JPS61147988A - Laser beam processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a device for laser beam processing of work which is particularly large in size and has a free curved surface by providing plural guide cylinders which are freely rotatably connected to a scanner for conducting downward laser light and are provided internally with reflecting mirrors for the laser light in the curved parts and a freely movable condenser lens near the aperture of the final guide cylinder. CONSTITUTION:A gate-shaped frame 5 and a supporting frame 7 via a driving mechanism 6 are respectively moved relatively to a working part. The laser light L is conducted from a laser light oscillator 8 to the 1st guide cylinder 11. The laser light L is conducted to the 2nd guide cylinder 12 and is reflected twice in the rectangular direction and approximately 45 deg. direction and is conducted to the 3rd guide cylinder 15 by the reflecting mirror 13 and the 2nd reflecting mirror 14 provided to the curved parts. The laser L is further reflected twice in the rectangular direction and approximately 45 deg. direction and is conducted to the condenser lens 18 by the 3rd reflecting mirror and 4th reflecting mirror 17 provided in the curved parts. The laser light L focused by the lens 18 is irradiated together with an auxiliary gas from a nozzle 15a to the working part of the work 20. The scanner 3 moves in an X-axis direction and Y-axis direction during this time and therefore the moving range of the nozzle 15a is not limited.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a laser processing device, and more particularly to a three-dimensional laser processing device suitable for processing a large workpiece having a free-form surface. be.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] Three-dimensional laser processing of workpieces with free-form surfaces, such as automobile bodies, has become an important technical issue from an industrial perspective.

In the case of laser processing of a workpiece with a three-dimensionally complex shape, moving the workpiece in order to orient the workpiece in the laser beam irradiation direction requires a patent as the device itself is complex and large. isn't it. Therefore, it is desired to realize an apparatus that transmits and irradiates a laser beam to an arbitrary position on a free-form surface without moving the workpiece.

Therefore, the present applicant has previously proposed an apparatus that can easily process a workpiece without moving the workpiece by moving the laser optical axis in the normal direction of the workpiece using NO control or robot drive operation.

The gist of this is that it includes a first guide tube that guides laser light traveling along a vertical axis, one end of which is rotatably engaged with the first guide tube, and two bent portions forming a V-shape. A second guide tube is provided with first and second reflecting mirrors that reflect the laser beam at these bent portions, and a guide tube with one end reflected by the second reflector is provided at the other end of the second guide tube. A third and a second guide tube are rotatably engaged in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis, and have a bent portion having substantially the same shape as the second guide tube, and further fold back the laser beam reflected by the second guide tube at these bent portions. 4 anti-1)
Jlt is installed therein, and a third guide tube is provided inside the condensing lens for condensing the folded laser beam.

However, when the workpiece becomes very large, such as a large-capacity tank, a ship, or a panel for a large truck, each component inevitably becomes large, and the guide tubes that make up the laser beam transmission system, etc. Due to processing errors and assembly errors of the built-in reflector, the transmission path is not set accurately and the laser beam is not reflected by the reflector at a predetermined angle. This is because it is not done.

Therefore, it has been desired to realize an apparatus that can perform laser processing without moving the workpiece even if the workpiece becomes very large as described above.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and provides a laser processing device capable of laser processing a workpiece having a particularly large free-form surface without moving the workpiece. The purpose is to provide

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention provides a scanner that allows the upper part of a workpiece to be moved in two orthogonal directions in a horizontal plane and that guides laser light downward;
A plurality of guide tubes are rotatably connected to the scanner and have laser beam reflecting mirrors installed in their bent portions, and a condenser lens that focuses the laser beam is installed near the opening of the final stage guide tube. By configuring the final stage guide cylinder with a moving device that moves it to the desired position, the movement range is shared between the scanner and the guide cylinder with a bending part connected in multiple stages, making the guide cylinder compact and reducing the number of connected stages. This enables accurate laser processing of large workpieces having free-form surfaces.

[Embodiment of the Invention] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the laser processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, a base 2 is installed on a floor 1, and the base 2 is provided with a table 3 on which a workpiece is mounted and a movable scanner (hereinafter referred to as scanner) 4. This scanner 4 consists of a gate-shaped frame 5 provided on a base 2 so that it can freely reciprocate in the Y-axis direction by a drive mechanism (not shown), and a gate-shaped frame 5 installed on the top of this portal frame 5 so that it can freely reciprocate in the X-axis direction by a drive mechanism 6. It consists of a support frame 7 provided. This support frame 7 has ducts 8a, 8 from a known laser oscillation IS8 installed on the floor.
A reflecting mirror 9d is provided to reflect downward the laser light (indicated by a dashed dotted line) guided through the mirrors 19a, 8c, 8d and reflections 19a, 9b and 9C. Note that the ducts 8C and 8d are provided with movable portal frames 5 and support frames 7, so that they are respectively extendable and retractable.

Thus, the guide cylinder having the above-mentioned bent portion is rotatably connected in series below the support frame 7. That is, a first guide tube 11 for guiding the laser beam along the vertical axis is provided at the lower part of the support frame 7, and a second guide tube 12 is rotatably engaged at one end with the lower part of the first guide tube 11. will be established. This second
The guide tube 12 has a right angle part and a part bent at approximately 45 degrees, and the first reflecting mirror 1 which returns the laser beam to these bent parts
3 and a second reflecting mirror 14 are provided inside.

A third guide tube 15 is provided at the other end of the second guide tube 12, one end of which is rotatably engaged. This third guide 111
5 has approximately the same shape as the second guide tube 12 and has a right angle and an approximately 45° bent portion, and a third reflecting mirror 16 that reflects the laser beam reflected by the second reflecting mirror 14 at these bent portions; A fourth reflector $1117 is provided inside, and a condenser lens 18 is further provided inside to focus the laser beam reflected by the fourth reflector a117, and the tip thereof is a nozzle 15a from which auxiliary gas is ejected.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained. First, N
The G control device or other currency control device moves the support frame 7 to the processing section via the portal frame 5 and the drive mechanism 6 via a drive mechanism (not shown). Incidentally, during this movement, the third guide tube 15 is moved by the motion of a known multi-jointed or rectangular coordinate robot (not shown).

Therefore, the laser beam from the laser oscillator 8 is transmitted to the duct 8a.
, 8b, 8c and 8d, reflection 19a.

It is led to the first guide cylinder 11 via 9b, 9c and 9d. As shown in FIG. 3, this laser light is guided along the vertical axis direction to the second guide tube 12, and is reflected by the first reflection [113 and the second reflection!] provided at the bent part. It is reflected twice by i14 in the right angle direction and in the approximately 45° direction and is guided to the third guide tube 15. This laser light is reflected by the third reflecting mirror provided at the bending part and the fourth reflecting mirror! i17 further reflects the light twice in the right angle direction and in the approximately 45° direction and guides it to the condenser lens 18, where it is focused by the condenser lens 18 and irradiated along with the auxiliary gas from the nozzle 15a onto the processing portion of the workpiece 20. .

With this configuration, since the scanner 4 moves in the X-axis and Y-axis directions of the table 3, the length of the bent portion of each guide cylinder can be shortened, and the guide having the bent portion that can be freely engaged with the guide tube can be shortened. Even if the number of cylinders is reduced, the movement range of the nozzle 15a is not restricted. By providing at least five guide tubes with bent portions, very large workpieces can be laser processed. In addition, since the laser light can be accurately transmitted by the scanner 4,
Compared to the case where a large number of guide tubes having bent portions are combined for irradiation, accurate laser processing can be performed with less influence from processing errors, assembly errors, etc. moreover,
It also becomes easier to manufacture the guide tube.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the scanner 4 is composed of the portal frame 5 and the support frame 7, but it also includes a horizontal frame that moves on a guide rail provided on the ceiling along the Y-axis direction, and a horizontal frame that moves this horizontal frame. It may also be configured with a support frame. Also, the scanner 4 is
*Although it was moved in the X-wheel and Y-axis directions by the mechanism, it can be moved automatically according to the movement of the third guide cylinder 15 by guiding it through a member with extremely low friction, such as a linear drive bearing. You can also do it. This eliminates the need for a drive mechanism, making it possible to realize an inexpensive device. However, if a sensor or other member is provided near the nozzle, the weight of the guide tube increases and the load on the robot device increases, so it is desirable to drive the scanner with a drive mechanism.

[Effects of the Invention] Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to perform laser processing accurately even on a workpiece having a particularly large free-form surface without moving the workpiece. can. Furthermore, the laser beam transmission system can be simplified to facilitate manufacturing and handling.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the laser processing device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a front view showing an embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the embodiment of the invention. It is. 4...Scanner 8...Laser oscillator 11...First guide tube 12...Second guide tube 15...Third guide tube 15a...Nozzle L...Laser light ( 7317) Agent: Patent Attorney Noriyuki Chika (and 1 others)
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 @

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A scanner whose upper part of the workpiece is movable in two orthogonal directions in a horizontal plane and which guides the laser beam downward, and which is rotatably connected to the scanner and has a reflecting mirror for the laser beam in the bent part. A condenser lens disposed near the opening end of the final stage guide cylinder for converging the laser beam, and a moving device for moving the final stage guide cylinder to a desired position. laser processing equipment. (2) The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide cylinder is provided with two bent portions, one at a right angle and the other at approximately 45°. (3) The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the open end of the final stage guide cylinder is a nozzle. (4) The laser processing device according to claim 1, wherein the final stage guide tube is moved by an articulated or orthogonal coordinate robot device.