JP5081557B2 - Laser processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus that processes a predetermined pattern such as characters and symbols by irradiating a processing target conveyed by a conveying apparatus such as a belt conveyor with a laser beam.

  In general, as a laser processing apparatus that performs processing by irradiating a workpiece to be conveyed with laser light, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. This laser processing apparatus is disposed in the middle of a conveying apparatus that conveys a workpiece in one direction, and is configured to scan a laser beam emitted from a laser light source within a predetermined processing area. As the workpiece sequentially passes through the machining area, a predetermined pattern is printed at an appropriate position of the workpiece.

This laser processing apparatus detects the position of the tip of the workpiece in the conveyance direction by means of a sensor arranged close to the belt conveyor in order to accurately process the workpiece to be conveyed. Further, the laser processing apparatus detects a moving speed of the belt, that is, a work conveying speed, by a rotary encoder provided in a shaft portion of the belt conveyor. That is, based on the workpiece detected by the sensor and the moving speed of the workpiece detected by the rotary encoder, the timing at which the workpiece enters the machining area and coordinate data are calculated, and the laser beam is scanned with the timing and coordinate data. And on / off control.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-211979

  However, in the case of the laser processing apparatus described above, there may be a deviation between the speed detected by the rotary encoder and the actual work speed. For example, the frictional force between the pulleys of the belt conveyor decreases and the belt slips with respect to the pulleys, and the conveyance speed by the belt conveyor may be slower than the rotation of the rotating shaft to which the pulleys are fixed. . If it does so, a shift | offset | difference arises in the radiation | emission timing of the laser beam controlled based on the output of a rotary encoder, and the position of a workpiece | work, and it cannot process to the suitable position and shape of a workpiece | work. Therefore, it is conceivable to provide a speed sensor for directly measuring the workpiece conveyance speed and correct the conveyance speed used for the control. However, this increases the number of components and complicates the overall configuration of the apparatus. There is a problem in that the work is complicated and takes time.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of performing accurate processing with a simple configuration.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a laser processing apparatus for processing a processing target object by irradiating the processing target object transported by transport means with a laser beam, A laser light source that emits the laser light; an optical scanning unit that changes the direction of the laser light emitted from the laser light source to scan the workpiece; and the workpiece that is along the conveying direction of the conveying unit . The processing to the workpiece is started by a detection signal output from a length setting means for setting the length of the workpiece and a single trigger sensor that detects the passage of the workpiece to be conveyed by the conveyor. Trigger input means to be taken in as a reference for controlling the optical scanning means by coordinate data generated based on processing information, and the laser light to be irradiated on the object to be processed is input to the trigger. A machining control means for on-off control based on the output signal of the means to detect the time during which the workpiece based on the detection signal the trigger input means inputs passes said trigger sensor, and said time, said length a conveying speed calculation means for calculating the transport speed of the workpiece on the basis of the length of the workpiece that has been set by the setting means, the machining control means, before Symbol coordinates based on the conveying speed The optical scanning means is controlled by correcting the data.

  According to this configuration, the actual conveyance speed of the workpiece is calculated using the detection signal from the trigger sensor, and the conveyance speed is reflected in the coordinate data for controlling the optical scanning unit. Accurate machining can be performed with the configuration.

Further , according to this configuration, the actual conveyance speed of the processing object is accurately calculated based on the length of the processing object and the time that the processing object passes through the trigger sensor.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a calculation mode for calculating the conveyance speed and storing it in a storage means may be provided, and a display means for displaying the conveyance speed calculated in the calculation mode may be provided. In this case, the user can confirm the conveyance speed measured by conveying the workpiece, and can easily determine whether to adopt the conveyance speed or set a different conveyance speed.

As described in claim 3, stores the control information for turning on and off the laser beam, a data generation means for generating coordinate data including the coordinate values of the laser beam to be irradiated to the processing object, the coordinate data Storage means, and the processing control means takes out the coordinate data stored in the storage means based on the detection of the detection signal by the trigger input means, and corrects the optical scanning while correcting it based on the conveyance speed. By driving the means, the laser beam is scanned on the moving workpiece and a machining operation is performed on the workpiece. According to this configuration, the coordinate data that has been created in advance and stored in the storage means is read, and the object to be processed is processed.

As claimed in claim 4 , comprising a storage means for storing the calculated transport speed, comparing the transport speed newly calculated by the transport speed calculation means and the transport speed read from the storage means, When the newly calculated transport speed is included in a predetermined range including the transport speed read from the storage means, the coordinate data is corrected using the transport speed read from the storage means, and the storage means When the newly calculated transport speed is not included in the predetermined range including the transport speed read from the above, the newly calculated transport speed is stored in the storage unit. According to this configuration, when the change in the conveyance speed is large, correction can be performed according to the conveyance speed.

  Therefore, according to the above-described invention, accurate processing can be performed with a simple configuration.

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 disposed above a belt conveyor 50 serving as a conveying unit. The laser processing apparatus 1 irradiates the workpiece W as a workpiece to be processed, which is continuously conveyed in one direction (the direction from the right to the left in the drawing) by the belt conveyor 50, thereby irradiating the workpiece W on the workpiece W A predetermined pattern such as characters and symbols is processed.

  The laser processing apparatus 1 includes a controller unit 10 that emits laser light. In addition, the laser processing apparatus 1 includes a scanning unit 20 that is provided below the controller unit 10 and serves as an optical scanning unit that makes laser light incident from the controller unit 10. The scanning unit 20 changes the direction of the laser light and scans the irradiation point of the laser light on the workpiece W two-dimensionally.

  A housing 11 of the controller unit 10 houses a laser light source 12 that emits laser light. Laser light emitted from the laser light source 12 is incident on the scanning unit 20 via an optical fiber cable inserted through an opening formed in the housing 11.

  A housing 21 of the scanning unit 20 accommodates a pair of galvanometer mirrors 22a and 22b. The galvanometer mirrors 22a and 22b are connected to motors 23a and 23b, respectively, and are driven and controlled by the motors 23a and 23b to change directions. The galvanometer mirrors 22a and 22b and the motors 23a and 23b constitute an optical scanning unit. One galvanometer mirror 22 a is disposed below the laser light source 12 and is provided so that laser light enters from the laser light source 12. The other galvanometer mirror 22b is disposed at a position facing the galvanometer mirror 22a in the horizontal direction, and is provided so as to reflect the laser beam reflected by the galvanometer mirror 22a downward. The laser light reflected by the galvanometer mirror 22 b is focused by the focusing lens 24 provided at the opening of the casing 21 and emitted toward the lower side of the casing 21.

  A processing control means 13 connected to the laser light source 12 is accommodated in the housing 11 of the controller unit 10. The processing control means 13 is connected to motors 23 a and 23 b that constitute the scanning unit 20. The processing control means 13 controls on / off of the laser light source 12 and drives and controls the motors 23a, 23b to change the directions of the galvanometer mirrors 22a, 22b. The angle of the galvano mirror 22a is changed in the vertical direction (vertical direction in the figure) by the motor 23a, and the angle of the galvano mirror 22b is changed in the horizontal direction (horizontal direction in the figure) by the motor 23b. By changing the directions of the galvanometer mirrors 22a and 22b, the irradiation point of the laser beam emitted from the scanning unit 20 is scanned in a two-dimensional direction on the upper surface of the belt conveyor 50, thereby forming a processing area. ing. For this reason, the workpiece W continuously conveyed by the belt conveyor 50 is processed with a predetermined pattern by the laser beam.

  The processing control means 13 is connected to the data generation means 14 accommodated in the housing 11. The data generation unit 14 is connected to an input unit such as a digitizer or a data scanner (not shown) and a setting unit for setting the length of the workpiece W in the conveyance direction, the conveyance pitch, and the like. The data generation means 14 inputs a pattern (machining information) such as characters / symbols applied to the workpiece W read by the input means, and inputs various set values from the setting means. Based on the information, the machining control means 14 13 generates coordinate data for controlling the scanning unit 20. Then, the data generation unit 14 stores the generated coordinate data in a memory 14a as a storage unit. The memory 14a stores image data of one type or a plurality of types of processing patterns. The data generation unit 14 reads out image data stored in the memory 14 a according to an instruction from an operation unit (not shown) or a host device, for example, and outputs the image data to the processing control unit 13. The processing control means 13 drives and controls the motors 23a and 23b based on the coordinate data.

  The processing control means 13 is connected to a conveyance speed calculation means 15 accommodated in the casing 11, and the conveyance speed calculation means 15 is connected to a length setting means 16 accommodated in the casing 11. ing. When the user sets a predetermined length in the conveyance direction (left and right direction in the figure) of the belt conveyor 50 in the length setting unit 16, the length is input to the conveyance speed calculation unit 15. The predetermined length is the distance between the front end and the rear end of the workpiece in the conveying direction of the belt conveyor 50 (so-called change point of the output signal of the trigger sensor) in the workpiece W as the workpiece to be conveyed by the belt conveyor 50. In this embodiment, the length setting unit 16 inputs the length L in the conveyance direction of the workpiece W.

  Further, the controller unit 10 includes trigger input means 17 accommodated in the housing 11. The trigger input means 17 is connected to a trigger sensor 18 disposed in the middle of the belt conveyor 50, and is connected to the processing control means 13 and the conveyance speed calculation means 15. The trigger sensor 18 is composed of a transmission type or reflection type optical sensor that detects the presence or absence of an object, and outputs an ON signal when there is a passing object as shown in FIG. Yes. The trigger input unit 17 inputs a signal from the trigger sensor 18 and outputs the signal to the processing control unit 13 and the conveyance speed calculation unit 15.

The processing control means 13 inputs the detection signal of the trigger sensor 18 as a control start reference, and the conveyance speed calculation means 15 calculates the actual conveyance speed of the workpiece W based on the detection signal of the trigger sensor 18. Specifically, the controller unit 10 includes reference clock means (not shown), and a reference clock signal is supplied from the reference clock means to the processing control means 13 and the conveyance speed calculation means 15. The processing control unit 13 and the conveyance speed calculation unit 15 have a function of measuring time based on the reference clock signal. Based on the output signal of the trigger sensor 18 as shown in FIG. 2, the conveying speed calculation unit 15 detects between workpiece W from time t ₁ to time t _2, the transport direction of the workpiece W to the length L workpiece W The actual transport speed v of the workpiece W is calculated by dividing by the passage time (t ₂ −t ₁ ). Then, the conveyance speed calculation unit 15 outputs the calculated conveyance speed v to the processing control unit 13. Actually, the conveyance speed calculation means 15 starts time measurement in response to the rise of the sensor output, and ends time measurement in response to the fall of the sensor signal. The elapsed time measured at this time is the pulse width of the sensor signal, and corresponds to the length of the workpiece W, that is, the passage time. The conveyance speed calculation means 15 calculates the conveyance speed v based on the passage time and the length of the workpiece W.

When the conveyance speed v is input, the conveyance speed calculation means 15 calculates the time from when the workpiece W passes the measurement point of the trigger sensor 18 until it reaches the irradiation point by the laser beam, and performs control based on the time t1. Calculate the start time. Further, when the conveyance speed v is input, the processing control means 13 reads the coordinate data stored in the memory 14a and corrects the coordinate data based on the actual conveyance speed v of the workpiece W. Further, the processing control means 13 generates an on / off control signal for the laser light source 12 based on the corrected coordinate data.

  Note that the installation position of the trigger sensor 18 is a trigger that detects the conveyance speed of the workpiece W, corrects the coordinate data based on the conveyance speed, and then moves the workpiece W that has detected the conveyance speed into the machining area. The distance along the conveyance direction between the measurement point of the sensor 18 and the irradiation point of the laser beam on the workpiece W is set to be longer than the length L of the workpiece W. Therefore, the laser processing apparatus 1 processes the workpiece W at which the conveyance speed is actually measured at an appropriate position based on the corrected coordinate data.

  Then, the processing control means 13 drives and controls the laser light source and the motors 23a and 23b of the scanning unit 20 based on the corrected coordinate data. In the present embodiment, the laser processing apparatus 1 corrects coordinate data for all the workpieces W conveyed by the belt conveyor 50.

Next, characteristic effects of the present embodiment will be described.
(1) The actual conveyance speed v of the workpiece W is calculated using the detection signal from the trigger sensor 18, and the conveyance speed v is used for the machining control means 13 to drive and control the motors 23a and 23b of the scanning unit 20. Reflected in coordinate data. For this reason, it is possible to accurately process the workpiece W with a simple configuration in which one trigger sensor 18 for detecting the workpiece W is provided.

  (2) The distance between the measurement point of the trigger sensor 18 and the laser beam irradiation point in the transport direction is set to be longer than the length L of the workpiece W. For this reason, even if it is the workpiece | work W conveyed to the head after starting use of the belt conveyor 50, correction | amendment of coordinate data is performed while passing between a measurement point and an irradiation point, and an exact process is given. The

  (3) Since the laser processing apparatus 1 performs correction processing based on the actual conveyance speed v of all the workpieces W conveyed by the belt conveyor 50, the pattern is always placed at an appropriate position of the workpiece W. Can be processed.

  (4) The laser processing apparatus 1 calculates the actual conveyance speed v of the workpiece W based on the length L in the conveyance direction of the workpiece W. For this reason, for example, even when the conveyance pitch of the workpiece W becomes irregular or when the conveyance speed of the workpiece W changes, the actual conveyance velocity v of the workpiece W is accurately calculated by the conveyance speed calculation unit 15. Thus, the laser processing apparatus 1 can perform processing by appropriately calculating the conveyance speed of the workpiece W.

In addition, you may change embodiment of this invention as follows.
In the above embodiment, the processing for the workpiece W to be transported and the calculation of the transport speed of the workpiece W are performed at the same time, but the calculation mode for calculating the transport speed and the transport speed calculated by the calculation mode are as follows. You may actualize in the laser processing apparatus provided with the processing mode which processes the workpiece | work W based on the coordinate data corrected based on it. In this case, the conveyance speed calculation means 15 of the laser processing apparatus stores the calculated conveyance speed in the memory 14a. The data generation means 14 reads out the coordinate data and the conveyance speed stored in the memory 14a and outputs them to the machining control means 13. The machining control means 13 corrects the coordinate data based on the conveyance speed, and the laser light source 12 and the scanning unit 20 are corrected. Control. The data generation unit 14 may perform correction based on the conveyance speed.

In the above embodiment, the conveyance speed calculation means 15 is based on the signal from the trigger input means 17 and the elapsed time (from time t ₁ to time t ₂ ) of the pulse width of the sensor output (from the rising edge to the falling edge). And the passing time of the work W is measured, but the detection signal of the trigger sensor 18 may be output so that the transport speed calculating means 15 can calculate the transport speed of the work W. For example, the time from when the leading end of each workpiece W passes in the conveying direction to when the leading end of the next workpiece passes (in FIG. 2, the time from the rising edge to the rising edge of the sensor output) is measured. The conveyance speed of W may be calculated. In that case, the conveyance speed calculation means 15 calculates the actual conveyance speed of the workpiece W based on the time interval at which each workpiece W is conveyed and the conveyance pitch of the workpiece W input to the length setting means 16. . Also, the time from when the rear end passes in the transport direction of each workpiece W until the tip of the next workpiece passes (in FIG. 2, the time from the falling edge to the rising edge of the sensor output) is measured. The conveyance speed of the workpiece W may be calculated. In that case, the conveyance speed calculation means 15 is based on the time interval between the workpieces W and the conveyance pitch of the workpieces W (interval between the workpieces W) input to the length setting unit 16. Calculate the actual transport speed.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the coordinate data is corrected for all the workpieces W transported by the belt conveyor 50 has been described. Then, the coordinate data correction process may be performed. In this case, when the coordinate data is corrected, the coordinate data stored in the memory 14a may be rewritten sequentially. As a result, the processing in the processing control means 13 can be simplified as compared with the case where the coordinate data is corrected for all the workpieces W conveyed by the belt conveyor 50.

  In the above embodiment, the calculation of the actual conveyance speed v of the workpiece W by the conveyance speed calculation means 15 may be configured to be capable of on / off control. That is, only when the user desires, the actual conveyance speed of the workpiece W may be calculated, and the coordinate data based on the conveyance speed may be corrected. As a result, it is possible to correct the coordinate data only when the machining position on the workpiece W is shifted during use of the laser machining apparatus 1, and the coordinate data for all the workpieces W conveyed by the belt conveyor 50 can be corrected. Compared with the case where correction is performed, the processing in the machining control means 13 can be simplified.

  In the above embodiment, the length in the transport direction between the measurement point of the trigger sensor 18 and the laser light irradiation point is set to be longer than the length L of the workpiece W. May be set shorter than the length of the workpiece W. In that case, if the workpiece W is conveyed at a constant interval, once the end of the workpiece W passes the measurement point of the trigger sensor 18, the coordinate data is corrected thereafter, so that the machining is accurately performed. Can be applied.

  In the above embodiment, a storage unit that stores the conveyance speed may be provided, and correction may be performed based on the conveyance speed stored in the storage unit. In this case, the conveyance speed newly calculated by the conveyance speed calculation means 15 is compared with the conveyance speed read from the storage means, and the newly calculated conveyance speed is within a predetermined range including the conveyance speed read from the storage means. If included, the coordinate data is corrected using the conveyance speed read from the storage means. On the other hand, if the newly calculated transport speed is not included in the predetermined range including the transport speed read from the storage means, the newly calculated transport speed is stored in the storage means, and thereafter the stored transport speed is stored. The correction is made based on the above. With this configuration, when the change in the conveyance speed is large, correction can be performed according to the conveyance speed.

  In the embodiment described above, a display unit that displays the conveyance speed calculated by the conveyance speed calculation unit 15 may be provided. Any display means may be used as long as it can display numerical values, such as an LCD or an 8-segment LED. If comprised in this way, a user will confirm the conveyance speed measured by conveyance of a workpiece, and it will become possible to determine easily whether the conveyance speed is employ | adopted or a different conveyance speed is set.

The schematic block diagram of a laser processing apparatus. Explanatory drawing of the output of a trigger sensor.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Laser processing apparatus, 12 ... Laser light source, 13 ... Processing control means, 14 ... Data generation means, 15 ... Conveyance speed calculation means, 16 ... Length setting means, 17 ... Trigger input means, 18 ... Trigger sensor, 20 ... Scanning unit as optical scanning means, 22a, 22b ... Galvano mirror constituting optical scanning means, 23a, 23b ... Motor constituting optical scanning means, 50 ... Belt conveyor, L ... Length, v ... Conveying speed, t1, t2 ... time, W ... work as a workpiece.

Claims (4)

A laser processing apparatus for processing a processing object by irradiating the processing object transported by a transport means with a laser beam,
A laser light source for emitting the laser light;
An optical scanning unit that changes the direction of the laser beam emitted from the laser light source and scans the object to be processed;
A length setting means for setting the length of the object to be processed along the conveying direction of the conveying means;
Trigger input means for taking in a detection signal output from one trigger sensor that has detected the passage of the processing object conveyed by the conveying means as a reference for starting the processing of the processing object;
A processing control unit that controls the optical scanning unit based on coordinate data generated based on processing information, and that controls on / off of the laser light applied to the processing target based on an output signal of the trigger input unit;
Based on the detection signal input by the trigger input means, the time for the workpiece to pass through the trigger sensor is detected, and the time and the length of the workpiece to be set set by the length setting means A transport speed calculating means for calculating the transport speed of the workpiece based on the
The processing control means, the laser processing apparatus and controls the optical scanning unit to correct the previous SL coordinate data based on the conveying speed. A calculation mode for calculating the conveyance speed and storing it in a storage means; and a display means for displaying the conveyance speed calculated in the calculation mode.
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 . Data processing means for generating coordinate data including control information for turning on / off the laser light and coordinate values of laser light applied to the workpiece, and storage means for storing the coordinate data, The control means drives the optical scanning means while taking out the coordinate data stored in the storage means based on the trigger input means taking in the detection signal and correcting it based on the transport speed. 3. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing object is scanned on the moving processing object to perform a processing operation on the processing object. 4. Storage means for storing the calculated transport speed;
The transport speed newly calculated by the transport speed calculating means is compared with the transport speed read from the storage means, and the newly calculated transport speed is within a predetermined range including the transport speed read from the storage means. If included, the coordinate data is corrected using the conveyance speed read from the storage means, and the newly calculated conveyance speed is not included in a predetermined range including the conveyance speed read from the storage means. in this case, the laser machining apparatus according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in conveying speed which is newly calculated and to be stored in the storage means, the.

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