JP2006239702A - Laser beam machining apparatus, its control device, and its signal relay device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser beam machining apparatus, its control device, and its signal relay unit capable of favorably suppressing dispersion of the machining state of each work when a plurality of works are simultaneously machined. <P>SOLUTION: The laser beam machining apparatus controls a plurality of irradiation units 20A-20C having a laser beam source by a single external control unit 10. Calibration information for correcting the deviation of the intensity of irradiation of laser beams on a work attributable to individual difference is stored in memories 22 of the respective irradiation units 20A-20C. A buffer circuit 11 individually corrects the command signal relating to the control of the emission intensity of a laser beam source 23 from the external control unit 10 for each of the irradiation units 20A-20C based on each calibration information, and transmits the command signal to the respective irradiation units 20A-20C. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus that simultaneously performs processing such as marking, cutting, and welding by laser light irradiation on a plurality of workpieces, and a control apparatus and a signal relay apparatus applied to the laser processing apparatus.

  This type of laser processing device is installed in a production line of a factory, for example, and heats the workpiece by irradiating the workpiece with a conveyor device such as a belt conveyor to cause thermal transformation on its surface. It is used for processing such as marking of characters and figures, cutting of workpieces and welding. Such a laser processing apparatus is mainly composed of an irradiation unit and a control unit. The irradiation unit includes a laser light source that emits laser light and an optical scanning mechanism that moves the irradiation position of the laser light emitted from the laser light source onto the workpiece. The control unit is also configured to control a laser beam emission operation by the laser light source or a laser beam irradiation position moving operation by the optical scanning mechanism, that is, a laser beam scanning operation, based on preset processing information. Is output to the irradiation unit.

Conventionally, for example, laser processing apparatuses such as those disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 have been proposed. The laser processing apparatuses described in these documents are configured to perform processing on a plurality of workpieces conveyed by a plurality of conveying apparatuses in parallel under the same conditions. For example, in the processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, laser light emitted from a single laser light source is divided into a plurality of optical paths using a prism, and each of a plurality of workpieces is irradiated with laser light simultaneously. Thus, it is possible to simultaneously process a plurality of workpieces using only a single laser light source. Moreover, in the processing apparatuses described in Patent Documents 2 and 3, laser light emitted from a single laser light source is irradiated in a time-sharing manner to a plurality of workpieces by sequentially switching the optical path of the laser light using a mirror. By doing so, a plurality of workpieces can be processed in parallel by a single laser light source.
JP 63-220126 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 02-011283 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 04-089193

  However, in these conventional laser processing apparatuses, the processing state of the workpiece may vary due to the following reasons. That is, in the above-described conventional laser processing apparatus, each workpiece is irradiated with laser light emitted from a single light source through different optical paths. Here, various optical elements are arranged in each optical path, but due to manufacturing tolerances and assembly tolerances of these optical elements, the intensity of the irradiated laser light and the irradiation position of the laser light on the workpiece, Alternatively, there is a possibility that the laser beam irradiation operation such as the moving speed of the irradiation position varies from workpiece to workpiece. In particular, in the processing apparatus of Patent Document 1, in order to equalize the irradiation intensity of laser light to each workpiece, the transmittance and reflectance of the prism that divides the optical path must be set strictly, which is very Complicated adjustment work is required. Further, the processing apparatuses described in Patent Documents 2 and 3 have a problem that a plurality of workpieces cannot be processed at the same time, and the processing time becomes long.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and the problem to be solved is that it is possible to suitably suppress variation in the processing state of each workpiece when simultaneously processing a plurality of workpieces. It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser processing device, a control device thereof, and a signal relay device.

Hereinafter, means for solving the above-described problems and the operation thereof will be described.
The invention according to claim 1 includes a plurality of irradiation units that have a laser light source that emits laser light and irradiate the workpiece with the emitted laser light, and are uniformly applied to the plurality of irradiation units. A control unit that outputs a command signal for controlling the emission intensity of the laser light from the laser light source based on preset processing information, in the laser processing apparatus comprising the individual difference of the irradiation unit Calibration information for correcting the deviation of the laser beam irradiation intensity on the workpiece is stored for each of the plurality of irradiation units, and is output from the control unit for each of the plurality of irradiation units. Command signal is corrected and output based on the calibration information of the corresponding irradiation unit stored in the storage means. And correcting means for, in that it comprises as its gist.

  In the above configuration, since the deviation of the laser light irradiation intensity for each irradiation unit due to individual differences is corrected by the correction means, the laser processing in a plurality of irradiation units is controlled by a single control unit, The laser light irradiation intensity of each irradiation unit is made uniform, and variations in the processing state of each irradiation unit can be suppressed.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage means is provided individually for each of the plurality of irradiation units.

  In the above configuration, since the storage unit is provided in each irradiation unit, even if the combination of the irradiation units connected to the control unit is changed, the processing state of each laser processing apparatus is maintained as it is. It becomes possible to suppress the variation of.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the laser processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, an optical scanning mechanism that moves an irradiation position of a laser beam emitted from the laser light source onto a workpiece, and the control unit Detecting means for detecting the completion of the movement of one command related to the movement of the irradiation position based on the command signal output from the output means, and an output means for outputting a signal to that effect in response to the detection. Providing each of the units and until the output of the signal is confirmed from all of the output means of the plurality of irradiation units, the movement of the next irradiation position from the control unit to the plurality of irradiation units The gist is to provide delay means for delaying the transmission of the command signal.

  In the above configuration, until all irradiation units have moved the previous irradiation position, that is, until the scanning operation is completed, a command signal related to the next scanning operation is transmitted, so the scanning operation is performed at an appropriate time for all the irradiation units. Will be commanded. Therefore, the scanning operation can be surely performed based on the command.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided calibration information for correcting a deviation of a laser beam irradiation intensity on the workpiece caused by individual differences between a laser light source that emits a laser beam irradiated on the workpiece and an individual difference. A control device for a laser processing apparatus that generates and outputs a command signal for controlling the laser light irradiation intensity based on preset processing information for a plurality of irradiation units each having a stored storage means In each of the plurality of irradiation units, the calibration information is read from the storage unit, and the command signal output to each irradiation unit is individually corrected based on the read calibration information. The gist is to provide a correcting means.

  If the control device configured as described above is adopted in the laser processing device configured to control laser processing in a plurality of irradiation units by a single control device, the laser light irradiation intensity of each irradiation unit is uniform. As a result, variations in the processing state of each irradiation unit can be suppressed.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of irradiation units each including a laser light source that emits laser light and an optical scanning mechanism that moves an irradiation position of the emitted laser light onto a workpiece, and the plurality of irradiation units. A control unit that uniformly outputs a command signal for controlling the emission of the laser beam by the laser light source and the movement of the irradiation position by the optical scanning mechanism to the unit based on preset processing information. In the laser processing apparatus, detection means for detecting completion of movement of one command related to movement of the irradiation position based on the command signal output from the control unit, and output for outputting a signal to that effect in response to the detection Means are provided in each of the plurality of irradiation units, and are arranged in front of all the output means of the plurality of irradiation units. Until the output of the signal is confirmed, and its gist providing a delay means for delaying the transmission of the command signal relating from the control unit to move the next of the irradiation position of the plurality of illumination units.

  In the above configuration, until all irradiation units have moved the previous irradiation position, that is, until the scanning operation is completed, a command signal related to the next scanning operation is transmitted, so the scanning operation is performed at an appropriate time for all the irradiation units. Is commanded, and the scanning operation can be surely performed based on the command.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control unit that outputs a command signal for controlling movement of the irradiation position of the laser beam on the workpiece based on preset processing information, a laser light source that emits the laser beam, An optical scanning mechanism for moving the irradiation position of the emitted laser light on the workpiece based on the command signal, and detecting the completion of the movement for one command related to the movement of the irradiation position according to the command signal The command signal between the plurality of irradiation units and the control unit is interposed between a plurality of irradiation units each including detection means and output means for outputting a completion signal in response to the detection. In the signal relay device of the laser processing apparatus that relays transmission and reception of the completion signal, the output of the signal is confirmed from all of the output means of the plurality of irradiation units. Until, as its gist providing a delay means for delaying the transmission of the command signal relating from the control unit to move the next of the irradiation position of the plurality of illumination units.

  If the signal relay device configured as described above is adopted in the laser processing device configured to control laser processing in a plurality of irradiation units by a single control unit, scanning is performed at an appropriate time for all irradiation units. The operation is commanded, and the scanning operation based on the command can be surely performed.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the dispersion | variation in the processing state for every to-be-processed object by the manufacturing tolerance and assembly | attachment tolerance of an optical system can be suppressed suitably at the time of simultaneous processing of a several to-be-processed object.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment embodying a laser processing device, a control device thereof, and a signal relay device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a laser processing apparatus that performs marking processing of characters, figures, and the like on the surface of a workpiece by laser light irradiation will be described. The present invention can be similarly applied to a processing apparatus that performs other processing such as cutting and welding of a workpiece. FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of the laser processing apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a perspective structure of the optical system of the irradiation unit.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the laser processing apparatus of the present embodiment is configured to control three irradiation units 20 </ b> A, 20 </ b> B, and 20 </ b> C by a single external control unit 10. The external control unit 10 and the irradiation units 20 </ b> A to 20 </ b> C are electrically connected via the buffer circuit 11. The number of irradiation units connected to the external control unit 10 is not limited to this and can be changed as appropriate.

  In this laser processing apparatus, the external control unit 10 and the irradiation units 20A to 20C are each configured as an independent module accommodated in an individual casing. The buffer circuit 11 may be integrated with the external control unit 10 or may be configured as an independent module alone.

  The external control unit 10 includes an interface for inputting machining information to the workpiece. From the interface, for example, information such as the type of characters and figures to be marked on the workpiece, the position on the workpiece to be marked, the font and line thickness, the material of the workpiece, and the like are input as the machining information. Then, the external control unit 10 outputs a command signal for causing the irradiation units 20A to 20C to perform the laser beam irradiation operation on the workpiece related to the marking indicated by the processing information based on the input processing information. To do. In the laser processing apparatus of this embodiment, the irradiation units 20A to 20C are caused to perform the same processing, and the external control unit 10 outputs a command signal common to the irradiation units 20A to 20C. It is like that.

  The buffer circuit 11 relays transmission / reception of various signals between the external control unit 10 and the irradiation units 20A to 20C, and performs signal conversion processing, signal delay processing, and the like as necessary at the time of relaying. .

  Each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C includes a laser light source 23 that emits laser light and an optical scanning mechanism 24 that moves the irradiation position of the emitted laser light onto the workpiece. Each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C is provided with an internal controller 21 for performing the laser beam emission operation of the laser light source 23 and the laser beam scanning operation by the optical scanning mechanism 24 in accordance with the input command signal. Yes. Furthermore, in the laser processing apparatus of this embodiment, the memory 22 in which information necessary for the control operation related to the marking processing is stored in advance is built in the internal controller 21 of each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C. Incidentally, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted in FIG. 1, the structure of irradiation unit 20B, 20C is the same as irradiation unit 20A.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the optical system of each of the irradiation units 20 </ b> A to 20 </ b> C includes a beam expander 27 and an Fθ lens 28 in addition to the laser light source 23 and the optical scanning mechanism 24. The beam expander 27 enlarges the beam diameter of the laser light emitted from the laser light source 23, and the Fθ lens 28 converges the laser light that has passed through the beam expander 27 and the optical scanning mechanism 24 onto the surface of the workpiece W. Let

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a galvano scanner including two movable mirrors 25 and 26 is employed as the optical scanning mechanism 24. Each of the movable mirrors 25 and 26 is disposed so as to be rotatable around an axis by an actuator, and the direction of the laser beam is changed according to the rotation. By rotating the two movable mirrors 25 and 26 together, two-dimensional scanning of the laser beam on the workpiece can be performed. The rotation angle of each movable mirror 25, 26 is detected by a rotary encoder, and the detection result is output to the internal controller 21 (see FIG. 1).

Here, the control operation of the external control unit 10 related to the marking process in the laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
When machining information is set through the interface as described above, the external control unit 10 decomposes characters and figures to be marked on the workpiece into a plurality of line segment elements based on the set machining information, and Calculate the coordinate position of the start point and end point of the minute element. For example, when processing information about the marking processing of the alphabet “H” represented by a line drawing as shown in FIG. 3 is set, the external control unit 10 assigns it to three line segment elements L12, L34, and L56. Further, the start points (P1, P3, P5) and the end points (P2, P4, P6) of the line segment elements L12, L34, L56 are calculated. The external control unit 10 stores the calculated coordinate positions of the start point and end point for each line segment element. At this time, the external control unit 10 also determines the marking processing order of each line segment element. Furthermore, the external control unit 10 obtains the optimum irradiation intensity of the laser beam based on the information on the material of the workpiece and the line thickness set in the machining information.

  When an instruction to start machining is input, the external control unit 10 sequentially outputs command signals for instructing the irradiation units 20A to 20C to perform the irradiation operation of the laser light related to the marking of the line segment elements. For example, when the marking process of the alphabet “H” is performed, the external control unit 10 first issues a command signal for commanding the scanning operation to the coordinate position (x1, y1) of the starting point P1 of the line segment element L12 to be marked. Output and wait once until a signal indicating that the scanning operation is completed is received. The internal controller 21 of each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C confirms the completion of the scanning operation to the commanded coordinate position based on the detection result of the rotation angle of each movable mirror 25, 26 by the rotary encoder. A signal (completion signal) is output.

  When the completion signal is received, the external control unit 10 sends the command signal for instructing the laser light source 23 to emit the laser beam with the obtained irradiation intensity, and the coordinate position of the end point P2 of the line segment element L12 ( Command signals for instructing the optical scanning mechanism 24 to perform a scanning operation to x2, y2) are output. Then, the external control unit 10 stands by until the commanded scanning operation completion signal is received. At this time, when the internal controller 21 of each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C confirms the completion of the scanning operation to the commanded coordinate position, the laser light emission of the laser light source 23 is stopped and a completion signal is output. .

  Thereafter, when the completion signal is received, the external control unit 10 commands the scanning operation to the coordinate position (x3, y3) of the starting point P3 of the line segment element L34 to be marked next, and the scanning operation is completed. When the signal is received, the laser beam is emitted and the scanning operation to the coordinate position (x4, y4) of the end point P4 of the line segment element L34 is commanded. Thereafter, the external control unit 10 repeats such processing until marking processing of all set line segment elements is completed.

  The control operation of the external control unit 10 described above is basically the same as when the external control unit 10 controls only a single irradiation unit. In such a mode, when performing simultaneous and parallel control of the plurality of irradiation units 20A to 20C by the single external control unit 10, due to the deviation of the laser light irradiation operation due to individual differences of the irradiation units 20A to 20C, There exists a possibility that the processing state of a to-be-processed object may vary for every irradiation unit 20A-20C.

  First, due to manufacturing tolerances and assembly intersections of optical components constituting the optical system of each irradiation unit 20A to 20C, there may be variations in the irradiation intensity of the laser beam to the workpiece. For example, the laser light emission characteristics of the laser light source 23 vary to some extent from individual to individual. Further, the expansion characteristics of the beam diameter of the beam expander 27, the reflection characteristics of the movable mirrors 25 and 26, the light collection characteristics of the Fθ lens 28, and the like are the shapes at the time of manufacturing optical components such as lenses and mirrors constituting them. A slight error or a slight shift in the assembly position affects the irradiation intensity of the laser beam.

  Further, the rotational speeds of the movable mirrors 25 and 26 also have individual differences due to actuator manufacturing tolerances and the like, so that the laser light scanning speeds of the irradiation units 20A to 20C may vary. Even if the external control unit 10 outputs a command signal instructing a scanning operation from the same start point to the same end point to each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C if the laser beam scanning speed varies, each irradiation unit The completion times of the scanning operations of the units 20A to 20C are not uniform. As a result, the timing for outputting the command signal for the next scanning operation becomes inadequate, and there is a possibility that problems such as writing errors may occur.

  Therefore, in the laser processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the processing state caused by the individual difference is made by relaying the transmission and reception of command signals and completion signals between the external control unit 10 and the irradiation units 20A to 20C to the buffer circuit 11. To suppress the variation of Hereinafter, details of a control operation related to marking processing through the buffer circuit 11 in the laser processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

<Laser beam emission intensity control>
First, the control operation of the laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment relating to the laser beam emission intensity control of the laser light source 23 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In controlling the laser beam emission intensity, the buffer circuit 11 sends the command signal output from the external control unit 10 to the above-described internal controller 21 of each irradiation unit 20A to 20C when relaying the command signal for commanding the emission intensity. Based on the calibration information stored in the memory 22, the irradiation units 20A to 20C are individually corrected. Specifically, the calibration information is as follows.

  FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the command irradiation intensity and the actual irradiation intensity in a specific irradiation unit. Here, the command irradiation intensity refers to the laser beam irradiation intensity with respect to the workpiece, which is originally commanded by the command signal of the emission intensity from the external control unit 10. The actual irradiation intensity is the intensity of the laser light (actual irradiation intensity) that is actually irradiated to the workpiece in the irradiation unit when the emission intensity of the laser light source 23 is controlled based on the output signal of the emission intensity as it is. Is shown by a solid line.

  In the figure, similar relationships in design specifications are indicated by broken lines. As a matter of course in the design specification, if the command irradiation intensity is the value “α”, the actual irradiation intensity is also set to the value “α”.

  This irradiation unit has an irradiation intensity characteristic in which the irradiation intensity of the laser beam is lower than the design specification. Even if the command irradiation intensity is the value “α”, the actual irradiation intensity is a lower value “β”. It can only be. Incidentally, in this irradiation unit, in order to set the actual irradiation intensity to the value “α”, it is necessary to set the command irradiation intensity to a higher value “γ”. In the memory 22, the relationship between the command irradiation intensity and the actual irradiation intensity in each of the irradiation units 20 </ b> A to 20 </ b> C obtained in advance by a test or the like is stored as the calibration information.

  With reference to such calibration information, the value of the command irradiation intensity to be output to each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C, which is actually necessary to obtain the actual irradiation intensity as instructed by the external control unit 10, can be obtained. Therefore, in the laser processing apparatus of the present embodiment, more specifically, the control operation related to the emission intensity control is performed in the manner shown in FIG. First, when the external control unit 10 outputs a command signal related to the emission intensity of laser light (S10), the buffer circuit 11 reads calibration information from the memory 22 of the internal controller 21 of each irradiation unit 20A to 20C (S11). . Then, the buffer circuit 11 corrects the command signal based on each piece of calibration information for each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C (S12), and outputs the corrected command signal to each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C (S13). . As a result, regardless of the individual difference in the laser light irradiation intensity characteristics, each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C is irradiated with the laser light with the intensity originally assumed.

<Laser beam scanning control>
Next, the control operation of the laser processing apparatus in the laser beam scanning control, that is, the control related to the movement of the laser beam irradiation position with respect to the workpiece will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, when the external control unit 10 outputs a command signal for scanning the line segment element to be marked, that is, a command signal for commanding the coordinate position of the end point of the line segment element, the buffer circuit 11 directly applies this command signal to each irradiation. Relay to the units 20A to 20C (S20). The internal controller 21 of each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C causes the optical scanning mechanism 24 to perform a scanning operation based on the input command signal (S21).

  Thereafter, the internal controller 21 of each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C confirms from the detection result of the rotary encode that the scanning operation based on the command has been completed, that is, that the irradiation position of the laser beam has reached the coordinate position of the end point. Then, the completion signal described above is output to the buffer circuit 11 (S23).

  Even if a completion signal is input from any of the irradiation units, the buffer circuit 11 waits without outputting a completion signal to the external control unit 10 until a completion signal from another irradiation unit is input. (S24). When the input of completion signals from all connected irradiation units 20A to 20C is confirmed, the buffer circuit 11 outputs a completion signal to the external control unit 10 at that time (S25). The external control unit 10 waits for the input of the completion signal from the buffer circuit 11 and outputs a command signal for the next scanning operation (S26).

  As a result, due to individual differences in the scanning speed of the laser beam, even if there is a variation in the completion timing of the scanning operation, the next scanning operation is not output until all the scanning operations in the irradiation units 20A to 20C are completed. It becomes like this. For this reason, it is possible to reliably avoid the occurrence of a defect such as a writing failure due to the next scanning operation command while the previous scanning operation has not been completed.

  In the present embodiment described above, the external control unit 10 is the control unit, the memory 22 is the storage means, the rotary encoder built in the movable mirrors 25 and 26 is the detection means, and the internal controller 21 is the output means. It has a configuration corresponding to each. In this embodiment, the buffer circuit 11 functions as the correction means, the delay means, and the signal relay device. In the present embodiment, the external control unit 10 and the buffer circuit 11 constitute the control device.

According to this embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Even if the plurality of irradiation units 20A to 20C are controlled by the single external control unit 10 and the laser light irradiation intensity characteristics of the irradiation units 20A to 20C vary, the irradiation units 20A to 20C The intensity of the irradiation can be made uniform, and variations in the processing state for each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C can be suppressed.

  (2) Even if the plurality of irradiation units 20A to 20C are controlled by the single external control unit 10 and the laser beam scanning speeds of the irradiation units 20A to 20C vary, the occurrence of defects such as writing errors may occur. It can prevent and can suppress the dispersion | variation in the processing state for every irradiation unit 20A-20C.

  (3) The configuration of the external control unit 10 does not change from the case of controlling only a single irradiation unit, and only the addition of the buffer circuit 11 and the memory 22 makes it possible to perform suitable parallel processing on a plurality of workpieces. Can be realized. That is, the external control unit 10 can suitably control the marking process in a plurality of irradiation units while performing the same control operation as in the case of controlling a single irradiation unit.

  (4) Since the memory 22 storing the calibration information is built in each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C, even if the combination of irradiation units connected to the external control unit 10 is changed, the laser beam irradiation intensity is uniformly set. Thus, it is possible to suppress variations in the processing state due to individual differences in the irradiation intensity characteristics of the laser light of the irradiation unit.

In addition, the said embodiment can also be changed and implemented as follows.
The buffer circuit 11 may be built in the external control unit 10. Further, the function of the buffer circuit 11 may be incorporated into a machining control program related to the control operation of the external control unit 10 and the function may be fulfilled by software.

  In the above embodiment, the completion of the scanning operation in each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C is confirmed based on the detection result of the rotation angle of the movable mirrors 25 and 26, but the confirmation is performed by other methods. You may make it do. For example, it is also possible to detect the laser light irradiation position by capturing an image of the processing surface of the workpiece with an imaging device and analyzing the captured image data to perform the above confirmation.

  In the above embodiment, only the information for correcting the deviation of the laser beam irradiation intensity due to the individual difference of the irradiation units is stored in the memory 22 as the calibration information. In addition to this, or instead of this, calibration information for correcting a deviation of the laser light irradiation operation other than the irradiation intensity may be stored in the memory 22 in advance. For example, when controlling the scanning speed at the time of marking processing, calibration information for correcting the scanning speed deviation caused by the individual difference of each irradiation unit is stored in the memory 22. And if the buffer circuit 11 correct | amends the command signal which concerns on the instruction | command of the scanning speed from the external control unit 10 based on the memorize | stored information and will be transmitted to each irradiation unit 20A-20C, each irradiation unit 20A. The scanning speed of ˜20C can be made uniform.

  In the above embodiment, in the control operation of the laser processing apparatus related to the laser operation control shown in FIG. 6, the buffer circuit 11 is sent to the external control unit 10 until completion signals are output from all of the irradiation units 20A to 20C. The transmission of the completion signal was delayed. Even if the buffer circuit 11 does not delay the transmission of the completion signal but delays the transmission of the command signal related to the scanning operation from the external control unit 10 to each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C, the same effect is obtained. Can be obtained. In this case, even if the external control unit 10 outputs a command signal of the next scanning operation before a part of the irradiation units 20A to 20C completes the scanning operation commanded last time, the buffer circuit 11 The transmission to each irradiation unit 20A-20C is once suspended. Then, when it is confirmed that the previously commanded scanning operation has been completed in all the irradiation units 20A to 20C, a command signal related to the command for the next scanning operation that has been suspended is transmitted to each irradiation unit 20A to 20C. become. Therefore, in such a case, similarly to the above-described embodiment, regardless of variations in the laser beam scanning speed of each of the irradiation units 20A to 20C, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defects such as writing failure and to process each irradiation unit 20A to 20C. Variations in state can be suppressed.

  If the combination of the irradiation units 20A to 20C connected to the external control unit 10 is fixed in advance, the memory 22 in which the calibration information of each irradiation unit 20A to 20C is stored is stored in the buffer circuit 11 or the external control. It may be built in the unit 10.

  Even if the function of the buffer circuit 11 is limited so that the control operations related to S24 and S25 in FIG. 6 are not performed, the laser processing apparatus can perform the control operation related to the laser beam emission intensity control in the above embodiment. it can. Therefore, also in this case, the effects described in (1), (3) and (4) can be obtained.

  Even if the function of the buffer circuit 11 is limited so that the control operation according to S11 to S14 in FIG. 5 is not performed, the laser processing apparatus can perform the control operation related to the laser beam scanning control in the above embodiment. . Therefore, also in this case, the effects described in (2) and (3) above can be obtained. In this case, the memory 22 storing the calibration information may be omitted.

  In the above embodiment, the marking process is performed by disassembling the character or figure to be processed into line segment elements and sequentially performing the laser beam scanning operation of each line segment element. The mode of operation is not limited to this, and may be changed as appropriate.

The schematic diagram of the whole structure of the laser processing apparatus about one Embodiment of this invention. The perspective view which shows the perspective structure of the optical system component of the irradiation unit of the laser processing apparatus. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a scanning path during marking processing by the laser processing apparatus. The graph which shows an example of the relationship between the command irradiation intensity | strength of the irradiation unit of the laser processing apparatus, and real irradiation intensity. The block diagram which shows the aspect of the control action which concerns on the emission intensity control of the laser processing apparatus. The block diagram which shows the aspect of the control action which concerns on the scanning control of the laser processing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... External control unit (control unit, control apparatus), 11 ... Buffer circuit (correction means, delay means, signal relay apparatus), 20A-20C ... Irradiation unit, 21 ... Internal controller (output means), 22 ... Memory (storage) Means), 23 ... Laser light source, 24 ... Optical scanning mechanism (25, 26 ... movable mirror), 27 ... Beam expander, 28 ... Fθ lens, W ... Workpiece.

Claims (6)

A laser light source that emits laser light and a plurality of irradiation units that irradiate the workpiece with the emitted laser light, and the laser light from the laser light source is uniformly applied to the plurality of irradiation units. In a laser processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that outputs a command signal for controlling the emission intensity based on preset processing information;
Storage means for storing calibration information for correcting the deviation of the laser beam irradiation intensity on the workpiece due to the individual difference of the irradiation units, for each of the plurality of irradiation units;
For each of the plurality of irradiation units, a correction unit that corrects and outputs a command signal output from the control unit based on calibration information of the corresponding irradiation unit stored in the storage unit;
A laser processing apparatus comprising:   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is individually provided for each of the plurality of irradiation units. In the laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
Completion of movement of the optical scanning mechanism for moving the irradiation position of the laser beam emitted from the laser light source to the workpiece and one command related to the movement of the irradiation position based on the command signal output from the control unit Detecting means for detecting the output and an output means for outputting a signal to that effect in response to the detection, in each of the plurality of irradiation units,
Until the output of the signal is confirmed from all of the output means of the plurality of irradiation units, the transmission of the command signal related to the next movement of the irradiation position from the control unit to the plurality of irradiation units is delayed. A laser processing apparatus comprising a delay unit. A laser light source for emitting laser light irradiated to the workpiece, and storage means for storing calibration information for correcting a deviation of the laser beam irradiation intensity to the workpiece due to individual differences In a control device of a laser processing apparatus that generates and outputs a command signal for controlling the laser light irradiation intensity based on processing information set in advance for a plurality of irradiation units,
For each of the plurality of irradiation units, the calibration information is read from the storage unit, and the command signal output to each irradiation unit is individually corrected based on the read calibration information. A control apparatus for a laser processing apparatus comprising: A plurality of irradiation units each including a laser light source that emits laser light and an optical scanning mechanism that moves an irradiation position of the emitted laser light onto the workpiece, and the laser is uniformly applied to the plurality of irradiation units. In a laser processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that outputs a command signal for controlling emission of laser light by a light source and movement of the irradiation position by the optical scanning mechanism based on preset processing information;
A plurality of detection means for detecting completion of movement of one command related to movement of the irradiation position based on the command signal output by the control unit, and output means for outputting a signal to that effect in response to the detection; Provided in each of the irradiation units,
Delay transmission of the command signal related to the next movement of the irradiation position from the control unit to the plurality of irradiation units until the output of the signal is confirmed from all of the output means of the plurality of irradiation units. A laser processing apparatus comprising a delay unit. A control unit that outputs a command signal for controlling the movement of the irradiation position of the laser beam to the workpiece based on preset machining information, a laser light source that emits the laser beam, and a workpiece of the emitted laser beam An optical scanning mechanism for moving the irradiation position on the object based on the command signal, a detecting means for detecting the completion of movement of one command related to the movement of the irradiation position according to the command signal, and according to the detection A plurality of irradiation units each having output means for outputting a completion signal, and relaying transmission / reception of the command signal and the completion signal between the plurality of irradiation units and the control unit. In the signal relay device of the laser processing device,
Until the output of the signal is confirmed from all of the output means of the plurality of irradiation units, the transmission of the command signal related to the next movement of the irradiation position from the control unit to the plurality of irradiation units is delayed. A signal relay device for a laser processing apparatus, characterized in that a delay means is provided.

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