JPH067998B2 - Laser head positioning device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a laser head positioning device capable of automatically positioning the focal point of laser light with respect to a workpiece.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, when the thickness of the material to be processed is changed or deformed, a position signal detected by a sensor for processing material position detection attached to the position of the lens for condensing the laser light, A method has been used in which the position of the laser head is moved by the servo mechanism combined with this sensor to adjust the focus position on the material to be processed.

However, in this method, the operation of the laser head could not follow the actual change of the material to be processed because the servo was inevitably delayed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

For this reason, in the conventional laser head positioning method, there is a delay in the tracking operation of the laser head with respect to changes in the work material, the work material hits the laser head, and the work material is damaged or the laser head is damaged. I was doing it. Further, even if the material is not damaged, there is a problem in that the light collecting position on the material to be processed is deteriorated, so that the processing ability is lowered and the processing is deteriorated.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has a structure in which the laser head itself directly follows a change or deformation in the thickness of the material to be processed, and it is possible to prevent the laser head and the material from being processed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for positioning a laser head so that the laser beam focusing position is always in an optimum position for processing, assuming that no force acts.

[Means for solving problems]

A laser head positioning device according to the present invention mounts a lens system on a movable base that is slidable in a vertical direction, and a laser focused by a lens is aligned with a processing position. A stopper that positions the lower end position according to the material to be processed by the structure, a positioning mechanism that can automatically position the stopper that moves the position of the stopper to a predetermined position according to the material to be processed, a fixed base and a movable base A weight balance mechanism by fluid pressure that apparently makes the total weight of the movable base part lighter, and a material to be processed when the material is between the movable base and the material to be processed and the material is not flat due to deformation. Configured by a contact body provided on a movable base that transmits a force that causes the laser head mechanism, whose weight is reduced by the weight balance mechanism, to be released upward by receiving a force from the A.

[Action]

In the present invention, when the thickness and shape of the material to be processed are known in advance, the stopper positioning mechanism is controlled by the information to set the stopper position to the optimum position,
The laser head is installed so that the laser light is focused at the optimum position for processing the material to be processed.

If the deformation of the material to be processed is not known in advance, that is, in the case of thermal deformation, deformation due to process sequence, deformation due to processing shape, deformation due to other accidents, etc. caused by the progress of processing, the weight of the laser head is reduced. Since the pressure of the fluid of the balance mechanism can be adjusted, when a small force applied from the deformation of the work material is applied to the laser head, the laser head itself moves upward, and the laser head and the work material are damaged and damaged. There is no generation of force to do. Since the machine and the work material vibrate during high-speed processing, the pushing force can be weakened to stabilize the position of the laser head, and the force can be balanced according to the processing speed and the hardness of the work material.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a cross section of an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. In these figures, 11 is a laser beam, which is sent from a laser oscillator (not shown). 12 is a lens, 13 is a lens case,
The lens 12 is incorporated. Reference numeral 14 is a fixture for the lens case 13, 15 is an inner cylinder that holds the fixture 14, and serves as a passage for the laser light 11, 16 is a fixing screw for the fixture 14, 17 is an outer cylinder, and 18 is an outer cylinder. An auxiliary gas introduction hole 19 formed on one side surface of the nozzle 17 is attached below the outer cylinder 17, is a nozzle through which the laser beam 11 passes and ejects auxiliary gas, and is fixed by a nut 20. 21
Is a contact body, for example, a universal bearing is used to prevent the workpiece W from coming into contact with the nozzle 19, and when the workpiece W is deformed, the deformation causes the workpiece W to come into contact with the workpiece W to move the laser head. It works to push up parts. Reference numeral 22 denotes the inner cylinder 15 slidably fitted to the outer cylinder 1
The contact body 21 is attached to the movable base 22 with the outer cylinder 17 as a support member. Reference numeral 23 is a modification nut for slightly moving the inner cylinder 15 up and down with respect to the movable base 22 to adjust a focal length slightly different for each lens, 24 is a screw portion, and 25 is the modification nut 23.
An adjustment rod (not shown) is inserted in the adjustment hole of and rotated.
Reference numeral 26 denotes a rotation stop key that determines a direction so that the inner cylinder 15 does not rotate with respect to the movable base 22, and the above constitutes the movable portion of the laser head. 27 is an optical path tube for the laser beam 11, 28 is a guide shaft for vertically guiding the movable base 22, 29 is a bracket for fixing the guide shaft 28, 30 is a fixed base for the laser processing machine, and 31 is It is a screw for attaching the bracket 29 to the fixed base 30. The movable guide mechanism is constituted by 28, 29, 31 and the like. 40 is a positioning mechanism which is a main part of the present invention,
Reference numeral 41 denotes a servo motor that moves the height of the laser head in accordance with the thickness of the material to be processed and the proper distance between the contact body 21 and 4
Reference numeral 2 is a screw rotated by the servo motor 41, 43 is a knob for displaying a rotation amount of the knob 43, which allows the screw 42 to be finely adjusted manually, 44 is an indicator indicating the rotation position of the knob 43, and 45 is a movable bracket. , 46 is the screw 42
A nut that screws with a movable bracket 45 and a screw 47.
It is fixed at. Reference numeral 48 is a bearing for the screw 42, 49 is a stopper receiver for determining the movable base 22 at the lower end position for each material to be processed, and 50 is attached to the movable bracket 45 to contact the support 49 and support it from below. A stopper, 51 is a nut for fixing the stopper 50.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 60 denotes a weight balance mechanism which is an essential part of the present invention, and is provided with an air pressure (pneumatic device) 61 so that the inner cylinder 1
5, the weight applied to the movable base 22 such as the outer cylinder 17 is balanced so that the workpiece W is not directly weighted. 62 is an air cylinder, 63 is a piston,
A piston rod 64 fixes the piston 63 with a nut 65. Reference numeral 66 is a cylinder lid, 67 is an inlet / outlet for pressurized air, 68 is an upper fulcrum for attaching the piston rod 64 fixed to the bracket 29, and 69 is a lower fulcrum for attaching the cylinder lid 66 fixed to the movable base 22. Is.

Next, the operation will be described.

The laser head positioning mechanism configured as described above automatically controls the servomotor 41 of the positioning mechanism 40 according to the plate thickness of the material W to be processed, or manually sets the screw 42.
The nut 46, the bracket 45, and the stopper 50 are moved up and down by rotating.

As a result, the lower limit position of the movable base 22 is determined via the stopper receiving member 49 which is in contact with the stopper 50 and is supported on the upper end of the stopper 50, so that the laser light focused by the lens 12 is processed at the processing position. Are to be positioned.

This is because the movable base 22, outer cylinder 17, inner cylinders 15 and 12,
The laser heads of the lens systems 13 and 14 are merely placed on the stopper 50, and only their weights stop the upward movement. The weight is reduced by the weight balance mechanism 60, and the laser head can be easily moved upward by a slight force.

In the weight balance mechanism 60, pressurized air is introduced into the air cylinder 62 from the air introduction port 67a in the upper portion of the air cylinder 62, and the piston 63 is fixed to the fixed base 30 via the blanket 29. Through the cylinder lid 66 and the lower fulcrum 69,
A force that balances the weights of the movable base 22, the inner cylinder 15, and the lens systems 12, 13, and 14 is created. Therefore, the contact body 2
When a small stress acts on 1, the movable portion of the laser head moves slightly upward, so that the force acting between the workpiece W and the laser head portion becomes extremely small.

According to the present invention, the state of the material W to be processed is divided into an obvious state and an unpredictable state in advance, and the converging position of the laser light is determined by the control and the movable system corresponding to each state. When the work material W is largely deformed, the movement of the movable base 22 is detected, and the oscillation of the laser is stopped, so that the machine can be stopped safely.

The first control, which can be said to be basic control, drives the control motor based on the information of the material W to be processed in advance and sets the laser light focusing at the optimum position for processing. If this does not occur, sufficiently good processing can be performed only by this control method.

The second control is a mechanism based on the work material W capable of promptly adjusting the focus position of the laser light to the deformation of the work material W during the unpredictable work progress, as compared with the basic control. Therefore, it is possible to immediately deal with thermal deformation during processing, deformation that occurs in the order of processing steps, and other accidental deformation.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the present invention has a structure in which a movable base that is assembled with a lens system and is slidable in the vertical direction and a laser focused by a lens are aligned with a processing position so that the movable base is mounted on and supported. A stopper that positions the lower end according to the material to be processed, a positioning mechanism that can position the stopper to a predetermined position according to the material to be processed, and a positioning mechanism between the fixed base and the movable base. The weight balance mechanism by fluid pressure that makes the total weight of the movable base apparently lighter, and the force between the workpiece and the workpiece between the movable base and the workpiece, when the workpiece is deformed and not flat. By receiving the laser head mechanism, the weight of which is reduced by the weight balance mechanism, and the contact body provided on the movable base that transmits the force to escape upward, the focus position of the laser light is adjusted. Since it corresponds in a manner, what also maintained good working against the work piece, and can be processed with high quality products.

In addition, even if the material to be processed is moved at high speed to improve productivity, the processing can proceed without applying the material to the laser head, and there is no undue stress on the material to be processed, so the processing accuracy is good and Without damaging the processed material,
In addition, there is an advantage that the laser head is not damaged, the safety is good, and the handling is good.

Furthermore, the weight balance mechanism for fluid pressure can achieve the optimum balance simply by adjusting the fluid pressure even if the lens or nozzle is replaced with a different weight. Although it is impossible to combine laser processing with a place where vibration occurs or a machine that generates vibration, the fluid pressure type can be used for any machine without limitation.

Also, because the position of the laser head can be adjusted by automatic positioning based on commands, it is possible to optimize the position of the focused laser light by adjusting the distance from the surface of the work material to the work material. , NC machine tools and the like can be improved in automatic operation performance and the area of automatic processing can be expanded. Furthermore, since the movable base can be automatically stopped at any position, by setting the contact body and the material to be processed apart, it is possible to perform processing without the contact body contacting the normal material to be processed, It is possible to process materials with soft surfaces and beautiful surfaces without making contact marks. Then, in a normal state, the contact body is positioned without coming into contact with the material to be processed, and laser processing can be performed in that state, so high-speed processing is possible. What is more important to note is that when laser processing the peripheral part of the hole or window made in the previous process, or when laser processing the material to which the hole or window has been processed, In the invention, since the contact body is not in contact with the material to be processed, the contact body does not fall into those holes or windows, so that the positioning of the laser head is not disturbed. And because the laser head can be automatically moved freely to the optimum focusing position that varies variously depending on the material and thickness of the material to be processed,
Since it is possible to satisfactorily cope with it, and further, it is possible to change the focusing position according to the purpose and content of the processing while the processing is in progress.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view showing a cross section of an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. In the figure, 11 is a laser beam, 12 is a lens, 15 is an inner cylinder, 1
7 is an outer cylinder, 19 is a nozzle, 21 is a contact body, 22 is a movable base, 28 is a guide shaft, 29 is a bracket, 30 is a fixed base, 40 is a positioning mechanism, 60 is a weight balance mechanism, 6
1 is air pressure, and W is a material to be processed.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Positioning of a laser head of a laser processing machine for positioning the focus position of laser light by adjusting the position of the lens for processing a material to be processed by irradiating the laser light focused by the lens. In the device, a movable base having a mechanism for assembling the lens and capable of sliding in the vertical direction, and a structure capable of moving separately from the movable base and supporting the movable base on the movable base, and the quality and thickness of the material to be processed. A stopper for determining the lower end position of the movable base in order to make the distance between the lens and the work piece an optimum size for processing; A positioning mechanism that automatically positions the movable base; a fixed base that fixes the movable guide mechanism of the movable base; and a fixed base that is between the fixed base and the movable base and that joins the movable base. A weight balance mechanism for reducing the amount by exerting an upward force by the pressure of the fluid; between the movable base and the material to be processed, when the material to be processed is deformed and not in a flat state, A contact body provided on the movable base for transmitting an upward force to the laser head mechanism, the weight of which is reduced by the weight balance mechanism. Positioning device.