JPS5918121A - Apparatus for welding glass parts - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the titled apparatus capable of welding glass parts having small diameter in high accuracy, with simplified mechanism at reduced initial investment, by irradiating the contacting parts of a pair of glass parts with laser beam using an oscillating mirror in combination with an elliptical mirror. CONSTITUTION:The controlling device 21 controls the laser device 20, the motor 15 and the air piston 9, etc. according to the program. The mirror 10 is oscillated by the motor 15 through the disk 16, the lever 14, the rack 13, the pinion 12 and the shaft 11, and the laser beam 19 focused at the point Q on the mirror 10 is oscillated within the anble theta. Separately, the light-transmitting tubular material E held with the clips 5A and 5B of the first holder 3 is made to contact with the tip of the exhaustion pipe G held with the second holder 4, and the contacting part is irradiated with the laser beam 19 and the focusing point P formed on the reflecting surface 2 of the elliptical mirror 1, to effect the melting and welding of the parts. The exhaustion pipe G is properly moved vertically by the action of the air piston 9 and the spring 7 to form a proper weld part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a welding device for glass-based members used when melting and joining glass materials and quartz materials together.

[Background technology of the invention]

For example, the arc tube of a high-pressure discharge lamp such as a mercury lamp or a metal halide lamp is usually a transparent tube made of quartz with a pair of electrodes arranged facing each other, and a QT linear purity gas and a luminescent substance inserted therein. It becomes. In manufacturing such an arc tube, the following steps are generally adopted. That is, as shown in FIG. 1(a), a transparent tube material E made of quartz having a spherical cavity A in the middle is prepared, and a small hole is inserted into the wall of the spherical cavity A of this material E by an appropriate means. A hole F is provided. Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, a small diameter quartz exhaust pipe G is welded to the outer surface of the wall of the spherical cavity A so as to communicate with the small hole F. Then, as shown in FIG. 3(e) K, with both ends of the material E softened by heating, a pair of electrodes Ha + Hb are inserted through the openings at both ends, and the ends are sealed to form both electrodes Ha, Hb are placed in the spherical cavity A facing each other at a predetermined interval.

Next, after exhausting the inside of the material E through the exhaust pipe G, a gas of a predetermined purity and the luminescent substance I are introduced into the material E through the exhaust pipe G again, and in this state, the root portion of the exhaust pipe G is sealed off. In this way, an arc tube J as shown in FIG. 2(d) is obtained.

When manufacturing the arc tube J of the high-pressure discharge lamp through the steps described above, it is necessary to weld the exhaust pipe G to the transparent tube material E as described above. Conventionally, for this welding, a method has been adopted in which the joint surface of the exhaust pipe G and the joint surface of the transparent tube material E are heated and melted using an oxyhydrogen flame, and the joint surfaces are welded together in this state.

[Basic points for background technology]

With the method described above, in which the joint surfaces are heated and melted with an oxyhydrogen flame, it is extremely difficult to reduce the diameter of the oxyhydrogen flame to a sufficiently small diameter, so there are parts that do not require heating. It is easily softened by heating. In this way, heating even parts that do not require heating often has a large effect on the workpiece. For example, in the case where an exhaust pipe is welded to the transparent tube element described above, the following effects appear. That is, high-pressure discharge lamps, especially metal halide lamps, are recently being used for indoor lighting because of their high luminous efficiency and good light color. Metal halide lamps have a high efficiency of about 4 to 5 times that of one incandescent lamp, so in order to be used for indoor lighting, it is necessary to reduce the wattage to 20 to 40 W. In order to achieve such a low wattage, the arc tube also needs to be made smaller, for example, the outer diameter needs to be 6 to 8 m+. Therefore, it is necessary to use an exhaust pipe with an outer diameter of 2 to 3 fins. In this way, the outer diameter is 6 to 8 m.
When an oxyhydrogen flame is used as a heating source to connect an exhaust pipe with an outer diameter of 2 to 3 mm to a light-transmitting tube material of At this time, it is necessary to heat the transparent tube material, and even the strongest parts are likely to be heated, and as a result, deformation of the arc tube forming portion of the transparent tube material is inevitable. When deformation occurs in this way, the shape of the discharge space changes υ,
Since this discharge space affects the discharge characteristics of the lamp, only arc tubes with widely varying characteristics can be manufactured. Additionally, when quartz is processed with an oxyhydrogen flame, hydrogen dissolves in the quartz. This dissolved hydrogen diffuses into the discharge space during lamp life. As described above, when hydrogen enters the discharge space, the discharge starting voltage becomes high, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to manufacture an arc tube with excellent characteristics.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and its purpose is to be able to weld glass thread members of extremely small diameter to each other with high precision, and to prevent impurity gas, etc. from entering the members. The object of the present invention is to provide a welding device using a glass tip that can weld without melting and can fully demonstrate its great power in, for example, low-wattage high-pressure welding, lamp manufacturing, etc.

[Summary of the invention]

According to the present invention, one elliptical reflecting mirror is prepared, and a pair of glass members having bonding surfaces to be bonded to each other are placed near the elliptical reflecting mirror with the bonding surfaces still in contact with each other. A pair of supports are arranged to position the abutting portion at a first focal point of the elliptical reflector. Further, a laser ah for transmitting a laser beam as a heating source is provided, and the laser beam transmitted from this device has a reflective surface located at a second focal point of the elliptical reflecting mirror, and the laser beam is centered at the second focal point. The light is irradiated onto the elliptical reflector via a swinging reflector whose swing is controlled in a manner similar to the above. The laser device is controlled by a control device M.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the abutting portions of the pair of glass members to be joined to each other are arranged at the first focus of the elliptical reflector by the pair of supports, and the swinging reflector is arranged at the second focus in the above relationship. is arranged, so that the laser beam sent out from the laser device is uniformly irradiated onto the circumferential surface of the abutting portion of the pair of glass members via the swinging reflector to the elliptical reflector.
Become. The spot diameter of the laser beam sent out from the laser device is set to be sufficiently small, for example, 1wI or less,
Since it is generally easy to vary the power, it is possible to efficiently melt only the parts of a pair of glass members that truly require heating, that is, the above-mentioned nine contact parts. can. Therefore, both parts can be welded while preventing deformation of the parts to be welded due to unnecessary heating of parts, and as a result, welding can be performed with higher precision than when an oxyhydrogen flame is used as the heating source. can. In addition, since a Rede beam is used as the heating source, there is no risk of impure gas penetrating into the phase of the welded part unlike when an oxyhydrogen flame is used, and problems caused by penetration are also avoided. do not have. Furthermore, since the elliptical reflector, the swinging reflector, and the support are arranged in the above relationship, the parts to be welded can be mutually moved by simply moving only a relatively large element such as the swinging reflector. The contact portion can be heated uniformly in the circumferential direction. For this reason,
The entire mounting part can be simplified.

Therefore, this device can be used for exhaust V in the arc tube manufacturing process.
If used for bath application, it is possible to mass produce high-quality arc tubes while suppressing increases in equipment costs. Of course, similar effects can be expected not only in the example of connecting exhaust pipes but also in welding various glass-based members to each other.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

FIG. 2 shows an elliptical reflecting mirror of a welding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a support for supporting a pair of glass parts to be welded is arranged in front of the elliptical reflecting surface 2. . now,
Taking as an example the case where the pair of glass members to be welded are the transparent tube material E and the exhaust pipe G shown in FIG. 1, the support is constructed as follows. That is, it is composed of a first support 3 that supports the transparent tube material E, and a second support 4 that supports the exhaust pipe G. The first support 3 is composed of clips 5a and 5b that hold both ends of the transparent tube material E in such a manner that the tube axis of the material E is parallel to the short axis of the strip-shaped elliptical reflective surface 2. When the clips 5m and 5b support the transparent tube material E as described above, the clips 5m and 5b support the transparent tube material E as described above.
The outer surface of the small hole F provided in the wall 9 of the spherical cavity A is positioned so that the first focal point PK of the elliptical reflective surface 2 can be positioned exactly. On the other hand, the second support 4 has a clip 5m.
, 5bK is constituted by a clip 6 which holds an exhaust pipe G whose one end side is brought into contact with the outer surface of the transparent tube material E in communication with the small hole F. The clip 6 is provided for OJ movement only in the vertical direction in the figure, and is constantly subjected to biasing force directed upward in the figure due to the restoring force of the spring 7. Further, the amount of displacement of the clip 6 upward in the figure is regulated by the stop horn 48,
Furthermore, it is connected to an air piston 9.

Therefore, at the second focal point Q of the elliptical reflective surface 2, the reflective surface is positioned at the second focal point, and the elliptical reflective surface 20 can swing freely in multiple directions around the focal point Q. A reflecting mirror 10 is arranged. The reflecting mirror 10 is connected to one end side of a shaft 11 that is parallel to the elliptical reflecting surface 2 and on a line passing through the second focal point Q. And axis 11
A pinion 12 is attached to the other end, and this pinion 12 meshes with a rack 13. One end of a lever 14 is connected to one end of the rack 13 via a pin.
The other end of the lever 14 is connected via a pin to the peripheral portion of a disc 16 that is rotationally driven by a motor 15.

That is, when the motor 15 rotates, the latch 13 moves forward and backward as shown by the solid line arrow 17 in the figure, and along with this, the shaft 11 moves forward and backward.
is rotated as shown by the solid line arrow 18 in the figure, and as a result, the reflecting mirror 10 is tilted rather than oscillated.

On the side of the reflecting mirror 10, a laser device 20 for emitting a carbon dioxide laser is arranged to radiate a laser beam 19 toward the second focal position of the reflecting mirror IQ. And laser equipment fl! , 20. The motor 15 and the air piston 9 are controlled by a control device 21 in a relationship that will be described later.

Next, using the apparatus configured as described above, the transparent tube material E is
An example of use when welding the exhaust pipe G to the exhaust pipe G will be explained.

First, the light-transmitting tube material E is supported by the related pressure holes 5* and 6b whose small holes F face upward in the figure.

Next, the exhaust pipe G is brought into contact with the light-transmitting tube material E so as to communicate with the small hole F, and in this state is supported by a professional.

Next, the spot diameter and power of the laser beam 19 sent out from the loop device 20 are set, and the optical axis of the laser beam 19 is the same as the contact portion between the transparent tube material E and the exhaust pipe G. The so-called height position of the laser device 2° is adjusted so that it is located on a plane. This adjustment only needs to be made once if the dimensions of the objects to be welded are the same.

Next, an operation start command is given to the control device 21.

The control device 21 first causes the motor 15 to start rotating.

As the motor 150 rotates, the reflecting mirror 1° starts to swing about the second focal point Q in the direction of the curvature of the elliptical reflecting surface 2.

The swing angle θ at this time can be varied by selecting the diameter of the hinion 12 or the connection position of the lever 14 to the disc 16.

The control device 21 then gives an operation start command to the laser device 20. Based on the above instructions, the laser device 2o
emits a laser beam 19. The emitted laser beam 19 is directed to an elliptical reflecting surface 2 by a swinging reflecting mirror 10.
reflected towards. The laser beam 19 that has proceeded toward the elliptical reflective surface 2 is irradiated directly onto the contact portion between the arc tube material E and the exhaust pipe G and via the elliptical reflective surface 2 . In this case, in the relationship 1) with the above-mentioned concussion circular reflecting surface 2, the abutment part and the swinging reflecting mirror 10 are in the above-mentioned relationship.
Since the abutting portion is located uniformly, the laser beam 1
After the irradiation of 9, the area is uniformly heated. Therefore, the vicinity of the contact portion rapidly melts.

Then, after a certain predetermined period of time has elapsed, the control rack 21 stops the operation of the laser device 20, and then gives an operation command to the air piston 9. As a result, air piston 9
resists the restoring force of the spring 7 and pushes the chestnut and professional downward in the figure. For this reason, a pressing force of several tens of thousands acts on the abutting portion of the light-transmitting tube material E and the exhaust pipe G, and as a result, the two are completely integrally joined. Next, control device 2
1 gives a command to stop air piston 9VC operation. As a result, the clip 6 rises again to its original position due to the restoring force of the spring 7. This elevation stretches and thins the joint, forming what is called a smooth, uniformly thick joint. After the end of such operation, when the temperature of the joint part has decreased sufficiently, the clips 5h, 5
If the transparent tube material E and the exhaust pipe G are removed integrally from b r 6, the exhaust pipe G is welded to the transparent tube material E as shown in Fig. 1(b). be able to.

In this case, the laser beam 19 is used as a heating source, and the laser beam 19 is placed at the position via the elliptical reflecting mirror 1 arranged as described above and the swinging reflecting mirror 10. This combined with the fact that the irradiation is applied to the abutment area allows the irradiation to be performed only near the abutment area without complicating the entire equipment and without introducing impure gas into the workpiece. Can be welded by heating and melting. therefore,
The above-mentioned effects can be obtained.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same parts as in FIG. 2 are designated by the same numbers. Therefore, the explanation of the overlapping parts will be omitted.

This embodiment differs from the previous embodiment in that a slot that can be opened and closed is provided on the laser beam path between the elliptical reflecting surface 2 and the reflecting mirror 1o.
This is due to the provision of a locking mechanism.

That is, two plates 31* are placed in a relationship sandwiching the optical path.
31b is provided so as to be movable in the direction shown by the solid line arrow 32 in the figure, and these plate bodies 31m and 31b are screwed together with a feed screw 33VC (right-handed screw nut) 34* and left-handed screw screw () 34b.
Further, one end of the feed screw 33 is connected to the rotating shaft of the motor 35.

By controlling the leftward rotation angle and rightward rotation angle of the motor 35 by the control device 211, the aperture width between the plate body 31 gourd and the jllb is sequentially changed during the irradiation period of the laser beam 19. The opening width is gradually increased as time elapses from the start of radiation to equalize the degree of heating in the circumferential direction at the contact portion.

With such a configuration, even more precise welding can be performed.

Note that cooling means such as a reflecting mirror is omitted in each example, but if cooling is required,

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of the manufacturing process of an arc tube in a high-pressure discharge lamp, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a welding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a welding device according to an example. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Elliptical reflector, 3... Support, 1o... Reflector, 11... Shaft, 12... Binion, 13... Rack, 15... Motor, 20... laser device, 21
．． 21m...control device, P...first focal point, Q...
-Second focal point, E...transparent tube element side, G...exhaust pipe.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An elliptical reflector and a pair of glass members having bonded surfaces to be bonded to each other are placed in a state where the bonded surfaces are in contact with each other, and the contact portion is connected to the first ellipsoidal reflector. a pair of supports located at the focal point; a laser device that emits a laser beam as a heating source; and a reflective surface located at a second focal point of the elliptical mirror, which is swingable with center pressure at the second focal point. an oscillating reflector provided in the laser device and irradiating a laser beam emitted from the laser device toward the elliptical reflector; means for imparting an oscillating force to the oscillating reflector; A welding device for glass-based members, comprising at least a control device for controlling the laser device. (2) The welding device for glass-based members according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the pair of supports is capable of selectively applying a pressing force to the abutting portion. Department. (3) The glass system according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam optical path between the first and second focal points is provided with a slit mechanism that can selectively vary the aperture width. Part-use welding joint.