JP2015174102A - Laser beam machining dust collecting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide laser beam machining dust collecting equipment sufficiently collecting dust by collecting smoke and powder dust generated from a laser beam machining object when performing laser beam machining on the object.SOLUTION: A dust collecting duct 19 surrounding the periphery of a laser beam emitted downward toward a laser beam machining object 9 from a laser emission head 3, is formed in a rotationally symmetric shape. Ambient air is supplied in the dust collecting duct 19 from a clearance provided between the lower edge 29 of the dust collecting duct 19 and the laser beam machining object 19. Or compressed air is supplied in the dust collecting duct 19 from a compressed air supply port 33 connected to the lower end of the dust collecting duct 19. An exhaust pipe is connected in the tangential direction in a horizontal cross section to the dust collecting duct 19, and air is exhausted by negative pressure. Thus, a swirling flow is generated in the dust collecting duct 19, and is exhausted remaining as the swirling flow.

Description

  The present invention relates to a dust collection duct that collects smoke and dust generated from a processing object when laser processing is performed.

  When laser processing is performed, smoke and fine dust are generated from the processing target. Conventionally, in order to collect and supplement these smoke and dust, a dust collection duct positioned in the vicinity of the processing site to be processed has been used. The dust collection duct sucks air in the vicinity of the processing site by a negative pressure, and is located substantially at right angles to the laser beam.

  Further, Patent Document 1 below discloses a device that generates a vortex in the living space in order to efficiently exhaust the living space, although it is not related to the laser processing technology and is completely different from the technical field. The In this configuration, the air outlets provided at the four corners of the living space are directed substantially in the tangential direction of the vortex.

JP-A-10-332181

However, as in the conventional case, sufficient dust collection cannot be performed simply by positioning the dust collection duct in the vicinity of the laser processing site.
In particular, when processing is performed using a galvano scanner, smoke and dust generated due to high processing speed soar and move at high speed. Also, it flies in various directions depending on the scanning direction of the scanner. For this reason, smoke and dust cannot be removed sufficiently.

In addition, when dust is attracted in the lateral direction with a strong negative pressure in order to increase the dust collection capability, the smoke and dust that have been generated may adhere to the object to be processed and cause discoloration or alteration.
In laser processing using a scanner, a dust collection nozzle cannot be installed in the scanning area of the scanner. Therefore, it becomes difficult to effectively collect dust as the scanning range of the scanner increases.

For this reason, the inventor conducted an experiment in which a dust collecting duct was formed by surrounding the entire vicinity of the processing site with a rectangular casing. However, local turbulence is generated at each corner of the square casing, and the air stays, so that sufficient dust collection is not performed.
Furthermore, beyond the completely different technical fields, if the technique of Patent Document 1 is applied to a dust collection duct for laser processing, the exhaust port is formed from the upper center of the space in Patent Document 1 above. In addition, the laser head that emits laser light provided at the upper center of the laser processing space interferes with the exhaust port, and cannot be applied.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a laser-processed dust collecting apparatus that can perform sufficient dust collection.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the first invention is a laser emission that emits laser light downward toward the processing target in a dust collection duct that collects smoke and dust generated from the processing target when performing laser processing. A head, a dust collection duct surrounding the emitted laser beam and having a rotationally symmetric shape, and surrounding air provided between a lower edge of the dust collection duct and the object to be processed in the dust collection duct Or a compressed air supply port connected to the lower end of the dust collection duct for supplying compressed air into the dust collection duct, and connected in a tangential direction in the horizontal cross section of the dust collection duct for exhausting by negative pressure. An exhaust pipe for generating a swirling flow in the dust collecting duct is provided.

  The second invention is a galvano scanner in which the laser emitting head is mounted on a moving device that can move to an arbitrary position with respect to the large processing target, and performs scanning by changing the angle of the emitted laser light, and the rotation The dust collection duct having a symmetric shape is provided in a truncated cone-like skirt portion close to the object to be processed, and is detachably provided coaxially above the skirt portion so that the total length in the vertical direction of the dust collection duct can be adjusted. A cylindrical elevating part, the exhaust pipe is connected to the elevating part, and the compressed air supply port has a supply path connected in a tangential direction in a horizontal section of the dust collection duct, A plurality of exhaust pipes are provided in the laser processing dust collecting apparatus.

  According to the first or second invention, the air supplied into the dust collecting duct from the gap provided between the lower edge of the dust collecting duct and the object to be processed, or the compressed air supply at the lower end of the dust collecting duct The air supplied from the mouth into the dust collection duct almost entrains the air in the vicinity of the laser processing site, turns into a swirling flow along the rotationally symmetrical shape of the dust collecting duct, and exhausts in the tangential direction of the rotationally symmetrical shape. It is exhausted through a pipe.

In this way, the dust collection duct surrounding the laser beam does not substantially release the air containing smoke and dust in the vicinity of the laser processing site, so that sufficient dust collection is performed.
In addition, since a dust collection duct having a rotationally symmetric shape is used, air is not accumulated at each corner and sufficient dust collection is performed as compared with a dust collection duct surrounded by a square casing. .

  Furthermore, since the air that has swirled along the rotationally symmetric shape of the dust collection duct is exhausted through the exhaust pipe in the tangential direction of the rotationally symmetric shape, the swirl flow is temporarily Compared with the case where the technique 1 is applied, there is no interference between the laser emission head provided at the upper center of the dust collection duct and the exhaust pipe. In addition, air containing smoke and dust collected by the swirling flow is prevented from touching the laser emission head, and contamination of the laser emission head can be better prevented.

According to the second invention, the truncated cone-shaped skirt portion can cope with the conical space necessary for scanning performed by changing the angle of the laser beam without waste.
Moreover, since the cylindrical elevating part can be moved up and down to adjust the entire vertical length of the dust collection duct, the size of the gap between the lower edge of the dust collection duct and the object to be processed can be easily adjusted.
Further, since the exhaust pipe is connected to the lifting part, the skirt part can be attached to and detached from the lifting part, and maintenance and inspection are easy.
Moreover, since the compressed air supply port has a supply path connected in a tangential direction in the horizontal section of the dust collection duct, the air becomes a swirling flow by a positive pressure immediately after the supply, and the swirling flow is efficiently formed.
Further, since a plurality of exhaust pipes are provided, a swirling flow due to negative pressure is efficiently formed.

1 shows a laser processing dust collecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, including a laser emitting head, wherein (A) is a longitudinal sectional view and (B) is a plan view of (A). (A) is a front view of the laser processing dust collector of FIG. 1 (A), (B) is a perspective view of (A). It is a perspective view of the whole laser processing apparatus provided with the laser processing dust collector of FIG. It is a laser processing dust collector which shows other embodiment of this invention, and includes a laser emission head, (A) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view, (B) is a top view of (A).

An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, the laser emission head 3 provided with the laser processing dust collecting device 1 according to this embodiment is mounted on a moving device 5 to constitute a laser processing device 7.

[Moving device 5]
As shown in FIG. 3, the moving device 5 is a device that mounts the laser emitting head 3 and moves the laser emitting head 3 to an arbitrary position with respect to a large workpiece 9. The Y-axis unit 11 that moves the laser emitting head 3 in the Y-axis direction is moved in the X-axis direction by the X-axis unit 15 that the apparatus main body 13 has. The Y-axis unit 11 and the X-axis unit 15 incorporate an actuator (not shown) for movement. The X-axis unit 15 is fixed to the device base 17. Thereby, the laser emission head 3 can be moved to an arbitrary position within an XY plane within a predetermined range regulated by the lengths of the Y-axis unit 11 and the X-axis unit 15.
The apparatus main body 13 incorporates a laser oscillator (not shown) and an optical device provided in the optical path of laser light from the laser oscillator.

[Laser emission head 3]
The laser emission head 3 emits laser light downward toward the workpiece 9 through a condenser lens (not shown). In this embodiment, the angle of the emitted laser light is changed by a scanning mirror (not shown) to perform scanning, which is also called a galvano scanner head. The laser processing dust collector 1 is provided.
The processing target 9 is, for example, a wide metal plate, and a pattern is processed on the surface of the metal plate by laser light, for example.

[Laser processing dust collector 1]
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 2, the laser processing dust collecting apparatus 1 collects smoke and dust generated from the processing object 9 in the dust collecting duct 19 when performing laser processing.
The dust collection duct 19 has a rotationally symmetric shape (FIGS. 1B and 2B) that can surround the emitted laser beam. That is, it encloses a conical space 23 necessary for forming a scanning area 21 of scanning performed by emitting laser light radially at different angles. The dust collection duct 19 is provided with a cylindrical elevating part 27 coaxially above the frustoconical skirt part 25 close to the workpiece 9.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the raising / lowering of the elevating part 27 is arranged inside the receiving part 25a from a vertically long slit 25b formed in a cylindrical receiving part 25a formed integrally with the skirt part 25. The handle 27a of the elevating unit 27 is exposed, and this handle 27a is moved manually by the operator up and down. By this elevation, the total length of the dust collection duct 19 in the vertical direction can be adjusted. Moreover, the skirt part 25 and the raising / lowering part 27 are provided so that attachment or detachment is possible.

  A gap 31 is provided between the lower edge 29 of the dust collection duct 19 and the workpiece 9, and ambient air is supplied into the dust collection duct 19. In addition, a compressed air supply port 33 is connected to the lower end of the dust collection duct 19, and compressed air is supplied into the dust collection duct 19, thereby generating a swirling flow in the dust collection duct 19.

An exhaust pipe 35 is connected to the skirt portion 25 of the dust collection duct 19. The exhaust pipe 35 is connected in a tangential direction in the horizontal cross section of the skirt portion 25, and exhausts by the negative pressure of an exhaust pump communicating with a bellows tube (not shown). As a result, a swirl flow 36 is generated in the dust collection duct 19. Two exhaust pipes 35 are provided. These two are provided on the opposite side 180 degrees when viewed from the rotationally symmetric rotational axis. The two exhaust pipes 35 have a function of a holding arm that holds the dust collection duct 19 against the laser emission head 3.
As shown in FIGS. 2 (B) and 1 (B), the exhaust pipe 35 has an elbow pipe 35b connected to a tangential pipe 35a formed integrally with the skirt portion 25, and is fixed to the elbow pipe 35b. A straight pipe 35d extending upward is detachably connected to the tool 35c.

"Effect of the embodiment"
As shown in FIG. 1, according to this embodiment, air 41 supplied into the dust collection duct 19 from a gap 31 provided between the lower edge 29 of the dust collection duct 19 and the workpiece 9, and The air supplied from the compressed air supply port 33 at the lower end of the dust collection duct 19 into the dust collection duct 19 almost entrains the air in the vicinity of the laser processing site, becomes an upward flow, and the rotationally symmetrical shape of the dust collection duct 19 The swirl flow 36 is generated along the directional line 36 and exhausted 43 through the exhaust pipe 35 in the tangential direction of the rotationally symmetric shape. Further, the air 45 supplied from the gap 32 between the upper edge of the elevating unit 27 and the laser emitting head 3 becomes a downward flow, joins the swirling flow 36, and is exhausted 43 through the exhaust pipe 35.

(1) In this way, the dust collection duct 19 that substantially surrounds the laser beam hardly releases air containing smoke and dust in the vicinity of the laser processing site, so that sufficient dust collection is performed.
(2) Further, since the dust collection duct 19 having a truncated cone shape or a cylindrical rotational symmetry shape is used, air stays at each corner of the square as compared with the dust collection duct surrounded by the square casing. It does not occur and sufficient dust collection is performed.

(3) Further, the air that has swirled along the rotationally symmetric shape of the dust collection duct 19 is exhausted 43 through the exhaust pipe 35 in the tangential direction of the rotationally symmetric shape as the swirl flow. . For this reason, compared with the case where the technique of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 is applied, the airflow does not need to be merged at one point at the upper center, and the laser emitting head 3 provided at the upper center 37 of the dust collection duct 19 is not used. There is no need to provide the exhaust pipe 35. That is, there is no interference between the laser emission head 3 and the exhaust pipe 35.

  In addition, air containing smoke and dust collected by the swirling flow 36 is exhausted in the tangential direction of the rotationally symmetric shape as the swirling flow 36 and is not collected in the central upper portion 37. Touching the laser emission head 3 at the center upper portion 37 is suppressed, and contamination of the laser emission head 3, for example, the condenser lens, can be better prevented.

(4) Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 (A) and 2 (A), the truncated cone-shaped skirt portion 25 is wasted in the conical space 23 necessary for scanning performed by changing the angle of the laser beam. No, it can respond. In other words, the conical space 23 necessary for scanning is sufficiently surrounded, and there is no wasted space, the space volume can be reduced, and the exhaust amount can be suppressed.

(5) Further, the cylindrical elevating part 27 can be moved up and down relative to the skirt part 25 to adjust the total length of the dust collecting duct 19 in the vertical direction. The size of the gap 31 between the object 9 can be easily adjusted.

(6) Further, since the exhaust pipe 35 is connected to the skirt portion 25, the upper elevating portion 27 is moved up and down with respect to the skirt portion 25, whereby the upper edge of the elevating portion 27 and the laser emission head 3 are The gap 32 can be adjusted. Therefore, it is possible to easily adjust the amount of air that supplies the air 45 downward from the gap 32 into the dust collection duct 19. This downward air 45 joins the swirl flow 36 in the dust collection duct 19. The downward movement of the air 45 prevents the swirling flow 36 from touching the laser emitting head 3 and further prevents contamination of the laser emitting head 3.

(7) Also, as shown in FIG. 2 (B), the compressed air supply port 33 has a supply path that connects in the tangential direction in the horizontal section of the dust collection duct 19, so that the positive pressure air is supplied immediately after the supply. The swirl flow 36 is formed, and the swirl flow 36 is efficiently formed.
(8) Since a plurality of exhaust pipes 35 are provided, a swirling flow 36 due to negative pressure is efficiently formed.

"Other embodiments"
In the above embodiment, the moving device 5 includes the Y-axis unit 11 and the X-axis unit 15 and moves the laser emission head 3 to an arbitrary position in the XY plane. In other embodiments, The moving device 5 is an articulated robot arm device and may move the laser emitting head 3 to an arbitrary position in the XYZ space.

In the above embodiment, the laser emitting head 3 is a galvano scanner that scans by changing the angle of the emitted laser beam. However, in other embodiments, the laser emitting head 3 is moved only without changing the angle. Alternatively, a welding process may be performed.
In the above embodiment, the exhaust pipe 35 is connected to the skirt portion 25 of the dust collection duct 19, but in other embodiments, as shown in FIG. The exhaust pipe 35 may be connected to the portion 27. As a result, the skirt portion 25 can be attached to and detached from the elevating portion 27. For example, the upper laser emitting head 3 can be approached with the skirt portion 25 removed, so that maintenance and inspection are easy.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4A, the diameter of the upper part of the cylindrical elevating part 27 is reduced to form a diaphragm 47 so that the gap 32 between the upper edge of the elevating part 27 and the laser emitting head 3 can be reduced. The supplied air 45 can be reduced, and conversely, the air 41 supplied from the gap 31 provided between the lower edge 29 of the dust collection duct 19 and the workpiece 9 can be increased.

  In the above embodiment, the compressed air supply port 33 has a supply path connected in the tangential direction in the horizontal cross section of the dust collection duct 19. However, in other embodiments, the compressed air supply port 33 is not necessarily in the tangential direction. . By connecting the exhaust pipe 35 in the tangential direction, the swirl flow is sufficiently obtained. Further, even if air is supplied into the dust collection duct 19 through the gap 31 of the lower edge 29 of the dust collection duct 19 without providing the compressed air supply port 33 itself, the swirl flow is caused by the exhaust pipe 35 connected in the tangential direction. Fully obtained.

  In the above embodiment, two exhaust pipes 35 are provided. However, in other embodiments, the number of exhaust pipes 35 may be one, or three or more.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Laser processing dust collector, 3 ... Laser emission head, 5 ... Moving apparatus, 7 ... Laser processing apparatus, 9 ... Processing object, 11 ... Y-axis unit, 13 ... Main body, 15 ... X-axis unit, 17 ... Apparatus Base, 19 ... Dust collection duct, 21 ... Scanning area, 23 ... Conical space, 25 ... Skirt part, 27 ... Elevating part, 29 ... Lower edge, 31 ... Gap, 33 ... Compressed air supply port, 35 ... Exhaust pipe 37 ... Upper center.

Claims (2)

  In a dust collection duct that collects smoke and dust generated from a processing target when performing laser processing, a laser output head that emits laser light downward toward the processing target, and surrounding and rotating around the emitted laser light Connected to a dust collection duct having a symmetric shape and a gap provided between the lower edge of the dust collection duct and the object to be processed and supplying ambient air into the dust collection duct, or the lower end of the dust collection duct A compressed air supply port for supplying compressed air into the dust collection duct, and an exhaust pipe that is connected in a tangential direction in the horizontal section of the dust collection duct and exhausts by negative pressure to generate a swirling flow in the dust collection duct And a laser processing dust collector. The laser emitting head is a galvano scanner that is mounted on a moving device that can move to an arbitrary position with respect to the large workpiece, and performs scanning by changing the angle of the emitted laser light, and has a rotationally symmetric shape. The duct is a frustoconical skirt portion that is close to the object to be processed, and a cylindrical elevating portion that is coaxially detachably provided above the skirt portion and can adjust the overall vertical length of the dust collection duct; The exhaust pipe is connected to the elevating part, the compressed air supply port has a supply path connected in a tangential direction in a horizontal section of the dust collection duct, and a plurality of the exhaust pipes are provided. The laser processing dust collector according to claim 1.