JPH0247317B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a laser processing device, and in particular, the laser beam is applied to a workpiece by performing oscillating scanning of the laser beam. The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus that can compensate for changes in the energy density of a laser beam on a workpiece even if the laser beam is incident obliquely, and can perform processing while maintaining a constant sharpness.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 2 shows an example of a conventional laser processing apparatus. In this figure, the cutting conveyor 10
A spreading device 14 in which a roll 12 of rolled fabric is set is disposed on the left side. Further, on the right side of the cutting conveyor 10, a scrap processing device 16 is arranged to accommodate and process the scraps after cutting. The fabric 18 to be processed is
The scraps are fed from the spreading device 14 onto the cutting conveyor 10 as indicated by the arrow F1 in the figure, and are stored in the scrap processing device 16 as indicated by the arrow F2. Near the center of the cutting conveyor 10 is a laser head 2.
A drive mechanism 22 for scanning 0 is arranged. This drive mechanism 22 includes a first drive body 24,
A second driving body 26 is also included. A pair of first drive bodies 24 are provided on both sides of the cutting conveyor 10, and a second drive body 26 is provided so as to be movable in the direction of arrow F3. That is, the second driver 26 is driven by the first driver 24 in the direction of arrow F3. The direction of this arrow F3 corresponds to the coordinate axis X assumed on the surface of the fabric 18.

A carriage 28 is attached to the second drive body 26, and the carriage 28 is driven by the second drive body 26 in the direction of arrow F4 in the figure. The direction of this arrow F4 corresponds to the coordinate axis Y assumed on the surface of the fabric 18. A laser head 20 is fixed to the carriage 28. That is, the laser head 20 is scanned in the direction of the coordinate axis X by the first driver 24 and scanned by the second driver 24.
6 in the direction of the coordinate axis Y.

Further, a laser oscillator 30 is arranged near the cutting conveyor 10, and an optical means 32 consisting of a prism or a mirror is arranged on the second driving body 26 described above. Further, the laser oscillator 30 is provided with a light guiding means 34. The laser light emitted from the light guide means 34 passes through the optical path L1 and enters the optical means 32, and after the optical path is changed here, it passes through the optical path L2 and reaches the laser head 20.
reach. The direction of the optical path L1 corresponds to the moving direction of the optical means 32, that is, the moving direction of the second driver 26 as indicated by the arrow F3. Furthermore, the direction of the optical path L2 is the direction of movement of the laser head 20, that is, the direction of the carriage 2.
This corresponds to the moving direction of arrow F4 of No.8. Therefore, even if the laser head 20 moves in this manner, the laser light output from the laser oscillator 30 can reach the laser head 20 well.

Next, to explain the operation of the above conventional example,
The fabric 18 is transported along with the operation of the cutting conveyor 10 and passes through the laser head 20. The laser head 20 is scanned and moved by the drive mechanism 22, and as a result, the laser beam is scanned while drawing a fixed pattern on the fabric 18.

However, in the conventional laser processing apparatus as described above, the size of the drive mechanism 22 increases in proportion to the size of the pattern to be cut, and it is necessary to provide sufficient space for the arrangement. For this reason,
The length of the laser processing device, especially the cutting conveyor 10, becomes long. Further, the noise or vibration accompanying the operation of the drive mechanism 22 must also be considerably large.

Furthermore, since the movement range of the laser head 20 coincides with the cutting pattern, there is also the disadvantage that it is difficult to perform cutting at high speed.

Therefore, the inventor made the mirror, which is an optical means for irradiating the workpiece with laser light, swing around the first and second axes, thereby scanning the laser light at high speed. We have proposed a laser processing device that can perform processing and reduce noise and vibration.

Hereinafter, the laser processing apparatus proposed by the above inventor will be explained in detail based on FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the proposed laser processing apparatus, and FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of this apparatus as viewed from the front. In FIGS. 3 and 4, a spreading device 104 for the dough 100 is disposed to the left of a slat conveyor 102, which is a support base on which the dough 100 to be processed is supported. The fabric roll 106 on which the fabric 100 is wound is set in the fabric spreading device 104.
0 is delivered onto a slat conveyor 102 by a spreading device 104. A scrap processing device 108 is disposed on the right side of the slat conveyor 102, and is configured to store scrap remaining after processing is completed.

A substantially U-shaped frame 110 is arranged at an appropriate position near the center of the slat conveyor 102, and furthermore, approximately at the center of the horizontal portion of the frame 110,
A laser head 112 is fixed. The laser head 112 includes a first mirror drive section 114, a second mirror drive section 116, and a focusing means 118, which are configured, for example, in a gimbal shape.
An example of the optical system of laser head 112 is shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, the laser beam is transmitted through a convex mirror 120 and a concave mirror 1 as indicated by a dashed line in the figure.
After the beam diameter is expanded through the beam expanding means consisting of 22, the lens 124 which is the condensing means 118
The light is further reflected by a mirror 126, which is a reflecting means, and is made to enter the fabric 100.

The first mirror drive section 114 includes a mirror 126
, with axis PX as the center and arrow FA in Figure 4 or arrow 5
It is driven to swing as indicated by the arrow FB in the figure, and its axis PX coincides with the optical axis of the lens 124 of the condensing means 118.

The second mirror drive unit 116 is a mirror 126
, centering on axis PY and arrow FC in Figure 4 or arrow 5
It is driven to swing as indicated by the arrow FD in the figure.

That is, the laser beam RB (see FIG. 3) is focused on the fabric 100 by the convex mirror 120, concave mirror 122, and lens 124, and is focused on the fabric 100 by the first mirror drive unit 114. The fabric 10 is scanned in the coordinate X direction assumed to be
The image is scanned in the Y direction, which is a coordinate assumed to be on 0.

Reflection means 500 having the mirror 126 described above
will be explained based on FIGS. 6 to 8.

This reflecting means 500 utilizes a gimbal mechanism as it is, and a first motor 502 is provided inside a frame 501 to cause a first axis PX to protrude from the frame 501. A swing frame 503 having a U-shape when seen is provided.

Then, the mirror 126 described above is faced inside the swing frame 503, and the mirror 126 is supported swingably about the second axis PY, and the swing frame 503
A second motor 504 provided outside one side of the motor 3 is connected to the shaft PY. Further, the first mirror driving section 114 described above is connected to the first motor 502 by the second mirror driving section 114.
The mirror drive unit 116 is electrically connected to the second motor 504 .

Therefore, the first mirror drive section 114 described above
When a control signal is supplied to the first motor 502, the shaft PX swings and the swing frame 503 swings, causing the mirror 126 to swing in the direction of the arrow FE in FIG. When the control signal from the second mirror drive unit 116 is supplied to the second motor 504, the shaft
As PY swings, the mirror 126 moves as shown by the arrow in Figure 7.
Controlled swing in the direction of FF.

Note that the beam expanding means consisting of the convex mirror 120 and the concave mirror 122 is for narrowing down the pot diameter d of the laser beam RB on the fabric 100. That is, the spot diameter d is expressed as follows, where d=kF/D, where F is the focal length of the lens 124, D is the beam diameter D of the laser beam incident on the lens 124, and is a constant k. Therefore, even when the focal length F is set to a large value, if the spot diameter d is to be kept constant, the beam diameter D must also be increased in proportion to F. In this apparatus, the degree of rocking of the mirror 126 can be reduced by increasing the focal length F of the lens 124 and increasing the distance between the laser head 112 and the fabric 100, so such a beam expanding means is included. is preferable.

Next, a laser oscillator 128 is arranged near the slat conveyor 102 or the spreading device 104, and furthermore, a laser oscillator 128 is disposed near one shoulder of the frame 110.
Optical means 130 consisting of a prism, a mirror, etc. is arranged and fixed at 10A. A transmission body 132 made of an optical fiber or the like is provided between the laser oscillator 128 and the optical means 130, and a similar transmission body 134 is provided between the optical means 130 and the condensing means 118. That is,
The transmission bodies 132 and 134 and the optical means 130 constitute a transmission means for guiding the laser light outputted by the laser oscillator 128 to the laser head 112.

Next, the overall operation of the above device will be explained.

First, the fabric 100 is sent out from the original fabric roll 106 onto the slat conveyor 102 by the fabric spreading device 104 . On the other hand, the laser light reaches the laser head 112 from the laser oscillator 128 via the transmission bodies 132 and 134. The laser beam passes through the beam expanding means and lens 124 described above, and is reflected by a mirror 126 so as to be focused on the fabric 100.

At this time, the first and second mirror drive sections 11
4 and 116, the mirror 126 is oscillated about the axes PX and PY, and the laser beam RB is scanned over the fabric 100 according to the required cutting pattern (see FIG. 3). Note that the lens 124 emits the laser beam RB.
It is controlled so that the optical distance between the lens 124 and the fabric 100 is always constant by moving it in the optical axis direction in response to the scanning.

Through the above operations, the fabric 100 is cut, and the fabric 100 is sent toward the scrap processing device 108 by the slat conveyor 102. The cut fabrics 100A and 100B are collected from the slat conveyor 102 by an operator, and the scraps are stored in the scrap processing device 108. In addition, in FIG. 3, 200 is a processing control device that controls the above operations.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The device shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 above is a mirror 126.
scans the fabric 100 by swinging, the fifth
As shown in the figure, comparing the case where the laser beam RB is incident perpendicularly on the fabric 100 and the case where the laser beam RB is incident obliquely at an incident angle θ, the fabric 100
The area of the spot of the laser beam RB that irradiates zero becomes larger when it is incident obliquely. Therefore, as the incident angle θ increases, the fabric 100
As the energy density of the upper laser beam decreases, the cutting quality deteriorates. In other words, it has been found that there is a problem in that the sharpness becomes worse as the distance from directly below the laser head increases.

Although the mirror 126 swings at the same position in FIG. 5, the illustration is complicated, so in FIG. 5, the case where the light is incident obliquely is shown shifted laterally. Further, FIG. 5 illustrates the case where scanning is performed only in the coordinate Y direction with the axis PY as the center.

The present invention was made to solve this problem, and the energy density on the workpiece does not decrease even if the laser beam RB is incident obliquely, that is, even if the laser beam RB is incident obliquely, The object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing device that can compensate for changes in energy density on a workpiece and maintain constant sharpness.

[Means for solving problems]

The laser processing apparatus according to the present invention swings a mirror, which is a reflecting means for irradiating a workpiece with laser light, about first and second axes, thereby scanning the laser light. A control means is provided for drawing a predetermined pattern and for compensating for changes in energy density on the workpiece according to the incident angle of the laser beam.

[Effect]

In the present invention, changes in energy density on the workpiece are compensated for depending on the incident angle of the laser beam, so even if the laser beam is incident obliquely, the cutting quality does not deteriorate, and the cutting quality can be adjusted to any part of the workpiece. However, it can be processed to be uniformly sharp.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

The structure of the processing apparatus according to the present invention is the same as the apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 except for the processing control device, and therefore the description of the same parts will be omitted.

Next, a processing control device that performs processing while compensating for changes in the energy density of the laser beam on the fabric 100 in accordance with the control of the operations of each part of the device and the incident angle of the laser beam will be described. In this embodiment, compensation for the change in energy density is performed by either of the following methods.

(1) As the incident angle of the laser beam increases, mirror 1
If the oscillation speed of the mirror 126 is decreased and the angle of incidence becomes smaller, the oscillation speed of the mirror 126 is increased to compensate for the change in the energy density of the laser beam on the fabric 100. That is, the swinging speed of the mirror 126 is changed according to the incident angle to compensate for changes in energy density.

(2) When the incident angle of the laser beam increases, the output of the laser beam is increased; conversely, when the angle of incidence decreases, the output of the laser beam is decreased to compensate for changes in the energy density of the laser beam on the fabric 100. do. That is, the output of the laser beam is changed according to the incident angle to compensate for the change in energy density.

(3) Do both (1) and (2) above. That is, both the rocking speed of the mirror 126 and the output of the laser beam are changed depending on the incident angle to compensate for the change in energy density.

The change in the energy density of the laser beam mentioned above is
As the incident angle θ increases, the ratio of COS θ increases
The energy supplied to 00 becomes smaller.

Therefore, when the mirror 126 is oscillated to compensate for the change in energy density, when the incident angle θ increases, the oscillation speed of the mirror 126 is reduced by a factor of COS θ. Furthermore, when changing the output of the laser beam to compensate for changes in energy density, the output of the laser beam may be increased by 1/COSθ times with respect to the incident angle θ.

This will be explained in detail below using the block diagram shown in FIG.

In this FIG. 1, the processing control device 200 is
It is composed of a first-stage processing device 300 that performs production management, pattern making, grading, or marking processing, and a second-stage processing device 400 that performs other direct processing. A data input means 202 such as a paper tape is connected to the processing device 300 .

The processing device 300 includes a production management section 302, a pattern making/grading section (hereinafter simply referred to as "PG section") 304, and a marking section 3.
06. Among these, the production management section 302 has a function of instructing processing processing based on data necessary for production management such as the production quantity and type of the entire processing work. In the PG section 304,
Based on the data input from the production management department 302, pattern making and grading work is performed, and data regarding specific patterns is calculated. Pattern making is the creation of a specific processing pattern, and grading is the creation of variation patterns according to each size from a standard pattern. This data in the PG section 304 is input to the marking section 306. The marking unit 306 performs a process of arranging patterns on the fabric 100 with a high yield based on the input data. The data of this marking section 306 is input to the subsequent processing device 400. In the processing device 400, the marking section 3
Laser light scanning is performed based on the data input from 06, and the fabric 100 is cut.

Next, the subsequent processing device 400 will be explained. This processing device 400 is mainly configured with a cutting control section 402, which has a speed control section 402A and a laser output control section 402B, and the cutting control section 402 has a speed control section 402A and a laser output control section 402B. According to the data, operation commands for the oscillator operation panel 404, head drive operation panel 406, and servo controller 408 are calculated and output. This operation command is the servo controller 4
08 through the speed control section 402A, and output to the oscillator operation panel 404 through the laser output control section.

The speed control unit 402A scans the mirror 126 in the coordinate X direction and the coordinate Y, which is calculated by the cutting control unit 402 from the pattern and marking data.
Data on the incident angle θ corresponding to the scanning direction is taken in, and the swinging speed of the mirror 126 is changed according to the change in θ so that the change in the energy density of the laser beam RB on the fabric 100 is compensated for. The command is output to the servo controller 408. In other words, a command is given to the servo controller 408 to reduce the speed when θ becomes large, and to increase the speed when θ becomes small.

The laser output control section 402B is the speed control section 40
2A, the cutting control unit 402 causes the mirror 12 to
The data of the incident angle θ corresponding to the scanning in the X direction and the Y direction of the coordinates 6 is taken in, and the laser beam is adjusted according to the change in θ so that the change in the energy density of the laser beam RB on the fabric 100 is compensated for. A command to change the output is output to the oscillator operation panel 404. In other words, as θ increases, the output of the laser beam increases, and θ
If becomes smaller, a command is given to the oscillator operation panel 404 to reduce the output of the laser beam.

Either operate the speed control section 402A to change the speed, operate the laser output control section 402B to change the laser output, or change the speed control section 40.
2A and the laser output control section 402B to change the speed and laser output can be done by setting in advance in the program that controls the operation of the cutting control section 402.

The cutting control unit 402 also controls the spreading device 104,
Also connected to the scrap processing equipment 108 and conveyor drive 410.

The oscillator operation panel 404 is connected to the laser oscillator 128, thereby controlling the laser oscillator 12.
The laser oscillation operation of 8 is controlled. The oscillator operation panel 404 is operated not only by commands from the cutting control section 402 but also by manual operations by an operator.

The head drive operation panel 406 is connected to the head drive device 4.
12. This head drive device 41
2 includes a first mirror drive section 114, a second mirror drive section 116, and a focus adjustment section 414. The focus adjustment unit 414 moves the lens 124 shown in FIG. 5 in the optical axis direction, thereby adjusting the focal shift in the X and Y directions (see FIG. 3) during scanning of the laser beam RB. It is becoming more and more like this. The head drive operation panel 406 is also operated not only by commands from the cutting control section 402 but also by manual operations by the operator.

Servo controller 408 is connected to head drive 412. That is, the head drive device 412 is driven based on data input from the head drive operation panel 406 and the servo controller 408, and the scanning of the laser beam RB is controlled.

The conveyor drive device 410 is for driving the slat conveyor 102. The conveyor drive device 410, the fabric spreading device 104, and the scrap processing device 108 operate in a certain manner based on commands from the cutting control section 402, and the fabric 104 is
are sent onto the slat conveyor 102 depending on the degree of processing.

Next, the overall operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, the cutting control unit 402 operates the fabric spreading device 104 and the conveyor drive device 410 based on data input from the processing device 300, thereby sending the fabric 100 from the raw fabric roll 106 onto the slat conveyor 102. .

On the other hand, an operation command is output from the cutting control section 402 to the oscillator operation panel 404 via the laser output control section 402B, the laser oscillator 128 starts oscillating operation, and the laser light is transmitted to the laser head 112 via the transmission bodies 132 and 134. reach The laser beam passes through the beam expanding means and lens 124 described above, and is reflected by a mirror 126 so as to be focused onto the fabric 100.

At this time, operation commands are outputted from the cutting control section 402 to the head drive operation panel 406 and further to the servo controller 408 via the speed control section 402A, and the head drive device 412 is driven. That is, the first and second mirror drive sections 114,1
16, the mirror 126 swings around the axes PX and PY, and emits laser light according to the pattern and marking determined by the processing device 300 in the previous stage.
RB is scanned on the fabric 100 (see Figure 3).
In addition, the lens 124 is
moves in the optical axis direction in response to the scanning of the laser beam RB, and is controlled so that the optical distance between the lens 124 and the cloth 100 is constant.

At this time, even if the incident angle θ of the laser beam RB changes, control is performed to compensate for the change in the energy density of the laser beam on the fabric 100, and the fabric 100 is cut.

That is, if the speed control unit 402A operates,
As the incident angle θ increases, the speed of rocking of the mirror 126 decreases, and as θ decreases, the speed increases to compensate for the change in energy density. When the laser output control unit 402B operates, the output of the laser beam increases as the incident angle θ increases, and the output decreases as θ decreases, thereby compensating for changes in energy density. Speed control section 402
If both A and laser output control section 402B are operated, both the speed and the laser output will change as described above, and the change in energy density will always be compensated for, that is, cutting will be performed while keeping the sharpness constant.

Incidentally, the incident angle θ is determined by driving the first axis PX and second axis PY of the reflecting means based on the cutting information (X, Y values) given by QAD, and based on the driving of these two axes. In order to change the angle, the cutting control unit 402 calculates the angle of incidence at the same time as calculating the angle for driving both axes, and based on this calculated value, controls the rocking speed of the mirror and the output of the laser beam. Alternatively, control of the rocking speed of the mirror and control of the output of the laser beam can be performed simultaneously.

The fabric 100 cut through the above operations is sent toward the scrap processing device 108 by the slat conveyor 102. At this time, the scrap processing device 108 is driven based on an operation command from the cutting control section 402. 100 pieces of cut fabric
The scraps A and 100B are collected from the scrap conveyor 102 by an operator or a robot, and the scraps are stored in the scrap processing device 108.

Note that in the above embodiment, the laser beam RB is scanned in the orthogonal coordinate axes X and Y directions by the first and second mirror drive units 114 and 116, but the laser beam RB is It is sufficient if the data can be scanned accurately.

Furthermore, the objects to be processed include fabrics, leather, etc.
It may also be made of metal, plastic, etc. Further, when the workpiece has a relatively small area, it is placed directly on the slat conveyor 102.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention performs the operation of swinging the optical means for irradiating the workpiece with laser light about a predetermined axis while controlling the operation based on the processing pattern. This is done while compensating for changes in the energy density on the workpiece depending on the incident angle of the laser beam.
It is possible to sharpen any part of the workpiece at high speed and uniformly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a processing control device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional laser processing device, and Fig. 3 is a laser processing device improved from the device shown in Fig. 2. A perspective view showing an example of
FIG. 4 is a simplified front view of the device shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the structure of the laser head, FIG. 6 is a plan view of a laser beam reflecting means, FIG. 7 is a side view of the same, and FIG. 8 is a front view of the same. In the figure, 100 is a fabric, 102 is a slat conveyor, 112 is a laser head, 114, 11
6 is a mirror drive unit, 118 is a condensing means, 120 is a convex mirror, 122 is a concave mirror, 124 is a lens, 12
6 is a mirror, 128 is a laser oscillator, 200 is a processing control device, 300 is a front-stage processing device, 400 is a back-stage processing device, 402 is a cutting control unit, 402A
402B is a speed control section, 402B is a laser output control section,
PX and PY are the shafts, and RB is the laser beam. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A laser processing device that processes a workpiece by scanning and irradiating the workpiece supported on a support table with laser light two-dimensionally,
The apparatus includes an optical means for condensing and irradiating a workpiece with a laser beam output from a laser light source, and the optical means includes a condensing means for condensing the laser beam, and one of the optical means condenses the laser beam. a reflecting means that reflects the laser beam while being oscillated about first and second axes arranged in alignment with the optical axis of the means;
The invention further includes a control means for drawing a predetermined pattern while focusing the laser beam on the workpiece, and for compensating for changes in energy density on the workpiece according to the incident angle of the laser beam. Laser processing equipment. 2. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compensation for the change in energy density in the control means is performed by changing the speed of the oscillation according to the incident angle of the laser beam. 3. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compensation for the change in energy density in the control means is performed by changing the output of the laser beam according to the incident angle of the laser beam. 4. Compensation for the change in energy density in the control means is achieved by changing both the rocking speed and the output of the laser beam in accordance with the incident angle of the laser beam. The laser processing device described. 5. The laser processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the focusing means includes a beam expanding means for expanding the diameter of the laser beam.