JPH1187809A - Gas laser oscillator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas laser oscillator capable of easily executing atmosphere opening work. SOLUTION: In this gas laser oscillator 1 provided with a solenoid valve 23 for rapid filling for filling laser gas in an oscillator chamber 3, a laser oscillator controller 35 for controlling the gas laser oscillator 1, and a pressure sensor 37 for detecting the pressure of the laser gas inside the chamber 3, are provided. By the laser oscillator controller, a present pressure Pbase inside the chamber 3, and the detectable highest pressure Pmax of the pressure sensor 37 after the lapse of fixed time T1 from the start of the rapid filling, are detected, required time T2 until the pressure inside the chamber 3 reaches an atmospheric pressure Patm is computed and obtained, the solenoid valve 23 for the rapid filling is interrupted after the lapse of the required time T2 , and the atmosphere opening of the oscillator chamber 3 is completed. The required time T2 is computed and obtained from a calculation formula T2 =T1 (Patm -Pmax )/(Pmax -Pbase ).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a gas laser oscillator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A gas laser oscillator such as a carbon dioxide laser oscillator requires an oscillator chamber to be opened to the atmosphere for maintenance of the oscillator. However, if air is used to open to the atmosphere, impurities in the air will be adsorbed on the inner wall of the oscillator chamber and the equipment in the container, and the baking work to remove the adsorbed impurities will take time and the stability of the light output will be impaired. In some cases, nitrogen gas or laser gas is used for opening to the atmosphere.

FIG. 3 shows a laser gas supply system of a conventional general gas laser oscillator. Hereinafter, a laser gas supply system of a conventional gas laser oscillator and a procedure for performing an open-to-atmosphere operation will be described.

A main exhaust solenoid valve 105 is provided in an exhaust pipe 103 of an oscillator chamber 101 of the gas laser oscillator 100.
Is connected to the vacuum pump 107 via the. Further, the vacuum pump 107 is connected to the oscillator chamber 101 via an auxiliary exhaust electromagnetic valve 111 of a pipe 109 provided in parallel with the pipe 103.

[0005] A cylinder 117 filled with laser gas is connected to the oscillator chamber on the opposite side of the exhaust pipe 103 via a pipe 115, and a regulator 119, a stop valve 121, and a hose joint 122 are sequentially provided from the cylinder side. , A quick filling solenoid valve 123 and the like.
Also, the stop valve 121 and the quick filling electromagnetic valve 1 are used.
A line 125 branched from a line 115 between the valve 23 and the line 23 is connected to the oscillator chamber 101. In this line 125, a relief valve 127, a regulator 129, an electromagnetic valve 131 for slow charging, and the like are provided in this order. is there.

A purge valve 133 and a purge flange 134 are provided on the left and right sides (in FIG. 3) of the oscillator chamber 101. The purge valve 133 and the regulator 11
The hose 135 is detachable from the hose joint 122 provided between the stop valve 9 and the stop valve 121.

The release of the gas laser oscillator to the atmosphere as described above is performed according to the procedure shown in the following bullet point.

[0008] 1. Began opening to the atmosphere. 2. Laser oscillator 10
Stop 0. 3. The quick filling solenoid valve 123 and the slow filling solenoid valve 131 are closed. 4. The stop valve 121 is closed. 5. Hose 135 is connected to hose joint 122 and purge valve 133. 6. The secondary pressure of the regulator 119 is set to 1 kg / cm ² , and the stop valve 121 is opened. 7. The purge valve 133 is opened.
8. When the ejection of the laser gas from the purge flange 134 is confirmed, the purge valve 133 is closed. 9. End of release to atmosphere.

[0009]

As described above, the opening operation of the conventional gas laser oscillator to the atmosphere is complicated and troublesome, and requires the work of a service person having specialized knowledge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a gas laser oscillator that can easily perform an operation for opening to the atmosphere.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gas laser oscillator comprising a solenoid valve for rapidly filling a laser gas into an oscillator chamber. A laser oscillator control device for controlling the oscillator, and a pressure sensor for detecting the pressure of the laser gas in the chamber. The laser oscillator control device controls the current pressure P _base in the chamber and a fixed time T from the start of rapid filling. detecting the detectable maximum pressure P _max of the pressure sensor after _one course, determined by calculating the required time T ₂ of the up pressure in the chamber reaches atmospheric pressure P _atm, after the required time T ₂ has elapsed The gist of the invention is to complete the opening of the oscillator chamber to the atmosphere by closing the solenoid valve for quick filling.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the gas laser oscillator according to the first aspect, the required time T ₂ is calculated by the following equation: T ₂ = T ₁ (P _atm -P _max ) / (P
_max- P _base ).

Therefore, according to the gas laser oscillator of the first or second aspect, the operation of opening to the atmosphere can be easily performed.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a laser gas supply system of a gas laser oscillator according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a laser gas pressure and a gas filling time during an opening operation of the gas laser oscillator to the atmosphere.

Referring to FIG. 1, a vacuum pump 9 is connected to a line 5 of an oscillator chamber 3 of a gas laser oscillator 1 via a main exhaust solenoid valve 7. The vacuum pump 9
Is a secondary exhaust solenoid valve 13 of a pipe 11 provided in parallel with the pipe 5.
Through the oscillator chamber 3.

In the oscillator chamber 3 on the opposite side of the pipe 5, a cylinder 17 filled with a laser gas is provided via a pipe 15.
Are connected, and the regulator 19,
A stop valve 21 and a quick filling electromagnetic valve 23 are provided. A line 25 branched from the line 15 between the stop valve 21 and the quick charging solenoid valve 23 is connected to the oscillator chamber 3, and the line 25 includes a relief valve 2.
7, a regulator 29 and a slow filling electromagnetic valve 31 are provided in this order. A purge valve 33 is provided in the oscillator chamber 1 near the pipe 5.

The gas laser oscillator 1 is provided with a laser oscillator controller 35 for controlling the pressure of the laser gas in the oscillator chamber 3, and the laser oscillator controller 35 detects the pressure of the laser gas in the oscillator chamber 3. Based on the signal from the pressure sensor 37, the quick filling solenoid valve 23, the slow filling solenoid valve 31, the main exhaust solenoid valve 7, the auxiliary exhaust solenoid valve 13, and the vacuum pump 9 are appropriately controlled. The analog signal from the pressure sensor 37 is A /
The signal is converted into a digital signal by the D converter 39 and is input to the laser oscillator control device 35.

In the gas laser oscillator 1 having the above configuration,
When the gas laser oscillator 1 is used, the slow filling electromagnetic valve 31 and the auxiliary exhausting electromagnetic valve 13 are controlled so that the pressure of the laser gas in the oscillator chamber 3 becomes a steady pressure ± 0.2 torr (the steady pressure is 50 to 60 torr, or 6.65 to 7.98 KP
a). At this time, the quick filling solenoid valve 23 and the main exhaust solenoid valve 7 are always in a non-excited and shut off state.

In order to open to the atmosphere, the laser oscillator control unit 35 issues an instruction to open to the atmosphere from a panel (not shown) of the laser oscillator control unit 35.
Is stopped, and the electromagnetic valve 31 for slow charging that controls the supply of the laser gas and the electromagnetic valve 13 for auxiliary exhaust that controls the discharge of the laser gas are de-energized to cut off the flow of the laser gas.

Referring to FIG. 2, a slow filling electromagnetic valve 31 is shown.
The laser oscillator control device 35 together with the measuring and the time you block the flow state of the auxiliary exhaust solenoid valve 13 current pressure (P _{ba se)} of the laser gas in the oscillator chamber 3 (time t ₀₎
The current pressure (P _base ) is stored in a storage device (not shown).

Next, the solenoid valve 23 for rapid filling is excited to fill the oscillator chamber 3 with the laser gas at a rapid speed. Due to the filling of the laser gas, the pressure of the laser gas in the oscillator chamber 3 increases from P _base . Together with the time to measure the time t ₁ that has reached the detectable maximum pressure P _max and P _max of the pressure sensor 37, and stores the computed time _{T 1 (= t 1 -t 0} ). The pressure sensor 37 is dedicated to a low pressure range of 0 to 13.3 kPa in order to increase the detection sensitivity.
(0 to 100 torr).

[0022] Thereafter, when the pressure in the oscillator chamber 3 is assumed the time to reach the atmospheric pressure P _atm (1,013 hPa) and t _2, the time T ₂ of the from time t ₁ to t ₂ (= t ₂
−t ₁ ) by the following equation: T ₂ = T ₁ (P _atm −P _max ) /
(P _max −P _base ), and is calculated by interpolation, and the time t ₁
Deenergized the rapid filling solenoid valve 23 to ₂ hours after T from to to complete the atmosphere.

[0023]

According to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the operation of opening to the atmosphere can be easily performed.
The air release work can be carried out without relying on service personnel with specialized knowledge.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a laser gas supply system of a gas laser oscillator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a relationship between a laser gas pressure and a gas filling time in a gas laser oscillator according to the present invention during an opening operation to the atmosphere.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a laser gas supply system of a conventional general gas laser oscillator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 gas laser oscillator 3 oscillator chamber 7 main exhaust solenoid valve 9 vacuum pump 13 auxiliary exhaust solenoid valve 17 cylinder 19 regulator 21 stop valve 23 quick filling solenoid valve 27 relief valve 29 regulator 31 slow filling solenoid valve 35 laser oscillator control Device 37 Pressure sensor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A gas laser oscillator having a solenoid valve for quick filling for filling a laser gas into an oscillator chamber, a laser oscillator control device for controlling the gas laser oscillator, and a pressure sensor for detecting a pressure of the laser gas in the chamber. The laser oscillator control device detects the current pressure P _base in the chamber and the maximum detectable pressure P _{max of the} pressure sensor after a lapse of a fixed time T ₁ from the start of rapid filling, and detects the pressure in the chamber. The required time T ₂ until the pressure of the air reaches the atmospheric pressure P _atm is calculated and obtained,
Gas laser oscillator, characterized in that the oscillator chamber by blocking the rapid filling solenoid valve after the required time T ₂ has elapsed to complete the atmosphere. _{2. A} formula for calculating the required time T ₂ , T ₂ = T ₁
The gas laser oscillator according to claim 1, wherein the gas laser oscillator is obtained by calculating from (P _atm -P _max ) / (P _max -P _base ).