JP7144119B2 - LASER PROCESSING DEVICE AND METHOD OF PROCESSING LONG WORKED WORK WITH LASER PROCESSING DEVICE - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus and a method for processing a long workpiece using the laser processing apparatus.

In recent years, processing by a laser processing apparatus with a high degree of processing freedom has been proposed even for long workpieces such as paper and film. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes an example.

In a laser processing apparatus for metal processing, as described in Cited Document 2 in particular in FIG. 7, a machining start point S is placed at a location other than the outer peripheral line R, a through hole is opened at the machining start point S, and then the closed line is directed to the outer peripheral line R After that, laser processing is generally performed along the outer peripheral line R with the point where the outer peripheral line R is reached as a direction change point T. At this time, the machining end point E coincides with the direction change point T. Note that the machining start point S may be placed inside the outer peripheral line R as shown in this figure, or may be placed outside.

By the way, in a laser processing apparatus that performs processing by changing the direction of laser light, control of the direction of laser light is usually performed using a device called a galvanometer scanner that controls a mirror. By changing the direction of the mirror that reflects the laser light, the direction of the laser light is changed and the processing point is thus controlled. Therefore, an inertial force acts on the mirror, and when the direction is changed, the mirror shakes to some extent, making the machining line unstable. On the other hand, if the direction of the laser beam is fixed and the entire processing device is moved on the surface of the workpiece, or if the processing device is moved in two-dimensional directions, the inertia of the processing device and the workpiece is Since the inertia is generally greater than the inertia of the mirror, the machined line becomes unstable due to shaking of the machining device and the workpiece.

JP 2016-107288 A JP-A-7-284974

Therefore, even in a laser processing apparatus that changes the direction of the laser beam, in a method that moves the entire processing apparatus on the surface of the workpiece, and in a laser processing apparatus that moves the workpiece in two-dimensional directions. In the case of a laser processing device that approaches the outer peripheral line from a place other than the outer peripheral line to be processed, changes direction when it reaches the outer peripheral line, and processes the outer peripheral line with laser, it is impossible to process the periphery of the processing start point. It becomes stable, and it is inevitable that the machining accuracy is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus for processing and a method for processing a long work piece using the laser processing apparatus.

(1) A laser processing apparatus of the present invention is a laser processing apparatus for cutting a long work piece that is continuously supplied in a fixed direction , wherein the work piece has a closed linear shape. When performing machining, the machining start point and the machining end point are positioned on the closed line, and the machining end point is controlled to be positioned beyond the machining start point in the machining direction. , from the processing start point to the first processing of the processing end point, control is performed so that processing is performed with a weaker strength than usual, and after the processing end point is first processed, normal strength is performed. Control to process.

According to the above configuration, since the starting point of machining is provided on the closed line, the machining line does not go to the closed line from a place other than the closed line. Therefore, it is possible to remove the unstable factor of machining due to the change of direction that occurs when moving from a place other than a closed line to machining of a closed line. In addition, since the working strength is weaker than usual at the starting point of working, excessive working such as making a hole in the workpiece at the starting point of working does not occur. Further, since the machining end point is provided on the line extending beyond the machining start point, re-machining is performed from the machining start point to the machining end point. Therefore, even if a weaker than usual working is performed at the working start point at the start of working, necessary and sufficient working can be performed by compensating for the reworking.

(3) The above-mentioned weaker-than-usual-strength processing is preferably performed by adjusting at least one condition selected from the group consisting of laser output, pulse frequency, duty ratio, and processing speed among laser processing conditions. .

As a method of processing with weaker intensity than usual, in addition to the method of lowering the laser output, there are methods such as reducing the pulse frequency, lowering the duty ratio, and increasing the processing speed. may be used in combination with each other.

(4) In the method for processing a long work piece by the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, when processing a closed linear shape by cutting the work piece that is continuously supplied in a fixed direction , A machining start point and a machining end point are located on the closed line, the machining end point is located beyond the machining start point in the machining direction, and the machining end is first from the machining start point. Until the point is processed, processing with a weaker strength than usual is performed, and after processing the processing end point first, processing with a normal strength is performed .

According to the above configuration, the starting point of machining is provided on the closed line, that is, the machining line does not move toward the closed line from any place other than the closed line. Therefore, it is possible to remove the unstable factor of machining due to the direction change that occurs when machining moves from a place other than a closed line to a closed line.

According to the present invention, there is provided a laser processing apparatus for continuously processing a long work piece, which is accompanied by a change of direction when the processing line moves from a location other than the closed line to the closed line. A laser processing apparatus and a method for processing a long workpiece using a laser processing apparatus configured to improve processing accuracy on a closed line compared to the conventional method by removing unstable factors of processing. can provide.

1 is a perspective view of a laser processing device according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is a front view of a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is a plan view of a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is a side view of a laser processing device according to an embodiment; FIG. It is a model perspective view of the galvanometer scanner used for the same laser processing apparatus. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of closed line-shaped processing by the same laser processing apparatus. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of closed linear processing by the conventional laser processing apparatus.

An embodiment of the laser processing apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. In the following description, as shown in the drawings, the x-direction refers to the moving direction of the long film that is the workpiece. The y-direction refers to the direction perpendicular to the x-direction on the surface of the film, that is, the width direction of the film. Also, the z-direction refers to a direction perpendicular to the x-direction and the y-direction, that is, a direction perpendicular to the surface of the film.

1, 2, 3, and 4 are a perspective view, a front view, a plan view, and a side view, respectively, of a laser processing apparatus according to this embodiment. As is clear from FIGS. 1 and 3, in this laser processing apparatus, a laser oscillator 1 which is a laser emitting section for emitting laser light, folding mirrors 21, 22 and 23, a beam expander 3 and a scanning section 4 are They are provided on substantially the same plane. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, along a plane substantially parallel to this plane, that is, the xy plane, a long film 9 as a workpiece is fed in the x direction by a film feeder (not shown). is supplied at a constant speed to

As shown in FIG. 3, ducts are provided between the laser oscillator 1 and the folding mirror 21 and between the folding mirror 21 and the folding mirror 22 for safety. Therefore, it is not shown in other figures. Similarly, covers that are actually required for safety purposes are not shown.

The laser oscillator 1, which is a laser emitting part, can be classified by laser medium into gas lasers such as _CO2 lasers and excimer lasers, solid lasers such as ruby lasers and Nd:YAG lasers, liquid lasers such as dye lasers, laser diodes, and the like. and a semiconductor laser using Excitation sources include those using discharge, those using flash lamps, those using laser diodes, those using chemical reactions, and the like. Either one may be used in combination depending on the application. Carbon dioxide lasers (CO ₂ lasers) are generally preferred because they provide high output.

Folding mirrors 21 to 23 are used to guide the laser light emitted from laser oscillator 1 to the entrance of beam expander 3 . A constant optical path length is secured from the laser oscillator 1 to the entrance of the beam expander 3 by causing the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator 1 to be sequentially reflected by the folding mirrors 21 to 23 and then incident on the beam expander 3. be able to. During that time, impurities in the laser light can be removed.

The beam expander 3 is a lens that expands the laser beam into a parallel beam with a constant magnification. It is used to adjust the incident laser beam to match the mirror of the galvanometer scanner provided in the scanning unit 4 . Further, the focal length of the laser beam can be adjusted by moving the beam expander 3 in the y direction.

As shown in FIG. 5, which is an image diagram, the scanning unit 4 is provided with two pairs of galvanometer scanners 5 and 6 and an fθ lens 7 . The galvanometer scanner 5 includes a mirror 51 , a rotating shaft 52 attached to the mirror 51 , and a control device (not shown) that controls the rotating shaft 52 . By rotating the rotation shaft 52 whose rotation angle is controlled by this control device, the angle of the mirror 51 can be changed at high speed to a free angle around the rotation shaft. Therefore, the laser beam 8 irradiated to the mirror 51 can be reflected and guided at any angle in one-dimensional direction.

The galvanometer scanner 6 includes a mirror 61 , a rotating shaft 62 attached to the mirror 61 , and a control device (not shown) that controls the rotating shaft 62 . The axial direction of the rotating shaft 62 is directed in a different direction from the axial direction of the rotating shaft 52 . Like the galvanometer scanner 5, the galvanometer scanner 6 can also freely guide the laser beam 8 irradiated to the mirror 61 in one-dimensional direction. Therefore, by combining two sets of galvano-scanner 5 and galvano-scanner 6, it is possible to guide laser light to an arbitrary processing point 92 on a processing area 91 occupying a certain area on the two-dimensional direction, that is, the xy plane. It becomes possible. That is, the galvano-scanner 5 and the galvano-scanner 6 function as guiding units.

The fθ lens 7 is irradiated with the laser light guided by the galvanometer scanner 5 and the galvanometer scanner 6 . The fθ lens is a lens that has an image height Y proportional to the incident angle θ and has a relationship of Y=fθ when the focal length is f. In this embodiment, the laser light deflected by the galvanometer scanner 6 can be focused on the focal point distributed on the plane.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, as the workpiece supplying unit for supplying the film 9, an unwinding shaft for attaching the unprocessed film 9 wound on a reel and a reel for winding the processed film are attached. A film feeding device (not shown) having a winding shaft is exemplified. The film 9 is sequentially supplied in the x direction by such a film supply device.

Processing of the film 9 by this laser processing apparatus is performed, for example, as follows. First, the film 9 wound on the reel, which is the workpiece, is attached to the unwinding shaft, and the unwinding end is wound around the reel attached to the winding shaft.

Subsequently, a laser beam is emitted, and when it is stabilized, the beam expander 3 is moved in the y-direction to focus on the surface of the film 9 to be processed. Although this operation may be performed while the film 9 is stopped, it can be performed more accurately by moving it.

After that, processing is started, and when the processing is completed, the processed film wound around the take-up shaft is recovered.

As shown in FIG. 6, when a closed linear outer peripheral line R is to be cut by this laser processing apparatus, the control device controls the guiding unit including the two sets of galvanometer scanners 5 and 6 so that the outer peripheral line A processing start point S is placed on the R, and laser processing is started along the outer peripheral line R. At this time, it is usually not necessary to provide a through hole at the processing start point S. Rather, at the start of processing, the processing is controlled so that the strength is weaker than usual.

Next, according to the processing direction, the processing is advanced so as to trace the outer peripheral line R. Machining is continued even after passing the machining start point S by going around the outer peripheral line R, and is finished at the machining end point E provided beyond the machining start point S in the machining direction. That is, the machining end point E is provided on the outer peripheral line R beyond the machining start point S in the machining direction.

As described above, at the processing start point S, processing is started with a weaker strength than usual, and then the strength is gradually increased, and when the processing end point E is first passed, the processing strength is controlled to be normal. Therefore, in the initial stage of machining the peripheral line R, the machining from the machining start point S to the machining end point E is insufficient. At the end, it will be in a sufficient working state.

Any method may be used to adjust the working strength described above. It may be performed by a method of directly controlling the output of the laser light, or by changing the pulse frequency or the duty ratio. Moreover, even if all of these have the same value, the energy applied per unit area can be controlled by controlling the machining speed, so that the machining intensity can be changed. These may be controlled independently, or may be controlled in combination.

According to this embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the laser processing apparatus of this embodiment, since the processing start point S is provided on the closed linear outer peripheral line R, the processing line does not go to the outer peripheral line R from a place other than the outer peripheral line R. Therefore, there is no need to provide a direction change point T, and it is possible to eliminate the unstable factor of machining accompanying the direction change that occurs when the machining of a place other than a closed line shifts to the machining of a closed line, and as a result, Machining accuracy is improved as compared with the conventional one.

Since the laser processing apparatus of the present embodiment performs processing at the processing start point S with a weaker strength than usual, excessive processing such as a hole in the workpiece at the processing start point S does not occur. Further, by setting the machining end point E on the outer peripheral line R beyond the machining start point S in the machining direction, the area from the machining start point S to the machining end point E is to be re-machined. Therefore, even if a weaker than usual working is performed at the working start point at the start of working, necessary and sufficient working can be performed by compensating for the reworking.

In the laser processing apparatus of the present embodiment, processing with a weaker intensity than usual performed at the processing start point S is performed by adjusting at least one of the laser output, pulse frequency, duty ratio, and processing speed among the laser processing conditions. be implemented.
Since all of these are conditions that can be standardly adjusted in a laser processing apparatus, processing with weaker strength than usual can be realized without adding a special device.

The method for processing a long workpiece by the laser processing apparatus of the present embodiment is a processing method by a laser processing apparatus that performs closed linear processing on the workpiece, and the processing start point S is closed. placed on the line. Therefore, the machining line does not move from a closed line, that is, a place other than the outer peripheral line R to the outer peripheral line R. Therefore, it is possible to remove the unstable factor of machining due to the direction change that occurs when moving from a place other than the outer peripheral line R to the outer peripheral line R, and as a result, the machining accuracy is improved as compared with the conventional one.

Note that the above embodiment may be modified as follows.

- In the above-described embodiment, the elongated film 9 is used as the workpiece, but other workpieces may be used. There is no particular limitation as long as it is a long processed object, and it may be a film, a resin film, paper, cloth, or the like. It may also be used for processing adhesive paper without backing paper or adhesive paper with backing paper (so-called tack paper).

· In the laser processing apparatus of the above embodiment, processing with a weaker intensity than usual is performed by adjusting at least one of the laser output, pulse frequency, duty and processing speed in the laser cutting conditions. Other methods may be used depending on the conditions. For example, if two or more laser devices of different types exemplified as the laser oscillator 1 are provided, they may be used by switching.

In the above embodiment, the laser processing apparatus performs processing with a weaker intensity than usual when performing processing again, that is, when processing is performed for the second time from the processing start point S to the processing end point E. good. Excessive processing can be prevented by carrying out like this.
In particular, in the case of processing adhesive paper with a backing paper, it is an effective means when it is desired to process only the adhesive paper without cutting the backing paper.

In the above embodiment, the laser processing apparatus starts processing with a weaker intensity than usual at the processing start point S, increases the intensity for a while, and reaches the normal processing intensity when passing the processing end point E for the first time. However, any method may be used to increase the working strength when passing through the working end point E after working is started with a strength weaker than usual. The strength may be increased linearly, along an arbitrary curve, or stepwise in one or multiple steps. It is sufficient that the working state is controlled to be the best, including the working strength at the time of reworking.

- In the above embodiment, since the laser processing apparatus has the fθ lens 7, the light can be uniformly focused on each point on the plane. However, if such an effect can be realized by another method, an ordinary condensing lens may be used instead of the fθ lens 7 .

- The above-described embodiment and modification are examples of embodiments of the present invention, and it is a matter of course that many other embodiments can be considered for the present invention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Laser oscillator 21, 22, 23 Folding mirror 3 Beam expander 4 Scanning part 5, 6 Galvano scanner 51, 61 Mirror 52, 62 Rotating shaft 7 fθ lens 8 Laser light 9 Film ( work piece)
91 Machining area 92 Machining point E Machining end point R Peripheral line S Machining start point T Turning point

Claims (3)

A laser processing device for cutting a long workpiece that is continuously supplied in a fixed direction ,
When performing closed linear processing on the workpiece,
A machining start point and a machining end point are positioned on the closed line, and the machining end point is controlled to be positioned beyond the machining start point in the machining direction;
Between the processing start point and the first processing of the processing end point, control is performed so that processing is performed with a weaker strength than usual,
A laser processing apparatus controlled to perform normal intensity processing after processing the processing end point first . 2. According to claim 1 , wherein the processing with an intensity weaker than usual is performed by adjusting at least one condition selected from the group consisting of laser output, pulse frequency, duty ratio and processing speed among laser processing conditions. Laser processing equipment. When processing a closed linear shape by cutting a workpiece that is continuously supplied in a fixed direction ,
A machining start point and a machining end point are located on the closed line, and the machining end point is located beyond the machining start point in the machining direction,
During the period from the processing start point to the first processing of the processing end point, processing with a weaker strength than usual is performed,
A method of processing a long work piece by a laser processing device in which normal strength processing is performed after the processing end point is processed first .

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