JP2000061669A - Laser processing apparatus and its processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a laser processing apparatus which follows the unevenness and inclination of a workpiece processing surface, and performs a cutting operation such as cutting and welding with a laser beam with high precision while pressing the workpiece processing surface, and a laser processing apparatus therefor. Provide a processing method. A laser processing apparatus includes a laser processing optical system that collects and irradiates a laser beam output from a laser oscillator and performs processing such as cutting and welding of a work. The laser processing head 11 having the laser processing optical system 17 is provided with a fixed unit 12 to which a laser beam is guided.
And a movable unit 13 having a built-in condensing optical system 37, and elastic holding means 14 provided between the fixed unit 12 and the movable unit 13. The movable unit 13 constitutes a contact-type work copying mechanism 13 that follows the unevenness or inclination of the work surface by the elastic holding means 14. The work copying mechanism 13 keeps the distance from the converging optical system 37 to the work processing position substantially constant at all times, and the laser light L
Is performed on the workpiece.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser machining apparatus and a machining method for machining a work such as cutting or welding using a laser beam, and more particularly to a plane cutting of a plate-like work,
The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus and a processing method suitably applied to overlapping cutting or welding of a work, and further three-dimensional cutting or welding of the work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A laser processing apparatus for cutting or welding a workpiece such as a workpiece or a sample using a laser beam is equipped with an optical system or an electric copying apparatus. This copying apparatus measures the change in the height of the machined surface of the workpiece by a capacitance type sensor or an electric distance sensor, feeds back the measurement result to the laser processing optical system, and outputs the laser light emitted from the laser processing optical system. The laser processing is performed electrically in a non-contact manner by aligning the focus position on the work processing surface.

Laser processing by this laser processing apparatus is performed in a non-contact manner. Therefore, if a thin plate material or press-molding material is selected for the work and this plate-shaped work is stacked and cut or welded by laser light, a gap occurs between the stacked works, and the existence of this gap causes Difficult to cut or weld.

On the other hand, during laser processing by the laser processing apparatus, an inert gas is used as an assist gas, and this inert gas is blown to the irradiation position of laser light. Plasma light is generated on the work surface when cutting or welding the work with this laser light, and the optical sensor or electrical sensor picks up noise due to the plasma light generated during processing. Could not be measured accurately and was difficult to use.

Focusing on the difficulty of using a copying apparatus provided with an optical sensor or an electric sensor, a laser processing apparatus has been developed which employs a mechanical contact type copying apparatus as the laser processing apparatus. As a laser processing apparatus of this type, a microfilm of Japanese Patent Application No. 4-26636 (Japanese Utility Model Application No. 5-88780), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-248683,
JP-A-6-106373, JP-B-2-6211
4 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-52191.

In the microfilm disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-26636, a contact-type copying mechanism having a cantilever-shaped connecting arm is provided in a laser head portion of a laser processing optical system, and a pipe is provided in this copying mechanism. Is a laser welding device for pipes provided with a contact type roller that comes into contact with the butt seam portion.

This laser welding apparatus is limited to one longitudinal direction of the pipe in the welding direction, but is not provided with elastic holding means for elastically holding the laser processing head portion, and the plate-shaped workpieces are superposed. It is difficult to perform cutting and welding accurately and accurately.

Further, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-248683 shows a laser welding apparatus applied to a laser processing robot. This laser welding apparatus has a laser processing head on the outer shape of a large work. A contact-type work copying device is provided for following, and the laser processing head is guided by this work copying device to weld the arc-shaped corner portion of a large work.

However, this laser welding apparatus also welds the corner portion of a large workpiece in an arc shape in one direction, and the laser processing head that follows the outer shape of the large workpiece is
Assuming that the plate thickness is constant, a distance corresponding to the plate thickness is set as an offset amount, and the work corner portion is welded, which is not suitable for welding at a portion other than the work corner portion.

Further, the profile welding mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-106373 is provided with a contact type profile mechanism having a ball caster rolling on the profile curved surface of the profile block, and along the profile surface of the profile block. By making the contact-type copying mechanism copy in one direction, the laser processing head is made to follow the movement.

However, in this profile welding mechanism, the contact-type profile mechanism follows the profile block, not the irregularities of the work surface, but the side of the profile mechanism holder for welding while pressing the workpiece. Since the laser beam is not irradiated between the ball casters, it is not possible to perform superposition cutting and welding of plate-shaped works with high accuracy.

Furthermore, the laser processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-62114 is provided with a contact type copying roller in the lower unit of the laser processing head for copying the work surface while contacting the work.

However, in this laser processing apparatus, the condenser lens is housed in the upper unit of the laser processing head,
Since a spring is interposed between the upper unit and the lower unit to allow relative displacement, the distance from the condensing lens to the processing point varies depending on the unevenness of the work processing, and the work can be performed accurately and stably. Difficult to process.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-52191 discloses that
The contact-type copying control device is equipped with a contactor and a height sensor (distance sensor) that come into contact with the work, and the height sensor detects the amount of displacement of the work to perform motor drive control and control the height of the laser processing head. It is a laser processing machine.

In this laser processing machine, a contact-type copying control device can focus a laser beam from a laser processing head on the surface of a work to perform laser processing. It does not have a structure for processing the work, but only in contact with the. For this reason,
Laser processing cannot be performed while constantly pressing the work by the contact-type copying control device, and it is difficult to improve the accuracy of laser processing when cutting or welding the work with laser light.

[0016]

In the conventional laser processing apparatus, when the plate-like works are superposed and laser-processed, the gaps existing between the works and the thermal distortion of the works are not sufficiently taken into consideration. There is a problem that it is difficult to precisely cut or weld a work using a laser beam, and the quality of the processed work cannot be improved.

Further, in the conventional laser processing apparatus, in order to keep the distance between the work and the processing nozzle constant, an electrostatic capacity type sensor or an optical sensor using an optical triangulation method is used. When laser processing such as welding is performed, high-intensity plasma is generated on the work surface. In the case of the electrostatic capacitance type sensor, the voltage of the work and the sensor portion largely changes due to the influence of the generated plasma. Therefore, if the height of the laser processing head is controlled by feeding back the detected voltage signal, there is a risk of malfunction.

Further, in the case of an optical sensor adopting the optical triangulation method, since the wavelength region of plasma generated during processing is wide, the generated plasma light is incident on the sensor portion, which may cause a malfunction. There is.

Therefore, when the laser processing apparatus is used for laser welding or laser cutting using an inert gas, laser processing is performed without using an electric sensor or an optical sensor, or a workpiece is processed by laser processing without a sensor. Depending on the shape, the distance between the laser processing nozzle and the work changed, and it was difficult to perform normal laser processing with high accuracy and precision.

In particular, when a plate-like work such as a thin plate is continuously cut by laser light or laser welding is performed, the work surface becomes wavy due to thermal strain generated during processing, and the work surface is processed with time with respect to the initial trajectory. There is a possibility that it will change, and the emergence of some kind of contact-type copying apparatus that copies the work surface in the height direction is strongly desired.

Further, in the case of laser welding, since unevenness due to a weld bead is generated in the welded portion, when the contact bead copying device follows the weld bead, the height of the work surface is directly changed to cause a welding error. May cause it. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the contact of the contact-type work copying apparatus from coming into contact with the surface of the welding bead.

Further, when the work is a press-molding material product, the work may be deformed by press-molding, and the flatness of the work surface may be reduced. Further, when cutting a thin plate work or performing lap welding, the work is deformed with the passage of time, and thus the distance between the working nozzle and the work working surface may change. For this reason, it is necessary to hold down the work by some holding means to perform laser processing.

On the other hand, when cutting or welding two or more plate-like works, it is necessary to keep the gap between the works as small as possible. In order to perform laser cutting and welding accurately and accurately, the works are It is necessary to perform laser processing while eliminating the gap between the work clamp and the work.

The work is not limited to a one-dimensional straight line,
There is a case where the machined surface changes on a two-dimensional plane or a case where the machined surface changes three-dimensionally, but a contact-type copying mechanism capable of following and responding to the change of the machined surface of the workpiece is strongly desired.

Further, when the contact type work copying mechanism is disengaged from the surface to be machined after the laser processing of the workpiece or during the laser processing, it is necessary to detect the disengagement state to interrupt or stop the laser processing. There is.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and the contact type work copying mechanism is made to follow the unevenness or inclination of the work surface, and the work is cut by the laser beam while pressing the work surface. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus and a processing method capable of performing copying processing such as welding and welding with high precision and accuracy.

Another object of the present invention is to bring a contact type work copying mechanism into mechanical contact with a work surface to prevent a plasma generated during the work from being adversely affected while pressing the work surface and to provide a high quality laser. It is to provide a laser processing apparatus and a processing method capable of performing stable processing.

Another object of the present invention is to stably cut the work (overlap cutting) or welding by the laser beam while keeping the cutting condition or the welding condition constant without damaging the work while smoothly copying the work surface. The present invention provides a laser processing apparatus and a processing method that are performed with high accuracy and have improved processing quality.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of accurately and accurately cutting or welding a work with a laser beam while suppressing a gap between plate-like works and deformation due to thermal strain. Providing a processing method.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus or processing which can be easily and easily attached to a two-dimensional processing machine, a three-dimensional processing machine or a robot to cut or weld a work piece in a plane or a three-dimensional shape. There is a way to provide.

[0031]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention condenses and irradiates a laser beam output from a laser oscillator, as set forth in claim 1. Then, in a laser processing apparatus in which a laser processing optical system for performing processing such as cutting and welding of a work is formed, and the laser processing optical system is provided in the laser processing head, the laser processing head guides laser light from a laser oscillator. And a fixed unit provided on the fixed unit,
The movable unit is provided with a movable unit having a built-in condensing optical system for condensing the laser light, and elastic holding means provided between the fixed unit and the movable unit for elastically holding the movable unit. The holding means constitutes a contact-type work copying mechanism that follows unevenness of the work processed surface, and the work copying mechanism always keeps the distance from the condensing optical system to the work processing position substantially constant.

In the invention according to claim 2, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the contact type work copying mechanism is
An optical torch provided in the movable unit, which has a built-in focusing optical system for focusing laser light, and a contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means provided at the tip of the optical torch. The copying nozzle means is configured to press the work surface by the elastic holding means and follow the irregularities of the work surface.

In order to solve the above problems, in the invention according to claim 3, the contact-type machined surface tracing nozzle means is held by a spherical bearing at the tip of the optical torch so as to be tiltable with respect to the optical axis of the laser beam. It is configured to be able to follow the unevenness of the work surface.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the invention according to claim 4, the optical torch is constructed by integrally assembling a condensing optical system and a contact type machining surface copying nozzle means, The distance between the optical system and the contact processing surface copying nozzle means is always kept constant.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the invention according to claim 5, the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means is a laser processing nozzle for emitting a laser beam from a focusing optical system, and this laser processing. It has a spherical bearing that supports the nozzle at the tip of the optical torch, and contact-type copying roller means that is supported by the laser processing nozzle so as to be rotatable around the nozzle axis. The contact-type copying roller means can change the traveling direction. It is equipped with a different direction changing mechanism.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the invention according to claim 6, the contact-type copying roller means comprises:
The front contact type copying roller is provided with a front contact type copying roller and a rear side contact type copying roller, and the front contact type copying roller is held by a direction changing mechanism and is of a rolling caster type.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the invention according to claim 7, the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means is a laser processing nozzle for emitting a laser beam from a focusing optical system, and this laser processing. A contact-type copying ball means attached to the tip of the nozzle is provided, and this copying ball means is provided with at least three ball bearings around the nozzle opening so as to be rollable on the work.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the invention according to claim 8, the contact-type machined surface tracing nozzle means is provided with a nozzle port which shares the discharge of the processing gas and the emission of the laser beam. A laser processing nozzle is provided, and the laser processing nozzle and the contact-type copying roller means or the contact-type copying ball means are integrally configured.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the invention according to claim 9, the contact-type copying roller means or the contact-type copying ball means constituting the contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means is a roller around the nozzle opening. Alternatively, a ball bearing is provided, and the roller or ball bearing at the rear of the working direction is arranged in non-contact with the working line so as to straddle the working line such as a cutting line or a welding line.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a plurality of the elastic holding means are provided between the fixed unit of the laser processing head and the optical torch of the movable unit. The holding means is provided with a stopper for preventing the movable unit from falling out of the fixed unit.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the elastic holding means is provided on one of the fixing unit of the laser processing head and the thrust bearing provided on the optical torch, and on the other side. And a thrust shaft supported by the thrust bearing and a spring interposed in the thrust shaft, and the displacement amount of the spring can be detected by a displacement amount measuring sensor such as a height sensor.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the displacement amount measuring sensor is provided on one of the fixed unit and the movable unit and is located on the other side from a reference plane. Meanwhile, a control box for inputting a detection measurement signal from this displacement amount measurement sensor and monitoring the displacement amount of the elastic holding means is provided, and this control box outputs an alarm when the displacement amount deviates from the required control width. It is provided with means for outputting and supporting the suspension of operation.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the laser processing method according to the present invention has the following features.
The laser beam output from the laser oscillator is guided to the laser processing head, and the guided laser beam is applied to the workpiece such as the workpiece or sample through the laser processing optical system in the laser processing head, and the workpiece is cut by the laser beam. When performing laser processing such as welding or welding, the contact type work copying mechanism of the laser processing unit is pressed against the work by the elastic holding means while the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means provided in the movable unit is used for processing the work. Follow the direction,
In addition, the laser processing is a method in which the distance from the focusing optical system built in the movable unit to the work processing position is always kept substantially constant.

[0044]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a laser processing apparatus and a processing method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a laser processing head portion showing a first embodiment of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

The laser processing apparatus uses a laser beam to cut or weld a workpiece such as a workpiece or a sample.
A hole is drilled, and the whole is shown by reference numeral 10.
The laser processing apparatus 10 is used by being mounted on a two-dimensional plane processing machine (three-axis control processing machine) for performing flat surface processing, a three-dimensional three-dimensional processing machine (six or more axes control processing machine) for three-dimensional processing, a robot, and the like. It

The laser processing apparatus 10 has a laser processing head 11 containing a laser processing optical system 17. The laser processing head 11 is the upper unit 1 as a fixed unit.
2 and a lower unit 13 as a movable unit,
The lower unit 13 is held by the elastic holding means 14 so that it can be displaced relative to the upper unit 12. A plurality of elastic holding means 14 are provided between the upper unit 12 and the lower unit 13. Upper unit 1 of laser processing head 11
A laser beam L oscillated (output) from a laser oscillator 15 such as a YAG laser is guided to the beam 2 through an optical scanning optical system 16 or directly.

A torus-shaped, ring-shaped or sleeve-shaped unit holder 20 is fixed to the lower flange 19 of the unit cylinder 18 of the upper unit 12. The unit holder 20 is provided with a cylinder portion 24 at the center, into which a slider cylinder 23 of an optical torch 22 is slidably fitted. A plurality of thrust bearings 25 are provided around the unit holder 20 at substantially equal intervals in the circumferential direction.

A thrust shaft 27, which is planted in an outer peripheral flange 26 of the slider cylinder 23, is inserted into and supported by the thrust bearing 25. A spring 28 such as a coil spring is interposed on the thrust shaft 27. The spring 28 is provided between the unit holder 20 and the outer peripheral flange 26, and always biases the lower unit 13 downward through the outer peripheral flange 26. Thrust shaft 27 is thrust shaft 2
5 is slidably supported by the thrust shaft 27.
A stopper 29 is fixed to the top of the stopper. This stopper stopper 29 restricts the thrust shaft 27 from moving more than a predetermined amount, while the thrust shaft 27 moves the thrust shaft 25.
It prevents it from coming off.

The thrust bearing 25, thrust shaft 27 and spring 28 constitute the elastic holding means 14. This elastic holding means 14 shows an example in which the thrust bearing 25 is attached to the unit holder 20 side of the upper unit 12, but this thrust bearing is attached to the slider cylinder 23 side of the lower unit 13 and the thrust shaft is attached to the unit holder 20 side. You may fix it. Further, the elastic holding means 14 is
It is sufficient that the lower unit 13 is elastically supported so as to be relatively displaceable with respect to the upper unit 12, and various holding means can be considered.

Further, a distance sensor 30 such as a height sensor is provided as a displacement amount measuring sensor on the outer peripheral portion of the unit holder 20 of the upper unit 12 via a bracket. The distance sensor 30 allows the distance from the reference surface 31, that is, the spring. The displacement amount of 28 is measured, the detection signal is input to the control box 32, and the control box 32 can constantly monitor the measurement distance.

Further, the control box 32 is provided with a control calculation function for comparing the measured data of the distance displacement amount with the reference values of the distance displacement amount and the displacement speed, and when the distance displacement amount exceeds the required control width. While outputting an alarm, it has a function of transmitting a signal to the processing machine controller 33 and stopping the laser processing machine.

On the other hand, the lower unit 13 is a movable unit and constitutes a contact type work copying mechanism. The lower unit 13 has an optical torch 22 assembled to be able to divide a plurality of ring-shaped or sleeve-shaped block members, and a contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means 35 provided at the tip of the optical torch 22. . A lens holder 36 is housed inside the optical torch 22, and a condenser lens 3 that constitutes a condenser optical system 37 is included in the lens holder 36.
8 is retained. The lens holder 36 is screwed to one block member of the optical torch 22 and is detachably mounted.

Further, the contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means 35
Is a laser processing nozzle 40 capable of projecting a laser beam L from a condenser lens 38 which is a condenser optical system 37 onto a work W,
The processing nozzle 40 is provided with a spherical bearing 41 for supporting the tip of the optical torch 22, and a contact-type copying roller means 43 supported by the laser processing nozzle 40 so as to be rotatable (rotatably) around the nozzle axis.

The contact type copying roller means 43 is shown in FIG.
Further, as shown in (B), a contact-type copying roller 44 on the front side in the traveling direction and a contact-type copying roller 45 on the rear side are provided as a pair on the left and right sides. The front copying roller 44 is held by the rotation support 46 of the contact-type copying roller means 43 by a direction changing mechanism 47 which is a turning means, and is a caster type roller. The front contact type copying roller 44 may be provided corresponding to the center position between the left and right rear contact type copying rollers 45. However, the rear contact type copying roller 45 straddles the work W such as a welding line or a cutting line without stepping on the processing line, bypasses the processing line, and travels in a non-contact manner with a welding beat or the like.

In this laser processing apparatus 10, a laser processing optical system 17 is housed in a laser processing head 11, and an optical torch 22 having a condensing optical system 37 is provided in a lower unit 13 of the laser processing head 11. . The optical torch 22 has a condenser lens 3 that constitutes a condenser optical system 37.
8 and the contact-type machined surface nozzle copying means 35 are integrally assembled, and the distance or distance between them is kept constant. Further, the optical torch 22 holds the distance between the condensing lens 38 of the condensing optical system 37 and the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means 35 so that the adjusting holder 51 can adjust the distance.

Inside the optical torch 22, a processing gas gas chamber 52 is formed below the condenser lens 38, and a processing gas such as an inert gas is assisted from the gas supply port 53 to the gas chamber 52. Supplied as gas. The processing gas supplied to the gas chamber 52 is blown out together with the laser light L from the nozzle opening 51 of the laser processing nozzle 40 to press and cool the work surface.
The plate-shaped works W are pressed against the working table 54 side by the blowing of the working gas, and the works W are brought into close contact with each other.

At this time, the contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means 35
Is a laser processing nozzle 40 which is a contact type copying roller means 43.
The laser processing nozzle 40 is located in the central portion between the front copying roller 44 and the rear copying roller 45. The contact-type copying roller means 43 includes the copying rollers 44,
The laser machining nozzle 40 and thus the laser machining head 11 are guided so that 45 rolls while pressing on the workpiece machining surface, and the guided laser machining head 11 is guided by the contact type copying roller means 43 to the workpiece W. Elastic holding means 1
The work pieces W are held in close contact with each other by being pressed by the spring force of 4.

Next, the operation of the laser processing apparatus will be described.

The laser processing apparatus 10 applied to and mounted on a two-dimensional plane processing machine, a three-dimensional three-dimensional processing machine, or a robot arm has a laser processing optical system 17 formed in a laser processing head 11. The optical system 17 is scanned with the laser beam L oscillated from the laser oscillator 15. The laser beam L guided to the laser processing optical system 17 passes through the condenser lens 38 of the condenser optical system 37, is focused, is projected from the laser processing nozzle 40 toward the work W, and is projected onto the processing surface of the work W. Is irradiated.

On the other hand, the condensing lens 38 of the condensing optical system 37 and the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means 35 are both assembled to the movable lower unit 13, and the mounting interval is adjustable by the optical torch 22 to be integrally constructed. It Therefore, the distance from the condensing lens 38 to the contact type machining surface copying nozzle means 35 is always kept constant, and the machining surface of the work W is always set at the condensing position of the condensing lens 38, for example, the focal position. To be done. That is, the condenser lens 38 of the condenser optical system 37
To a processing point (processing surface) of a workpiece such as a workpiece or a sample is always kept constant, and for example, the processing position of the workpiece W is set so as to substantially coincide with the focal position of the condenser lens 38.

The contact type work copying mechanism which is the lower unit 13 is biased toward the work W by the spring force of the elastic holding means 14, and presses the work W through the contact type copying roller means 43. There is. Therefore, when the work W has a sheet shape or a plate shape formed of a thin plate material, a press molding material, or the like, the gap between the overlapped works W can be reduced or eliminated. At this time, the work W is also pressed by the processing gas blown out from the laser processing nozzle 40, and the work W is promoted in the direction in which the gap between the works W is eliminated.

Further, the contact type work copying mechanism, which is the lower unit 13 of the laser processing head 11, travels on the work processing surface while pressingly contacting the processing surface of the work W by the contact type copying roller means 43. Even if the height of the work surface of the workpiece W changes, the amount of displacement in the height direction is absorbed by the expansion and contraction of the spring 28 of the elastic holding means 14, and the contact-type copying roller means 4
The copying rollers 44 and 45 of No. 3 smoothly follow the working surface of the work W and move up and down. Each contact type copying roller 4
When 4 and 45 follow the machining surface of the workpiece W, the contact machining surface copying nozzle means 35 is supported via the spherical bearing 41 so as to be tiltable with respect to the optical axis of the laser beam. The follow-up action for unevenness and inclination is performed smoothly and smoothly.

In any case, in the laser processing head 11, the position from the condensing lens 38 of the condensing optical system 37 built in the lower unit 13 to the work W processing point is always kept constant, and the elastic holding means 14 is operated. The contact type copying roller means 43 presses the work W by the spring force of the spring 28, and laser processing of cutting or welding is performed. Cutting or welding conditions are always kept constant and stable processing can be performed. It is possible to perform processing while suppressing the mutual gap between the plurality of works W and the deformation due to some thermal strain.

Further, the contact type work copying mechanism constituting the lower unit 13 of the laser processing head 11 presses and contacts the processed surface of the work W by the contact type copying roller means 43 which comes into contact with the work W and rolls. To run. At that time, since the contact-type copying roller means 43 is a caster-type roller in which the front copying roller 44 is rotatably supported by the direction changing mechanism 47, the contact-type copying roller means 43 is rotatable and the progress change A can be freely changed. it can.

Further, the front contact type copying roller 44 and the rear contact type copying roller 45 are integrally assembled with a fixed mounting interval, and the laser processing nozzle 40 is provided with a ball bearing 55.
The contact-type copying roller means 43 is rotatably supported by, and is rotatable in a two-dimensional plane with respect to the processing surface of the work W. A nozzle opening 51 of the laser processing nozzle 40 is opened at an intermediate position between the front and rear copying rollers 44 and 45 of the contact-type copying roller means 43.
The work W is laser-processed by the laser light L emitted from the laser.

Therefore, in the laser processing head 11, the contact type work copying mechanism constituting the lower unit 13 follows the unevenness and inclination of the processing surface of the work W and presses the processing surface of the work W while tracing the front and rear sides. Laser light is projected between the rollers 44 and 45 for laser processing, and the work W can be processed precisely and accurately.

Further, the contact type machining surface profiling nozzle means 35 is supported by the optical torch 22 of the lower unit 13 via a spherical bearing 41 so as to be swivelable and ascendable, and the laser machining nozzle 40 is inclined on the machining surface of the work W. In contrast, it is always supported vertically. At this time, the optical axis of the laser light changes with respect to the work W by an angle change amount.

As a result, the contact type work copying mechanism (lower unit) 12 can freely tilt the laser processing nozzle 40 along the working surface of the work W even when the work W is tilted up to about 30 degrees. And the work is performed in accordance with the inclination of the work W. Further, the contact-type workpiece copying mechanism 12 is capable of accommodating any direction of the two-dimensional plane of the workpiece W and any direction of the three-dimensional solid with respect to the optical axis of the laser beam L and the ball bearing 55. Allows to rotate in a right-angled plane.

As described above, the contact type work copying mechanism 12 of the laser processing head 13 absorbs the unevenness and height change of the work processed surface, and the work surface of the work W is subjected to the spring force of the elastic holding means 14 and the contact type copying roller. It is possible to stably perform cutting and welding with laser light while pressing the means 35. This laser processing is not in contact with the work W, and even if the plate-like or sheet-like work W formed of a thin plate material or a press-work material is cut and welded, a gap between the overlapped works W is generated. Since it is possible to prevent the occurrence of cracks and to narrow the generated gap, precise cutting or welding can be performed by laser processing.

In this laser processing apparatus 10, the contact type work copying mechanism 12 that comes into contact with the work W and the condensing optical system 37 are integrally assembled to the optical torch 22, and the integrated lower unit 13 is built in. The condensing optical system 37 follows the unevenness and inclination of the work surface of the workpiece W and directly follows the work surface. Laser processing can be performed without being affected by plasma generated on the work surface during laser processing. Done.

In this laser processing apparatus 10, the contact type processing surface copying roller means 35 receives the spring force of the elastic holding means 14 and can perform the laser processing while pressing the processing surface of the work W, and the gap between the works W is increased. Since it can be narrowed or eliminated, high quality laser processing can be performed. At that time, the laser processing apparatus 10 is provided with the contact type processing surface copying roller means 35, and the laser processing is performed while the contact type copying rollers 44 and 45 smoothly follow the workpiece processing surface. Therefore, two-dimensional or three-dimensional processing (cutting or welding) can be performed by attaching the laser processing apparatus 10 to the arm tip of a two-dimensional plane processing machine, a three-dimensional three-dimensional processing machine, or a robot, and it is easy and stable. Laser processing can be performed.

Further, since the laser processing apparatus 10 performs the copying process while applying the pressure to the processed surface of the work W by the spring 28 of the elastic holding means 14, the contact type copying roller means 4 is used.
When 3 is disengaged from the work W, the contact type work copying mechanism of the lower unit 13 may pop out, but in this laser processing apparatus 10, the contact type work copying mechanism 12 makes only a desired distance (stroke). Thus, the stopper 29 is provided. Accordingly, even if the contact type work copying mechanism (lower unit) 12 comes off from the work W, it is possible to effectively prevent mechanical damage to the work W or the like, or damage to the work copying mechanism 12 itself.

Further, it is difficult to immediately stop the laser processing machine when the contact type work copying mechanism 12 is out of alignment with the work W. Therefore, the relative displacement amount (change amount) of the contact type work copying mechanism 12 with respect to the upper unit 11 is constantly measured by the distance sensor 30 such as a height sensor so that it can cope with a sudden change.

The distance sensor 30 is provided in the upper unit 12, and the distance sensor 30 directly measures the expansion / contraction change of the spring 28 of the elastic holding means 14. Spring 2
When 8 changes suddenly or changes to the length of the stopper 29 in a short time, the expansion / contraction change amount of the spring 28 is monitored by the control box 32, arithmetic processing is performed, and output as an alarm. A mechanism for instructing the operation stop of the laser processing machine at that time is attached to the controller 33 so that the laser processing can be stopped without damaging the processing machine.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a second embodiment of the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Laser processing apparatus 1 shown in this embodiment
0 is applied to a three-axis control processing machine and constitutes a two-dimensional plane laser processing machine (three-axis control laser processing machine) 60, but the configuration of the laser processing apparatus 10 is different from that shown in FIG. Therefore, the description will be omitted.

Three-axis control laser processing machine 60 shown in FIG.
Is reflected and transmitted (scanned) by the optical scanning optical system 16 that is a combination of several reflection mirrors 61a, 61b, and 61c, and the laser light L oscillated (output) from the laser oscillator 15 is transmitted to the final end of the optical scanning optical system 16. The laser processing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on the side. The optical scanning optical system 16 can scan the laser beam output from the laser oscillator 15 in the X-, Y-, and Z-axis directions to scan the laser processing apparatus 10 in a plane (two-dimensional). Two-dimensional (plane) processing is performed by cutting or welding the work W using the laser light L by the plane scanning of the laser processing apparatus 10.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show an example in which the laser processing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a two-dimensional plane laser processing machine 60 and two thin plate works W are welded.

For example, 2 pieces press-molded as the work W
This is an example in which a plurality of rectangular thin plates are prepared, and these thin plate works W are welded in a rectangular shape by the laser processing device 10. In the laser processing apparatus 10, the contact type copying roller means 43 presses the work W by the spring force of the elastic holding means 14, and welding work is performed while eliminating the gap G between the two thin plate works W.

At this time, the welding line WL has a rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 4A, and the welding line WL has four corner portions. The front two contact-type copying rollers 44, 44 of the contact-type copying roller means 43 independently rotate at the corners, and the two contact-type copying rollers 45 of the rear wheels are accompanied by the rotation of the front-side copying rollers 44, 44. , 45 rotate while straddling the welding line WL to perform welding. At this time, the left and right two contact-type copying rollers 45, 45 of the rear wheel can effectively prevent the stepping of the welding line WL.

An example in which the same machining program is adopted for the two-dimensional plane laser beam machine 60, and a laser beam is applied to the laser beam machine 10 with a machining point offset corresponding to the welding width, for example, about 1 mm, is shown in FIG. 4C. Show. FIG. 4C shows an example in which the welding line WL is offset and cut after welding by the laser processing apparatus 10. After the welding, the work W at the unnecessary portion can be trimmed with high performance and accuracy.

4 (A), (B), and (C) show a laser processing apparatus 10 in which, for example, two thin plate-like works W having a plate thickness of 0.5 mm are lap-welded and after welding. An example was shown in which the laser processing head 11 was offset and cut by the width of the welding line WL, but three or more thin workpieces W were lap welded,
It can also be cut in layers. When the thick plate workpieces W are stacked and laser-processed, it is necessary to adjust the spring force of the elastic holding means 14.

However, with a laser output of about 6 kW from the laser processing machine 60, the total plate thickness that can be welded is about 6 mm, and for example, two workpieces W having a plate thickness of 3 mm can be welded by superposition. Elastic holding means 1
Laser processing is possible without changing the spring force of the spring No. 4.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 5 is a conceptual view showing a third embodiment of the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Laser processing apparatus 1 shown in this embodiment
0 is applied to a control processing machine having 6 or more axes, and constitutes a three-dimensional stereoscopic laser processing machine (control laser processing machine having 6 or more axes) 63. Since the configuration of the laser processing apparatus 10 is not different from that shown in FIG. 1, the same reference numerals are given and description thereof is omitted.

The 6-axis or more control laser processing machine 63 shown in FIG. 5 is an apparatus capable of processing the three-dimensional shape of the work W. The 3-axis control processing machine 60 shown in FIG.
The axis is added to enable three-dimensional processing. This laser processing machine 63 has the structure shown in FIG.
A scanning optical system 65 in which reflection mirrors 64a and 64b are combined is additionally provided on the axis control processing machine 60, and a laser processing optical system is assembled so that three-dimensional (three-dimensional) processing can be performed.

This 6-axis or more control laser processing machine 63 is provided with the laser processing device 10 at the tip side of the laser processing optical system.
The laser processing apparatus 10 is supported so as to be movable three-dimensionally (three-dimensionally) with respect to the work W. With this laser processing apparatus 10, the work W is three-dimensionally processed using laser light.

As described above, the laser processing apparatus can be easily attached to the two-dimensional plane processing machine, the three-dimensional three-dimensional processing machine, or the arm of the robot, and the laser processing apparatus can be attached to these processing machines for laser processing. Thus, the work can be processed into a two-dimensional plane or a three-dimensional work, and the work can be cut or welded.

[Fourth Embodiment] FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B) show a fourth embodiment of the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, showing an application example of the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means. Is.

In the laser processing apparatus 10A shown in the fourth embodiment, the contact-type processing surface copying nozzle means 67 incorporated in the lower unit is provided with the contact-type copying ball means 68 which is brought into direct contact with the workpiece W and rolling. Be prepared. The copying ball means 68 is provided with three or more, for example, four ball bearings 71 as spheres around the nozzle opening 70 at the tip of the laser processing nozzle 69, and each ball bearing 71 covers the surface of the work W. Laser processing is performed by rolling and pressing while copying.

Since the configuration other than the contact type machining surface copying nozzle means 67 is the same as that of the laser machining apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1, its illustration and description are omitted.

In the laser processing apparatus 10A shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the bohher bearing 71 rolls on the processing surface of the workpiece W such as the workpiece or the sample, and the ball bearing 71 is copied. A laser beam L is emitted from a nozzle opening 70 surrounded by, and laser processing is performed. In this case, the cutting line and the welding line by the laser light are adjusted so that the left and right ball bearings 71 in the rear of the working direction do not straddle and the rear ball bearing 71 does not step on the working line of the cutting line or the welding line. . The contact-type copying ball means 68 presses the processing surface of the work W and rolls the surface of the work while copying the height of the work W, so that the work W can be cut or welded accurately and precisely.

[Fifth Embodiment] FIG. 7 is a conceptual view showing a fifth embodiment of the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

An example is shown in which the laser beam L oscillated from the high-power laser oscillator 73 such as the YAG laser shown in this embodiment is guided to the laser processing apparatus 10 by the optical fiber 74. Laser light L output from the laser oscillator 73
Is transmitted by the optical fiber 74 and guided into the laser processing apparatus 10 via the fiber coupling 75.

In the laser processing apparatus 10, a collimator lens 77 forming a collimator optical system 76 for producing parallel light is incorporated in the upper unit 12, and a condenser lens 38 of a condenser optical system 37 is incorporated in the lower unit 13, and the laser processing optical system is incorporated. Make up 17. By adopting such a configuration, the laser processing apparatus 10 can be mounted on the tip of a 3-axis control processing machine or a 6-axis or more control processing machine or the arm of a robot, and the laser processing apparatus 10 can be mounted on a processing machine or the like. However, the laser oscillator 73 can also be a separate type.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an example in which a condenser lens is used in the condenser optical system incorporated in the laser processing optical system has been shown. However, the condenser optical system is replaced with a condenser lens and various configurations are adopted. Can be considered. For example, it may be a collecting mirror.

Further, in the embodiment, the example in which the condenser lens of the condenser optical system is built in the lower unit of the laser processing apparatus has been shown. However, a collimator optical system, for example, a collimator lens and a condenser optical system is provided in the lower unit. The system may be incorporated. That is, the laser processing optical system may be incorporated in the lower unit.

[0099]

As described above, in the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, the laser processing head is provided with the fixed unit and the movable unit constituting the contact type work copying mechanism, and the movable unit is the elastic holding means. Since it is held elastically, during laser processing, the movable unit can be profiled while being pressed against the work surface by the elastic holding means, and the condensing optical system is built in and integrated in the movable unit. Since the distance from the optical optics to the work processing position is always kept constant and the work processing position is set to the condensing position of the condensing optical system, the work can be cut accurately and accurately by laser light, Laser processing such as welding can be performed.

Further, the movable unit of the laser processing head is elastically held by the elastic holding means, and further, since the movable unit is provided with the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means at the tip, it directly follows the unevenness or inclination of the work processing surface, In addition, laser processing is performed without being affected by plasma generated during processing.

Further, in the laser processing apparatus, since the contact type work copying mechanism held by the elastic holding means can perform the copy processing while the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means holds the work, the gap between the works should be narrowed. Therefore, high quality processing can be performed. The elastic holding means and the contact-type work copying mechanism provided in the laser processing head perform copying while pressing the workpieces, so when the workpieces are thin plates, it is possible to suppress gaps and irregularities between the workpieces, which is excellent. Overlap welding or overcutting is possible, and cutting after welding can be performed smoothly and with high performance.

On the other hand, in this laser processing apparatus, the condensing optical system and the contact type contact surface copying nozzle means are integrally assembled to the optical torch of the movable unit, and the mounting intervals between them are constantly adjusted and maintained. Processing conditions such as cutting conditions and welding conditions by laser processing are always kept constant, and stable laser processing is performed.

Further, since the contact type work copying mechanism which constitutes the movable unit works by applying pressure to the work by the elastic holding means while copying the work surface, when the works are thin plates, the stacked works Laser processing is performed by suppressing the gap between them and deformation due to thermal strain, and good and accurate laser processing is performed. Also, even if the contact type work copying mechanism comes off the work, the stopper can prevent it from popping out, and the copying stroke can be set to the required value or less, so it is effective to damage or damage the contact type work copying mechanism. Can be prevented.

Further, the displacement amount of the elastic holding means is measured by the displacement amount measuring sensor, and this displacement amount can be monitored. On the other hand, when the displacement amount exceeds the required control range, an alarm is output or the operation is stopped. Since it is provided with a means for instructing, the operation can be safely stopped without damaging the processing machine.

On the other hand, in the contact type work copying mechanism, the contact type machining surface copying means is instructed to the tip portion of the optical torch via the spherical bearing so as to be freely inclined following the inclination of the work surface.
The contact type machining surface copying means can smoothly and smoothly follow the machining surface of the work.

The contact-type machined surface copying means is a laser-machined nozzle supported at the tip of the optical torch via a spherical bearing, and a contact-type copying roller means or a contact-type copying ball means provided on the processing nozzle. Since the contact-type work copying mechanism is provided with, it is possible to freely follow any direction along the work surface of the work.

Further, in the contact-type copying roller means and the contact-type copying ball means, the contact-type copying roller and the ball bearing at the rear of the processing direction are located on both sides across the processing line such as the welding line and the cutting line, and the processing line is Since stepping and contact are effectively prevented, it is possible to perform height copying without being affected by the unevenness of the welding line or the recesses of the cutting line, and stable and precise and accurate laser processing is possible. Can be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

2A is a view of a contact-type copying roller unit incorporated in the laser processing apparatus of FIG. 1 as viewed from below, and FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating the movement of each copying roller of the contact-type copying roller unit.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing in principle a three-axis control laser processing machine (two-dimensional plane laser processing machine) equipped with a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

4A and 4B are views showing an example in which a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention is mounted on a two-dimensional plane processing machine and a thin plate-shaped work is welded, and FIG. 4C is a view after welding the thin plate-shaped work. The figure which shows a cutting example.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a principle of a three-dimensional stereoscopic laser processing machine equipped with a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing a contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means of a lower unit incorporated in the laser machining apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 6B is a view of the contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means seen from below.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example in which the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a YAG laser processing machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Laser Processing Device 11 Laser Processing Head 12 Upper Unit (Fixed Unit) 13 Lower Unit (Movable Unit, Contact Type Work Copy Mechanism) 14 Elastic Holding Means 15 Laser Oscillator 16 Optical Scanning Optical System 17 Laser Processing Optical System 18 Unit Cylinder 20 Unit Support 22 Optical torch 23 Slider tube 24 Cylinder part 25 Thrust bearing 26 Outer peripheral flange 27 Thrust shaft 28 Spring 29 Stopper stopper 30 Distance sensor (displacement amount measurement sensor) 31 Reference surface 32 Control box 33 Machining machine controller 35 Contact type machining surface copying Nozzle unit 36 Lens holder 37 Condensing optical system 38 Condensing lens 40 Laser processing nozzle 41 Spherical bearing 43 Contact type copying roller unit 44 Front contact type copying roller 45 Rear contact type copying roller 46 Rotation support 47 Direction changing mechanism 50 Adjustment holder 51 Nozzle port 52 Gas chamber 53 Gas supply port 54 Processing table 55 Ball bearing 60 Two-dimensional plane laser processing machine (three-axis control laser processing machine) 61a, 61b, 61c Reflecting mirror 63 Three-dimensional stereoscopic laser processing machine 64a, 64b Reflecting mirror 65 Scanning optical system 67 Contact type processing surface copying nozzle means 68 Contact type copying ball means 69 Laser processing nozzle 70 Nozzle opening 71 Ball bearing (ball) 73 High power laser oscillator 74 Optical fiber 75 Fiber coupling 76 Collimator optical system 77 Collimator lens

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Wataru Kono             No. 1 Toshiba-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo Toshiba Corporation             Fuchu Factory F-term (reference) 4E068 CA10 CA12 CA18 CC06 CD15                       CH02

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A laser processing optical system for converging and irradiating a laser beam output from a laser oscillator to perform processing such as cutting and welding of a work, and the laser processing optical system is provided in a laser processing head. In the laser processing apparatus, the laser processing head is provided in the fixed unit, which is guided by the laser beam from the laser oscillator,
The movable unit is provided with a movable unit having a built-in condensing optical system for condensing the laser light, and elastic holding means provided between the fixed unit and the movable unit for elastically holding the movable unit. A laser machining method characterized in that a holding means constitutes a contact-type workpiece copying mechanism that follows unevenness of the workpiece processing surface, and the distance from the condensing optical system to the workpiece processing position is always kept substantially constant by this workpiece copying mechanism. apparatus. 2. The contact type workpiece copying mechanism is provided in a movable unit, has an optical torch having a condensing optical system for condensing a laser beam, and a contact type machining surface provided at the tip of the optical torch. 2. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a copying nozzle means, wherein the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means is configured to press the work processing surface by an elastic holding means and follow the irregularities of the work processing surface. 3. The contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means is held at the tip of the optical torch by a spherical bearing so as to be tiltable with respect to the optical axis of the laser beam, and capable of following irregularities on the machined surface of the workpiece. The laser processing apparatus described in. 4. The optical torch is configured by integrally assembling a condensing optical system and a contact type processing surface copying nozzle means,
4. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the distance between the condensing optical system and the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means is always kept constant. 5. The contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means includes a laser machined nozzle that emits laser light from a condensing optical system, a spherical bearing that supports the laser machined nozzle on the tip of an optical torch, and the laser. The laser according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a contact-type copying roller means supported by the processing nozzle so as to be rotatable about the nozzle axis, and the contact-type copying roller means is provided with a direction changing mechanism capable of changing a traveling direction. Processing equipment. 6. The contact-type copying roller means includes a contact-type copying roller which is forward in the traveling direction and a contact-type copying roller which is rearward, and the front contact-type copying roller is held by a direction changing mechanism, and is a rolling caster type roller. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the laser processing apparatus is configured as described above. 7. The contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means comprises a laser-machining nozzle for emitting a laser beam from a focusing optical system, and a contact-type copying ball means mounted on the tip of the laser-machining nozzle. 4. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the copying ball means is provided with at least three ball bearings around a nozzle opening so as to be rollable on a work. 8. The contact-type machined surface copying nozzle means has a laser-machined nozzle provided with a nozzle port that shares blowing of a processing gas and emission of laser light, and the laser-machined nozzle and the contact-type copying roller. 8. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the means or the contact-type copying ball means is formed as an integrated structure. 9. A contact-type copying roller means or a contact-type copying ball means constituting the contact-type processing surface copying nozzle means is provided with a roller or a ball bearing around a nozzle opening, and The laser processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the laser processing apparatus is arranged so as to be in non-contact with the processing line so as to straddle the processing line such as a cutting line and a welding line. 10. A plurality of the elastic holding means are provided between a fixed unit of the laser processing head and an optical torch of the movable unit, while the elastic holding means prevents the movable unit from falling out of the fixed unit. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a stopper. 11. The elastic holding means includes a thrust bearing provided on one of the fixing unit of the laser processing head and the optical torch, a thrust shaft provided on the other side of the thrust bearing supported by the thrust bearing, and the thrust shaft. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 11, wherein the laser processing apparatus has an interposed spring, and a displacement amount of the spring can be detected by a displacement amount measuring sensor such as a height sensor. 12. The displacement amount measuring sensor measures a distance from a reference plane formed on one of the fixed unit and the movable unit and formed on the other side, and detects a measurement signal from the displacement amount measuring sensor. 12. A control box for inputting and monitoring the displacement amount of the elastic holding means, wherein the control box is provided with means for outputting an alarm or supporting the operation stop when the displacement amount deviates from a required control width. The laser processing apparatus described in. 13. A laser beam output from a laser oscillator is guided to a laser processing head, and the guided laser beam is applied to a workpiece such as a workpiece or a sample through a laser processing optical system in the laser processing head. When performing laser processing for cutting or welding with a laser beam, the contact type work copying mechanism of the laser processing unit is pressed against the work by the elastic holding means and the contact type processing surface copying nozzle means provided in the movable unit. Laser machining is characterized in that the workpiece is traced along the workpiece machining direction, and that the distance from the condensing optical system built into the movable unit to the workpiece machining position is always kept almost constant. Method.