is used from the pointer 4 by eight, in the case of 1-2-phase excitation, a pointer value is used by four from the pointer 0, four divisions use two pointers from the pointer 0, and eight divisions use one table value from the pointer 0. Thus, the excitation can be easily switched.

With the above configuration, the exposure resolution can be increased by microsteps, and precise marking, slightly inclined marking, and the like can be performed.

Next, the operation of the print control section shown in FIG. 4 will be described. When the print command receiving circuit 30 receives a marking instruction from the host device 3, the main control section 20 operates according to the received image data or character code data. The laser drive circuit 28 is controlled so that the laser light source 29 emits the laser light 16. This laser light 16
Is received by the optical fiber cable 6 located in front of the light source.

Here, the character code data is usually converted from the font image data shown in FIG.
The main control unit 20 is built in the state shown in Table 2. As an example, when the code data 41H (“A”) is received, the font image data table 2 of the corresponding “A” is searched and printed.

[0027]

[Table 2]

However, there is a waste in scanning up to a portion having no print data. From this, the control content of this device is XY
For the coordinate system, instead of the font image data table 2, simple font vector data of "A" according to the present invention shown in Table 3 below is incorporated in the main control unit 20, and when a character code cheetah is received, By reading out simple font vector data and using it as relative coordinates with respect to the coordinates on the XY stage, the laser beam 16 is emitted each time the carriage 4 is moved to that position, thereby avoiding unnecessary scanning. Printing becomes possible.

[0029]

[Table 3]

The contents of the simple font vector data are as follows:
When the font image is replaced with the XY coordinates, the coordinates of the laser irradiation dots are as shown in FIG. When the start point of marking is limited to the lower left and only the movement amount that always moves to the closest dot position is replaced with data, the movement state shown in FIG. 8 can be assumed, and only the movement amount is replaced with data. In this case, the simple font vector data shown in Table 3 is used.

All the coordinate data in Table 3 are the coordinates of the laser emission position, but the last coordinate data is for moving to the start point of the next character, and this data is the only exception.

The energy control of the laser beam 16 is performed on the control device 1 side panel. But the pattern,
When printing a graphic or the like, if it is desired to increase the energy of only an arbitrary dot, or if a medium of a different material simultaneously flows in the line and the operator who operates the host device 3 knows this in advance, the control device 1 side It is difficult to operate the operation panel every time.

As an example, when a two-dimensional code is marked, the two-dimensional code shown in FIG. 9 has an error restoring function in the code itself, and can be read even if it is slightly dirty or misaligned. If the solid border 39 serving as a reference when reading the image is not sufficiently marked, the error restoration function is also insufficient.

In this way, the host device 3 issues a print command specifying the energy of an arbitrary dot to the print command receiving circuit 30.
To the main control unit 20 according to the
The laser drive circuit 28 is controlled by the specified energy amount for the laser irradiation dot.

In the case of this embodiment, the energy of the laser drive circuit 28 is changed depending on the irradiation time. As an example, the print command is as follows.

Meaning: Print command Print by changing laser energy Code: 1BH + 00H + number of data transferred in X direction Number of data transferred in Y direction mmH + nnH + actual data (energy weight added) 00H + FFH + 00H + 7FH .. (mmHxnnH)

The first code is a code (1BH) for transferring a print command thereafter, and the content thereof is a code (00) for changing laser energy according to data.
H), a code representing the number of data in the X direction to be transferred (mm)
H), the number of data in the Y direction to be transferred (nnH), and the number of data to be printed for multiplication / division mm × nn are transferred.

Here, in the data actually printed, 00H has no energy weight, so there is no laser emission, FFH
Is the maximum energy for the setting, and 7FH is divided into half the energy. By the way this expression is 1
Dot / byte, but 1 dot / 2 bits, 1
A dot / 4 hit may be used.

By performing as described above, a solid solid border can be drawn as shown in FIG. 10 for marking of a two-dimensional code. In addition, marking can be performed with respect to the degree of gray scale drawing, and color printing is also possible on a medium whose color changes depending on the amount of energy.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Put the parts with main maintenance items in a place that is easy to maintain,
It is possible to provide an inexpensive laser beam marking device which is arranged so that the marking mechanism portion is spaced apart from the operator so that the operator can perform a precise and correct marking with ease of use.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a lens guide portion on a carriage.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of an optical fiber cable.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a control device.

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of an X-axis motor drive circuit.

FIG. 6 is a data image diagram of font image data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram in which font image data is replaced with a data configuration on XY coordinates.

FIG. 8 is a diagram in which the configuration of FIG. 7 is replaced with an actual movement amount of a carriage.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a two-dimensional code.

FIG. 10 is a marking diagram of a two-dimensional code in which a solid border is emphasized by the apparatus according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 control device 2 XY stage 3 host device 4 carriage 5 lens guide 6 optical fiber cable 7 Y-axis drive motor 8 Y-axis origin sensor 9 X-axis drive motor 10 X-axis origin sensor 11 XY stage interface cable 12 medium 13 host Interface cable 14 Connector 15 Optical lens 16 Laser beam 17 Coating 18 Clad 19 Core 20 Main control section 21 X-axis normal excitation / microstep excitation switching circuit 22 X-axis motor drive circuit 23 Y-axis normal excitation / microstep excitation switching circuit 24 Y Axis motor drive circuit 25 X-axis origin sensor detection circuit 26 Y-axis origin sensor detection circuit 27 XY stage interface connector 28 Laser drive circuit 29 Laser light source 30 Print command receiving circuit 31 Host interface connector 32 Decoder circuit 33 Transistor array 34 comparator circuit 35 A phase AND circuit

[Outside 4]

Claims (3)

[Claims] An optical lens is mounted on a carriage moving on an XY stage so as to focus on the XY stage, and two pairs of carriage driving pulse motors are provided on the XY stage. And a laser light source, a laser drive circuit, and the X
-A drive circuit having a micro-step switching function of the carriage drive pulse motor on the Y stage, the origin sensor detection circuit, and a command that is received from a circuit that controls the above circuit and receives an instruction from a higher-level device; A control device provided with a control circuit having a function of controlling the mechanism of the above, and guides the laser light from the laser light source to a carriage on the XY stage by an optical fiber cable to an optical lens. And a cable for excitation of the two pairs of carriage drive pulse motors and a cable for detecting the origin sensor are wired between the XY stage and the control device, and the control circuit is configured to control the excitation content from the higher-level device and print. Upon receiving the command, the carriage drive pulse motor is excited by a specified excitation method. It said marking apparatus to determine the presence or absence of laser emission data on the position of each excitation of the carriage driving pulse motor, and performing the marking placed medium under the X-Y stage. 2. A main control unit of a control circuit incorporates vector data corresponding to character code data, and when a print command circuit receives a marking command by a character code from a host device, a laser emission dot is generated according to XY coordinates based on the vector data. 2. A marking is performed by moving a carriage only at a position.
A marking device as described. 3. The marking device according to claim 1, wherein the laser light energy can be changed for an arbitrary dot by a command from a host device.