JPH05121798A - Gas laser oscillation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a gas laser oscillation device which is able to generate a stable laser beam by a method wherein laser gas fed to a discharge electrode is made smooth in flow, where the gas laser oscillation device starts laser excitation by discharge to generates a laser beam. CONSTITUTION:Discharge electrodes 4 covered with insulating materials 3 circular arc-shaped in cross section are mounted on substrates 2 provided to a wind tunnel provided inside a gas laser body 1 confronting each other. Bell mouths are provided in the vicinity of the laser gas inlet of the insulating material 3, and diffusers 14 are provided in the vicinity of the laser gas outlet of the insulating material 3. By this setup, laser gas is made smooth in flow near the insulating materials 3 which cover the discharge electrodes 4, whereby laser gas is prevented from stagnating and a gas laser oscillation device becomes stable in discharge.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas laser oscillator, and more particularly to a gas ventilation passage in a discharge part of the gas laser oscillator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional gas laser oscillator, FIG.
There is a configuration as shown in. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a gas laser main body, and a pair of substrates 2 are provided in parallel on the upper part inside the gas laser main body 1. A discharge electrode 4 covered with an insulating material 3 having an arc cross section is attached to the substrate 2. These discharge electrodes 4 are arranged in parallel to each other in the width direction as shown in FIG. 6, and are connected to a high voltage power source (not shown).

A blower 5 inside the gas laser body 1
A driving electric motor 6 is arranged in the. This blower 5
Cooler 7 for cooling the laser gas on the laser gas inflow side of
Are arranged. A vibration-proof rubber 8 is provided between the gas laser body 1 and the blower 5.

In the gas laser oscillating device thus constructed, when the blower 5 is driven by the driving motor 6, the laser gas inside the wind tunnel 9 is circulated in the direction of the arrow in the drawing to insulate the respective discharge electrodes 4. It is supplied between the materials 3. The laser gas supplied between the insulating materials 3 is laser-excited by the discharge of the discharge electrode 4.

As shown in FIG. 6, the excited laser gas is taken out as a laser beam 10 by going straight to the circulation path of the laser gas in the discharge section. In addition, 11 is a resonator.

On the other hand, the lased laser gas holds most of the energy obtained by the discharge as heat.
It is cooled by heat exchange in the cooler 7, returned to the blower 5 and supplied between the discharge electrodes 4 covered with the insulating material 3 which is the discharge part.

[0007]

However, according to such a configuration, when the laser gas flows into the gap between the insulating materials 3 to which the laser gas is supplied, as shown in FIG. Then, the flow of the laser gas is contracted from the wide gap to the narrow gap, and is expanded when the flow flows out from the gap between the insulating materials 3 to the wide gap on the outflow side. Since the expansion of this flow is rapid, the flow of the laser gas is separated from the surface of the insulating material 3, and the secondary vortex 12 is generated on the downstream side of the insulating material 3, and the flow of the laser gas is stagnated.

Therefore, when a discharge is generated between the insulating materials 3, the temperature of the laser gas rises due to the heat, but since the flow velocity is slow on the downstream side of the insulating material 3, it stagnates and the inflow of new laser gas is delayed. For this reason, the temperature of the laser gas rises, the discharge becomes unstable, and the generation of the laser beam becomes unstable.

In order to stabilize the discharge of the discharge part, it becomes necessary to further increase the flow velocity of the laser gas in the discharge part. Therefore, the amount of air discharged from the blower must be increased,
The output capacity of the electric motor for driving the blower is further increased. Such a laser gas circulation system may reduce the overall efficiency of the laser oscillator.

Therefore, the present invention provides a gas laser oscillator capable of smoothing the flow of the laser gas supplied between the discharge electrodes, improving the operation efficiency, and generating a stable laser beam. With the goal.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is, in the first invention, a circulation flow path in which a laser gas circulates and a laser gas circulation provided in the middle of this circulation flow path. A blower, a discharge unit that is disposed so as to face the inner circumference of the circulation channel and has a pair of discharge electrodes covered with an insulator, and a power supply that applies a voltage to the discharge electrodes of this discharge unit, and discharge A gas laser oscillating device for extracting laser light by performing laser excitation by discharge between electrodes is characterized in that the surfaces of the discharge parts are substantially parallel to each other and have a flat shape.

In the second aspect of the invention, the circulation flow path in which the laser gas circulates and flows, the blower for laser gas circulation provided in the middle of the circulation flow path, and the inner circumference of the circulation flow path are disposed so as to face each other. Gas laser oscillation having a discharge part having a pair of discharge electrodes covered with an insulator, and a power source for applying a voltage to the discharge electrodes of the discharge part, and performing laser excitation by discharge between the discharge electrodes to extract laser light The apparatus is characterized in that a bell mouth is provided on the laser gas inflow side of the discharge part and a diffuser is provided on the laser gas outflow side of the discharge part.

[0013]

In the first aspect of the invention, since the surfaces of the discharge part are parallel to each other and have a flat shape, the laser gas flow flows from the upstream side to the downstream side of the discharge part having the discharge electrode without separation.

According to the second invention, when the laser gas flow flows between the discharge electrodes from upstream of the discharge part having the discharge electrodes, it is contracted by the bell mouth from a wide space to a narrow space, but the pressure loss is small and It flows in without separating from the surface of the insulator covering the discharge electrode. Further, when flowing out from between the discharge electrodes, it flows out into a wide space, but the laser gas flows out without being separated from the surface of the insulator by the diffuser. Therefore, the stagnation of the laser gas in the vicinity of the discharge electrode and the insulator is eliminated, and the rise of the laser gas temperature is reduced.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a gas laser oscillator according to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a discharge part of the gas laser oscillator of FIG. 1, and the same components as those in FIG. Is attached.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the discharge electrode 4 provided on the gas laser body 1 is attached to the substrate 2 with a space having the same size as that of the discharge electrode 4 shown in FIG. 5, and the surface thereof has an arc-shaped cross section. Covered with material 3. A bell mouth 13 is attached to the laser gas inflow side of the insulating material 3, and a diffuser 14 is attached to the laser gas outflow side. The angle θ of the diffuser gradient is 5 to 6 degrees. Other configurations are
This is the same as FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, and description thereof is omitted here.

In the gas laser oscillator constructed as above, when the blower 5 is driven by the driving motor 6, the laser gas inside the gas laser body 1 is circulated in the direction of the arrow in the drawing and supplied between the insulating materials 3. The laser gas is excited by the discharge between the discharge electrodes 4. Then, the excited laser gas emits energy, and the emitted energy is resonated by the resonator 11 and is taken out as a laser beam 10 by going straight to the laser gas circulation path. on the other hand,
The laser gas oscillated by the laser passes through the gap between the insulating materials 3 and is sent to the cooler 7, where it is cooled and blower 5 again.
And is supplied to between the discharge electrodes 4. Therefore, in this way, as shown in FIG. 2, the flow of the laser gas between the insulating materials 3 eliminates the generation of secondary vortices in the vicinity of the insulating material 3. At this time, the pressure loss ΔP when flowing into and out of the base 2 is Becomes Where ζ; inlet loss coefficient, outlet loss coefficient (−) γ; specific weight (kgf / m ³ ) U; Flow velocity (m / s) g; Gravitational acceleration (m / s ²⁾ ) ΔP; pressure loss (kgf / m ² )

As shown in FIG. 2, since the secondary vortex is not generated, the loss coefficient becomes small and the pressure loss ΔP when the laser gas flows into and out of the substrate 2 becomes small. Therefore, the ventilation resistance to the blower 5 is reduced, and the air volume is increased. If no secondary vortex is generated in the vicinity of the insulating material 3, the flow does not settle, so that the sequentially cooled laser gas passes between the insulating materials 3 facing each other. for that reason,
Between the opposing insulating materials 3, especially on the laser gas outflow side,
The laser gas whose temperature has risen due to the discharge does not form a secondary vortex that is a circulating flow and flows out from the discharge part. Therefore, the temperature rise of the laser gas near the insulating material 3 is reduced, and the deterioration of the laser gas can be reduced. Furthermore, the discharge is stable,
The oscillation of the laser beam is also stable. Therefore, the processing with the laser beam becomes higher in quality. 3 and 4 are views showing the discharge part of the gas laser oscillator according to the second embodiment. The same parts as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the bell mouth 15 has a hollow interior, and a plurality of ventilation holes 15a are provided on the laser gas inflow side. Also, the diffuser 16
However, the inside thereof is hollow, and a plurality of ventilation holes 16a are provided on the laser gas outflow side. Others
It has the same structure as the gas laser oscillator shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the gas laser oscillating device thus constructed, a part of the laser gas flowing into the discharge part flows into the plurality of ventilation holes 15a provided in the bell mouth 15 and along the surface of the insulating material 3. leak. Then, a part of the laser gas flowing along the surface of the insulating material 3 flows into the diffuser 16 and flows out from a plurality of ventilation holes 16 a provided in the diffuser 16. Therefore, since the laser gas flows in the space of the bell mouth 15 and the diffuser 16 on the side of the insulating material 3 without stagnation, a secondary vortex does not occur near the insulating material 3.

The bell mouth 15 and the diffuser 16 have a hollow structure, and a space is formed on the insulating material side 3 of the bell mouth 15 and the diffuser 16. Therefore, the bell mouth 15 and the diffuser 16 are not in direct contact with the insulating material 3, so that the bell mouth 15 and the diffuser 16 can be prevented from being heated by the influence of the discharge. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is not necessary to use the bell mouth and the diffuser made of a material having high heat resistance.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By making the surface of the discharge part in contact with the laser gas flat and substantially parallel to each other, or by providing a bell mouth on the laser gas inflow side and a diffuser on the laser gas outflow side,
Ventilation loss is reduced and the laser gas can flow smoothly, and the temperature rise and deterioration of the laser gas due to discharge can be reduced.

Therefore, the laser oscillation is stabilized by the stable discharge, and if the laser beam produced by this laser oscillation is used for the laser processing, the processing accuracy is improved and high quality processing becomes possible. Further, since the pressure loss of the laser gas can be reduced, the output of the blower can be reduced, so that the overall efficiency of the gas laser oscillator can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a gas laser oscillator according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a discharge part of the gas laser oscillator device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a discharge part of a gas laser oscillator showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view of the gas laser oscillator of FIG. 3 viewed from a direction of an arrow on a plane along a line BB.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a conventional gas laser oscillator.

6 is a cross-sectional view of the gas laser oscillator of FIG. 5 taken along the plane AA.

7 is an enlarged view of a discharge part of the laser gas oscillator of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Gas laser body, 2 ... Base, 3 ... Insulation material,
4 ... Discharge electrode, 5 ... Blower,
6 ... Driving motor, 7 ... Cooler, 8 ... Anti-vibration rubber, 9 ... Wind tunnel, 10 ... Laser beam, 12 ... Resonator, 13 ... Bell mouth,
14 ... Diffuser, 15 ... Bellmouth, 15
a ... Ventilation hole, 16 ... Diffuser, 16a
… Ventilation holes.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A circulation flow path in which a laser gas circulates, a blower for circulating a laser gas provided in the middle of the circulation flow path, an inner circumference of the circulation flow path, and an insulating body. A discharge unit having a pair of discharge electrodes, and a power supply for applying a voltage to the discharge electrodes of the discharge unit,
A gas laser oscillator device for extracting laser light by performing laser excitation by discharge between discharge electrodes, wherein the surfaces of the discharge parts are substantially parallel to each other and have a flat shape. 2. A circulation flow path in which a laser gas circulates, a blower for circulating a laser gas provided in the middle of the circulation flow path, an inner circumference of the circulation flow path, and an insulating body. A discharge unit having a pair of discharge electrodes, and a power supply for applying a voltage to the discharge electrodes of the discharge unit,
A gas laser oscillator device for extracting laser light by performing laser excitation by discharge between discharge electrodes, characterized in that a bell mouth is provided on the laser gas inflow side of the discharge part and a diffuser is provided on the laser gas outflow side of the gas laser oscillator device. .. 3. A ventilation hole is provided from the laser gas inflow side of the bell mouth to the insulator side, and a ventilation hole is provided from the insulator side of the diffuser to the laser gas outflow side so that the laser gas passes through the inside of the bell mouth and the diffuser. Item 2
The gas laser oscillator described.