JP2024000857A - Laser machining device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser machining device capable of grasping that collision with a laser machining head occurs.

SOLUTION: A robot 15 relatively displaces a laser machining head 20 with respect to a workpiece W. A detection sensor 30 detects impact applied to the laser machining head 20 during relative displacement of the laser machining head 20. A determination part 41 determines that collision with the laser machining head 20 occurs, when a detection value from the detection sensor 30 is larger than a prescribed threshold value.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

COPYRIGHT: (C)2024,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a laser processing device.

Patent Document 1 discloses a method for measuring the acceleration of the processing head when the processing head moves, determining whether or not adjustment of the axis related to the processing head is necessary based on a signal from an acceleration sensor, and adjusting the axis. A laser processing machine has been disclosed in which, if necessary, the axis of the processing head is adjusted in a process separate from the laser processing process.

Patent No. 6415783

By the way, in the conventional invention, the acceleration sensor is used to adjust the axis related to the processing head. For example, if an obstacle exists on the movement path of the processing head and the processing head collides with the obstacle, Even in this case, it is considered that the laser processing operation continues as it is.

Therefore, after the laser processing operation is completed, the operator visually checks the processing head to discover damage or to understand the occurrence of optical axis misalignment due to defective processing of the workpiece. As a result, it becomes difficult to grasp the timing of occurrence of a collision with the processing head, and there is a problem in that the cause cannot be identified.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and its purpose is to make it possible to recognize that a collision has occurred with respect to a laser processing head.

A first aspect of the present invention is a laser processing apparatus including a laser processing head that emits a laser beam to a workpiece, and a moving mechanism for moving the laser processing head relative to the workpiece; a detection sensor that detects an impact applied to the laser processing head during relative movement; and a determination unit that determines that a collision with the laser processing head has occurred when a detection value of the detection sensor is larger than a predetermined threshold. , is provided.

In the first invention, an impact applied to the laser processing head is detected, and when the detected value is larger than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that a collision against the laser processing head has occurred. This makes it possible to determine that a collision has occurred against the laser processing head.

A second aspect of the invention is the laser processing apparatus of the first aspect, including an alarm section that performs a predetermined alarm operation based on the determination result of the determination section.

In the second invention, by performing a predetermined alarm operation by the alarm unit, it is possible to notify the operator that a collision with the laser processing head has occurred. Here, the predetermined alarm operation includes, for example, sounding an alarm buzzer, lighting an alarm lamp, and displaying an alarm message.

A third aspect of the present invention is that the laser processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention includes a control section that controls the operation of the moving mechanism, and the control section determines the relative position of the laser processing head based on the determination result of the determination section. The operation of the moving mechanism is controlled to stop the movement.

In the third invention, when it is determined that a collision with the laser processing head has occurred, the movement of the laser processing head is stopped. Thereby, damage to the laser processing head can be minimized.

A fourth invention is the laser processing apparatus according to the first or second invention, in which a memory stores an occurrence time at which the determination unit determines that a collision has occurred and a detection value of the detection sensor at the occurrence time. Department.

In the fourth invention, by storing the time at which it is determined that a collision with the laser processing head has occurred and the detection value of the detection sensor at the time of occurrence, the history is checked after the laser processing is completed. This makes it easier to identify the cause of the collision.

A fifth invention is the laser processing apparatus according to the fourth invention, in which the storage section stores the detection value of the detection sensor until a predetermined time has elapsed from the time of occurrence.

In the fifth invention, by storing the detection value of the detection sensor for a predetermined period of time from the time when the collision occurs with the laser processing head, a more detailed cause of the collision occurrence and the damage state of the laser processing head can be identified. can do.

According to the present invention, it is possible to know that a collision has occurred against the laser processing head.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of a laser processing head. FIG. 3 is a graph diagram showing the relationship between the elapsed time during laser processing operation and the impact value.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. Note that the following description of preferred embodiments is essentially just an example, and is not intended to limit the present invention, its applications, or its uses.

<Laser processing equipment>
As shown in FIG. 1, the laser processing apparatus 1 includes a laser oscillator 10, a transmission fiber 11, a robot 15 (moving mechanism), a laser processing head 20, and a control section 40.

Laser oscillator 10 oscillates laser light LB. The laser oscillator 10 can use, for example, a solid laser light source, a gas laser light source, or a fiber laser light source. Further, the laser oscillator 10 may be a semiconductor laser light source that directly uses emitted light from a semiconductor laser, or a semiconductor laser array including a plurality of laser light emitters.

Laser oscillator 10 is connected to the input end of transmission fiber 11 . The laser processing head 20 is connected to the output end of the transmission fiber 11. Laser light LB emitted from laser oscillator 10 is transmitted to laser processing head 20 via transmission fiber 11.

The laser processing head 20 is attached to the robot 15. The laser processing head 20 can change the emission position and focus position of the laser beam LB with respect to the workpiece W by operating the robot 15.

Note that in this embodiment, the robot 15 is used as a moving mechanism for moving the laser processing head 20 relative to the workpiece W, but the present invention is not limited to this form. For example, the laser processing head 20 can be moved relative to the work W by using a moving table movable in the front, rear, right, and left directions as the moving mechanism, placing the work W on the moving table, and moving the moving table. You may also do so.

The control unit 40 is connected to the laser oscillator 10, the laser processing head 20, and the robot 15. In addition to the moving speed of the laser processing head 20, the control unit 40 controls the start and stop of outputting the laser beam LB, the output intensity of the laser beam LB, and the like.

An alarm section 45 that performs a predetermined alarm operation is connected to the control section 40 . The alarm unit 45 performs predetermined alarm operations such as sounding an alarm buzzer, lighting an alarm lamp, and displaying an alarm message.

<Laser processing head>
As shown in FIG. 2, the laser processing head 20 includes a collimation lens 21, a focus lens 22, a first protective glass 23, a second protective glass 24, and a detection sensor 30.

The collimation lens 21 collimates the laser beam LB emitted from the output end of the transmission fiber 11 .

The focus lens 22 focuses the laser beam LB collimated by the collimation lens 21.

The first protective glass 23 is placed closer to the exit side than the focus lens 22 . The second protective glass 24 is arranged between the first protective glass 23 and the focus lens 22. The first protective glass 23 and the second protective glass 24 protect the focus lens 22 so that fumes and spatter generated during laser processing of the workpiece W do not adhere to the focus lens 22.

The laser beam LB focused by the focus lens 22 passes through the second protective glass 24 and the first protective glass 23 and is emitted to the workpiece W.

<Collision determination of laser processing head>
By the way, if an obstacle exists on the moving path of the laser processing head 20, for example, there is a possibility that the laser processing head 20 will collide with the obstacle. The obstacle may be, for example, a workbench that the operator forgot to clean up after working around the laser processing device 1.

If the laser processing operation continues even though a collision has occurred against the laser processing head 20, it will be difficult to identify the cause of the collision after the laser processing operation ends.

Therefore, in this embodiment, it is made possible to grasp that a collision has occurred with respect to the laser processing head 20.

Specifically, the detection sensor 30 is mounted on a substrate 31. The detection sensor 30 is arranged on the side surface of the laser processing head 20. The detection sensor 30 detects an impact applied to the laser processing head 20 during relative movement of the laser processing head 20. The detection sensor 30 is composed of, for example, an acceleration sensor. The detection value of the detection sensor 30 is sent to the control section 40.

The control unit 40 includes a determination unit 41 and a storage unit 42. The determination unit 41 determines that a collision with the laser processing head 20 has occurred when the detection value of the detection sensor 30 is larger than a predetermined threshold value.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, when no collision occurs against the laser processing head 20, the impact value indicating the impact applied to the laser processing head 20 changes within a range that does not exceed a predetermined impact threshold. .

On the other hand, when the impact value detected by the detection sensor 30 becomes larger than the impact threshold value, the determination unit 41 determines that an impact on the laser processing head 20 has occurred.

The storage unit 42 stores the occurrence time at which the determination unit 41 determines that a collision has occurred and the detection value of the detection sensor 30 at the occurrence time. The storage unit 42 further stores the detection value of the detection sensor 30 until a predetermined time has elapsed from the time of occurrence.

In this way, by storing the time at which it is determined that a collision with the laser processing head 20 has occurred and the detection value of the detection sensor 30 at that time, the history can be checked after the laser processing is completed. This makes it easier to identify the cause of the collision.

In addition, by storing the detection value of the detection sensor 30 for a predetermined period of time from the time when the collision occurs with the laser processing head 20, a more detailed cause of the collision occurrence and the state of damage to the laser processing head 20 can be identified. be able to.

The alarm section 45 is connected to the control section 40. The alarm section 45 performs a predetermined alarm operation indicating that a collision has occurred against the laser processing head 20 based on the determination result of the determination section 41. For example, when a collision occurs, warning operations such as sounding a warning buzzer, lighting a warning lamp, and displaying a warning message are performed.

Thereby, the operator can understand that a collision has occurred against the laser processing head 20 based on the predetermined alarm operation.

Note that the control unit 40 may control the operation of the robot 15 to stop the relative movement of the laser processing head 20 based on the determination result of the determination unit 41.

In this manner, when it is determined that a collision with the laser processing head 20 has occurred, by stopping the movement of the laser processing head 20, damage to the laser processing head 20 can be minimized.

As described above, the present invention is extremely useful and has high industrial applicability because it can obtain the highly practical effect of being able to detect the occurrence of a collision with a laser processing head.

1 Laser processing equipment 15 Robot (moving mechanism)
20 Laser processing head 30 Detection sensor 40 Control section 41 Judgment section 42 Storage section 45 Alarm section LB Laser beam W Work

Claims (5)

A laser processing device equipped with a laser processing head that emits laser light to a workpiece,
a movement mechanism that moves the laser processing head relative to the workpiece;
a detection sensor that detects an impact applied to the laser processing head during relative movement of the laser processing head;
A laser processing device comprising: a determination unit that determines that a collision has occurred with respect to the laser processing head when a detection value of the detection sensor is larger than a predetermined threshold value. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1,
A laser processing apparatus including an alarm section that performs a predetermined alarm operation based on a determination result of the determination section. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
comprising a control unit that controls the operation of the moving mechanism,
The control unit is a laser processing apparatus that controls the operation of the moving mechanism to stop relative movement of the laser processing head based on the determination result of the determination unit. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
A laser processing device comprising a storage unit that stores an occurrence time at which the determination unit determines that a collision has occurred and a detection value of the detection sensor at the occurrence time. The laser processing device according to claim 4,
The storage unit is a laser processing device that stores the detection value of the detection sensor until a predetermined time period elapses from the occurrence time.

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