WO2023171251A1

WO2023171251A1 - Laser processing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2023171251A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/004780
Authority: WO
Inventors: 俊之三島; 龍幸中川; 潤司藤原
Original assignee: パナソニックＩｐマネジメント株式会社
Priority date: 2022-03-09
Filing date: 2023-02-13
Publication date: 2023-09-14

Abstract

A first support member 30 has a first rack 32 and a first link pin 33. The first link pin 33 moves relatively inside a first link hole 11 in association with movement of the first rack 32. A second support member 40 has a second rack 42 and a second link pin 44. The second link pin 44 rotatably supports a shield gas nozzle 10. The blow-out angle of the shield gas nozzle 10 is changed due to rotation of the shield gas nozzle 10 about the second link pin 44 in association with relative movement of the first link pin 33.

Description

laser processing equipment

The present invention relates to a laser processing device.

Patent Document 1 discloses that by rotating a shield gas nozzle (side nozzle) to change and adjust the angle with the welding surface, and then tightening a screw to maintain the adjusted position, the jet nozzle at the lower end of the shield gas nozzle is turned into a laser beam. A laser processing device is disclosed in which the laser beam is directed near the focal point.

Patent No. 5096000

By the way, in the invention of Patent Document 1, the angle adjustment of the shield gas nozzle is performed before starting laser processing, and the shield gas nozzle maintains the same posture during laser processing.

Therefore, when laser processing a workpiece whose shape changes significantly during the welding path, there may be areas around the processing point of the workpiece where shielding gas is not sufficiently supplied, which may cause the workpiece to oxidize.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and its purpose is to enable the blowing angle of the shielding gas to be changed during laser processing.

A first aspect is a laser processing apparatus including a laser processing head that emits a laser beam to a processing point of a workpiece, and a shield gas nozzle that supplies a shield gas to the processing point, the shield gas nozzle including: A first rack that is provided with a first link hole and a second link hole that is formed at a position farther from the laser processing head than the first link hole, and that extends along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head. and a first link pin inserted into the first link hole; a first support member that extends along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head and is further away from the laser processing head than the first rack. a second support member having a second rack disposed therein, a second link pin inserted into the second link hole, a first pinion gear that meshes with the first rack, and a second support member that is disposed outside the first pinion gear; a second pinion gear that has a large diameter and meshes with the second rack; and a motor that rotates the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear, and the first link pin is configured to move the first rack. The second link pin rotatably supports the shield gas nozzle, and the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle is adjusted relative to the first link pin. As the shield gas nozzle rotates around the second link pin as it moves, the change is made.

In the first aspect, by changing the blowout angle of the shield gas nozzle during laser processing, it becomes easier to supply shield gas to the processing point of the workpiece according to the shape of the workpiece.

A second aspect of the laser processing apparatus according to the first aspect includes a switching mechanism that moves the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear in the direction of the rotation axis, and the second support member is configured to and the second rack, and the switching mechanism has a third rack that is disposed between the first pinion gear and the second rack, and the switching mechanism changes the positions of the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear. a first position where the first pinion gear meshes with the first rack and the second pinion gear meshes with the second rack; and a first position where the first pinion gear meshes with the first rack and the third rack and the second pinion gear meshes with the second rack. and a second position where the gear and the second rack are disengaged.

In the second aspect, in the first position, the amount of movement of the first rack that meshes with the first pinion gear is larger than the amount of movement of the second rack that meshes with the second pinion gear, so that the second rack is moved around the second link pin. The shield gas nozzle can be rotated to change the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle.

In the second position, the movement amount of the first rack and the third rack that mesh with the first pinion gear is the same, so it is possible to change the height position of the shield gas nozzle relative to the workpiece while maintaining the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle. can.

A third aspect of the laser processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect includes a position detection section that detects the position of the laser processing head with respect to the workpiece, and the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle is determined by the detection of the position detection section. Changes will be made based on the results.

In the third aspect, during laser processing, by detecting the position of the laser processing head with respect to the workpiece, the inclination of the workpiece can be calculated in real time, and feedback control can be performed so that the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle is optimized. can.

A fourth aspect is the laser processing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, including a blow nozzle that blows air in a direction intersecting the laser emission direction of the laser processing head, and the blow nozzle is configured to It is supported by at least one of the first support member and the second support member.

In the fourth aspect, by supporting the shield gas nozzle and the blow nozzle with the same support member, there is no need to separately provide a support member dedicated to the blow nozzle, and it is possible to save space and reduce costs.

According to the aspect of the present disclosure, the blowing angle of the shield gas can be changed during laser processing.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a laser processing apparatus according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a side view showing the configuration of the laser processing device. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the configuration of the laser processing device. FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state in which the blowing angle of the shielding gas is changed. FIG. 5 is a side view showing the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear in the second position. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear in the second position.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Note that the following description of preferred embodiments is essentially just an example, and is not intended to limit the present invention, its applications, or its uses.

<Configuration of laser processing equipment>
As shown in FIG. 1, the laser processing apparatus 1 includes a laser oscillator 2, an optical fiber 3, a robot 4, a control section 5, a laser processing head 6, a shielding gas supply section 7, and an air supply section 8. , is provided.

The laser oscillator 2 oscillates a laser beam L. The laser oscillator 2 can use, for example, a solid laser light source, a gas laser light source, or a fiber laser light source. Further, the laser oscillator 2 may be a semiconductor laser light source that directly uses emitted light from a semiconductor laser, or a semiconductor laser array including a plurality of laser light emitters.

The laser oscillator 2 is connected to the input end of the optical fiber 3. The laser processing head 6 is connected to the output end of the optical fiber 3. Laser light L emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is transmitted to the laser processing head 6 via the optical fiber 3.

The laser processing head 6 emits a laser beam L to a processing point P of the workpiece W. The laser processing head 6 is attached to the robot 4. The laser processing head 6 can change the emission position and focal position of the laser beam L with respect to the workpiece W by operating the robot 4. In the example shown in FIG. 1, an elliptical workpiece W whose shape changes significantly along the emission path of the laser beam L is targeted.

A laser oscillator 2, a robot 4, and a laser processing head 6 are connected to the control unit 5. In addition to the moving speed of the laser processing head 6, the control unit 5 controls the start and stop of outputting the laser beam L, the output intensity of the laser beam L, and the like. Note that the control unit 5 may control the amount of gas supplied by the shielding gas supply unit 7 and the amount of air supplied by the air supply unit 8.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the laser processing apparatus 1 further includes a shield gas nozzle 10, a blow nozzle 20, a position change mechanism 25, a switching mechanism 60, and a position detection section 55.

The shield gas nozzle 10 is connected to the shield gas supply section 7. The shield gas nozzle 10 supplies the shield gas supplied from the shield gas supply section 7 to the processing point P. The shielding gas is used to suppress oxidation of the workpiece W.

The shield gas nozzle 10 is provided with a first link hole 11 and a second link hole 12. The first link hole 11 is formed as a long hole extending along the blowing direction of the shield gas nozzle 10 . The second link hole 12 is formed at a position farther from the laser processing head 6 than the first link hole 11 is. Shield gas nozzle 10 is attached to position change mechanism 25 .

The blow nozzle 20 is arranged above the shield gas nozzle 10. Blow nozzle 20 is connected to air supply section 8 . The blow nozzle 20 blows out the air supplied from the air supply section 8 in a direction intersecting the laser emission direction of the laser processing head 6. The blow nozzle 20 blows away spatter and fumes generated at the processing point P from the optical axis of the laser beam L to remove them.

The blow nozzle 20 is provided with a third link hole 21 and a fourth link hole 22. The third link hole 21 is formed as a long hole extending along the blowing direction of the blow nozzle 20 . The fourth link hole 22 is formed at a position farther from the laser processing head 6 than the third link hole 21 is. Blow nozzle 20 is attached to position change mechanism 25 .

The position change mechanism 25 includes a first support member 30, a second support member 40, a first pinion gear 51, a second pinion gear 52, and a motor 53.

The first support member 30 includes a first bar 31, a first rack 32, a first link pin 33, and a third link pin 34. The first bar 31 extends along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head 6.

The first rack 32 is provided on the upper side of the first bar 31. The first rack 32 extends along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head 6.

The first link pin 33 is provided on the lower side of the first bar 31. The first link pin 33 is inserted into the first link hole 11 of the shield gas nozzle 10 . The first link pin 33 moves relatively inside the first link hole 11 as the first rack 32 moves.

The third link pin 34 is provided above the first link pin 33 on the first bar 31. The third link pin 34 is inserted into the third link hole 21 of the blow nozzle 20. The third link pin 34 relatively moves inside the third link hole 21 as the first rack 32 moves.

The second support member 40 includes a second bar 41, a second rack 42, a third rack 43, a second link pin 44, and a fourth link pin 45. The second bar 41 extends along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head 6.

The second rack 42 is provided on the upper side of the second bar 41. The second rack 42 extends along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head 6. The second rack 42 is arranged further away from the laser processing head 6 than the first rack 32 is.

The third rack 43 is provided on the upper side of the second bar 41. The third rack 43 is arranged between the first rack 32 and the second rack 42. As will be described in detail later, the third rack 43 can mesh with the first pinion gear 51 by moving the first pinion gear 51 in the direction of the rotating shaft 54.

The second link pin 44 is provided on the lower side of the second bar 41. The second link pin 44 is inserted into the second link hole 12 of the shield gas nozzle 10. The second link pin 44 rotatably supports the shield gas nozzle 10.

The fourth link pin 45 is provided above the second link pin 44 on the second bar 41. The fourth link pin 45 is inserted into the fourth link hole 22 of the blow nozzle 20. The fourth link pin 45 rotatably supports the blow nozzle 20.

In this way, by supporting the blow nozzle 20 using the first support member 30 and the second support member 40 for attaching the shield gas nozzle 10, there is no need to separately provide a support member dedicated to the blow nozzle 20, which saves money. It is possible to save space and reduce costs.

The first pinion gear 51 meshes with the first rack 32. The second pinion gear 52 meshes with the second rack 42. The second pinion gear 52 has a larger outer diameter than the first pinion gear 51.

The motor 53 rotates the first pinion gear 51 and the second pinion gear 52. A rotating shaft 54 of the motor 53 is connected to a first pinion gear 51 and a second pinion gear 52. The first pinion gear 51 and the second pinion gear 52 are movable in the axial direction with respect to the rotating shaft 54 of the motor 53. For example, a key (not shown) may be provided on the rotating shaft 54 of the motor 53, and key grooves (not shown) may be provided in the first pinion gear 51 and the second pinion gear 52, so that the motor 53 can be configured to be movable in the axial direction.

The switching mechanism 60 is composed of, for example, a cylinder. The switching mechanism 60 moves the first pinion gear 51 and the second pinion gear 52 in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 54. The switching mechanism 60 switches the positions of the first pinion gear 51 and the second pinion gear 52 between a first position and a second position, which will be described later.

<About the first position>
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the first position, the first pinion gear 51 is engaged with the first rack 32, and the second pinion gear 52, which has a larger pitch circle diameter than the first pinion gear 51, is engaged with the first rack 32. It meshes with the rack 42. In the first position, the amount of movement of the first rack 32 that meshes with the first pinion gear 51 is smaller than the amount of movement of the second rack 42 that meshes with the second pinion gear 52 per rotation of the rotating shaft 54 of the motor 53. Become.

Therefore, the amount of movement of the first rack 32 per rotation of the rotating shaft 54 of the motor 53 is smaller than the amount of movement of the second rack 42, and the first link pin 33 moves relatively inside the first link hole 11. By doing so, the shield gas nozzle 10 rotates around the second link pin 44. Thereby, the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle 10 can be changed (see FIG. 4).

In this way, by changing the blowout angle of the shield gas nozzle 10 during laser processing, it becomes easier to supply the shield gas to the processing point P of the workpiece W according to the shape of the workpiece W.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, when the curvature near the machining point P on the workpiece W is large, the shielding gas blown out from the shielding gas nozzle 10 may be applied to a steep slope beyond the machining point P (see FIG. It is preferable to increase the blowout angle θ so that the airflow flows along the hatched area).

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, when the curvature near the processing point P on the workpiece W is small, the shielding gas blown out from the shielding gas nozzle 10 is applied to a gently sloped surface ( It is preferable to reduce the blowout angle θ so that the airflow flows along the hatched area in FIG.

In this way, it is preferable to change the blowing angle θ of the shield gas nozzle 10 according to the curvature of the workpiece W near the processing point P.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the blowing angle θ of the shield gas nozzle 10 is determined by the relative difference between the moving distance x of the first bar 31 and the moving distance y of the second bar 41. Here, if the distance a is from the optical axis of the laser beam L to the first bar 31, and the distance b is the distance from the optical axis of the laser beam L to the second bar 41, then the relationship x:y=a:b holds true.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the ratio of the pitch circle diameter of the first pinion gear 51 to the pitch circle diameter of the second pinion gear 52 is set to be a:b. In this way, the blowing angle θ of the shield gas nozzle 10 can be arbitrarily adjusted by simply rotating the first pinion gear 51 and the second pinion gear 52 with one motor 53.

Similarly, regarding the blow nozzle 20, the third link pin 34 moves relatively inside the third link hole 21, so that the blow nozzle 20 rotates around the fourth link pin 45. Thereby, the blowing angle of the blow nozzle 20 can be changed (see FIG. 4).

A position detection section 55 is provided at the lower end of the laser processing head 6. The position detection unit 55 detects the position of the laser processing head 6 with respect to the vicinity of the processing point P of the workpiece W. A signal indicating the position information detected by the position detection section 55 is sent to the control section 5. The control unit 5 controls the rotation angle of the motor 53 based on the detection result of the position detection unit 55, and changes the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle 10.

In this way, by detecting the position of the laser processing head 6 with respect to the workpiece W during laser processing, the inclination of the workpiece W near the processing point P is calculated in real time, and the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle 10 is optimized. It can be controlled by feedback. In other words, the blowing angle θ of the shield gas nozzle 10 can be changed depending on the curvature of the workpiece W near the processing point P.

Note that the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle 10 may be changed based on the blowing angle and blowing position that are preset by teaching.

<About the second position>
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in the second position, the first pinion gear 51 having one pitch diameter meshes with the first rack 32 and the third rack 43, and the pitch is smaller than that of the first pinion gear 51. The engagement between the second pinion gear 52, which has a larger circular diameter, and the second rack 42 is released. In the second position, the amount of movement of the first rack 32 and the third rack 43 that mesh with the first pinion gear 51 per rotation of the rotating shaft 54 of the motor 53 is the same.

Therefore, as the first pinion gear 51 rotates, the first rack 32 and third rack 43 that mesh with the first pinion gear 51 simultaneously move in the height direction. Thereby, the height position of the shield gas nozzle 10 relative to the workpiece W can be changed while maintaining the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle 10. Furthermore, since the blow nozzle 20 also moves in the height direction together with the shield gas nozzle 10, it is possible to suppress the mixture of the shield gas and air.

《Other embodiments》
The embodiment described above may have the following configuration.

In the embodiment, the blow nozzle 20 is supported by the third link pin 34 of the first support member 30 and the fourth link pin 45 of the second support member 40, but the present invention is not limited to this form. do not have.

Specifically, there is no need to particularly change the blowing angle of the blow nozzle 20 during laser processing. Therefore, the blow nozzle 20 only needs to be supported by at least one of the first support member 30 and the second support member 40.

For example, since the second pinion gear 52 has a larger pitch diameter and a larger outer diameter than the first pinion gear 51, the amount of movement of the second support member 40 that moves due to the rotation of the second pinion gear 52 is smaller than that of the first support member 52. This is larger than the amount of movement of member 30. Therefore, it is preferable that the blow nozzle 20 be supported by the first support member 30, which has a small movement amount.

As explained above, the present invention has the highly practical effect of being able to change the blowout angle of shielding gas during laser processing, and therefore is extremely useful and has high industrial applicability.

1 Laser processing device 6 Laser processing head 10 Shield gas nozzle 11 First link hole 12 Second link hole 20 Blow nozzle 30 First support member 32 First rack 33 First link pin 40 Second support member 42 Second rack 43 Third Rack 44 Second link pin 51 First pinion gear 52 Second pinion gear 53 Motor 54 Rotating shaft 55 Position detection section 60 Switching mechanism W Work P Processing point L Laser light

Claims

A laser processing device comprising a laser processing head that emits a laser beam to a processing point of a workpiece, and a shield gas nozzle that supplies shielding gas to the processing point,
The shield gas nozzle is provided with a first link hole and a second link hole formed at a position farther from the laser processing head than the first link hole,
a first support member having a first rack extending along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head and a first link pin inserted into the first link hole;
a second rack extending along the laser emission direction of the laser processing head and disposed further from the laser processing head than the first rack; and a second link pin inserted into the second link hole. a second support member;
a first pinion gear that meshes with the first rack;
a second pinion gear having a larger outer diameter than the first pinion gear and meshing with the second rack;
a motor that rotates the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear,
the first link pin relatively moves inside the first link hole as the first rack moves;
the second link pin rotatably supports the shield gas nozzle;
The blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle is changed by the shield gas nozzle rotating about the second link pin in accordance with the relative movement of the first link pin.
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1,
comprising a switching mechanism that moves the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear in the rotation axis direction,
The second support member has a third rack disposed between the first rack and the second rack and capable of meshing with the first pinion gear,
The switching mechanism sets the positions of the first pinion gear and the second pinion gear to a first position where the first pinion gear meshes with the first rack and the second pinion gear meshes with the second rack; A laser processing apparatus that switches to a second position in which the first pinion gear is engaged with the first rack and the third rack, and the second pinion gear and the second rack are disengaged.
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
comprising a position detection unit that detects the position of the laser processing head with respect to the workpiece,
A laser processing apparatus in which the blowing angle of the shield gas nozzle is changed based on a detection result of the position detection section.
In the laser processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
comprising a blow nozzle that blows air in a direction intersecting the laser emission direction of the laser processing head,
The blow nozzle is a laser processing device supported by at least one of the first support member and the second support member.