JP2003334686A - Laser beam processing sputtering adhesion prevention - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser beam processing head having a simple structure for effectively preventing the adhesion of sputtering to the head and a work to be processed and a low-cost sputtering adhesion preventing mechanism. <P>SOLUTION: The laser beam processing head opposed to the work of an object to be processed at the distal end of a laser beam processing apparatus comprises: a laser processing nozzle for emitting a laser from the head toward the work; an assistant gas supply port for injecting an assistant gas; and a sputtering adhesion preventing nozzle to be supplied with a fluid. Further, the sputtering adhesion preventing nozzle is disposed between the working nozzle and the work to inject the fluid from the lateral direction to a line for connecting the working nozzle to the work to prevent the sputtering generated by the laser processing from being adhered to the constituent element of the processing head and the work. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing head provided at the tip of a laser processing apparatus, and more particularly, it effectively prevents spatter from adhering to a laser processing head and a workpiece to be processed. The present invention relates to a laser processing head devised as described above.

[0002]

Lasers are a relatively new technology, but they are already used in many fields. The field of machining such as welding and cutting is one of the main application fields of lasers. Lasers are characterized by high directivity, which enables microfabrication. The laser processing method is capable of high-speed fine processing, and therefore needs are increasing. In general, an assist gas is jetted from a laser processing head to improve workability and prevent oxidation, and to prevent spatter from adhering to the laser processing head and lens protection glass. However, as the speed increases, a large amount of spatter is generated during processing and adheres to the laser processing head and lens protection glass, so maintenance work such as cleaning the laser processing head and replacing the lens protection glass is indispensable and hinders productivity. There is a problem that affects the processing quality.

To solve this problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 6-170577, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-164495, Japanese Patent Application No. 1
Methods such as 1-123578 have been proposed. In Japanese Patent Application No. 6-170577, spatter is removed by a spatter shield plate and dry air from the side, but the structure is complicated and adjustment is difficult, and spatter adherence to the spatter shield plate cannot be avoided. In Japanese Patent Application No. 9-164495, a supersonic gas is flown into the processing head to prevent the spatter from adhering to the lens protection glass, but the sputter also adheres to the processing nozzle. In Japanese Patent Application No. 11-123578, a laser processing head is doubly molded to prevent spatter scattering into the head, but it is unavoidable that spatter adheres to the tip of the nozzle. Thus, the above solution cannot completely prevent the spatter from adhering to the laser processing head or the like.

The structure of a general laser processing head 11 of a conventional laser processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
The laser light is generated by the laser generator of the laser processing apparatus and is emitted toward the workpiece 6 that is the workpiece.
The emitted laser light is condensed by the focusing lens 2 arranged in the laser processing head 11 and adjusted so as to focus on the work, and the protective glass 3 for protecting the focusing lens 2 from the spatter 7 and the like. And is finally fired from the laser processing nozzle 4 facing the work 6. As shown in FIG. 4, the laser processing head 11 is provided with an assist gas supply port 5, from which the assist gas is supplied as indicated by an arrow and jetted from the laser processing nozzle 4. Used to improve workability and prevent oxidation. It also functions to prevent the intrusion of the spatter 7. As the assist gas, oxygen, inert gas (argon or the like), dry air or the like is used. The laser processing nozzle 4 generally has a conical shape in which the tip opening is narrowed down in order to concentrate the assist gas near the processing point and prevent intrusion of spatter.

As described above, the assist gas is jetted from the laser processing nozzle 4 and is used to prevent the spatter 7 from adhering to the laser processing nozzle 4 and the protective glass 3. As shown in FIG. Scattering of the spatter 7 in the direction of the laser processing nozzle 4 is unavoidable, and the spatter 7 is inevitably attached to the laser processing nozzle 4 and the protective glass 3.
If the protective glass 3 is not provided, the spatter 7 is inevitably attached to the focusing lens 2.

When the condensing lens is contaminated, the transmittance of the laser beam is reduced, the dirt itself is heated by the laser beam, and the thermal deformation caused by this deteriorates the optical properties such as the condensing performance. However, the condenser lens is destroyed and it becomes impossible to process. When the condenser lens is protected by the protective glass, the protective glass itself is contaminated,
When the contamination becomes remarkable, the transmittance of the laser beam decreases, the optical characteristics deteriorate, and as a result, good processing cannot be performed, and the dirt itself is heated by the laser beam, and finally it is protected by the thermal deformation caused by this. The glass breaks and cannot be processed. In this way, the attachment of the spatter to the focusing lens 2 and the protective glass 3 impedes the passage of the laser light, which may cause a processing defect. Therefore, maintenance such as cleaning of these parts and replacement of parts is required.

Further, if the spatter adheres to the laser processing nozzle, it also hinders the processing, and in an extreme case, the spatter blocks the opening of the laser processing nozzle and hinders the passage of laser light. It can be easily recognized that the occurrence of such a situation causes a processing defect. Furthermore, in conventional laser processing,
There is a problem in that spatter may adhere to the work piece, and spatter on the work piece restricts its application to decorative parts and electronic parts, etc., where spatter adherence / remaining is disliked.

[0008]

As described above, in the conventional laser processing head and the solution thereof, in the laser processing, the adhesion of the spatter to the condenser lens, the protective glass, and the laser processing nozzle or the work is sufficiently performed. There was a problem that it could not be prevented. Furthermore, some solutions have the problem that the device is complicated and expensive.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and sputters a portion such as a laser processing nozzle or a protective glass in a laser processing head and a work to be processed without impairing the function and performance of the apparatus itself. It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser processing head of a laser processing apparatus having a spatter adhesion preventing mechanism that more effectively prevents the adherence of ash.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing head having a spatter adhesion preventing mechanism which is simple in structure and inexpensive.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the laser processing head is provided at the tip of the laser processing apparatus and is a processing target in order to achieve the above-mentioned object. The laser processing head facing the work includes a laser processing nozzle from which a laser is emitted toward the work, an assist gas supply port from which an assist gas is injected, and a spatter adhesion preventing nozzle to which a fluid is supplied. To have. The spatter adhesion prevention nozzle is disposed between the laser processing nozzle and the work, and is generated by laser processing by ejecting a fluid from a direction lateral to a line connecting the laser processing nozzle and the work. It is characterized in that spatter is prevented from adhering to the constituent elements of the laser processing head, the work and the like.

With this configuration, it is more effective to attach the spatter to the laser processing nozzle, the protective glass, and other components of the laser processing head, and the adhesion of the spatter to the work, which are limited in the configuration of the conventional apparatus. Can be prevented.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the fluid ejected from the spatter adhesion preventing nozzle in the laser processing head is a gas. Further, in the aspect described in claim 3 of the present invention, the gas is oxygen,
It is characterized by being an inert gas such as argon or dry air. These forms embody the present invention more.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the aspect ratio of the spatter adhesion preventing nozzle is 1 or more.

According to the present embodiment, the spatter adhesion preventing nozzle is used, which has a rectangular, elliptical, fan-shaped or other shape and has an aspect ratio of 1 or more, that is, a blow-out port having a cross-sectional shape with a long vertical (longitudinal) length. This makes it possible to more easily realize more reliable prevention of spatter adhesion.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the axis line of the spatter adhesion preventing nozzle is a line connecting the laser processing nozzle and the work. It is characterized in that it is oriented in an angle range of ± 20 degrees from a line perpendicular to it.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to more surely blow the spatter to the opposite side of the spatter adhesion preventing nozzle.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 schematically shows a first embodiment of a laser processing head according to the present invention. Element parts of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 that are the same as or similar to the conventional laser processing head shown in FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals. In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the laser processing head 1 includes a condenser lens 2, a protective glass 3, a laser processing nozzle 4,
The provision of the assist gas supply port 5 is similar to the conventional configuration shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, a nozzle 10 for preventing spatter adhesion is provided laterally between the processing nozzle 4 and the work 6.
Is provided. The same oxygen as the assist gas, an inert gas such as argon, dry air, or the like is supplied to the nozzle 10, and is ejected from the nozzle 10. By thus injecting the gas from the lateral direction, the spatter 7 is blown off to the side opposite to the nozzle 10 as shown in the drawing. Further, since the nozzle 10 is installed between the laser processing nozzle 4 and the work 6, it is possible to prevent the spatter from adhering to the laser processing nozzle 4 as well as the spatter to the protective glass 3.

The shape of the injection port at the tip of the nozzle 10 for preventing spatter adhesion may be a vertically long rectangle, an ellipse, a fan shape with a trapezoidal side cross section, or the like. Examples of these shapes are shown in FIG. The optimum shape of the tip of the nozzle 10 has been confirmed by experiments. In this experiment, the placement of the side nozzles using a simple round hole nozzle was changed to investigate the effect of preventing spatter adhesion to the laser processing nozzle. It was revealed that the effective range of position is wide.
That is, it has been found that by using the long nozzle holes in the vertical direction, which efficiently uses the effective range of the spatter adhesion prevention, a reliable spatter adhesion prevention effect can be obtained with a small flow rate of the adhesion preventing gas. That is, in the present embodiment, the shape of the tip opening of the nozzle 10 preferably has an aspect ratio of 1 or more.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a front view of an opening (a nozzle hole) in the case where the shape of the tip opening of the nozzle 10 is rectangular, that is, a sectional view taken along line I--I in FIG. This figure illustrates the aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is represented by aspect ratio = vertical length of injection hole / horizontal length of injection hole. In the present embodiment, the aspect ratio> 1
Is.

The axis of the nozzle 10 is the laser processing nozzle 4
Is arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis line connecting the workpiece 6 and the workpiece 6, that is, the axis line of the nozzle 10 has an angle within a range of ± 20 degrees from the perpendicular to the trajectory of the laser beam. It is preferable to have.

Next, the effects and actions of the above embodiment will be described. The following effects can be expected with the laser processing head according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is possible to more effectively prevent spatter from adhering to the laser machining head components such as the laser machining nozzle and the protective glass, and spatter from adhering to the work, which has a limit in the configuration of the conventional apparatus. -It is possible to more reliably blow spatter to the opposite side of the spatter adhesion prevention nozzle. -Because the aspect ratio of the nozzle is 1 or more, more reliable spatter adhesion prevention can be easily realized. -A laser processing head with a simple structure and an inexpensive spatter adhesion prevention mechanism can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a laser processing head according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I of FIG.
The aspect ratio of the nozzle of the nozzle 10 will be described.

3A to 3C are various examples of the shape of the nozzle of the nozzle 10 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a conventional laser processing head.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Laser processing head 2 ... Condensing lens 3… Protective glass 4 ... Laser processing nozzle 5 ... Assist gas supply port 6 ... work 7 ... Spatter 10 ... Nozzle

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Koji Matsui             1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi stock market             Inside the company DENSO (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Hayashi             1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi stock market             Inside the company DENSO (72) Inventor Hiroshi Yakura             1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi stock market             Inside the company DENSO F-term (reference) 4E068 CD15 CG01 CH02 CH08 CJ01

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A laser processing head provided at a tip of a laser processing apparatus and facing a work to be processed, wherein the laser processing head has a laser beam emitted from the laser toward the work. A nozzle, an assist gas supply port for injecting an assist gas, and a spatter adhesion prevention nozzle for supplying a fluid, wherein the spatter adhesion prevention nozzle is provided between the laser processing nozzle and the work. It is arranged to prevent the spatter generated by laser processing from adhering to the constituent elements of the laser processing head and the work etc. by ejecting fluid from a direction lateral to the line connecting the laser processing nozzle and the work. The laser processing head characterized by the following. 2. The laser processing head according to claim 1, wherein the fluid supplied to the spatter adhesion prevention nozzle is a gas. 3. The laser processing head according to claim 2, wherein the gas is oxygen, an inert gas such as argon, or dry air. 4. The laser processing head according to claim 1, wherein the spatter adhesion preventing nozzle has an aspect ratio of 1 or more. 5. The axis line of the spatter adhesion prevention nozzle is
The laser processing head according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the laser processing head faces a direction within an angle range of ± 20 degrees from a line perpendicular to a line connecting the laser processing nozzle and the work.