JP5728065B2 - Laser processing machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing machine that performs processing by irradiating an arbitrary portion of a workpiece with laser light.

  Today, touch panel devices are widely used as input means. The touch panel device includes a touch panel sensor, a control circuit for obtaining a contact position on the touch panel sensor, wiring, and a flexible printed board.

  Touch panel devices include various devices (mobile phone terminals (especially so-called smartphones), portable information processing terminals, video game machines, ATM devices, ticket machines, vending machines, etc., in which display devices such as liquid crystal displays and organic EL displays are incorporated. And is used as an intuitive input means for the device. An area of the touch panel sensor that overlaps the image display area of the display device is transparent, and an active area that can detect the contact position of the object is configured in the area.

  The touch panel device can be classified into various types according to the principle of detecting the contact position on the touch panel sensor. Recently, capacitive coupling type touch panel devices have been attracting attention for reasons such as being optically bright, having design properties, being easy in structure, and being excellent in function. The capacitive coupling method includes a surface type and a projection type, but the projection type is advantageous in that it is suitable for dealing with multipoint recognition (multitouch).

  A projected capacitively coupled touch panel sensor includes a dielectric and first and second sensor electrodes formed in different patterns on both sides of the dielectric. The first sensor electrode and the second sensor electrode are connected to an external control circuit via an extraction wiring (extraction conductor) laid in a region outside the active area in the base material supporting these sensor electrodes.

  A transparent conductive material is used for the first sensor electrode and the second sensor electrode laid in the active area, but the extraction wiring laid in the non-active area does not have to be transparent. Conventionally, a lead-out wiring is formed by screen-printing a wiring pattern made of a conductive material such as a metal having high conductivity on a base material (see Patent Document 1 below).

JP2013-033558A

  Recently, in order to further expand the image display area of the display device and / or to further improve the design, it is required to narrow a so-called “frame” area surrounding the image display area. Yes. For this purpose, it is necessary to reduce the inactive area in the touch panel sensor.

  If the extraction wiring laid in the inactive area is made sufficiently high in definition, the inactive area and the frame area can be reduced. However, with the current screen printing method, it is difficult to form a high-definition wiring pattern.

  If a laser processing method is adopted in which a conductive layer made of a conductive material is formed on the surface of a substrate, and this conductive layer is cut by irradiating a laser beam to form a lead-out wiring, it is impossible to achieve a high level that is impossible with screen printing. It is possible to implement a fine wiring pattern.

A disadvantage of the laser processing method is that the tact time required for the process is long. In laser processing, an alignment (or calibration) that measures the relative positional relationship of the base material loaded into the laser processing machine with respect to the laser light irradiation device in order to accurately irradiate the required position coordinates on the base material with laser light. Is required. In alignment process, it is common to perform photographing Arai down placement mark provided by printing or the like in advance substrate.

  However, the base material to be processed is a large film or thin plate containing a plurality of touch panel sensors. For the convenience of scanning the whole area of such a substrate with a camera, there is a disadvantage that a long time must be spent for alignment before laser processing.

  Furthermore, if it is screen printing, a wiring pattern can be applied to the wide area of a base material at once. After all, there is a problem that the laser processing method is inferior to the screen printing method in terms of mass production quantity per unit time.

  An object of the present invention is to shorten the tact time of a laser processing step by a laser processing machine.

In the present invention, a relative position between a workpiece disposed in a certain placement region and a laser beam irradiation apparatus that irradiates the workpiece with laser light, which includes a plurality of placement regions in which workpieces can be respectively disposed. At the same time when the alignment (or calibration) including the measurement of the relationship is executed, the laser beam is irradiated from the laser beam irradiation device to the workpiece that has been arranged in another arrangement area and has already finished the alignment. The laser processing machine which performs the processing which performs was comprised. More specifically, the workpiece loading / unloading location in the first arrangement area, the installation location of the camera sensor used for the alignment process, and the second arrangement area are arranged in a straight line in order . It is assumed that the workpiece moves linearly between them.

  That is, while the laser processing for a certain workpiece is being executed, the alignment for the workpiece to be laser processed next is completed. If it is such, the ratio of the time of the laser processing processing which occupies for the operation time of a laser processing machine can be enlarged more. In other words, useless time when the laser beam irradiation apparatus does not irradiate the workpiece with the laser beam can be reduced. As a result, the number of workpieces subjected to laser processing per unit time increases.

  Specific embodiments of the laser processing machine include: a first arrangement area for carrying in and out a workpiece and the execution of the alignment; a second arrangement area for executing the processing; and the first arrangement area. What has the transfer mechanism which transfers the workpiece which finished the alignment in the arrangement area to the second arrangement area is mentioned.

  The laser beam irradiation apparatus includes, for example, a galvano scanner that can change the direction of the optical axis of the laser beam irradiated onto the workpiece.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to shorten the tact time of the laser processing step by the laser processing machine.

The side view which shows the laser beam machine which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The rear view of the laser processing machine. The side view of the laser beam machine. The perspective view which shows the structure of the laser beam irradiation apparatus in the laser processing machine. The figure which shows an example of the alignment mark attached | subjected to a workpiece. The side view which shows typically the reference example relevant to this invention.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the laser processing machine according to the present embodiment includes a first arrangement area 3 and a second arrangement area 4 in which the workpieces 9 are arranged along the horizontal X-axis direction. And aligning (or calibration) and laser processing for separate workpieces 9 simultaneously by executing alignment in the first placement region 3 and performing laser processing in the second placement region 4 It is possible to make it.

  When viewed from the worker engaged in the work, the front side of the hand is the first placement area 3 and the back is the second placement area 4. In the first arrangement area 3, a camera sensor 2 used for alignment processing is arranged. The camera sensor 2 is, for example, a line camera that can image a region expanded along the horizontal Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis at once, or a two-dimensional region expanded in both the X-axis and Y-axis directions. It is assumed that the area camera can capture images at a time.

The first arrangement region 3 includes a work place 31 for carrying in and out a workpiece 9, for example, a base film for a touch panel device, with respect to the laser processing machine. Therefore, the first arrangement region 3 is wider along the X-axis direction than the second arrangement region 4. The carry-in / out place 31 is located on the most front side in the first arrangement region 3. The camera sensor 2 is disposed in the vicinity of the innermost end of the carry-in / out place 31 and scans the workpiece 9 in the X-axis direction when entering the back from the carry-in / out place 31 (that is, the camera The sensor 2 is displaced relative to the workpiece 9 in the X-axis direction), and the entire surface of the workpiece 9 is imaged.

  In the second arrangement region 4, the laser beam irradiation device 1 that irradiates the workpiece 9 with the laser beam L is disposed. The laser beam irradiation apparatus 1 includes, for example, a galvano scanner that can change the direction of the optical axis of the laser beam L irradiated to the workpiece 9.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the laser irradiation apparatus 1 includes a galvano scanner 11, 12 that reflects the laser light L supplied from the laser oscillator 14, and a laser beam that passes through the galvano scanner 11, 12. A condensing lens 13 that condenses L and irradiates the workpiece 9 is used as an element. The galvano scanners 11 and 12 rotate galvanometer mirrors 112 and 122 that reflect the laser beam L by motors (servo motors, stepping motors, and the like) 111 and 121, respectively. By changing the direction of the galvanometer mirrors 112 and 122, the optical axis of the laser light L can be displaced. In this embodiment, both an X-axis galvano scanner 11 that changes the optical axis of the laser light L in the X-axis direction and a Y-axis galvano scanner 12 that changes the optical axis of the laser light L in the Y-axis direction are provided. The irradiation position of the laser beam L on the surface of the workpiece 9 can be controlled in two dimensions in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. The condenser lens 13 is, for example, an Fθ lens.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, a plurality of laser light irradiation devices 1 (two in the illustrated example) are arranged along the Y-axis direction. Each laser beam irradiation device 1 can perform laser processing on a wide range of the workpiece 9 expanded along the Y-axis direction. These laser light irradiation apparatuses 1 are supported by a frame 5 that is horizontally mounted so as to extend along the X-axis direction in the second arrangement region 4. The frame 5 can be moved along the Y-axis direction by a driving device such as a linear motor.

  The workpiece 9 is moved between the first arrangement area 3 and the second arrangement area 4 by the transfer mechanisms 6 and 7. The transfer mechanisms 6 and 7 support the workpieces 61 and 71 that support the workpiece 9, for example, a table (or stage) that can suck the workpiece 9, and move the support at least in the X-axis direction. A drive device, for example, a linear motor is used as an element.

  In particular, in this embodiment, the 1st transfer mechanism 6 and the 2nd transfer mechanism 7 which were mutually independent are arranged. The support bodies 61 and 71 of the first transfer mechanism 6 and the second transfer mechanism 7 both have dimensions in the X-axis direction (width dimension) and Y-axis direction dimensions (depth) sufficient to place the workpiece 9. However, the width of the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 is slightly smaller than that of the support 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6. Further, the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 can be displaced in height via, for example, a hydraulic cylinder or an air cylinder. The space below the first transfer mechanism 6 is empty, and the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 can pass through this space. That is, both the supports 61 and 71 can move independently along the X-axis direction while passing each other while supporting the workpiece 9.

  The laser processing process using this laser processing machine will be described step by step. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the support 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6 is present at the loading / unloading location 31 in the first arrangement region 3 and the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 is Assume that it is located in the second arrangement region 4. The operator removes the workpiece 9 that has already been laser-processed and is supported by the support body 61, and places a new workpiece 9 to be laser-processed on the support body instead of the workpiece 9. .

  Next, the support body 61 is advanced from the loading / unloading location 31 in the first arrangement region 3. At this time, the support 61 passes immediately below the camera sensor 2, and alignment is performed in which the camera sensor 2 images the surface of the workpiece 9 supported by the support 61.

  In the alignment, the alignment marks 91 and 92 previously attached to the surface of the workpiece 9 by printing or the like are photographed, and the position coordinates of the alignment marks 91 and 92 in the photographed image are detected. How much is extending or contracting in the X-axis direction and / or Y-axis direction, how much the workpiece 9 is rotated about the vertical Z-axis direction, and / or on the surface of the workpiece 9 The error of the printing position of the alignment mark 92 of the workpiece 9 (if the dimension of the workpiece 9 is assumed to be constant, the relationship with the four edges of the workpiece 9 or the corner angle of the workpiece 9) The deviation of the printing position of the alignment mark 92 can be known in relation to the attached alignment mark 91).

  FIG. 5 illustrates alignment marks 91 and 92. The alignment marks 91 and 92 are attached to the corners (particularly diagonal) of the workpiece 9 or each cell included in the workpiece 9 (one cell corresponds to one product (touch panel device)). It is attached every time.

  The result of measurement by the camera sensor 2 is used to correct the irradiation position coordinates of the laser light L determined by the galvano scanners 11 and 12 in the laser processing performed in the second arrangement region 4. Further, when the supports 61 and 71 can be displaced in the Y-axis direction or can be horizontally rotated around the Z-axis, the support that supports the workpiece 9 according to the measurement result. The relative positions of the bodies 61 and 71 with respect to the laser beam irradiation apparatus 1 may be corrected along the Y-axis direction or may be corrected by rotating around the Z-axis.

  During the loading / unloading and alignment of the workpiece 9 in the first arrangement region 3, the laser beam L is applied to the workpiece 9 supported by the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 in the second arrangement region 4. Laser processing is performed. In the laser processing, for example, the conductive layer 93 provided on the workpiece 9 is cut with a laser beam L to form a wiring pattern.

  When both the alignment and the laser processing are completed, the aligned workpiece 9 is transferred from the first arrangement region 3 to the second arrangement region 4, and the laser processed workpiece 9 is transferred to the second arrangement region 4. Are transferred from the arrangement area 4 to the first arrangement area 3. That is, the support body 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6 moves from the first arrangement area 3 to the second arrangement area 4, and the support body 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 moves from the second arrangement area 4 to the first arrangement area 4. Move to one placement area 3. At this time, since both the supports 61 and 71 need to pass each other, the height position of the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 is set to a height near the focal point of the laser light L indicated by a solid line in FIG. From this position, it is lowered to a height position where it can dive below the support 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6 indicated by a chain line in FIG. Then, the support 71 is moved from the second placement area 4 to the first placement area 3 and the other support 71 is moved from the first placement area 3 to the second placement area 4. Let

  As shown in FIG. 3, the support 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6 moves to the second arrangement region 4, and the support 61 and the workpiece 9 supported by the support 61 are below the laser light irradiation apparatus 1. If it is positioned, laser processing for irradiating the workpiece 9 with laser light from the laser light irradiation device 1 is started. As already described, at the time of laser processing, the measurement result in the alignment performed on the workpiece 9 is reflected, and the irradiation position coordinates of the laser light L directed by the galvano scanners 11 and 12 are corrected. And / or correct | amend the relative position with respect to the laser beam irradiation apparatus 1 of the support body 61 which is supporting the to-be-processed object 9 (it rotates around the Y-axis direction or the Z-axis).

  In turn, if the support body of the second transfer mechanism 7 moves to the first arrangement region 3 and the support body 71 and the workpiece 9 supported by the support body 71 arrive at the loading / unloading place 31, the operator However, the workpiece 9 for which laser processing has been completed is removed, and a new workpiece 9 to be subjected to laser processing is placed and adsorbed on the support 71 instead. In addition, in the carry-in / out place 31, as shown by a chain line in FIG. 3, the height of the support 71 is prevented from being raised to a height suitable for carrying the work-in / out of the workpiece 9. Absent.

  Next, the support 71 is advanced from the loading / unloading location 31 in the first arrangement region 3. At this time, the support 71 passes directly under the camera sensor 2, and the alignment is performed in which the camera sensor 2 images the surface of the workpiece 9 supported by the support 71.

  During the loading / unloading and alignment of the workpiece 9 in the first arrangement region 3, the laser beam L is applied to the workpiece 9 supported by the support 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6 in the second arrangement region 4. Laser processing is performed.

  When both the alignment and the laser processing are completed, the aligned workpiece 9 is transferred from the first arrangement region 3 to the second arrangement region 4, and the laser processed workpiece 9 is transferred to the second arrangement region 4. Are transferred from the arrangement area 4 to the first arrangement area 3. That is, the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 moves from the first placement region 3 to the second placement region 4, and the support 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6 moves from the second placement region 4 to the second placement region 4. Move to one placement area 3. At this time, since both the supports 61 and 71 need to pass each other, if the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 is raised in the first arrangement region 3, The transfer mechanism 6 is lowered to a height position where it can dive below the support 61. Then, the support body 71 is moved from the first placement area 3 to the second placement area 4 while the other support body 61 is moved from the second placement area 4 to the first placement area 3. Let

  As shown in FIG. 1, the support 71 of the second transfer mechanism 7 moves to the second arrangement region 4, and the support 71 and the workpiece 9 supported by the support 71 are below the laser light irradiation apparatus 1. In this case, the height of the support 71 is raised to a height near the focal point of the laser beam L, and laser processing is performed to irradiate the workpiece 9 with the laser beam from the laser beam irradiation device 1. Start. As already described, at the time of laser processing, the measurement result in the alignment performed on the workpiece 9 is reflected, and the irradiation position coordinates of the laser light L directed by the galvano scanners 11 and 12 are corrected. And / or correct | amend the relative position with respect to the laser beam irradiation apparatus 1 of the support body 71 which is supporting the to-be-processed object 9 (it rotates around the Y-axis direction or the Z-axis).

  In turn, if the support 61 of the first transfer mechanism 6 moves to the first arrangement region 3 and the support 61 and the workpiece 9 supported by the support 61 arrive at the loading / unloading location 31, A person removes the workpiece 9 for which laser processing has been completed, and instead places and mounts a new workpiece 9 to be laser processed on the support 61.

  Thereafter, the above procedure is repeated to sequentially perform laser processing on a large number of workpieces 9.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of arrangement regions 3 and 4 each having a workpiece 9 can be arranged, and the workpiece 9 arranged in a certain arrangement region 3 and 4 and the workpiece 9 are irradiated with laser light. At the same time when the alignment including the measurement of the relative positional relationship with the laser beam irradiation apparatus 1 is executed, the workpiece 9 that has been arranged in the other arrangement regions 4 and 3 and has already finished the alignment is used. A laser processing machine that executes processing for irradiating laser light from the laser light irradiation apparatus 1 was configured.

  According to the present embodiment, while the laser processing for a certain workpiece 9 is being performed, the alignment for the workpiece 9 to be subjected to the next laser processing can be completed, and therefore the operating time of the laser processing machine is occupied. The ratio of time for laser processing can be increased. In other words, useless time during which the laser beam irradiation apparatus 1 does not irradiate the workpiece 9 with the laser beam can be reduced. As a result, the tact time of the laser processing step can be shortened, and the number of workpieces 9 to be subjected to laser processing per unit time increases.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described in detail above. In particular, the transfer mechanism for transferring the workpiece 9 between the first arrangement region 3 and the second arrangement region 4 is not limited to that in the above embodiment .

FIG. 6 is a reference example. When the workpiece 9 is in the form of a film wound around a roll (or reel) 81, the workpiece 9 fed out from the roll 81 is shown. The workpiece 9 is displaced so as to be wound by another roll 82, and each part of the workpiece 9 is sequentially fed into the first arrangement region 3 and the second arrangement region 4, and the first arrangement A mode in which alignment is performed in the region 3 and laser processing is performed in the second arrangement region 4 can be employed. Also in the present reference example , as in the above-described embodiment, the portion of the workpiece 9 located in the first placement area 3 is located in the second placement area 4 at the same time as the alignment target. A portion of the workpiece 9 undergoes laser processing. The part of the workpiece 9 sent to the second arrangement area 4 is the part where the alignment process has already been completed in the first arrangement area 3.

In the present reference example , the feeding roll 81 and the take-up roll 82 are constituents of the transfer mechanism. These rolls 81 and 82 exhibit a function of moving the film as the work piece 9 by a predetermined dimension along the traveling direction.

  Other specific configurations of each part can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  The present invention can be applied to a laser processing machine that performs processing by irradiating an arbitrary portion of a workpiece with laser light.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Laser beam irradiation apparatus 11, 12 ... Galvano scanner 2 ... Camera sensor 3 ... 1st arrangement | positioning area | region 4 ... 2nd arrangement | positioning area 6, 7, 81, 82 ... Transfer mechanism 9 ... Workpiece

Claims (3)

Provided with multiple placement areas where work pieces can be placed respectively,
Correction of irradiation position coordinates of a laser beam irradiation apparatus that irradiates a laser beam to a workpiece arranged in the first arrangement region, and a laser beam irradiation apparatus of a support that supports the workpiece A second arrangement at the same time as performing an alignment including imaging by a camera sensor on the surface of the work piece supported by the support to perform at least one of correcting the relative position with respect to A laser processing machine that executes a processing process of irradiating a laser beam from a laser beam irradiation device to a workpiece that is arranged in a region and has already finished the alignment;
The workpiece loading / unloading location in the first arrangement area, the installation location of the camera sensor used for alignment processing, and the second arrangement area are arranged in a straight line in order , and the workpiece is between them. Laser processing machine that moves linearly. The laser processing machine according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer mechanism configured to transfer a work piece that has finished the alignment in the first arrangement area to the second arrangement area. The laser beam machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the laser beam irradiation device uses a galvano scanner capable of changing the direction of the optical axis of the laser beam irradiated to the workpiece.

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