JPH0518674B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an improvement of a laser processing robot used in an environment where human intervention is not possible.

[Prior Art] FIG. 6 shows a conventional mobile welding robot 1 equipped with an arm welding machine 2. This mobile welding robot 1 includes an arc welding machine 2, a welding robot 3,
A television camera 4, a welding torch 5, etc. are mounted on a trolley 6. In use, the welding robot 1 is moved to a predetermined position, and the workpiece 7 is welded by remote control while being monitored by the television camera 4.

This mobile welding robot 1 was developed to perform work such as welding in place of humans in environments that are dangerous to the human body, such as nuclear power plants, and is capable of welding target workpieces 7 with high precision. Must have functionality. However, the arc welding machine 2 has poor welding quality for welding materials for nuclear power generation, and cannot weld fine parts. Therefore, in place of this arm welding machine, a high-quality laser processing robot that is ideal for welding minute parts has appeared. This laser processing robot performs two-dimensional or three-dimensional laser processing on a workpiece using laser light output from a laser oscillator, and is operated remotely because it is used in dangerous environments such as nuclear power plants. .

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the laser processing robots that have appeared in this way have large output laser oscillators, which are large in size and heavy, making it difficult for the robot to move. This makes it unsuitable for robots used in nuclear power plants and the like. This is because nuclear power plants have complicated equipment and piping, and have poor footing, so robots used in these places must be lightweight and agile. In addition, to ensure high-precision welding, the optical axis of the laser beam used must be well controlled. Laser processing robots used in such harsh environments have various conditions, and conventional robots cannot necessarily meet these demands.

The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems of conventional robots, and aims to provide a laser processing robot that is lightweight, can be easily moved, and is capable of performing laser processing with high precision at any position. It is something to do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the laser processing robot according to the present invention is equipped with a movable robot vehicle that performs laser processing, and a laser beam disposed apart from the robot vehicle. A laser oscillator that outputs light,
a laser beam optical path changing means disposed between the laser oscillator and the robotic vehicle for irradiating the laser beam output from the laser oscillator to a light receiving section of the robotic vehicle;
Optical axis sensors are installed in the light receiving section and processing head of the robot vehicle.

[Function] Since the laser oscillator is arranged separately from the laser processing robot, the structure of the laser processing robot is simplified, and the robot becomes lightweight and has nimble maneuverability. In addition, the optical axis sensor provided in the light receiving section of the robot vehicle detects the deviation of the optical axis of the irradiated laser beam and controls the laser beam optical path changing means accordingly, so that the laser beam is directed to a predetermined position on the light receiving section. Since the posture of the light receiving part is controlled by the signal from the optical axis sensor installed in the processing head, the optical axis passes through the axis of the light receiving part, enabling high precision and high quality processing. becomes.

[Embodiment of the Invention] Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a laser processing robot showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a laser beam optical path, and Fig. 3 is a front view of an optical axis sensor. 10 is a laser oscillator, 11 is a laser beam, 12 is a laser beam optical path changing device, 13 and 15 are reflecting mirrors, 14 and 16
are drive motors in the X direction and Y direction, respectively, 20 is a robot vehicle, 21 is a light receiving unit, 22 is an optical axis sensor, 22a is its frame, 22b is a sensor, 23 is a reflector, 24 and 25 are drive motors, 26 2 is a joint reflector, 27 is a processing head, 28 is a condensing lens, 2
9 is an optical axis sensor, 30 is a television camera, 31 is a support stand, 32 is a trolley, 33 is an operating cable, and 40 is a wall of the building.

As shown in the figure, the laser processing robot according to the present invention includes a robot vehicle 20, a laser beam path changing device 12, and a laser oscillator 10, and the laser oscillator 10 is located away from the operating position of the robot vehicle 20. The laser beam optical path changing device 12 is located outside the building and is located near the laser oscillator 10. Further, the robot mobile vehicle 20 has a light receiving section 21.
A support stand 31 loaded with a joint reflector unit 26 having a processing head 27 attached to its tip, and a television camera 30 are mounted on a trolley 32. and drive motors 14 and 16 for the X and Y directions.

When using the laser processing robot 20,
The robot vehicle 20 is moved to a predetermined position, and the laser beam 11 output from the laser oscillator 10 is transmitted to the robot 20 via the laser beam optical path changing device 12 to perform welding and other operations. That is, the laser beam 11 output from the laser oscillator 10 is directed in a predetermined direction by the reflecting mirrors 13 and 15, and is transmitted to the light receiving section 21 of the laser processing robot 20. The laser beam 11 incident on the light receiving section 21 is reflected by a reflecting mirror 23 in the light receiving section, passes through the joint reflecting mirror section 26, and is condensed by a condensing lens 28 in the processing head 27 to process the workpiece 7. During machining, the machining head 27 and the like are operated via the operating cable 33 while monitoring the machining status with the television camera 30.

In the present invention, the laser beam incidence part of the light receiving part 22 of the robot 20 and the processing head 27 are further provided.
Optical axis sensors 22 and 29 are provided at the base of the lens. As shown in FIG. 3, the optical axis sensor 22 has four
The optical axis sensor 29 has a similar configuration.

By arranging the optical axis sensors 22 and 29, it becomes possible to detect the deviation of the laser beam optical axis at the entrance of the light receiving part and the entrance of the processing head, so it is possible to control the optical axis of the laser beam as described below. It will become.

That is, the laser beam 11 output from the laser oscillator 1 is irradiated aiming at the center of the light receiving part 21, but since the accuracy is insufficient as it is, the optical axis sensor 22 detects the deviation of the optical axis of the laser beam. , and sends the signal to the laser beam optical path changing device 12 to control the optical axis. As a result, the laser beam 11 is always accurately irradiated onto the center of the light receiving section 21.

Further, the light receiving section 21 moves together with the optical axis sensor 22 and the reflecting mirror 23, and is configured to operate drive motors 24 and 25 in the X direction and Y direction based on the signal from the optical axis sensor 29, so that it can be controlled in any direction. There is.

The laser beam 11 reflected by the reflecting mirror 23 in the light receiving section 21 passes through the joint reflecting mirror section 26 and the optical axis sensor 29, and then enters the condensing lens 28 of the processing head 27.
The light is focused on the workpiece 7 and the workpiece 7 is processed. During this time, the structure is such that even if the joint reflector section 26 is moved, the optical axis of the laser beam will not shift.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram explaining optical axis control, 51,
53, 55 and 57 are differential amplifiers, 52, 54,
56 and 58 are drive amplifiers, and 59 is a numerical control device. The optical axis sensor 22 detects the deviation of the optical axis in the X direction and the Y direction, and the signals are sent to the X direction drive motor 14 of the laser beam optical path changing device 12 via differential amplifiers 51 and 53 and drive amplifiers 52 and 54, respectively. and the Y-direction drive motor 16 to control the optical axis of the laser beam 11 to be located at a predetermined position of the light receiving section. In addition, the deviation of the optical axis of the laser beam in the X direction and Y direction detected by the optical axis sensor 29 is detected by driving the light receiving section 21 in the X direction and Y direction via differential amplifiers 55 and 57 and drive amplifiers 56 and 58. The light is input to the motors 24 and 25 to align the direction of the axis of the light receiving section 21 with the optical axis direction. As a result, the optical axis of the laser beam 11 that is being transmitted to the center of the light receiving section 21 by the laser beam optical path changing device passes through the axis of the light receiving section 21, and further passes through the joint reflector section 26 to the condenser lens 28. Since the light is focused on the workpiece 7 through the center of the laser beam, high-quality laser welding with high focusing performance and no aberration is possible.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the laser beam optical path changing device 12, and is a perspective view of the movable device. As shown in the figure, the laser beam optical path changing device 12 housed in a casing 60 is placed on a rail 61 and is movable in the direction of the arrow. This has the advantage that the operating range of the robot vehicle 20 is expanded compared to a fixed arrangement.

Note that the laser oscillator 10 may also be of a movable type instead of a fixed type as seen in this embodiment.

Furthermore, the optical axis sensor is not limited to the type of this embodiment.

As described above, in the laser processing robot according to the present invention, the robot vehicle that performs laser processing is lightweight and has nimble maneuverability, and while correcting the deviation of its optical axis, it can perform laser processing with high precision by remote control. Because it can be processed, it is possible to perform high-precision, high-quality laser processing work in environments where humans cannot directly work, such as in areas with high radioactivity at nuclear power plants, in outer space, in cryogenic or high-temperature environments, or in vacuum. is possible.

[Effects of the Invention] The present invention comprises a laser processing robot including a robot moving vehicle, a laser oscillator, and a laser beam optical path changing device, and also includes an optical axis sensor in the laser beam optical path to detect deviation of the optical axis. Since it is configured to adjust the optical axis, the following excellent effects are expected.

(1) The structure of the robot mobile vehicle is simplified, lightweight, and has nimble maneuverability, making it easy to move to any position.

(2) It becomes possible to perform high-precision, high-quality laser processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a laser processing robot showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the laser beam path, Fig. 3 is a front view of the optical axis sensor, and Fig. 4 is the configuration of optical axis control. 5 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the laser beam optical path changing device, and FIG. 6 is a front view of a conventional mobile welding robot. In the figure, 10 is a laser oscillator, 11 is a laser beam, 1
2 is a laser beam optical path changing device, 13 and 15 are reflecting mirrors, 14 and 16 are drive motors thereof, 20 is a robot vehicle, 21 is a light receiving section, 22 and 29 are optical axis sensors, 24 and 25 are drive motors, 26 27 is a processing head, 28 is a condensing lens, 5
1, 53, 55 and 57 are differential amplifiers, 52, 5
4, 56 and 58 are drive amplifiers. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or equivalent parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a laser processing robot that moves to an arbitrary position and performs laser processing using laser light output from a laser oscillator, the laser processing robot moves to perform laser processing at an arbitrary position. a freely movable robot vehicle, a laser oscillator that is arranged outside the operating range of the robot vehicle and outputs a laser beam, and a laser oscillator that is arranged between the laser oscillator and the robot vehicle and outputs a laser beam of the laser oscillator. and a laser beam optical path changing means for irradiating the laser beam toward a light receiving section of the robotic vehicle, and an optical axis sensor is provided in the light receiving section of the robotic vehicle, and a signal detected by the sensor changes the laser beam optical path. A laser processing robot characterized in that the optical axis of the laser beam is made to coincide with a predetermined position of the light receiving section by controlling a changing means. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that the processing head of the robot vehicle of the laser processing robot is equipped with an optical axis sensor, and the attitude of the light receiving section of the vehicle is controlled by a signal from the sensor. Laser processing robot described in section.