JP2015152550A - Laser marker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser marker that can emit a uniform laser beam regardless of an individual difference of a semiconductor laser outputting a plurality of laser lines.SOLUTION: Respective green semiconductor lasers 4 of a horizontal laser module outputting a laser line in a horizontal direction and of a vertical laser module outputting a laser line in a vertical direction are individually drive controlled by dedicated control sections. A drive control with a drive frequency preliminarily according to the individual difference is allowed as a drive frequency of the green semiconductor laser 4 used for the horizontal laser module, and a drive control with a drive frequency preliminarily according to the individual difference is allowed as a drive frequency of the green semiconductor laser 4 used for the vertical laser module. As a result, intensities of laser lines outputted from the two green semiconductor lasers 4 can be uniformized, and a uniform laser beam can be emitted.

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser marking device provided with a laser module that realizes stable and energy saving of a green semiconductor laser element that is a light source of a laser irradiator used in construction work and civil engineering work.

  A red semiconductor laser having a wavelength of 670 nm to 630 nm has so far been used as a light source of a so-called laser marking device that outputs and displays a laser line on a side wall surface, a ceiling surface or a floor surface of a structure. By the way, it is known that the visibility of human eyes is higher in green with a wavelength of 495-570 nm than in red. As a semiconductor laser, this green laser itself exists and has already been commercialized. However, the green semiconductor laser has a drawback of higher power consumption than the red semiconductor laser. In particular, since the dry cell drive is preferred from the viewpoint of the working environment of the laser marking device, the high power consumption of the green semiconductor laser means that the continuous use time is short and it is necessary to replace the dry cell immediately. It is recognized as a downside. For this reason, as described in Patent Document 1, there is provided a technique of changing and outputting an ON time ratio by changing a pulse duty ratio of an electrically pulsed horizontal or vertical line laser beam.

JP 11-295070 A (Claim 1, paragraph 0025)

  By the way, the green semiconductor laser has the disadvantages that the output light is unstable and individual differences are larger than the red semiconductor laser, and it is difficult to maintain a uniform quality even in the manufacturing stage. Such a green semiconductor laser having individual differences in terms of merchandise is used to drive two semiconductor lasers in the horizontal and vertical directions with a single laser drive circuit, as in the control device described in FIG. In such a case, there is a problem in that the intensity of the output light in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction differs depending on the individual difference between the two semiconductor lasers.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to a semiconductor laser that outputs a horizontal laser line and a vertical laser line to a side wall surface, a ceiling surface, and a floor surface of a structure. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser marking device capable of irradiating a homogeneous laser beam even when there are individual differences.

  In order to solve the above problems, the configuration adopted by the invention according to claim 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the side wall surface, the ceiling surface, and the floor surface of the structure are provided. In the laser marking device 1 that outputs and displays the horizontal laser line L1 and the vertical laser lines L2 and L3, the laser marking device 1 is a horizontal laser module that outputs the horizontal laser line L1. And a vertical laser module that outputs the vertical laser lines L2 and L3, the horizontal laser module and the vertical laser module each including a green semiconductor laser 4 that emits a green light beam, and the green semiconductor laser A collimator lens 5 for converting the light beam emitted from 4 into collimator light, and the collimator light as line light A cylindrical lens 6 to be converted and a control means 7 capable of controlling the driving frequency and the duty ratio of the green semiconductor laser 4 are respectively provided. The control means 7 controls the green semiconductor laser 4 to the green semiconductor laser 4. The drive control is performed at a drive frequency corresponding to the individual difference of the semiconductor laser 4 and the drive control is performed at a predetermined duty ratio.

  In the invention according to claim 1, the green semiconductor laser 4 of each of the horizontal laser module that outputs the horizontal laser line L1 and the vertical laser module that outputs the vertical laser lines L2 and L3 is controlled exclusively. Since the driving is controlled separately by each unit, the driving frequency of the green semiconductor laser 4 used in the horizontal laser module can be controlled in advance at a driving frequency corresponding to the individual difference, and the green semiconductor laser 4 used in the vertical laser module Since the drive control of the semiconductor laser 4 can be controlled in advance at a drive frequency corresponding to the individual difference, the strengths of the laser lines output from the two green semiconductor lasers 4 can be homogenized, and are uniform. Laser light can be irradiated.

It is the schematic which shows the use condition of the laser marking device which concerns on this embodiment. It is the schematic of the laser module incorporated in a laser marking device. It is a detailed circuit diagram of a control part.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a laser marking device according to this embodiment. In the figure, the laser marking device 1 outputs and displays horizontal laser lines L1 and vertical laser lines L2 and L3 on the side wall surface, ceiling surface and floor surface of the structure. In the case of the laser marking device 1 of the illustrated embodiment, three laser modules that output one horizontal laser line L1 and two vertical laser lines L2 and L3 are incorporated.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the three laser modules all have the same structure, and include a cylindrical outer cylinder 2, a cylindrical inner cylinder 3 provided inside the outer cylinder 2, and a green light beam. A green semiconductor laser 4 that emits light, a collimator lens 5 that converts a light beam emitted from the green semiconductor laser 4 into collimator light, a cylindrical lens 6 that converts collimator light into line light, and driving the green semiconductor laser 4 Control means 7 capable of controlling the frequency and the duty ratio. The green semiconductor laser 4 is installed on the laser beam entrance side of the outer cylinder 2, and the cylindrical lens 6 is installed on the laser beam exit side of the outer cylinder 2. The collimator lens 5 is installed in the inner cylinder 3 between the green semiconductor laser 4 and the cylindrical lens 6, and connects the green semiconductor laser 4 and the control means 7.

  The control means 7 includes a power supply unit 10, a power supply control unit 11, and a CPU circuit unit 12 including a PWM unit 13 whose DT ratio (duty ratio) can be adjusted, and connects the power supply unit 10 and the CPU circuit unit 12. Then, the CPU circuit unit 12 sends a PWM signal capable of adjusting the DT ratio having a driving frequency corresponding to the individual difference of the green semiconductor laser 4 to the power supply control unit 11.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a more detailed circuit diagram of the control means 7 is that the power supply unit 10 connects the first capacitor C1 and the second capacitor C2 between the ground of the power booster ICU2 and the output terminal in parallel. The diode D1 between the output of the power booster ICU2 and the input terminal and the inductor L1 between the input terminal and the input power supply are connected. The positive pole of the diode D1 and the input terminal of the power booster ICU2 are connected, and the negative pole of the diode D1 and the output of the power booster ICU2 are connected. The first capacitor C1 has positive and negative poles. The negative pole of the first capacitor C1 is the ground, and the positive pole of the first capacitor C1 is the output side of the power supply unit 10.

The CPU circuit unit 12 is connected to the power supply terminal of the CPUU1 and the output side of the power supply unit 10, grounded to the ground terminal of the CPUU1, and connected to the power supply control unit 11 to the DT ratio adjustable PWM signal output terminal of the CPU.

The power control unit 11 includes a first bipolar transistor Q1 and a second bipolar transistor Q2, and connects the base of the first bipolar transistor Q1 and a DT ratio adjustable PWM signal output terminal. The base of the first bipolar transistor Q1 is connected to the first resistor R1, the first resistor R1 is connected to the ground, and the emitter of the first bipolar transistor Q1 is connected to the ground. The base of the first bipolar transistor Q1 is connected to the negative pole of the laser diode LD of the green semiconductor laser 4 (green semiconductor element). On the other hand, the collector of the first bipolar transistor Q1 and the base of the second bipolar transistor Q2 are connected, and the collector of the second bipolar transistor Q2 and the second resistor R2 are connected. The second resistor R2 is connected to the plus of the detection photodiode PD of the green semiconductor laser 4. A third resistor R3 is connected between the base of the second bipolar transistor Q2 and the power supply terminal VCC, the emitter of the second bipolar transistor Q2 and the fourth resistor R4 are connected, and the fourth resistor R4 is connected to the ground. The positive pole of the laser diode LD of the green semiconductor laser 4 and the negative pole of the detection photodiode PD are connected to the power supply terminal VCC.

  In the control means 7 configured as described above, the CPU circuit unit 12 sends a PWM signal with a DT ratio adjustable having a drive frequency corresponding to the individual difference of the green semiconductor laser 4 to the power supply control unit 11. For this reason, the driving frequency of the green semiconductor laser 4 used in the horizontal laser module can be controlled in advance at a driving frequency corresponding to the individual difference as the driving frequency of the green semiconductor laser 4 used in the horizontal laser module. Since the drive control can be performed in advance at a drive frequency corresponding to the individual difference, the intensity of the laser lines output from the two green semiconductor lasers 4 can be homogenized, and a homogeneous laser beam can be irradiated. it can. In addition, since the PWM signal is driven and controlled by a predetermined DT ratio (for example, 30 to 50%), the laser marking device 1 that uses a dry battery as a power source due to an energy saving effect is used for a long time. Can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser marking device 4 Green semiconductor laser 5 Collimator lens 6 Cylindrical lens 7 Control means 10 Power supply part 11 Power supply control part 12 CPU circuit part 13 PWM part

Claims (1)

In the laser marking device that outputs and displays the horizontal laser line and the vertical laser line on the side wall surface, ceiling surface and floor surface of the structure,
The laser marking device is
The horizontal laser module that outputs the horizontal laser line, and the vertical laser module that outputs the vertical laser line,
The horizontal laser module and the vertical laser module are:
A green semiconductor laser that emits a green light beam, a collimator lens that converts the light beam emitted from the green semiconductor laser into collimator light, a cylindrical lens that converts collimator light into line light, and driving the green semiconductor laser Control means capable of controlling the frequency and the duty ratio,
The control means controls the drive of the green semiconductor laser at a drive frequency corresponding to the individual difference of the green semiconductor laser and controls the drive at a predetermined duty ratio.

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