JP2013075315A - Laser machining apparatus and laser machining method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser machining apparatus that can improve machining efficiency by shortening a time from carrying out a machining-finished workpiece to finishing a carrying-in preparation process.SOLUTION: This machining apparatus includes a laser beam machine having a plurality of laser units and an XY table, a carrying-in portion including a suction head provided with a suction nozzle, a workpiece-mounting base of carrying-in side loaded with the workpiece temporarily, a stocker of the carrying-in side loaded with the workpiece before machining, a carrying-out portion including the suction head provided with the suction nozzle, the workpiece mounting portion of carrying-out side loaded with the workpiece temporarily, the stocker of the carrying-out side loaded with the workpiece after machining, a single carrying-in auxiliary means which can keep the workpiece freely attachable and detachable, being arranged above the suction head of the carrying-in side, and a control means which makes the carrying-in side auxiliary means move down during the carrying-in movement of the workpiece from the carrying-in portion to the XY table, and starts the carrying-in preparation process which makes each of the suction head of the carrying-in side suck the workpiece.

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus that processes a workpiece by irradiating laser beams from a plurality of laser units, and relates to a laser processing apparatus that simultaneously loads, processes, and unloads a plurality of workpieces.

  Conventionally, as a laser processing apparatus that performs laser processing of a plurality of workpieces such as a printed circuit board at the same time, the workpiece holding table (hereinafter referred to as the number of workpieces) temporarily held on the workpiece mounting table and the workpiece loaded on the supply stocker It is known that a plurality of workpieces are simultaneously supplied to an XY table by moving the same number of suction heads as the workpieces (see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 21 shows a conventional laser processing apparatus. In the figure, the laser processing apparatus is mainly composed of a laser processing machine 100, a carry-in unit 101, and a carry-out unit 102.

  The laser beam machine 100 includes an XY table 106 that can move a plurality of (two in the drawing) workpieces 105 mounted in the X direction (left and right direction with respect to the paper surface) and the Y direction (perpendicular direction to the paper surface). A vacuum suction table (not shown) that is fixed on the XY table 106 and sucks or releases the workpiece, and a plurality (two in the drawing) of laser units 104a and laser units 104b that irradiate the workpiece 105 with laser light. , A columnar column 103 provided with a laser unit 104a and a laser unit 104b, a bed 107 provided with an XY table 106, a control device 119 for controlling the laser processing machine 100 and a carry-in unit 101 and a carry-out unit 102 described later. And comprising.

  The carry-in unit 101 has a suction head 111a and a suction head 111b provided with a plurality of suction nozzles 112 for sucking or releasing the workpiece 105, a lifter 110a for lifting and lowering the suction head 111a, and a lifting head 111b. Lifter 110b, slider 109a having lifter 110a and lifter 110b fixed to the side surface, loading-side guide rail 108a that points to slider 109a, loading-side workpiece that temporarily holds workpiece 105 and is movable in the X direction The mounting table 113a and a loading-side stocker 115a that can move up and down the upper and lower tables 114a on which a plurality of workpieces 105 are loaded are provided. The lifters 110a and 110b can be raised and lowered independently.

  The unloading unit 102 is provided with a suction head 111c and a suction head 111d provided with a plurality of suction nozzles 112 for sucking or releasing the workpiece 105, a lifter 110c for raising and lowering the suction head 111c, and a purpose of raising and lowering the suction head 111d. Lifter 110d, slider 109b with lifter 110c and lifter 110d fixed to the side, guide rail 108b on the loading side that points to slider 109b, and unloading-side workpiece that temporarily holds workpiece 105 and is movable in the X direction. The mounting table 113b and an unloading side stocker 115b that can move up and down the upper and lower tables 114b on which a plurality of workpieces 105 are loaded are provided.

  Since the guide rails 108a and 108b can carry a heavy object of a maximum of 20 kg, the slider 109 having two sets of suction heads and lifters (for example, a total weight of about 6 kg) can be held in a cantilever manner and is movable in the X direction.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining a laser beam machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. The laser unit 104a includes a mirror 204a, a pair of galvano scanners 205a and an fθ lens 206a, and the laser unit 104b includes a mirror 204b and a pair of galvano scanners 205b and an fθ lens 206b. The laser light output from the laser oscillator 201 is alternately changed in optical path by the acousto-optic device 202 and is incident on the galvano scanner 205a via the mirrors 203a and 204a, and is incident on the galvano scanner 205b via the mirrors 203b and 204b. . Then, the workpiece 105 is positioned in the XY direction by the galvano scanners 205a and 205b, passes through the fθ lens 206a or the fθ lens 206b, and processes the workpiece 105 respectively.

  14 to 19 are flowcharts showing conventional laser processing operations, which are programmed in the control device 119.

  In FIG. 14, first, the work 105 for moving to the carry-in preparation step (A3) is lifted while being sucked by the suction heads 111a and 111b (step S311). Next, it is determined whether or not the workpiece 105 that has been processed has been unloaded from the XY table 106 (step S302). If it is determined that the unloading has ended, the workpiece 105 for processing is transferred to the loading step (A4). 106 (step S313). After that, after moving to the machining process and laser processing the workpiece 105 (step S304), the workpiece 105 transferred to the carry-out process is moved to the carry-out position above the carry-out stocker 115b (step S305). Then, the process moves to the storing step, and the work 105 is loaded on the unloader side stocker 115b, and the series of operations according to the present invention is completed (step S306).

  Next, details of the carry-in preparation step (A3) will be described with reference to FIG. In step S401a, the suction head 111b is lowered to suck the workpiece 105 loaded on the stocker 115a. Thereafter, a workpiece separation operation for moving the suction head 111b up and down several times is performed (step S402a). By performing the workpiece separation operation, it is possible to shake off the excess workpiece attached to the substrate to be processed. Next, after the suction head 111b is raised and the workpiece mounting table 113a is moved above the stocker 115a (step S403a), the suction head 111b is lowered and the workpiece is placed on the workpiece placement table 113a (step S404a). . The suction head 111b is raised, the workpiece mounting table 113a is moved to the XY table 106 side (step S405a), the suction heads 111a and 111b are lowered to suck the work 105 (step S407), and the suction head 111b is moved up and down several times. After performing the workpiece separation operation (step S408a), the suction heads 111a and 111b are raised (step S409), and the loading preparation step (A3) is completed.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the carry-in process (A4). In step S501a, the suction heads 111a and 111b that have sucked the workpiece 105 are started to move to the XY table at the loading / unloading position, which is the position on the front side of the laser processing machine (position facing the portal column 103 in the Y direction). After that, when the suction heads 111a and 111b move above the XY table 106, the suction heads 111a and 111b are lowered to place the workpiece 105 on the XY table 106 (step S504), and then lifted (step S505). It is moved to a position (above workpiece mounting table 113a and stocker 115a) (step S406). Next, when there is a workpiece 105 to be processed (step S502a), the process proceeds to the carry-in preparation process (A3), and the carry-in process (A4) is terminated, and the process proceeds to the next machining process (B).

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the machining process. The XY table is driven to move the workpiece 105 to a machining position below the laser units 104a and 104b (step S601). Next, laser processing of the workpiece 105 is started (step S602), and after the processing is finished (step S603), the processing process is ended.

  The carry-out process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The XY table 106 is driven to move the workpiece 105 to the loading / unloading position (step S701), the suction pad frames 111c and 111d are moved to the loading / unloading position (step S702a), and the suction pad frame 111c moved to the loading / unloading position. 111d is lowered and lifted after the workpiece 105 is adsorbed (step S703, step S704). Thereafter, the suction pad frames 111c and 111d are moved to a carry-out position above the carry-out side stocker 115b and the work mounting table 113b (step S705), and the carry-out operation is finished.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the storing process. The suction heads 111c and 111d are lowered to place the work on the stocker 115b and the work placement table 113b (step S801), and after the suction heads 111c and 111d are raised, the work placement table 113b is moved above the stocker 115b (step S801). S802). After the suction head 111c is lowered to suck the workpiece 105 on the workpiece mounting table 113b (step S803), the suction head 111c is lifted and the workpiece mounting table 113b is moved to the XY table 106 side (step S804). After the suction head 111c is lowered and the workpiece 105 is placed on the stocker 115b, the suction head 111c is raised (step S805), and the storage process is terminated.

JP 2005-297007 A

  In the above technique, since the carry-in preparation process is processed during the processing process and the carry-out process, the process shifts to the carry-in process immediately after the carry-out process is completed. However, when the machining process is short, the carry-in preparation process is not finished when the carry-out process is finished, and thus the process cannot be shifted to the carry-in process immediately. Therefore, the processing efficiency is lowered because the time per cycle of the processing process cannot be shortened.

  FIG. 20 is a timing chart showing conventional laser processing. One cycle is determined from the start of the carry-in process to the start of the next carry-in process. Thus, one cycle is determined by the carry-in process (A4) 10 seconds and the carry-in preparation process (A3) 34 seconds. It can be seen that even if () is shortened, the total is not less than 44 seconds.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of solving the above-described problems, reducing the time required for one cycle of the processing step, and improving the processing efficiency.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a laser processing apparatus having a laser processing machine, a carry-in section, and a carry-out section. A single carry-in auxiliary means that is freely movable in the vertical direction, and a control means that starts a carry-in preparation process using the carry-in auxiliary means during the movement of the work from the carry-in portion to the XY table. The carrying-in preparation process is started prior to the end of the carrying-in process.

  According to the present invention, the time required for one cycle of the machining process can be shortened and the machining efficiency can be improved.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a flowchart showing the whole process of the laser processing which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart showing the workpiece loading preparation process which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart showing the carrying-in process which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart showing the laser processing process which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart showing the workpiece carrying-out process which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart showing the workpiece storage process which concerns on this invention. It is a timing chart of the whole process of the laser processing which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view showing the position of the workpiece | work and adsorption | suction head at the time of the workpiece | work delivery concerning this invention. It is a top view showing the position of the workpiece | work at the time of the workpiece | work delivery which concerns on this invention, and a suction head. It is a figure showing the position of the workpiece | work at the time of the laser processing which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view showing the position of the workpiece | work at the time of the workpiece | work carrying out which concerns on this invention, and a suction head. It is a top view showing the position of the workpiece | work at the time of the workpiece carrying-out which concerns on this invention, and a suction head. It is a flowchart showing the whole process of the conventional laser processing. It is a flowchart showing the conventional workpiece carrying-in preparation process. It is a flowchart showing the conventional carrying-in process. It is a flowchart showing the conventional laser processing process. It is a flowchart showing the conventional workpiece carrying-out process. It is a flowchart showing the conventional workpiece storage process. It is a timing chart of the whole process of the conventional laser processing. It is a whole block diagram of the conventional laser processing apparatus. It is a figure explaining the laser beam machine concerning the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, equivalent parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the laser processing apparatus is mainly composed of a laser processing machine 100, a carry-in part 101, and a carry-out part 102. Except for the carry-in part 101, the laser processing apparatus has the same apparatus configuration as a conventional laser processing apparatus.

  The carry-in unit 101 has a suction head 111a and a suction head 111b provided with a plurality of suction nozzles 112 for sucking or releasing the workpiece 105, a lifter 110a for lifting and lowering the suction head 111a, and a lifting head 111b. Lifter 110b, slider 109a having lifter 110a and lifter 110b fixed to the side surface, loading-side guide rail 108a that points to slider 109a, loading-side workpiece that temporarily holds workpiece 105 and is movable in the X direction The mounting table 113a and a loading-side stocker 115a that can move up and down the upper and lower tables 114a on which a plurality of workpieces 105 are loaded are provided. The lifters 110a and 110b can be raised and lowered independently. Above the carry-in portion 101, a carry-in assisting means is provided that includes a suction head 111e provided with a plurality of suction nozzles 112 and a lifter 110e for raising and lowering the suction head 111e.

  2 to 7 are flowcharts showing the laser processing operation according to the present invention, and are programmed in the control device 119. The same components as those described in FIGS. 14 to 19 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 2 shows the whole process of laser processing according to the present invention, a carry-in preparation process (step S301), a determination as to whether or not the work 105 for which machining has been completed has been carried out from the XY table 106 (step S302), and a carry-in process (step S303). ), A processing step (step S304), an unloading step (step S305), and a storing step are sequentially processed, and a series of operations according to the present invention is completed (step S306).

  Next, details of the carry-in preparation step will be described with reference to FIG. In step S401, the suction head 111e is lowered to suck the work 105 loaded on the stocker 115a. At this time, since the suction heads 111a and 111b are arranged in advance above the XY table 106, the vertical movement of the suction head 111e is not hindered. Thereafter, a workpiece separation operation for moving the suction head 111e up and down several times is performed (step S402). By performing the workpiece separation operation, it is possible to shake off the excess workpiece attached to the substrate to be processed. Next, the suction head 111e is raised and the workpiece mounting table 113a is moved above the stocker 115a (step S403), and then the suction head 111e is lowered and the workpiece is placed on the workpiece mounting table 113a (step S404). . When the suction head 111e is lifted, the workpiece mounting table 113a is moved to the XY table 106 side (step S405), and it is confirmed that the suction head 111e is lifted to prevent collision with the suction heads 111a and 111b. (Step S410), the suction heads 111a and 111b are moved to the loading position (above the workpiece mounting table 113a and the stocker 115a) (Step S406). The suction heads 111a and 111b are lowered to suck the work 105 (step S407), the suction head 111b is moved up and down several times to perform a workpiece separation operation (step S408), and then the suction heads 111a and 111b are lifted (step S408). S409), the carry-in preparation step is terminated.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the loading process, FIG. 9 is a perspective view when the workpiece 105 is moved to the loading position and preparation for loading is performed using the loading assisting means, and FIG. 10 is moved to the loading position. The top view when carrying in preparation for carrying in using carrying-in assistance means is shown, respectively. In step S501, the suction heads 111a and 111b that have sucked the workpiece 105 are started to move to the XY table at the loading / unloading position, which is the position on the front side of the laser processing machine (position facing the portal column 103 in the Y direction). Thereafter, after the suction head 111e is waited for a time T, it is determined whether there is a workpiece 105 to be processed next and whether the suction head 111b is on the XY table 106 side from above the workpiece mounting table 113a (step S502). In this case, the suction heads 111a and 111b are moved to above the XY table 106 (step S503) and the process proceeds to the loading preparation step (A1) (step S301). When the suction heads 111a and 111b move above the XY table 106, the suction heads 111a and 111b are lowered to place the workpiece 105 on the XY table 106 (step S504), and then lifted (step S505). To end the next processing step. The time T for which the suction head 111e waits in step S502 is a time for the suction head 111b to move from above the workpiece mounting table 113a to the XY table 106 side in order to prevent the suction head 111e from colliding with the suction heads 111a and 111b. Yes, for example, set to 1 second.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the machining process, and FIG. 11 is a plan view when the workpiece 105 is moved to the machining position. The XY table is driven to move the workpiece 105 to a machining position below the laser units 104a and 104b (step S601). Next, laser processing of the workpiece 105 is started (step S602), and after the processing is finished (step S603), the processing process is ended.

  The carry-out operation will be described with reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 12, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the unloading process, FIG. 12 is a perspective view when the work 105 is placed on the upper and lower tables 114b and the work placing table 113b, and FIG. 13 is a plan view. The XY table 106 is driven to move the workpiece 105 to the loading / unloading position (step S701), the suction pad frames 111a and 111b are moved to the loading position, and the suction pad frames 111c and 111d are moved to the loading / unloading position (step S702). The suction pad frames 111c and 111d moved to the loading / unloading position are lowered and lifted after the workpiece 105 is sucked (steps S703 and S704). Thereafter, the suction pad frames 111c and 111d are moved to the carry-out position above the carry-out side stocker 115b and the work mounting table 113b (step S705), and the carry-out operation is terminated.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the storing process. The storing process is the same as that shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing an example of laser processing according to the present invention. The time required for each step of laser processing is: carry-in preparation step (A1) 36 seconds, carry-in step (A2) 8 seconds, machining step (B) 12 seconds, carry-out step (C1) 12 seconds, storage step (C2) 22 seconds It is. Since it is possible to enter the loading preparation step (A1) during the loading step (A2) using the loading preparation means, the processing step (B) of the present invention can be shortened to 37 seconds per cycle. In addition, compared with the said prior art, a carrying-in preparation process (A1) is 2 second long, and a carrying-in process (A2) is 2 seconds short. This is because the embodiment of the present invention performs the step (step S406) of moving the suction heads 111a and 111b, which require 2 seconds for processing, to the loading position in the loading preparation step (A1) instead of the loading step (A2). It is.

  In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that two workpieces 105 are processed at the same time. However, the number of suction heads and laser units is the same as the number of workpieces 105, and the number of workpiece mounting tables is one less than that of the workpieces 105. The above workpiece 105 can be machined.

  From the above results, in the embodiment using the carry-in assisting means, it is recognized that the machining time per one cycle of the machining process can be shortened as compared with the prior art that does not use the carry-in assisting means, thereby improving the machining throughput. It was.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible, and all technical matters included in the technical idea described in the scope of claims are the subject of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Laser beam machine 101 Carry-in part 102 Carry-out part 103 Gate type column 104a, 104b Laser unit 105 Work 106 XY table 107 Bed 108a, 118b Guide rail 109a, 119b Slider 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e Lifter 111a, 111b, 111c 111d, 111e Suction head 112 Suction nozzle 113a, 113b Workpiece mounting table 114a, 114b Upper / lower table
115a, 115b stocker

Claims (2)

A plurality of laser units arranged side by side in the X direction, which is a uniaxial direction on a horizontal plane, and a plurality of workpieces arranged in the X direction facing the plurality of laser units are arranged in the X direction and the horizontal plane. A laser processing machine having an XY table movable in a Y direction orthogonal to the direction;
A suction nozzle is provided, and the same number of suction heads on the loading side as the plurality of workpieces, and when the workpiece is held on the suction head on the loading side, the workpiece is temporarily placed so that the number is one less than the plurality of workpieces. A loading section composed of a loading table on the loading side and a loading-side stocker for loading a workpiece before processing;
A suction nozzle is provided and the same number of unloading-side suction heads as the plurality of workpieces, and when the workpiece is held on the unloading-side suction head, the workpiece is temporarily placed and is one less than the plurality of workpieces. In a laser processing apparatus having an unloading part composed of an unloading-side workpiece mounting table and an unloading-side stocker for loading a processed workpiece,
A laser processing apparatus, comprising a single carry-in assisting means disposed above the carry-in suction head and provided with a suction nozzle, wherein the work is detachable and movable in the vertical direction. A plurality of laser units arranged side by side in the X direction, which is a uniaxial direction on a horizontal plane, and a plurality of workpieces arranged in the X direction facing the plurality of laser units are arranged in the X direction and the horizontal plane. A laser processing machine having an XY table movable in a Y direction orthogonal to the direction;
A suction nozzle is provided, and the same number of suction heads on the loading side as the plurality of workpieces, and when the workpiece is held on the suction head on the loading side, the workpiece is temporarily placed so that the number is one less than the plurality of workpieces. A loading section composed of a loading table on the loading side and a loading-side stocker for loading a workpiece before processing;
A suction nozzle is provided and the same number of unloading-side suction heads as the plurality of workpieces, and when the workpiece is held on the unloading-side suction head, the workpiece is temporarily placed and is one less than the plurality of workpieces. An unloading unit composed of an unloading-side workpiece mounting table and an unloading-side stocker for loading the processed workpiece;
A single carry-in assisting means disposed above the carry-in suction head, provided with a suction nozzle, detachable and movable in the vertical direction;
Using,
Sucking the workpiece after lowering the loading auxiliary means during the loading movement of the workpiece from the loading section to the XY table,
Moving the carrying-in assisting means up and down to separate the workpiece stuck to the sucked workpiece;
Raising the carrying-in assisting means,
Move the loading table on the loading side to above the stocker,
Lowering the carry-in assisting means and placing the work on the work-placement table on the carry-in side;
Raising the carrying-in assisting means,
Moving the loading table on the loading side toward the XY table;
The laser processing method characterized by the above-mentioned.

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