JPH0328992B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention focuses laser light from a laser oscillator using a condensing lens to form holes, weld or harden workpieces such as sheet metal. This invention relates to a laser processing machine that performs thermal cutting processing such as.

(Conventional technology) In recent years, so-called laser processing machines, which use the energy of laser light to process metal workpieces, can easily perform thermal cutting of sheet metal etc. using NC control devices without using molds or the like. Therefore, it is rapidly becoming popular.

However, the currently used laser processing machines equipped with a single processing head have a problem in that the processing speed is slower than punching machines using molds when processing small workpieces by thermal cutting. be.

The extent to which a laser processing machine can cover the work range of punching depends on factors such as the time and cost of mold creation, setup changes, and NC tape creation, processing speed, and the cost of the machine itself.

Therefore, the reality is that efforts to increase the processing speed in laser processing are being studied from various angles.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, as a means of increasing the processing speed of a laser processing machine, a method can be considered in which the relative speed between the processing head and the workpiece is increased and at the same time the output of the laser beam is increased. However, with this method, there is a limit to the followability of the servo drive, so for complex machining of small workpieces, it is necessary to slow down the speed and reduce the output of the laser beam as long as the follow-up accuracy satisfies the required accuracy. I don't get it.

On the other hand, the technology for laser oscillators with high output has significantly advanced, and even with high output, the cost of laser oscillators does not increase, and on the contrary, is becoming cheaper. Furthermore, it has become possible to cut thick sheet metal at high speeds, but for the reasons mentioned above, the speed has to be limited even though there is plenty of output.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing machine that has substantially the same processing speed as a conventional laser beam machine and has a processing capacity that is much higher than that of a conventional laser beam machine, in order to improve the above-mentioned problems.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a laser oscillator, a work table that supports a workpiece, and a workpiece W on the work table. In a laser processing machine comprising a plurality of processing heads for simultaneously laser processing a plurality of locations, and a laser beam splitting device for distributing laser light from the laser oscillator to each processing head, the laser beam splitting device comprises: , a semi-transmissive mirror is tilted in a sealed housing, one side of the semi-transmissive mirror is formed into a mirror surface, and a large number of holes are provided parallel to the direction of incidence of the laser beam; In order to allow the cooling fluid to pass through a large number of holes, an inlet and an outlet for the cooling fluid are provided on opposite sides of the housing with a semi-transparent mirror in between.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a column 5 is vertically provided on the rear side of the bed 3 of the laser processing machine 1, and on the upper side in FIG. In addition, a saddle 7 that is movable in the front and back direction of the laser processing machine 1 is provided on the lower part of the front side of the bed 3 in FIG. A movable work table 9 is provided.

A large number of support pins (not shown) are attached to the work table 9, and predetermined workpieces W are placed on the support pins.

The saddle 7 and the work table 9 are each driven in the longitudinal and lateral directions by a servo motor via a feed screw (not shown). Moreover, the servo motor that drives the saddle 7 and the work table 9 is the first servo motor of the column 5.
NC control device 11 installed on the left side in the figure
controlled by

An upper frame 13 is integrally attached to the upper part of the column 5, and a laser oscillator 15 is provided on the upper frame 13. A support frame 17 is connected to the laser oscillator 15 and is integrally attached to the tip of the upper frame 13.

At approximately the center of the support frame 17, a laser beam splitting device 19 for splitting the laser beam LB emitted from the laser oscillator 15 into a plurality of parts;
A support body 23 that supports a reflecting mirror 21 that reflects the laser beam LB is integrally attached.

Although the details of the laser beam splitting device 19 will be described later, in order to transmit, for example, half of the laser beam LB, as shown in FIG.
For example, it is supported by the support body 23 at an angle of 45 degrees to the right. As shown in FIG. 1, the reflecting mirror 21 is supported by a support 23 at an angle of 45 degrees to the left, for example, with respect to the laser beam LB that is half-transmitted by the laser beam splitter 19. .

A laser beam is provided on both sides of the support frame 17.
First and second processing heads 33 and 35 equipped with bend mirrors 25 and 27 for changing the direction of LB by 90 degrees and condensing lenses 29 and 31 are provided extending in the vertical direction in FIG. be. That is, bend mirrors 25 and 27 that reflect the laser beam LB are placed above the first and second processing heads 33 and 35.
As shown in FIG. 2, the laser beams LB are mounted so as to be inclined at 45 degrees to the right and 45 degrees to the left, respectively.

The condenser lenses 29 and 31 are attached to the lower parts of the first and second processing heads 33 and 35,
The condensing lenses 29 and 31 are the bend mirrors 25,
The laser beam reflected by 27 is focused.

Nozzles (not shown) are attached to the lower ends of the first and second processing heads 33 and 35, and laser light is emitted from the respective nozzles and is directed to the workpiece W on the work table 9. It's getting old.

With the above configuration, the laser beam LB emitted from the laser oscillator 15 is equally divided into reflected light and transmitted light by the laser beam splitter 19, and the reflected light is sent to the bend mirror 25 of the first processing head 33. The light is incident, reflected, and condensed by the condenser lens 29.

On the other hand, the transmitted light passes through the reflection mirror 21, enters the bend mirror 27 of the second processing head 35, is reflected, and is focused on the condenser lens 31.

Then, the position of the workpiece W placed on the work table 9 is appropriately controlled by the NC control device 11 in the front and back and left and right directions, and the laser beam LB from the laser oscillator 15 is transmitted to the laser beam splitting device 19.
The beam is equally incident on the first and second machining heads 33, 35 through
As a result, laser machining, for example, hole machining of the same shape, is performed at the same time.

A specific configuration of the laser beam splitting device 19 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, flat glasses 39, 41 and 43 for passing the laser beam LB are attached to the upper, lower and left side parts of the housing 37 of the laser beam splitter 19, respectively.

A cavity in the housing 37 is provided with a laser beam.
For example, a half-transmitting mirror 45 that transmits half of the laser beam LB as a dividing mirror that divides LB into transmitted light LB ₁ and reflected light LB ₂ at an appropriate ratio is a right diagonal mirror 45.
It is mounted at an angle. That is, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the semi-transmissive mirror 45 has a mirror surface portion 47 on one side, and the mirror surface portion 47 has a large number of mirrors parallel to the incident direction of the laser beam LB. A hole 49 is formed. Therefore, the semi-transmissive mirror 45 is formed so as to partially transmit the laser beam LB and half reflect it, depending on the number and size of the large number of holes 49 and the pitch between the holes 49.

A fluid inlet 51 is provided at the upper left shoulder of the housing 37 to forcibly cool the semi-transparent mirror 45 so as not to be affected by thermal deformation caused by the high-energy laser beam LB. A fluid outlet 53 is provided on the lower side of the section.

With the above configuration, the laser beam LB oscillated from the laser oscillator 15 is incident from above as shown by the arrow _{in FIG} . Then, half of the light is reflected by the semi-transmissive mirror 45 as reflected light LB ₂ to the left through the plane glass 43.

Therefore, the laser beam LB emitted from the laser oscillator 15 is transmitted through the semi-transparent mirror 45.
The first and second lights are divided equally into LB ₁ and reflected light LB ₂ .
condenser lenses 29, 31 of processing heads 33, 35
The light is focused on. Note that the semi-transparent mirror 45 is forcibly cooled by constantly being supplied with fluid from the fluid inlet 51 and flowing out from the fluid inlet 53, so that it does not undergo thermal deformation.

The explanation has been made using the semi-transparent mirror 45 as the splitting mirror, but when the laser processing machine 1 is provided with, for example, three processing heads and their operations are controlled simultaneously, it is necessary to divide the laser beam LB equally into three parts. , by using one split mirror to make 1/3 the reflected light and 2/3 the transmitted light, and another split mirror to make 1/3 the reflected light and 1/3 the transmitted light. obtain.

In this way, when the laser processing machine 1 is provided with N processing heads, the laser beam can be divided into N parts according to the above-mentioned procedure.

When splitting the laser beam LB into transmitted light and reflected light using a splitting mirror, it is possible to split the laser beam LB into transmitted light and reflected light at an appropriate ratio by selecting the shape and arrangement of the holes determined by the pitch and size of the holes. can do.

As explained above, the output of the laser oscillator 15 provided in the laser processing machine 1 is multiplied by N, and the laser beam is divided into N by the splitting mirror 45.
By providing N processing heads in the laser processing machine 1 and controlling their operation simultaneously, N workpieces W placed on a work table 9 having N times the processing area can be laser processed, for example, hole processing. are carried out at the same time, resulting in N times the production amount compared to the conventional method.

For example, in a laser processing machine with two processing heads, most conventional laser processing machines can be used, and even if the output of the laser oscillator is doubled, the cost is not much different from that of the conventional one. Therefore, it is very advantageous in terms of productivity.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be implemented in other embodiments by making appropriate changes.

[Effects of the Invention] As can be understood from the above description of the embodiments, the present invention basically includes a laser oscillator 15, a work table 9 that supports a work piece W, and a work piece W on the work table 9. Multiple processing heads 3 that simultaneously laser process multiple locations
3, 35, and a laser beam splitting device 19 for distributing the laser beam LB from the laser oscillator 15 to each processing head 33, 35. A semi-transmissive mirror 45 is provided at an angle in the housing 37, one side of the semi-transmissive mirror 45 is formed into a mirror surface portion 47, and a large number of holes 49 are provided parallel to the direction of incidence of the laser beam LB. In order to allow the cooling fluid to pass through the numerous holes 49 of the semi-transparent mirror 45, an inlet 51 and an outlet 53 for the cooling fluid are provided on opposite sides of the housing 37 with the semi-transparent mirror 45 in between.

As is clear from the above configuration, in the laser processing machine according to the present invention, the laser beam LB from the laser oscillator 15 can be distributed to a plurality of processing heads 33 and 35 for simultaneous processing, thereby improving processing efficiency. It is something that can be done. The laser beam splitting device 19 that distributes the laser beam LB to each processing head 33, 35 is provided with a semi-transparent mirror 45 inclined in a sealed housing 37. A number of holes 49 are provided for light. And a semi-transparent mirror 45
An inlet 51 and an outlet 53 for the cooling fluid are provided on opposite sides of the housing 37, respectively.

That is, according to the present invention, the semi-transparent mirror 45
Since the transmitted light passes through a large number of holes 49, the reflectance of the semi-transparent mirror 45 can be expressed as, for example,
100%, the reduction in loss due to the presence of the semi-transmissive mirror 45 can be extremely minimized, and the semi-transmissive mirror 45 can be effectively cooled by the cooling fluid passing through the large number of holes 49. It is something. Therefore, the semi-transmissive mirror 45 is not distorted by heat, and the laser beam LB can be divided with high precision.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1. Third
The figure is an enlarged sectional view showing an example of a laser beam splitting device used in the present invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the split mirror, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG. 4. [Explanation of symbols representing main parts of drawings], 1
... Laser processing machine, 9 ... Work table, 11
...NC control device, 19 ...laser beam splitting device,
25, 27...Bend mirror, 29, 31...Condenser lens, 33, 35...First and second processing heads, 45...Semi-transparent mirror.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 a laser oscillator 15, a work table 9 that supports the workpiece W, and this work table 9
A plurality of processing heads 33, 35 that simultaneously laser process multiple locations on the upper workpiece W, and a laser beam splitter 1 that distributes the laser beam LB from the laser oscillator 15 to each of the processing heads 33, 35.
9, the laser beam splitting device 19 includes a sealed housing 37.
A semi-transmissive mirror 45 is tilted inside, and one side of the semi-transmissive mirror 45 is formed into a mirror surface portion 47, and a hole 4 parallel to the incident direction of the laser beam LB is formed.
In order to allow the cooling fluid to pass through the numerous holes 49 of the semi-transparent mirror 45, an inlet 51 and an outlet 53 for the cooling fluid are provided on opposite sides of the housing 37 with the semi-transparent mirror 45 in between. A laser processing machine characterized by: