JPS6156928B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a laser output measurement and display device for a laser processing device including a laser surgical device.

In conventionally known laser processing equipment, a power meter is built into the housing of the laser oscillator to measure the laser output at the laser output end.
Most of the models had this displayed on the operation panel of the power supply cabinet.

Generally, laser processing equipment has a light guide device to guide the laser beam to the irradiation point, but the laser output at the irradiation point is attenuated due to the power loss of this light guide device. This attenuation rate also changes due to aging of the light guide material. That is, this light guide path device uses a manipulator or optical fiber having a large number of articulated mirrors,
The reflectance of mirrors and the transmittance of condensing lenses or optical fibers deteriorate due to the influence of dust in the air.
The attenuation rate of the irradiation power changes.

However, what the operator of the device actually knows is the irradiation power at the tip of the light guide, but with the power measurement method described above that measures the laser output at the laser output end, it is not possible to directly know this irradiation power. I can't. Therefore, the only way to know the irradiation power is to directly measure the irradiated laser beam with a commercially available power meter, but it is cumbersome and inappropriate for safety reasons to perform such measurements while the device is in operation. be.

Therefore, in the present invention, the laser power at the tip of the light guide is constantly read and displayed, and the power attenuation rate is memorized and displayed by simply performing a simple measurement operation just before the operator starts the processing operation. Some improvements have been made.

For such laser power measurement equipment,
Patent Application No. 17396/1987 by the applicant has already exemplified a laser scalpel, described its mechanical parts, and detailed the necessity of measuring the power at the tip of the light guide as described above, the cause of power attenuation, etc. Therefore, I will not discuss it again here.

The present invention mainly relates to the electronic circuit configuration and function of the power measuring device as described above, and the electronic circuit system of the laser output measuring device includes a power meter that measures the power at the laser output end and the tip of the light guide, and It consists of a power storage device, a servo system for converting tip power, a storage device and display device for tip conversion output and power attenuation rate.

Thus, the first object of the present invention is to directly display the laser output at the tip of the light guide simply by the operator performing a simple laser output measurement operation as one of the preparation operations for the device, and to maintain this display during operation. Second, the power at the tip of the light guide can be changed and displayed at any time during operation; third, the attenuation rate of the laser power can be memorized and displayed, and it can also be used to measure the laser output at the laser output end. The object of the present invention is to provide an electronic circuit system for a laser output measuring device that can always store and display the tip power regardless of the situation.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an electronic circuit system of a laser output measuring device according to the present invention. When the push button switch _S1 is pressed, the laser oscillator 3 receives power from the laser power source 1 and starts oscillating. This push button switch S ₁ also serves as the laser output setting, and when it is pressed and rotated, the value of the variable resistor 2 built into the laser power supply 1 changes, the laser discharge current is changed, and as a result, the laser output is changed. It will be done. At the output end of the laser oscillator 3, there are shutters S ₃ and S ₄ made up of contacts of the same relay. Usually, the shutter S ₄
is closed, the laser light directly enters the power meter 5 without passing through the light guide (manipulator) 4. On the other hand, when the tip of the light guide 4 is inserted into the measurement hole near the shutters S ₃ and S ₄ , the micro switch S ₂ provided in the measurement hole is activated.
The shutter is activated by the signal from this micro switch _S2 .
S ₃ closes and shutter S ₄ opens. When the push button switch S ₁ is pressed in this state, the output from the tip of the light guide path 4 enters the power meter 5 .

The shutters S ₃ and S ₄ mentioned above are actually rotary shutter plates that open and close the laser beam, but the opening and closing state of the laser beam is controlled by the switch contacts S ₃ and S ₄ .
It was displayed as follows. In addition, in FIG. 1, by utilizing the flexibility of the light guide path 4, the power meter 5 is commonly used to measure the power at both the end of the light guide path and the laser output end. However, each power meter may be separate. For example, in the case of a YAG laser coagulator, the power at the tip of the optical fiber is measured through the measurement hole of the power meter built into the operation panel, and the laser output is Power at the end can also be provided with a built-in laser head.

Regarding the above-mentioned matters, especially the mechanism of the shutter mechanism and the push button switch, it is sufficient to use the detailed explanations in Japanese Patent Application No. 17396/1982 and Japanese Patent Application No. 179235/1987 filed by the applicant, so the drawings thereof will be used here. and explanation will be omitted.

Next, we will discuss the laser output conversion at the tip of the light guide and its display.

First, when the power P ₁ at the tip of the light guide is detected by the power meter 5 in the aforementioned procedure, the switch S ₅ is connected to the memory circuit 6 by the signals of the micro switch S ₂ and the shutter S ₃ , so the power P ₁ is detected by the power meter 5. A voltage V ₁ corresponding to is stored in this memory circuit 6. Next, pull out the light guide path 4 from the power measurement hole,
When pushbutton switch S ₁ is pressed, switch S ₅ enters the potentiometer 9 side and adjusts the power at the laser output end.
P ₂ is connected to potentiometer 9 and voltage V ₂ is developed. These voltages V ₁ and V ₂ are compared by a comparator circuit 7, and the differential voltage V ₁ -V ₂ drives a servo motor 8 to move the contacts of a potentiometer 9 connected to its shaft. As a result, in an equilibrium state, that is, in a state where the contact position is fixed, the applied voltages V ₁ and V ₂ of the potentiometer 9 represent the powers P ₁ and P ₂ at the tip of the light guide and the laser output end, respectively, and the ratio
V ₁ /V ₂ represents the power attenuation rate of the light guide.
Based on the setting of the contact position, the arithmetic circuit 14 converts the power to the power at the tip of the light guide even if it constantly measures the power at the laser output end, calculates the power attenuation rate, and calculates these values. is configured to output. The converted power at the tip of the light guide path is stored in the memory circuit 10 via the switch _S6 , and displayed in units of W on the display 11 provided on the operation panel. Further, the power attenuation rate V ₁ /V ₂ is stored in the memory circuit 12 via the switch S ₇ , and further via the switch S ₈ , and displayed on the display 13 located at a predetermined location in the laser power supply housing, for example, on the rear panel. . This power attenuation rate V ₁ /V ₂ is used for maintenance and inspection by the manufacturer. If this ratio falls below a certain value, it is a sign that the mirror or other light guide path components are contaminated or the quality has deteriorated. Yes, the light guide must be repaired or replaced. Additionally, since it is extremely dangerous to use the light guide in such a degraded state due to the high-power laser beam, it is also possible to add a circuit that sets the lower limit of the power attenuation rate and issues an alarm signal. . Note that the switches _S6 and _S7 are switches that are instantaneously closed by the end signal of the series of power measurement operations, and the storage operation is performed at this point. The reset signal R of the memory circuits 6, 10, 12 is generated by a signal indicating that the push button switch _S1 is closed during power measurement, that is, a laser oscillation start signal.

Once the laser output at the tip of the light guide and the laser output end is calibrated in this way and the contact position of the potentiometer 9 is determined, if you wish to reset the laser output by turning the push button switch S ₁ while operating the device. The output of the laser output end measured by the power meter 5 is applied to the potentiometer 9, but the laser output displayed on the display 11 after passing through the arithmetic circuit 14 and the memory circuit 10 is the converted output at the tip of the light guide path. It is. This can be easily understood from the operation of output conversion as described above.

In the explanation up to now, we have not specifically described the sequence control system related to a series of output calculations, storage, display, etc. regarding switches such as push button switch S ₁ and shutters S ₃ and S ₄ . Since the relay circuit and switching circuit can be easily realized using conventionally known techniques, their explanation is omitted.

In this way, the laser output measuring device of the present invention always displays the output at the tip of the light guide path even though it measures the output at the laser output end, and maintains this display even during operation of the device. Laser output settings can be changed during operation, and the attenuation rate due to deterioration of the light guide path can be stored and displayed.
Therefore, it has become clear that it has features and advantages such as being able to monitor the effective output of laser irradiation while operating the laser processing equipment, and facilitating optical maintenance and inspection of the light guide path.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an electronic circuit system of a laser output measuring device. 3... Laser oscillator, 4... Light guide path, 5... Power meter, 6, 10, 12... Memory circuit, 7... Comparison circuit, 8... Servo motor, 9... Potentiometer, 11, 13... Display unit, 14... Calculation circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A laser oscillator that oscillates by supplying power from a laser power source, a laser output variable device that changes the setting of the laser output, a light guide that irradiates laser light, and a laser output end and a light guide tip. In a laser output measuring device for a laser processing device having a power meter that detects laser output,
A first memory circuit 6 that stores a voltage V ₁ corresponding to the laser output P ₁ at the tip of the light guide detected by the power meter, and a voltage V 1 corresponding to the voltage V ₁ and the laser output P ₂ at the laser output end. ₂ , a servo motor 8 driven by the voltage difference V ₁ −V ₂ , a potentiometer 9 connected to the shaft of the servo motor to determine the contact position, and setting of the contact position. Arithmetic circuit 1 that converts the laser output at the laser output end to the laser output at the tip of the light guide path when measured with a power meter based on
4 and a second storage circuit 1 that stores the converted output.
0 and its indicator 11, the laser is characterized in that the display of the laser output at the tip of the light guide is always maintained during operation of the laser processing device, even though the laser output at the laser output end is measured. Output measurement device. 2. A laser oscillator that oscillates using power supplied from a laser power supply, a laser output variable device that changes the settings of its laser output, a light guide that irradiates laser light, and a power that detects the laser output at the laser output end and the tip of the light guide. a first memory circuit 6 that stores a voltage V ₁ corresponding to the laser output P ₁ at the tip of the light guide detected by the power meter, and the voltage V ₁ corresponding to the laser output P ₂ at the laser output end. a comparator circuit 7 for comparing the voltage V ₂ between the two, a servo motor 8 driven by the difference voltage V ₁ -V ₂ , and a potentiometer 9 connected to the shaft of the servo motor to determine the position of its contacts.
an arithmetic circuit 14 that converts the laser output at the tip of the light guide when the laser output at the laser output end is measured by a power meter based on the setting of the contact position;
a second storage circuit 10 that stores the converted output;
In the laser output measuring device for a laser processing device having the display 11, the arithmetic circuit includes a circuit that calculates a ratio of laser outputs at both the tip of the light guide and the laser output end, and stores the laser output ratio. Third memory circuit 12 and display 13
What is claimed is: 1. A laser output measuring device, which facilitates maintenance and inspection of the tip of a light guide and ensures its safety.