JP5081509B2 - Laser processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus that performs marking processing by laser light irradiation.

This type of laser processing device is installed on a production line of a factory, for example, and irradiates a laser beam onto a workpiece to be transported by a transport device such as a belt conveyor, thereby marking characters and figures on the surface thereof. It is carried out. Further, in the factory production line, in order to improve the number of products manufactured per hour, laser processing of characters and the like is performed on the processing object while the processing device is constantly moved by moving the conveyance device ( For example, see Patent Document 1).
Utility Model Registration No. 2565096

  By the way, when marking a character etc. while moving it with respect to the processing target object conveyed by a conveying apparatus using the laser processing apparatus mentioned above, generally the processing target object has been conveyed upstream from the laser processing apparatus. A trigger sensor is provided for detecting the above. When it is detected by the trigger sensor that the processing object has been conveyed to a predetermined position, the laser processing apparatus is ready for various laser processing on the conveyed processing object.

  However, since the trigger sensor described above has different response times of the sensor depending on the specifications, the irradiation position (marking position) on the workpiece may be shifted due to the difference in response time. In particular, for small workpieces such as ICs, it is necessary to reduce the characters to be marked, and the difference in response time appears more prominently as a deviation in irradiation position.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of improving the processing position accuracy with respect to the processing object even if sensors having different response times are used. There is to do.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is for processing a processing pattern by irradiating a laser beam with a processing speed change on a processing target being transported by a transporting means. A laser processing apparatus that starts a processing operation based on the detection of the processing object by the object detection means provided upstream of the processing position in the transport direction, and uses a response delay time of the object detection means Response time setting means set by external input by a person, etc., and response time correction for converting the set response delay time into a movement amount of the workpiece and adding the movement amount to the coordinate data of the machining pattern The gist is to provide the means.

In this invention, the response delay time of the object detection means is set to the response time setting means by an external input by the user or the like , and the set response delay time is converted into the movement amount of the workpiece by the response time correction means. The position of the machining pattern is corrected according to the movement amount. Thereby, the response delay time of the object detection means is absorbed, and the processing position accuracy can be improved.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the laser processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the laser processing apparatus further includes a conveyance speed detection unit that detects the conveyance speed, and the response time correction unit includes the processing object according to the response delay time. The gist is to correct the position of the machining pattern by changing the movement amount of the machining pattern according to the conveyance speed.

  In this invention, the movement amount of the processing object related to the response delay time is changed by the response time correction means according to the conveyance speed, and the position of the processing pattern is corrected. Thereby, the correction by the change in the conveyance speed is added to the correction by the response delay time, and the processing position accuracy can be further improved.

  A third aspect of the present invention is the laser processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, further comprising optical scanning means for processing the processing pattern by scanning the laser light based on a driving voltage, The response time setting means sets an offset voltage according to the response delay time of the object detection means, the response time correction means adds the offset voltage to a drive voltage for driving the optical scanning means, The gist is to correct the position of the processing pattern.

  In this invention, an offset voltage corresponding to the response delay time of the object detection means is set by the response time setting means, and the offset voltage is added to the drive voltage of the optical scanning means by the response time correction means, so that the position of the processing pattern Is corrected. Here, the optical scanning unit scans the laser beam by applying a drive voltage based on the coordinate data of the processing pattern. By correcting the drive voltage by applying an offset voltage for correction, the coordinate data is obtained. Compared with the aspect in which the correction data corresponding to the response delay time is reflected on the calculation, the calculation at that time can be omitted, and the control load on the control device can be reduced.

  Therefore, according to the above-described invention, it is possible to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of improving the processing position accuracy with respect to the processing object even if sensors having different response times are used.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the laser processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is arranged on a transport apparatus 2 and applies laser light to a workpiece 3 that is transported in one direction (x direction) by the transport apparatus 2. Is applied to the object 3 while moving the object 3 to be marked. The transport device 2 is provided upstream of the laser processing device 1 with a trigger sensor 4 that detects that the processing object 3 has been transported to a predetermined position, and outputs a trigger signal when the processing object 3 is detected. It has become. In addition, a rotary encoder 6 is provided in the vicinity of the drive shaft 5 that drives the conveyance device 2, and a pulse signal corresponding to the conveyance amount (movement amount of the workpiece) of the conveyance device 2 is output. ing. The trigger signal output from the trigger sensor 4 and the pulse signal output from the rotary encoder 6 are input to the laser processing apparatus 1.

  The laser processing apparatus 1 includes a laser light source 10 that emits laser light for processing. The laser diameter of the laser light from the laser light source 10 is enlarged by a beam expander (not shown), and the enlarged laser is obtained. The laser beam is converged to a certain diameter on the workpiece 3 by a focusing lens (not shown) through an optical scanning unit 11 such as a galvanometer mirror. And the laser processing apparatus 1 controls the optical scanning means 11 with the internal control apparatus 12, changes an irradiation direction, and performs marking processing of a character, a figure, etc.

  In the control device 12 of the laser processing apparatus 1, information such as characters and figures for marking the workpiece 3 and information on scan speed for adjusting the irradiation time and line width are set in the processing information setting means 13. Stored. Based on the input of the trigger signal from the trigger sensor 4, the coordinate data generation / output unit 14 generates coordinate data such as characters and figures to be processed on the workpiece 3 based on information from the processing information setting unit 13. Is done. Incidentally, this coordinate data is for the case where marking is performed while the workpiece 3 is stationary, and is used as reference coordinate data. The control device 12 adds the correction amount corresponding to the movement amount of the workpiece 3 due to the conveyance and the response delay time of the trigger sensor 4 to the reference coordinate data by the first adder 15, thereby processing coordinate data. The optical scanning means 11 that scans the laser beam by applying a driving voltage based on the processing coordinate data is controlled.

  The rotary encoder 6 provided in the transport device 2 outputs a pulse signal corresponding to the transport amount (movement amount of the workpiece 3), and the integrating means 16 performs counting based on the pulse signal, It is set to count up for each unit transport amount corresponding to the coordinate data. The integrating means 16 clears the count value based on the input of the trigger signal from the trigger sensor 4 and starts counting anew. Then, the count value generated by the integrating means 16 is input to the first adder 15 via the second adder 17 and includes the amount of movement of the object 3 to be processed (the change in the conveyance speed) with respect to the reference coordinate data. ), Which enables marking while moving.

  The pulse signal from the rotary encoder 6 is input to the counting means 18. The counting means 18 performs counting based on the pulse signal. Here, in the response time setting means 19, the response delay time obtained from the specification of the trigger sensor 4 is set in advance by an external input by a user or the like, and in the set interval pulse generation means 20, it is set in the response time setting means 19. A start pulse and an end pulse having an interval corresponding to the response delay time are generated. The counting means 18 counts the number of pulses from the rotary encoder 6 inputted between two pulses of the start pulse and the end pulse, and the latch means 21 latches the counted value.

  That is, the count value latched by the latch means 21 is latched as a correction amount due to response delay. Then, the count value latched by the latch means 21 is output to the second adder 17 through the gate means 22 as a correction value relating to response delay. Incidentally, the gate means 22 opens the gate based on the input of the trigger signal from the trigger sensor 4, and at least the correction value related to the response delay is set on the second adder 17 side while marking one workpiece 3. Will continue to be output. Thus, the correction value related to the response delay is added to the movement amount of the workpiece 3 and added to the reference coordinate data by the first adder 15, and is included in the processing coordinate data.

  In the laser processing apparatus 1 having such a configuration, when the trigger sensor 4 provided in the transport apparatus 2 detects the workpiece 3, reference coordinate data is generated by the coordinate data generation / output unit 14 based on the output trigger signal. Is generated. For example, when the character string “AB” is marked on the workpiece 3, the unit marking points of the character string are Pa 1 (xa 1, ya 1), Pa 2 (xa 2, ya 2) with respect to the marking reference point P 0 (x 0, y 0). ) ...

  In addition, since the moving direction (conveying direction) of the workpiece 3 is the x direction, the amount of movement corresponding to each x coordinate for all coordinate data is added from the integrating means 16. As a result, the unit marking points Pa1 and Pa2 are changed to Pa1 (xa1 + α1, ya1) and Pa2 (xa2 + α2, ya2). Further, from the latch means 21, a correction amount β related to the response delay of the trigger sensor 4 is added to all coordinate data. As a result, the unit marking points Pa1 and Pa2 are changed to Pa1 (xa1 + α1 + β, ya1) and Pa2 (xa2 + α2 + β, ya2). And the control apparatus 12 of the laser processing apparatus 1 controls the optical scanning means 11 based on the processing coordinate data obtained in this way, and marking of the moving body in which the response delay of the trigger sensor 4 is added is performed. Even if the trigger sensors 4 having different response times are used, it is possible to perform marking processing with high positional accuracy in which the displacement of the marking position of the workpiece 3 is suppressed.

Next, characteristic actions and effects of the present embodiment will be described.
(1) In the present embodiment, the response delay time of the trigger sensor 4 is set by the response time setting means 19, and the response time constituted by the set response pulse generation means 20, the counting means 18, etc. The correction means converts and outputs the movement amount of the processing object 3, generates coordinate data of the processing pattern taking the movement amount into account, and corrects the position of the processing pattern. Thereby, the response delay time of the trigger sensor 4 is absorbed, and the processing position accuracy can be improved. In particular, when the workpiece 3 is small, such as an IC, the characters to be marked are small, and the marking displacement due to the response delay time becomes significant. It is significant to improve the machining position accuracy by correcting.

The embodiment of the present invention may be modified as follows.
In the above embodiment, a change in the conveyance speed of the conveyance device 2 may be added to the correction based on the response delay time of the trigger sensor 4. For example, a feed speed detection means 23 for inputting a pulse signal of the rotary encoder 6 and detecting a feed speed from the inputted pulse signal is provided, and the change in the speed is added to the correction value of the response delay affected by the change in the feed speed. (The pulse interval in the set interval pulse generation means 20 is adjusted according to the speed, etc.). In this way, the correction according to the change in the conveyance speed can be reflected in the correction by the response delay time, and the processing position accuracy can be further improved. It should be noted that the change in speed may be added to the response delay correction value by the input of the conveyance speed detected externally or the external input of the conveyance speed by the operator.

In the above embodiment, the amount of movement of the processing object 3 corresponding to the response delay time is added to the coordinate data to correct the position of the processing pattern. The position of the processing pattern may be corrected by adding to the driving voltage of the optical scanning unit 11. In this way, the calculation at that time can be omitted and the control load on the control device 12 can be reduced as compared with the above embodiment in which the correction data corresponding to the response delay time is reflected in the coordinate data.

  In the above embodiment, the correction value obtained from each processing object 3 is calculated and the correction value is reflected in the marking process of each processing object 3. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, since the processing object 3 is transported by the transport device 2 at substantially constant intervals, the correction value of the processing object 3 transported first from the transport device 2 is calculated, and the correction value is transported. You may apply to all the processed objects 3 to be performed. Thereby, the calculation load of the counting means 18, the integrating means 16, etc. can be suppressed.

It is a control block diagram of the laser processing apparatus in this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Laser processing apparatus, 2 ... Conveyance apparatus as a conveyance means, 3 ... Processing object, 4 ... Trigger sensor as object detection means, 11 ... Optical scanning means, 18 ... Counting means as response time correction means, 19 ... response time setting means, 20 ... set interval pulse generation means as response time correction means and speed correction means, 21 ... latch means as response time correction means, 22 ... gate means as response time correction means, 23 ... transport speed Detection means.

Claims (3)

An object detection means provided on the upstream side of the processing position with respect to a processing pattern by processing a processing pattern by irradiating a laser beam on a processing target being transported by the transport means in consideration of a change in the transport speed. A laser processing apparatus that starts a processing operation based on detection of the processing object by:
Response time setting means in which a response delay time of the object detection means is set by external input by a user or the like ;
A laser processing apparatus, comprising: response time correction means for converting the set response delay time into a movement amount of the workpiece and correcting the position of the processing pattern in accordance with the movement amount. In the laser processing apparatus of Claim 1,
A transport speed detecting means for detecting the transport speed;
The response processing unit corrects the position of the processing pattern by changing the amount of movement of the processing object related to the response delay time according to the transport speed. In the laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
It comprises optical scanning means for scanning the laser beam based on a driving voltage to process the processing pattern,
The response time setting means sets an offset voltage according to the response delay time of the object detection means,
The laser processing apparatus, wherein the response time correction unit adds the offset voltage to a drive voltage for driving the optical scanning unit to correct the position of the processing pattern.

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