JP3860948B2 - Laser processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus, and more particularly to a laser processing apparatus in which no aberration occurs at a convergence point of laser light.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The laser processing apparatus (laser processing apparatus according to the first prior art) includes, for example, an enlarging unit composed of a beam expander for enlarging the width of the laser beam and a reducing unit composed of a parabolic mirror for reducing the width of the laser beam. And. Further, the laser processing apparatus (laser processing apparatus according to the second prior art) includes, for example, an enlarging unit including a parabolic mirror that expands the width of the laser light and an ellipsoidal mirror that reduces the width of the laser light. Reduction means (see, for example, US Pat. No. 5,561,544).
[0003]
These laser processing apparatuses according to the first and second prior arts, for example, have a convergence point for advancing and retracting the position of the convergence point of the laser light by changing the length of the optical path of the laser light from the enlarging means to the reducing means. A position adjustment mirror is provided. When laser processing is performed on the workpiece, the convergence point position adjusting mirror is displaced so that the convergence point of the laser beam is adjusted to a predetermined position on the workpiece.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in the laser processing apparatuses according to the first and second prior arts described above, when the position of the convergence point of the laser beam is advanced or retracted, the distance from the reducing means to the convergence point changes. For this reason, an aberration may occur at the convergence point, and in particular, when an aberration that enlarges the convergence point of the laser beam occurs, there is a disadvantage that the processing capability is lowered.
[0005]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described disadvantages, and an object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus in which no aberration occurs at the convergence point of laser light.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The laser processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a laser oscillator that outputs laser light, a light guide that converges the laser light introduced from the laser oscillator, and a direction in which the laser light is derived from the light guide. And a light guide part displacement mechanism for displacing the light guide part along the line (invention of claim 1).
[0007]
For this reason, the operation of adjusting the position of the convergence point along the path of the laser beam is performed by displacing the light guide, and as a result, the occurrence of aberration at the convergence point during this operation is avoided.
[0008]
In this case, the light guide section includes an ellipsoidal mirror that reflects the laser light from the laser oscillator and reduces the width of the laser light (the invention according to claim 1 ).
[0009]
Further, the light guide section, of the laser the laser beam from the oscillator with reflected toward the ellipsoidal mirror has a parabolic mirror to expand the width of the laser beam (claim 1, wherein invention).
[0010]
Furthermore, the laser processing apparatus has a scanner unit that changes the traveling direction of the laser light derived from the light guide unit (the invention according to claim 2 ).
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention will be given and described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0012]
FIG. 1 shows a laser processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The laser processing apparatus 10 includes a laser oscillator 12 and, for example, two processing heads 14a and 14b that converge the laser light L introduced from the laser oscillator 12 and irradiate the workpiece W with it.
[0013]
The laser oscillator 12 is installed on the upper side of the laser control panel 20. The laser oscillator 12 supplies laser light L having a predetermined output to the machining heads 14a and 14b based on an instruction from the laser control panel 20.
[0014]
Further, for example, a chiller unit (cooling water supply device) 21 is provided in the vicinity of the laser control panel 20 (for example, inside the casing in which the laser control panel 20 is disposed). The chiller unit 21 adjusts the cooling water to a predetermined temperature based on an instruction from the laser control panel 20 and supplies the temperature-adjusted cooling water to the laser oscillator 12 to cool the laser oscillator 12. Have
[0015]
The processing heads 14 a and 14 b are coupled to the vertical base 24 arranged in an inverted state in, for example, the left region in the light shielding booth 22 and the upper end of the vertical base 24, and lie in the upper region in the light shielding booth 22. It is attached to the horizontal base 26 arranged in the state.
[0016]
Laser light L from the laser oscillator 12 is supplied to the switching unit 30 via the light guide tube 28, and then to the processing heads 14a and 14b via the light guide tubes 32a and 32b and the path changing units 33a and 33b, respectively. be introduced. In this case, the switching unit 30 selectively switches the processing heads 14a and 14b to which the laser light L is introduced, for example, based on instructions from head controllers 40a and 40b described later.
[0017]
A jig base 34 is disposed in a lower region in the light shielding booth 22. For example, an automobile door panel is fixed to the jig 36 installed on the jig base 34 as the work W. And the laser beam L is irradiated to the desired position of the workpiece | work W from the process heads 14a and 14b, and the process (welding process, cutting process, etc.) with respect to this workpiece | work W is performed.
[0018]
The laser processing apparatus 10 includes head controllers 40a and 40b, and these head controllers 40a and 40b are electrically connected to the processing heads 14a and 14b, respectively. The direction in which the laser light L is irradiated from the processing heads 14a and 14b, the position of a convergence point (focal point) P of the laser light L to be described later, and the like are controlled based on control signals from the head controllers 40a and 40b.
[0019]
The laser processing apparatus 10 also includes a master control panel 42, which is electrically connected to the laser control panel 20 and the head controllers 40a and 40b. Based on the control signal from the master control panel 42, the laser control panel 20 and the head controllers 40a and 40b are controlled. That is, the operation of the entire laser processing apparatus 10 is controlled by the master control panel 42.
[0020]
Next, the structure of the processing heads 14a and 14b will be described.
[0021]
FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the processing heads 14a and 14b (in the case where it is not necessary to distinguish between these processing heads 14a and 14b, they are simply referred to as processing heads 14).
[0022]
The processing head 14 includes a light guide 50 that converges the laser light L introduced from the laser oscillator 12 via the switching unit 30, the path changers 33 a and 33 b, and a light guide displacement that displaces the light guide 50. A mechanism 52 and a scanner unit 54 that changes the traveling direction of the laser light L derived from the light guide unit 50 are provided.
[0023]
FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the light guide 50. The light guide unit 50 reflects the laser beam L from the laser oscillator 12 (actually, the path changing units 33a and 33b) and expands the width of the laser beam L during the reflection (that is, the laser beam L is reflected). The laser beam L from the parabolic mirror 60 and the parabolic mirror 60 is reflected, and the width of the laser beam L is reduced during the reflection (that is, the laser beam L is converged). And an ellipsoidal mirror 62. The laser beam L reflected by the ellipsoidal mirror 62 is supplied to the scanner unit 54 while gradually converging.
[0024]
A light guide displacement mechanism 52 is connected to the light guide 50. The light guide displacement mechanism 52 is configured by, for example, an electric actuator 64.
[0025]
The electric actuator 64 includes a motor 66, a ball screw 68 connected to a drive shaft (not shown) of the motor 66, and a nut member 70 attached to the ball screw 68. In this case, the nut member 70 advances and retreats along the axial direction of the ball screw 68 as the ball screw 68 rotates.
[0026]
The electric actuator 64 includes a table 72 connected to the nut member 70. The table 72 is mounted with a light guide unit 50 (actually, a housing (not shown) that constitutes the light guide unit 50).
[0027]
As the ball screw 68 rotates, the light guide unit 50 advances and retreats along the axial direction of the ball screw 68 together with the nut member 70 and the table 72. In this case, the axial direction of the ball screw 68 is parallel to the direction in which the laser light L is derived from the light guide 50. In other words, the light guide 50 moves back and forth along the direction in which the laser light L is derived from the light guide 50 (that is, the path of the laser light L).
[0028]
Instead of the electric actuator 64, the light guide displacement mechanism 52 may be configured using a fluid pressure cylinder such as an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder.
[0029]
FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the scanner unit 54. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the scanner unit 54 includes a Y-axis scanning mirror 80 and an X-axis scanning mirror 82 that two-dimensionally scans the workpiece W with the laser light L from the light guide unit 50. . Each of the Y-axis scanning mirror 80 and the X-axis scanning mirror 82 is composed of a plane mirror.
[0030]
The Y-axis scanning mirror 80 is rotated around the Y-axis 84 by a Y-axis motor (not shown). On the other hand, the X-axis scanning mirror 82 is rotated around the X-axis 86 by an X-axis motor (not shown).
[0031]
The laser light L from the light guide unit 50 is first reflected by the Y-axis scanning mirror 80, then reflected by the X-axis scanning mirror 82, and emitted from the scanner unit 54.
[0032]
In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, when the Y-axis scanning mirror 80 is rotated, the convergence point P of the laser beam L is moved substantially in the vertical direction in the figure, while the X-axis scanning mirror 82 is rotated. The convergence point P of the laser beam L moves substantially in the left-right direction in the drawing.
[0033]
As shown in FIG. 3, the position of the convergence point P along the path of the laser light L is adjusted by moving the light guide 50 through the light guide displacement mechanism 52.
[0034]
5A and 5B show the operation of the light guide 50 when the position of the convergence point P is adjusted. As shown in FIG. 5A, the distance L0 from the light guide 50 to the convergence point P is always constant. This is because the distance between the parabolic mirror 60 and the ellipsoidal mirror 62 is kept constant.
[0035]
As shown in FIG. 5A, for example, when the convergence point P is separated from the workpiece W by a distance L1 toward the light guide 50, the distance from the light guide 50 to the workpiece W as shown in FIG. 5B. Move only L1. By such an advancing / retreating operation, the convergence point P of the laser beam L is set on the workpiece W.
[0036]
That is, in the processing head 14, the scanning operation for moving the position (irradiated position) where the laser beam L is to be irradiated on the workpiece W is performed by the scanner unit 54, while the convergence point P of the laser beam L is set. The focus adjustment operation to be adjusted on the workpiece W is performed by the light guide displacement mechanism 52.
[0037]
As described above, in the laser processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the work of displacing the position of the convergence point P along the path of the laser light L, that is, the work of aligning the convergence point P on the workpiece W is guided. This is performed by moving the light guide unit 50 along the direction in which the laser beam L is derived from the light unit 50. That is, during the operation of adjusting the position of the convergence point P, the distance L0 from the parabolic mirror 60 constituting the light guide unit 50 to the convergence point P is constant. In this case, at the convergence point P, no aberration associated with the change in the distance L0 occurs, so that the processing ability does not deteriorate. Therefore, according to the laser processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reliably perform the processing operation on the workpiece W.
[0038]
【The invention's effect】
According to the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, when adjusting the position of the convergence point of the laser light along the path of the laser light, the light guide unit for converging the laser light is provided along the path of the laser light. I try to make them move forward and backward. For this reason, there is no aberration in the laser beam at the convergence point, and therefore a laser processing apparatus capable of performing a reliable processing operation can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment.
2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a processing head of the laser processing apparatus of FIG. 1;
3 is a front view showing a configuration of a light guide portion of the processing head of FIG. 2. FIG.
4 is a front view showing a configuration of a scanner unit of the processing head of FIG. 2. FIG.
FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the light guide when adjusting the position of the convergence point of laser light. FIGS.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Laser processing apparatus 12 ... Laser oscillator 14, 14a, 14b ... Processing head 30 ... Switching unit 40a, 40b ... Head controller 50 ... Light guide part 52 ... Light guide part displacement mechanism 54 ... Scanner part 60 ... Parabolic mirror 62 ... Ellipsoidal mirror 64 ... Electric actuator 80 ... Y-axis scanning mirror 82 ... X-axis scanning mirror L ... Laser beam P ... Convergence point

Claims (2)

A laser oscillator that outputs laser light;
A parabolic mirror and an ellipsoidal mirror, the laser beam introduced from the laser oscillator is reflected by the parabolic mirror toward the ellipsoidal mirror and the width of the laser beam is increased; A light guide unit that reflects the laser beam reflected by the parabolic mirror by the ellipsoidal mirror and converges the laser beam by reducing the width of the laser beam ;
While maintaining the distance between said parabolic mirror and the ellipsoidal mirror, and the light guide portion displacement mechanism for displacing along the direction in which the laser light is derived the light guide portion from the light guide section,
A laser processing apparatus comprising: In the laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 Symbol placement,
Furthermore, it has a scanner part which changes the advancing direction of the laser beam derived | led-out from the said light guide part. The laser processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

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