JP2831725B2 - Beam switching device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus that combines a plurality of laser oscillators and a processing machine in a laser processing apparatus for cutting, welding, and surface-treating a metal and a nonmetal. The present invention relates to a beam switching device that can be used for adjusting the optical path of the method.

(Prior Art) A general laser processing apparatus is a one-to-one combination of one laser oscillator and one laser processing machine. At this time, if the combination of the laser oscillator and the laser processing machine is changed, it is necessary to perform beam alignment adjustment for adjusting the optical axis of the laser light and the optical component, that is, the folding mirror, which is one of the important adjustments in the laser processing apparatus. Become.

Conventionally, when combining a plurality of laser oscillators and a laser processing machine, one-to-one operation is performed while adjusting manually.
I was making a combination of That is, the installed laser oscillator and the laser processing machine are combined each time.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the laser processing apparatus, as a method of moving the optical axis, (a) an optical axis fixed table moving type, (b) a one-axis optical axis moving, a one-axis table moving type, (c) ) Optical axis moving table fixed type.

Depending on this type, there is a problem that the beam alignment adjustment time greatly changes, and it takes about 30 minutes in (a), about 1 hour in (b), and about 2 hours in (c).
By combining multiple laser oscillators and laser processing machines,
It is necessary to change the direction of an optical component, for example, a folding mirror. However, in the case of manual operation, it is difficult to expect the reproducibility, that is, the improvement of the repeat positioning accuracy.

The quality of reproducibility is an important issue. If there is no reproducibility, it is necessary to adjust the beam alignment of the laser beam machine again after adjusting the folding mirror. For this,
It has been extremely difficult to realize a continuous and flexible laser processing method using a plurality of laser oscillators and laser processing machines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a beam switching device capable of improving the reproducibility and significantly reducing the adjustment time in order to improve the above-mentioned problems.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In view of the conventional problems as described above, the present invention relates to a method of perpendicularizing the X-axis and the Y-axis perpendicular to each other in the horizontal direction.
An α-axis unit is provided on a Z-axis unit provided so as to be automatically positionable in the three axis directions by X, Y, and Z-axis turbo motors. The unit is provided so as to be automatically rotatable and positionable about a vertical axis at a fixed position with respect to the unit.
A laser beam oscillated from a laser oscillator is provided so that a β-axis unit provided in the axis unit can be automatically rotated and positioned by a β-axis servomotor around a horizontal axis at a fixed position with respect to the α-axis unit. Provided on the β-axis unit, and the folding direction of the folding mirror is automatically controlled by the servomotors of the X, Y, and Z axes and the servomotors of the α-axis unit and the β-axis unit. This is a possible configuration.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of one embodiment of the laser processing system of the present invention. The laser processing apparatus 1 includes a plurality of laser oscillators 3, 5, 7 in the present embodiment, and a plurality of laser processing machines 9, 11 in the present embodiment, and two laser oscillators 3, 11, in the present embodiment. The fixed folding mirror 13 and a plurality of mirrors, which are arranged on the optical path connecting the laser processing machines 5 and 7 and the laser processing machines 9 and 11, 3 in this embodiment.
And beam switching devices 15, 17, and 19. The beam switching devices 15, 17, and 19 are all-axis NC control types in which folding mirrors 29 whose directions can be changed by a combination of laser oscillators 1, 3, and 5 and laser processing machines 9 and 11 are mounted.

The laser processing machine 9 is of a one-axis optical axis moving one-axis table moving type in which the processing head 21 moves on the frame 23 in the Y-axis direction and the table 25 moves in the X-axis direction. Laser processing machine 1
Is an optical axis moving table fixed type in which the processing head 21 moves on the frame 27 in the Y-axis direction and the frame 27 moves in the X-axis direction, and the table 25 is fixed.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the beam switching device in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. The beam switching devices 15, 17, and 19 are mainly composed of a folding mirror 29, an X-axis servo motor 31, a Y-axis servo motor 33, and an X-axis servo motor.
35, α-axis servo motor 37, β-axis servo motor 39, X-axis unit 41, Y-axis unit 43, Z-axis unit 45, as shown in FIG. 3 and a β-axis unit 49 rotatable around a horizontal axis at a fixed position with respect to the α-axis unit 5 as apparent from FIG.
Here, LB is a laser beam whose direction is changed by the turning mirror 29, and X, Y, Z, α, and β are parameters necessary for adjusting the turning mirror 29.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method of adjusting the beam switching devices 15, 17, and 19 in which the adjustment parameters X, Y, Z, α, and β are NC-controlled. Each adjustment parameter X,
YZα and β are NC-controlled servomotors 31, 33, 35, 37,
Driven by 39. At the time of test operation, adjustment is performed for each combination, and the position parameters X1, Y1, Z1, α1, β1 to X3, Y3, Z3, α3, β3 of each folding mirror 29 for each combination are set to NC.
It is stored in the control device and used as an initial value.

Next, a combination of the laser oscillators 3, 5, 7 and the laser machines 9, 11 is selected by the NC program (step S1),
Each axis X1, Y1, Z1, α1, β1 to X3, X3, Y1, Z2 of the folding mirror 29 inside each beam switching device 15, 17, 19 is controlled by the control device.
The axis movement (positioning) of Y3, Z3, α3, β3 is executed and automatically set to the initial value of the commanded combination (step S2).

If the result of the executed beam alignment is good (step S3), the alignment position storage button is pressed (step S4), and the positions of the return mirror 29 inside the beam switching devices 15, 17, and 19 regarding the alignment position are determined. The parameters are stored in the NC control device and the process is completed (step S5), and laser processing is started. If the result of the beam alignment is bad, the beam alignment operation is performed again (step S6).

Thus, the laser oscillators 3, 5, 7 and the laser processing machines 9, 11
Beam switching devices 15, 17, when the combination of
The reproducibility of 19 is significantly improved compared to manual adjustment due to NC control, and the adjustment time is greatly reduced. When the result of the beam alignment is not good, the laser oscillators 3, 5, and 7 are the main causes.
3,5,7 maintenance management is possible. In addition, the past position data can be managed by the NC control device, and the history management of the adjustment work is easy.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a front view of a beam switching device as a reference example. Beam switching device 51 is
The folding mirrors 53 and 55, which are orthogonal to each other, are fixed to each other, and can be moved in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) by the servomotor 35.
Axis NC control other axis manual semi-fixed type. By moving in the Z-axis direction, laser beams from both the left and right directions can be introduced to the same position, and if the laser beam is moved to a position where it does not hit the folding mirrors 53 and 55, the laser beam is switched to a beam switching device. You can pass straight through 51.

Further, since the folding mirrors 53 and 55 are independent in the left and right direction, it is not necessary to invert and adjust each time, and only the initial adjustment is necessary.
NC control is simplified with only 55 selections.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in other aspects by making appropriate design changes.

(Effects of the Invention) As can be understood from the above description of the embodiment, the present invention is directed to X, X and Y axes which are orthogonal to each other in the horizontal direction. An α-axis unit (47) is provided on a Z-axis unit (45) provided so as to be automatically positionable by each of the Y- and Z-axis servomotors, and the α-axis unit (47) is connected to the Z-axis by an α-axis servomotor. The β-axis unit (49) provided in the α-axis unit (47) is provided so as to be automatically rotatable about a vertical axis at a fixed position with respect to the axis unit (45). A folding mirror (29) is provided so that it can be automatically rotated and positioned around a horizontal axis at a fixed position by a β-axis servomotor at a fixed position, and reflects a laser beam (LB) emitted from a laser oscillator. The β axis unit (49)
And the turning direction of the turning mirror (29) is
X, Y, Z axis servo motors and the α axis unit (4
7), it can be automatically controlled by each servo motor of the β-axis unit (49).

As is clear from the above configuration, in the present invention, X,
An α-axis unit 47 is provided on a Z-axis unit 45 that can be moved and positioned in the X, Y, and Z-axis directions by respective Y, Z-axis servo motors. It is provided so that it can be automatically rotated and positioned around a vertical axis at a fixed position with respect to the shaft unit 45. The β-axis unit 49 provided in the α-axis unit 47 is provided so as to be able to be automatically rotated and positioned around a horizontal axis at a fixed position with respect to the α-axis unit 47 by a servomotor for the β-axis. A folding mirror 29 is provided on the β-axis unit 49, and the servomotors for the X, Y, and Z axes and for the α-axis,
The folding direction (reflection direction) of the folding mirror 29 is provided so as to be automatically controllable by each axis servomotor.

That is, in the present invention, the adjustment of each of the X, Y, Z, α, and β axes is performed by individually controlling each of the servo motors individually corresponding to each of the axes.
The axis and the β axis are respectively rotated at predetermined positions. After the rotation adjustment of the α axis and the β axis, the X, Y, and Z axes are re-adjusted due to the rotation adjustment of the α axis and the β axis. No adjustment is required, and adjustment of the optical path of the laser beam is easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of one embodiment of the laser processing method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the beam switching device in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of adjusting a beam switching device in which adjustment parameters are NC-controlled, and FIG. 5 is a front view of a beam switching device as a reference example. 1 laser processing device 3,5,7 laser oscillator 9,11 laser processing device 15,17,19 beam switching device 29 folding mirror 51 beam switching device 53,55 folding mirror

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A Z-axis provided so as to be automatically positionable by three X-, Y-, and Z-axis servomotors in three Z-axis directions perpendicular to an X-axis and a Y-axis orthogonal to each other in a horizontal direction. An α-axis unit (47) is provided on the axis unit (45), and the α-axis unit (47) is automatically rotated around a vertical axis at a fixed position with respect to the Z-axis unit (45) by an α-axis servomotor. The β-axis unit (49) provided on the α-axis unit (47) is provided so as to be capable of rotating and positioning in a fixed position with respect to the α-axis unit (47). A laser beam (LB) oscillated from a laser oscillator, provided so that it can be automatically rotated and positioned by a motor
The reflecting mirror (29) that reflects the light from the β-axis unit (4
9), and the turning direction of this turning mirror (29) is
The servomotors for the X, Y, and Z axes and the α-axis unit (4
7) A beam switching device characterized in that it can be automatically controlled by each servo motor of the β-axis unit (49).