JPH05245681A - Laser beam machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a laser beam machine able to execute a highly precise laser beam machining by lightening a weight to be carried, particularly the load on the tip part of the arm of a robot. CONSTITUTION:A laser beam oscillator 8 is arranged at a main body side arm 6b positioned near the main body 3 out of arms 6 of the robot 2, and by constituting so as to connect it to a laser beam machining head 7 arranged at the tip part 6e of a tip side arm 6d through a hollow waveguide 9 for laser beam as a beam transmitting system, the hollow waveguide 9 for the laser beam is shortened, the circuit is made good and the transmission of the laser beam is secured, and the load acted on the tip part of the arm 6 is lightened and the highly precise laser beam machining is surely attained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, laser welding is possible because of its small welding area and the ability to weld a small molten area, and because it is capable of thin plate welding with little thermal deformation and heat distortion, it can be used for both metal and non-metal processing. Since it is possible and can be processed in a non-contact manner instantaneously and with a very small beam spot, laser drilling, cutting, and trimming can be performed from automobile manufacturing, steel, general machinery, and other heavy industry fields to electronic parts, semiconductor parts, etc. The light industry is widely used.

There are mainly two types of lasers used in a laser processing apparatus for performing such processing: a YAG (Y ₃ Al ₅ O ₁₂ ) laser and a carbon dioxide gas laser.

The YAG laser has a wavelength of 1.06 μm and the carbon dioxide gas laser has a wavelength of 10.6 μm, which is 1/10 of the wavelength. Since the YAG laser can focus light on a small spot diameter in principle, it is suitable for precision processing. Moreover, since the wavelength is in the region close to visible light (near infrared), it passes through the glass without loss. As a result, general optical glass lenses and mirrors can be used, and optical fiber transmission made of quartz is also possible.
Further, since the oscillation medium is a solid and has a high density, the oscillation part is compact.

On the other hand, the carbon dioxide laser has an oscillation efficiency of 1
It is easy to obtain high power of 0% or more, but the wavelength is 1
Since it is as long as 0.6 μm and cannot be transmitted by an optical fiber because it is absorbed by glass, acrylic, etc., it was guided to the laser processing head by changing the direction with a folding mirror.
Recently, transmission has become possible by means of a flexible hollow waveguide for laser light. The hollow waveguide for laser light can also transmit a YAG laser.

Next, a laser device using a robot will be described with reference to the schematic explanatory view shown in FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a support base for supporting a work w to be subjected to welding processing or laser processing such as cutting, so that the work w can be positioned and mounted at a predetermined position of the support base 1 by a clamp 1a. Has been formed.

An articulated robot 2 is arranged near the support base 1, and a laser processing head 7 is provided at the tip of an arm 6 thereof.

On the other hand, a laser oscillator 8, a laser power source 10, a chiller (cooling water circulation device), a control device 11 and the like are arranged near the robot 2. When a high voltage is applied to the medium in the laser oscillator 8 according to an instruction from the control device 11, laser light is emitted from the laser oscillator 8, and the laser light is provided at the tip of the arm 6 of the robot 2 by the beam transmission system. It is guided to the laser processing head 7.

In the beam transmission system, in the carbon dioxide laser, the mirror 9b is used at each bent portion due to the wavelength relationship, or the method using the hollow waveguide for laser light, and the optical fiber is also used in the YAG laser.

Laser light guided from the oscillator 8 to the processing head 7 through the beam transmission system is condensed by a lens (not shown) provided in the laser processing head 7 and passed through a nozzle hole (not shown). The work w is irradiated, and the robot 2 performs mutual movement with the work w so that the work w is subjected to laser processing such as welding and cutting.

[0012]

However, according to the laser processing apparatus using such a robot, in order to ensure the transmission of the laser light by the hollow waveguide for laser light or the optical fiber which becomes the beam transmission system. The bending of the hollow waveguide for laser light and the optical fiber due to slack and tension is limited, and the beam transmission system becomes long and the angle control of the mirror becomes complicated even in the method of using the mirror at each bent part, and the robot There is a problem that the operation of is restricted.

As a countermeasure for this, there is a measure for shortening the beam transmission system by providing a laser oscillator near the tip of the robot arm and adjacent to the laser processing head, but even a small laser oscillator has a length of about 900 mm, The weight is as large as about 30 kg, and the robot's transportable weight (particularly the tip load) has a great influence on the processing accuracy, which makes it difficult to perform high-accuracy processing.

In the case of pressure welding, the welding gun is held at the tip of the robot arm unlike the laser processing apparatus, but the accuracy is not so much required (within ± 2 mm). For hole drilling accuracy with laser,
It is required to have the same level of pressing precision (within ± 5/100 mm). Also, in the case of trimming, it is one digit stricter than high precision (within ± 0.2 mm) and processing precision such as pressure welding.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of performing high-accuracy laser processing by reducing the payload of a robot, especially the load at the tip of an arm.

[0016]

A laser processing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object is provided at the arm tip of a robot having a main body and an arm whose base end side is swingably supported. In a laser processing apparatus that is provided with a laser processing head and processes a workpiece by laser light emitted from the laser processing head, a laser oscillator provided near the main body of the arm, and a laser processing head provided at the tip of the arm, It has a hollow waveguide for laser light as a beam transmission system connecting between a laser oscillator and a laser processing head.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. For convenience of explanation, the same reference numerals are given to the parts corresponding to those in FIG.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the outline of the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a support base for mounting and fixing a work w at a predetermined position by a clamp 1a, and a predetermined position near the support base 1. An articulated robot 2 is arranged in the.

The robot 2 has a main body 3, a rotary base 4 provided on the main body 3 and horizontally rotatable, and a base 6a supported on the rotary base 4 through a joint 5 so as to be vertically swingable. The arm 6 is provided.

The arm 6 whose base end 6a is provided on the main body 3 via the joint portion 5 and the rotary base 4 has a base end arm 6b whose base end 6a is supported on the rotary base 5 via the joint portion 5, The free end of the end side arm 6b can swing and swing the laser processing head 7 at the tip which is the other end of the tip side arm 6d whose one end is swingably supported via a joint portion 9c and the tip side arm 6d. It has a tip portion 6e for supporting.

A laser oscillator 8 is attached to the base end side arm 6b of the arm 6 along the longitudinal direction thereof, and the laser oscillator 8 and the laser processing head 7 provided at the tip end portion 6e serve as a beam transmission system. They are connected by a hollow waveguide 9 for laser light that performs the function of. Reference numeral 9a
Is a support member for preventing the hollow waveguide 9 for laser light from being bent more than a predetermined value and ensuring the transmission of laser light. The base end of the arm 6 is attached to the arm 6, and the hollow guide for laser light is The waveguide 9 is designed to hold a required portion of the waveguide 9.

In the vicinity of the robot 2, a laser power source 10 for operating the laser oscillator 8, a robot 2, a laser oscillator 8 and a chiller, a supply device of laser gas or processing gas, and a control device for controlling the operation of other devices. 11 and the like are provided.

Reference numeral 12 is a power supply line for supplying a high voltage from the laser power supply 10 to the laser oscillator 8, 13 is a chiller water supply line for cooling the laser oscillator 8,
Reference numeral 14 is a gas line for supplying a laser gas, a processing gas and the like to the laser oscillator 8.

According to the laser processing apparatus configured as described above, since the laser oscillator 8 is arranged in the vicinity of the main body 3 of the arm 6, the load on the tip of the arm is greatly reduced.
High processing accuracy is possible. Further, the hollow waveguide 9 for laser light that connects the laser oscillator 8 and the laser processing head 7 can be easily shortened and handled, and excessive tension of the hollow waveguide 9 for laser light or entanglement with the arm 6 during laser processing or the like. Alternatively, since excessive bending due to excessive slack is avoided, good beam transmission can be ensured, and the operation limitation of the robot 2 is relaxed, and effective use of the robot 2 can be expected.

Further, for example, in an automobile manufacturing plant,
Conventionally, the holes that differ depending on the vehicle type have been punched out, but they may be repaired after they have been assembled due to an incorrect instruction to supply parts. Alternatively, since it can be easily processed by a sub-line accompanying it, the specification in the previous process can be reduced, or repair due to erroneous specifications can be facilitated.

[0026]

According to the laser processing apparatus of the present invention described above, the load acting on the tip of the robot arm is significantly reduced, and highly accurate laser processing can be ensured. In addition, the hollow waveguide for laser light provided between the laser oscillator and the laser processing head can be shortened, and its handling is facilitated, and excessive bending of the hollow waveguide for laser light is avoided, so that the robot can be fully utilized. Can be expected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a conventional laser processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 robot 3 main body 5 joint part 6 arm 6a base end 6b base end side arm 6c joint part 6d tip side arm 6e tip part 7 laser processing head 8 laser oscillator 9 laser light hollow waveguide (beam transmission system) w work

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A laser processing head is provided at the tip of the arm of a robot having a main body and an arm whose base end side is swingably supported, and a workpiece is processed by laser light emitted from the laser processing head. In the laser processing device, a laser oscillator provided near the body of the arm, a laser processing head provided at the arm tip, and a laser beam as a beam transmission system connecting the laser oscillator and the laser processing head Laser processing apparatus having a hollow waveguide for use. 2. A robot comprising a main body, a base end side arm having a base end swingably supported by the main body, and a tip end swingably supported by a free end of the base end side arm via a joint portion. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laser oscillator is provided on the proximal arm.