JPH11138284A - Yag laser beam machining device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate adjustment of the focal position of a laser beam and the nozzle set position for an object to be machined by connecting the nozzle to a connecting piece, by which a female screw is screwed onto the male screw of the driving shaft in the nozzle driving part so that the piece is moved back and forth, and making the nozzle movable forward and backward against the object. SOLUTION: The YAG laser beam machining device is constituted such that the laser transmitting part and the machining head 22 are contained in a cylindrical machining unit and that the unit is integrally and continuously formed with the machining head 22 crossing in the axial direction of the laser transmitting part. The female screw part 38, which is formed in a horse shoe shaped connecting piece 33 connected to the nozzle 31, is screwed onto the male screw part 39 formed in the driving shaft 36 of a nozzle driving part 35. By the rotary driving force of the driving shaft 36, the nozzle 31 and the connecting piece 33 are freely moved back and forth, with the lens simultaneously made to follow up the movement back and forth of the connecting piece 33. As a result, even a specially shaped object can be easily machined in a welding and cutting operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a YAG laser processing apparatus, and more particularly to a YAG laser processing apparatus capable of easily performing welding and cutting even when a workpiece has a large inner diameter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic processing apparatus for welding / cutting a workpiece, for example, a pipe, a YAG laser processing apparatus for accessing a processing location from inside the pipe and welding / cutting is used. There is something to show. FIG.
Shows a YAG laser processing apparatus housed in a mother pipe 2 provided with a branch pipe 1.

[0003] The YAG laser processing apparatus comprises a processing unit 3
A laser transmission unit 4 and a processing head unit 5 are provided.

The laser transmission section 4 includes an optical fiber cable 6 for oscillating laser light and a lens 7 for condensing the laser light.

On the other hand, the processing head unit 5 includes a laser transmission unit 4
The laser beam converged by the lens 7 of the laser transmission unit 4 is formed integrally with the mirror 8
And a lens 11 for guiding to the nozzle 10 through the lens.

The machining head 5 has a fixing ring 12 on the outside, and a small gear 15 of the rotating part 14 is screwed with a small gear 13 of the fixed ring 12 to rotate the gear from a driving part (not shown). It is designed to rotate with the driving force.

Further, the fixing ring 12 has a guide 16 on the outside, and the pawl 17 is engaged with the branch pipe 1 by moving the guide 16.

On the other hand, the laser transmission section 4 and the processing head section 5 are filled with an inert gas, for example, nitrogen gas, to cool the heat generated in the mirrors 8 and 9 when welding and cutting the pipe, When the workpiece is irradiated with laser light from 10, the generated molten metal is blown off.

In the YAG laser processing apparatus having such a configuration, when welding and cutting a workpiece, the processing unit 3 is inserted into the mother pipe 2 as shown in FIG.
The guide head 16 is moved with respect to the fixing ring 12, and the claw portion 17 is engaged with the branch pipe 1 to set the processing head portion 5.

When the processing head section 5 is set at an appropriate position on the workpiece, the YAG laser processing apparatus oscillates laser light from the optical fiber cable 6 and changes the laser light into a parallel light beam by the lens 7. , Mirror 8, lens 11,
The branch pipe 1 is welded and cut by laser light emitted from the nozzle 10 while rotating the nozzle 10 of the processing head unit 5 while being guided to the nozzle 10 via the mirror 9.

As described above, in the YAG laser processing apparatus,
Even the mother pipe 2 provided with the branch pipe 1 is configured so that the processing head portion 5 can be housed and set in the branch pipe 1 so that welding and cutting can be performed even from inside the pipe.

[0012]

In the conventional YAG laser processing apparatus shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the diameter of the processing head 5 is set according to the diameter of the branch pipe 1 to standardize the processing. In addition, when the pipe diameter of the branch pipe 1 exceeds the standard size, there is an inconvenience and disadvantage that the pipe can no longer be used.

For example, when the branch pipe 1 has a different diameter on the way, or when the branch pipe 1 is a double pipe and the outer pipe side is welded or cut, the conventional YAG laser processing apparatus uses:
There were problems such as a shift in the focal position of the laser beam and the position of the nozzle 10 with respect to the workpiece. In particular, if the diameter of the branch pipe 1 is larger than the design standard dimension, a large modification such as correction of the focal position of the laser beam and correction of the installation position of the nozzle 10 on the workpiece is required, and the conventional YA is required.
In the G laser processing apparatus, remodeling has been considered difficult due to space limitations.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances. Even if the pipe diameter exceeds the design standard, the focal position of the laser light,
An object of the present invention is to provide a YAG laser processing apparatus capable of easily adjusting the installation position of a nozzle on a workpiece and enabling welding and cutting of the workpiece.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a YAG laser processing apparatus including a laser transmission unit and a processing head unit. In a YAG laser processing apparatus which rotates and welds and cuts a workpiece with laser light from a nozzle by rotating the processing head portion with a rotational driving force of a rotating portion provided outside the A nozzle drive unit, a connector for screwing a female screw portion to a male screw portion formed on a drive shaft of the nozzle drive unit to move forward and backward, and a nozzle connected to the connector and moving forward and backward with respect to the workpiece. It is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.
The nozzle drive unit supports one end of the drive shaft in a concave portion of a mirror installed on the head side of the processing head unit, and provides a small gear at the other end, and a fixing ring for screwing the small gear with the rotating unit. It is screwed to the beveled shaft.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.
The connector for screwing the female thread to the male thread formed on the drive shaft of the nozzle drive and moving it forward and backward is formed in a horseshoe shape surrounding a mirror installed on the head side of the processing head.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.
The connector is connected to the nozzle via a pin.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.
The connector has a V-shaped inclined side at the bottom, and a lens is brought into contact with the inclined side via a spacer, so that the lens follows as the connector advances and retreats.

In order to achieve the above object, a YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention has the following features.
The lens supports the bottom with a coil spring.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a YAG laser processing apparatus for achieving the above object.
The mirror is formed in a step shape having an upper flat portion and a lower flat portion, and a concave portion is formed in the vertical surface of the step shape.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings and reference numerals attached to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an embodiment of a YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. In addition, FIG.
The processing unit 20 installed on a double branch pipe 19 formed in the middle of the mother pipe 18 is shown.

In the YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, a laser processing unit 21 and a processing head unit 22 are accommodated in a cylindrical processing unit 20 while a laser transmission unit 21 is mounted.
Is formed in such a manner that a processing head portion 22 that crosses in the axial direction is formed integrally and continuously.

The laser transmission section 21 has a lens 23 for changing a laser beam from an optical fiber cable (not shown) into a parallel light beam, and a mirror 24 for guiding the laser beam to the processing head section 22.

On the other hand, the processing head portion 22
A fixed ring 28 provided with a large gear 27 screwed to a small gear 26 of the rotating portion 25, and the fixed ring 28 is slid to form the branch pipe 1
Guide 3 having claw portion 29 for positioning and setting at position 9
0.

The processing head section 22 has a connector 33 connected to a nozzle 31 housed on the head side inside the processing head section 22 with a pin 32, and is fitted to the connector 33, and one end is connected to a mirror 34.
And a nozzle driving unit 35 having the other end screwed to the fixing ring 28.

The nozzle drive unit 35 is formed by a solid or hollow drive shaft 36, one end of which is supported by a concave portion 37 of a mirror 34, and a female screw portion 3 of a connector 33 at an intermediate portion.
A male gear 39 is formed to be screwed into the fixed ring 8, while the other end is provided with a small gear 41 screwed into the bevel gear 40 of the fixed ring 28.

The connection relationship between the nozzle 31, the connector 33 and the nozzle drive unit 35 will be described in more detail.
As shown in FIG. 2, the processing head portion 22 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and includes a connector 33 connected to a nozzle 31 housed therein by a pin 32. The connector 33 is formed in a horseshoe shape surrounding the mirror 34, and has a guide 42 at the bottom thereof to move the nozzle 31 forward and backward.
You can move well. The connector 33
Is supported by a spacer 43 having a horseshoe cross section whose bottom side is indicated by a broken line.

On the other hand, the mirror 34 surrounded by the horseshoe-shaped connector 33 is formed in a stepped shape having an upper flat portion 44 and a lower flat portion 45, and a concave portion is formed in the vertical plane of the upper flat portion 44. 37 is formed to support the drive shaft 36 of the nozzle drive unit 35 covered by the coil spring 46.

The drive shaft 36 of the nozzle drive unit 35 supported by the concave portion 37 of the mirror 34 has a male screw portion 3 screwed into a female screw portion 38 formed on the connector 33 at an intermediate portion thereof.
9 and a small gear 41 screwed into a bevel gear 40 formed on the fixed ring 28.

The machining head 22 having the frame 47 formed in a cylindrical shape has a coil spring 48 interposed between the frame 47 and the horseshoe-shaped connector 33, and presses the horseshoe-shaped connector 33 with the elastic force of the coil spring 48. It is supposed to.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the horseshoe-shaped connector 33 has an inclined piece 50 for forming the bottom sides 49a and 49b into a substantially V-shape. The support is made by a spacer 43. The spacer 43 is provided on the bottom side of the laser transmission section 21.
And a lens 51 that supplies the laser beam guided from the mirror via the mirror to the nozzle 31 via the mirror. The lens 51 is supported by the elastic force of the coil spring 52 and supported by the support force of the inclined piece 50 of the connector 33 via the spacer 43, and is balanced in the state shown in FIG. It is made to let.

Next, the operation will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the processing head portion 22
The claw portion 29 of the guide 30 is positioned and set on the branch pipe 19, drives a driving portion (not shown), and rotates the large gear 27 screwed to the small gear 26 of the rotating portion 25 by the driving force. , The frame 47 is rotated.

With the rotation of the frame 47, the nozzle driving unit 35 rotates the small gear 41 screwed to the bevel gear 40 of the fixed ring 28 as shown by the arrow. When the small gear 41 rotates, the nozzle driving unit 35 causes the mirror 3 to rotate as shown in FIG.
4 side coil spring 46 and frame 47 side coil spring 4
As shown in FIG. 3, the drive shaft 36 is rotationally driven from the state in which the drive shaft 36 is balanced by the mutual elastic force of the drive shaft 8 and the male screw 39 formed on the drive shaft 36, and the connector 33 is connected to the connector 33.
And screwed into the female screw portion 38 formed in the above. When the female screw portion 38 is screwed into the male screw portion 39, the connector 33 becomes the drive shaft 36.
The nozzle 3 is moved by the rotational driving force of
1 is pushed to cause the nozzle 31 to protrude outside the frame 47 and to face the welding / cutting position of the branch pipe 19. At this time, the spacer 4 that has contacted the inclined piece 50 of the connector 33
The lens 3 and the lens 51 move toward the head of the frame 47 by the elastic force of the coil spring 52 as the connector 33 moves.

When the connector 33 is moved and the nozzle 31 is set at an appropriate position for welding / cutting the branch pipe 19, the nozzle driving section 35 moves the female thread 38 of the connector 33 as shown in FIG. The screw is disengaged from the male screw 39 of the drive shaft 36,
The so-called free state in which the drive shaft 36 is simply rotated is maintained. At this time, the spacer 43 and the lens 5
The movement of the frame 47 toward the head side is also stopped. The frame 47 of the nozzle 31 accompanying the movement of the connector 33
Is determined by the threaded length of the male thread 39 of the drive shaft 36 and the female thread 38 of the connector 33. If the branch pipe 19 is a special one such as a double pipe or a different diameter pipe, What is necessary is just to set the said screwing length dimension according to the kind of pipe system.
In addition, since the amount of movement of the lens 51 toward the head of the frame 47 is determined by the angle of the inclined piece 50 of the connector 33, similarly to the amount of protrusion of the nozzle 31 described above, depending on the type of pipe system, Just set it.

When the branch pipe 19 is to weld or cut a special pipe system such as a double pipe or a different-diameter pipe, the YAG laser processing apparatus changes the rotation direction of the processing head 22 so that the nozzle 31 protrudes. In the same direction as the direction, the rotation speed is set to the welding / cutting speed, and the laser beam is irradiated while injecting the inert gas in the frame 47 onto the workpiece, so that the workpiece can be satisfactorily welded / cut. it can.

On the other hand, when the welding / cutting operation of the branch pipe 19 is completed, the YAG laser processing apparatus rotates the rotating unit 25 in the reverse direction, and accordingly, the driving shaft 36 of the nozzle driving unit 35.
Also reverse rotation. With the reverse rotation of the drive shaft 36, the connector 33 becomes a coil spring 46 on the mirror 34 side shown in FIG.
Is larger than the elastic force of the coil spring 48 on the side of the frame 47 to increase the urging force.
6 and is returned to the original installation position.
With the movement of the connector 33, the spacer 43 and the lens 51 are also returned to the original installation positions.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the nozzle 31
The horseshoe-shaped connector 33 is connected to the
The driving shaft 3 of the nozzle driving unit 35 is
6 is screwed together to freely move the nozzle 31 and the connector 33 back and forth by the rotational driving force of the drive shaft 36, while the lens 51 follows the advance and retreat of the connector 33. Also in the tube 19, the focal position of the laser beam and the installation position of the nozzle 31 on the workpiece can be easily adjusted, and the welding / cutting work can be easily performed.

[0041]

As described above, in the YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, the male screw portion of the drive shaft is screwed into the female screw portion of the connector, and the connector and the nozzle can be freely controlled by the rotational driving force of the nozzle drive unit. While the lens moves forward and backward, the lens also follows the forward and backward movement of the connector, so that even if the workpiece has a special shape, it does not require significant modification to the nozzle drive unit,
The focal position of the laser beam and the installation position of the nozzle on the workpiece can be easily adjusted, and welding and cutting operations can be easily performed. In addition, the YAG laser processing apparatus according to the present invention can be applied even if the diameter of the branch pipe as the workpiece is about 40% of the design standard dimension.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view seen from the direction of arrows AA in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the behavior of the nozzle, the connector, and the nozzle drive unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view seen from the direction of arrows BB in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing a conventional YAG laser processing apparatus.

6 is a view for explaining a state in which the YAG laser processing apparatus shown in FIG. 5 is set in a pipe.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Branch pipe 2 Main pipe 3 Processing unit 4 Laser transmission part 5 Processing head part 6 Optical fiber cable 7 Lens 8, 9 Mirror 10 Nozzle 11 Lens 12 Fixing ring 13, 15 Small gear 14 Rotating part 16 Guide guide 17 Claw part 18 Mother Pipe 19 Branch pipe 20 Processing unit 21 Laser transmission section 22 Processing head section 23 Lens 24 Mirror 25 Rotating section 26 Small gear 27 Large gear 28 Fixing ring 29 Claw section 30 Guide guide 31 Nozzle 32 Pin 33 Connector 34 Mirror 35 Nozzle driving section 36 Drive shaft 37 Recessed part 38 Female thread part 39 Male thread part 40 Bevel gear 41 Small gear 42 Guide 43 Spacer 44 Upper flat part 45 Lower flat part 46, 48 Coil spring 47 Frame 49a, 49b Side 50 Inclined piece 51 Lens 52 Coil spring

Claims (7)

[Claims] A laser transmission unit and a processing head unit;
In a YAG laser processing apparatus, the processing head is rotated by a rotation driving force of a rotating unit provided outside the processing head to weld and cut a workpiece with laser light from a nozzle. A connector for screwing a female thread to an external thread formed on a drive shaft of the nozzle drive, and a connector for connecting and disconnecting the connector, and moving the connector forward and backward with respect to the workpiece. A YAG laser processing apparatus comprising a nozzle. 2. The nozzle drive unit has one end of a drive shaft supported by a concave portion of a mirror installed on the head side of a processing head unit, and a small gear provided at the other end. 2. The YAG laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the YAG laser processing apparatus is screwed to a bevel shaft of a fixing ring to be screwed. 3. A connector for screwing a female screw portion to a male screw portion formed on a drive shaft of a nozzle drive portion to advance and retreat is formed in a horseshoe shape surrounding and surrounding a mirror provided on a head side of a processing head portion. The YAG laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The YAG laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connector is connected to the nozzle via a pin. 5. The connector has a V-shaped inclined side at the bottom, and a lens is brought into contact with the inclined side via a spacer via a spacer, and the lens follows the lens as the connector advances and retreats. The YAG laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 6. The YAG laser processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the bottom of the lens is supported by a coil spring. 7. The YAG laser processing according to claim 2, wherein the mirror is formed in a step shape having an upper flat portion and a lower flat portion, and a concave portion is formed in the vertical surface of the step shape. apparatus.