JPH0760474A - Laser beam machining device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save a space and reduce the operating cost by adopting an air- cooling type laser beam oscillator and collecting dust produced during a working near a material to be worked. CONSTITUTION:The laser beam supplied from the laser beam oscillator 2 is condensed by a working head 3 and irradiates the work. The working head 3 and the work are moved relatively. The laser beam oscillator 2 is cooled by cold water below room temperature through an air-cooling type cooling device 8. A suction hole 5 is provided for the dust produced at the time of working near the working part of the working head 3 and the end of an exhaust duct 6 connected to this is connected to an air suction hole 10 of an air cooling type cooling device 8. The dust is sucked, exhausted and collected by an air blower 9 through an suction part 5, an exhaust duct 6 and an air suction hole 10 of the air cooling type cooling device 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dust collecting structure of a laser processing apparatus having an air cooling type cooling means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional laser processing apparatus and its dust collecting structure are shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. In the drawing, in the laser processing apparatus 1 in which the laser beam is supplied from the laser oscillator 2, the laser oscillator 2
The workpiece 4 is irradiated with the laser beam supplied from the processing head 3 as a focused laser beam by a lens or the like.
Although not shown, the processing head 3 and the work 4 are driven to move relative to each other by laser beam irradiation, and laser processing such as cutting and welding is performed. Since it is well known that laser processing is high energy density thermal processing, dust such as fume and spatter is generated on the laser irradiation side of the work 4 in welding processing and on the irradiation side and non-irradiation (penetration) side in cutting processing. . Therefore, the dust suction port 5 is provided in the vicinity of the processing unit, and the duct 6 is connected to the suction port 5 to suck, exhaust, and collect the dust generated in the processing unit by the dust collector 7. As the dust collector 7, a mere blower or a dust collector having a filter and the like and having a deodorizing ability is also used. That is, since the object to be laser processed covers a wide range from non-metal to metal, an appropriate dust collecting means is used depending on the case.

On the other hand, the laser oscillator 2 is well known as a processing laser such as a YAG laser or a CO ₂ laser.
Taking the case of an O ₂ laser as an example, the oscillation tube and the laser medium gas are cooled with cold water at room temperature or lower in order to efficiently perform laser oscillation. Reference numeral 8 denotes an air-cooling type cooling device, although not shown in detail, a compression refrigeration cycle using a refrigerant such as CFC is usually incorporated to cool the cold water by the latent heat of vaporization obtained by the evaporator, and circulate it under pressure to the laser oscillator 2. And a step of cooling the compressed refrigerant with air in a condenser under high pressure and high temperature to liquefy it. Generally, the condenser is a fin tube or a plate fin type heat exchanger, and a refrigerant is used on the tube side and air is passed on the fin side, and a blower is used for pressure feeding the air.

[0004]

Since the conventional laser processing machine is constructed as described above, the air-cooling type cooling device and the dust collecting device are separately provided, which is expensive and requires a large space. There were problems such as large amount of exhaust air and high operating cost.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a laser processing apparatus which is inexpensive, space-saving, and has low operating cost.

[0006]

A laser processing apparatus according to the present invention is a laser for processing a workpiece by focusing a laser beam supplied by a laser oscillator and irradiating the workpiece as a focused laser beam. In the processing apparatus, an air-cooling type cooling means for cooling the laser oscillator is provided, and a dust suction port for collecting dust generated during processing of the work piece is provided in the vicinity of the work piece and is connected to the dust suction port. The exhaust duct is connected to the air suction port of the air-cooling cooling means, and a dust collecting function is added to the air-cooling cooling means.

Further, in a laser processing apparatus for processing a workpiece by converging a laser beam supplied from a laser oscillator and irradiating the workpiece as a condensed laser beam,
An evaporator that constitutes a compression refrigeration cycle, a compressor, and a condenser, provided with an air-cooling type cooling means for cooling the laser oscillator and a dust collecting means for collecting dust generated during processing of the workpiece, The dust collecting means is composed of at least a dust collecting portion for collecting the collected dust and a blower for sucking and discharging the dust, and the condensation of the air-cooling cooling means between the dust collecting portion of the dust collecting means and the blower. A container is provided.

The laser processing apparatus is a carbon dioxide laser processing apparatus in which the dust collecting portion of the dust collecting means is an electric dust collector.

[0009]

In the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, since the dust suction port for sucking dust is connected to the air suction port of the air cooling type cooling means through the exhaust duct, the air cooling type cooling means can also be used as the dust collecting means. You can

Further, by incorporating a condenser, which is a part of the air cooling type cooling means, between the dust collecting part of the dust collecting means and the blower, the dust collecting means and the air cooling type cooling means can be partially integrated. it can.

When a carbon dioxide laser is used as the laser processing apparatus, a large amount of dust is generated during processing for high output, so an electrostatic precipitator should be used in the dust collecting section to efficiently handle the dust. You can

[0012]

【Example】

Example 1. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 is a laser processing apparatus, 2 is a laser oscillator, 3 is a processing head, and a laser beam supplied from the laser oscillator 2 is condensed by a lens or the like in the processing head 3 to irradiate a work as a condensed laser beam to a laser. Perform processing. Although not shown, the processing head 3 and the workpiece are driven to move relative to each other with the irradiation of the laser beam, and laser processing such as cutting and welding is performed. 8 is a laser oscillator 2
The figure shows an air-cooling type cooling device that cools water with cold water at room temperature or lower. In the air-cooling type cooling device 8, a blower 9 and a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, a cooling water circulation pump, etc., which are not shown, are incorporated. Reference numeral 10 denotes an air suction port of the air cooling type cooling device 8. Further, 5 is a dust suction port provided in the vicinity of the processing portion of the processing head 3 of the laser processing apparatus 1, and 6 is a suction port 5
Is an exhaust duct connected to. The end of the exhaust duct 6 is connected to the air intake port 10 of the air-cooling type cooling device 8,
Dust generated by the laser processing is sucked and exhausted by the blower 9 from the air inlet 10 of the air-cooling cooling device 8 through the suction port 5 and the exhaust duct 6. Therefore, it is not necessary to install the dust collecting device as a separate device by utilizing the air blowing function of the air cooling type cooling device as the dust collecting means.

Example 2. Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Since the operations 1 to 6 are the same as those of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted. Reference numeral 7 denotes a dust collector which is a dust collecting means, and an exhaust duct 6 is connected to a suction port 11 of the dust collector 7. The dust collector 7 has a dust collector 12 which may be a simple wire net or a filter or a high-grade electric dust collector depending on the object of dust collection. 9 is a blower. Reference numeral 8 delineated by a one-dot chain line is an air-cooling type cooling device of the laser oscillator 2, and a cooling water circulation pump to the oscillator 2 is not shown, but it is the evaporator 15, the compressor 14, and the condenser that constitute the compression refrigeration cycle. It is a container 13. The condenser 13 is an air-cooled type, and the dust collecting unit 1 of the dust collecting device 7
2 and the blower 9 are incorporated.

Next, the operation will be described. The dust generated in the laser processing apparatus 1 is suctioned and collected by the dust collecting section 12 of the dust collector 7, while the air-cooled condenser 13 cooled by the blower 9 in the dust collector 7 performs a compression refrigeration cycle. The laser oscillator 2 is cooled through the air-cooling type cooling device 8. Therefore, by incorporating the condenser 13 inside the dust collector 7, space is saved and operating costs can be saved.

Example 3. Generally YA as a processing laser
G lasers and carbon dioxide lasers are the mainstream, but carbon dioxide lasers generate a large amount of dust during processing because of their high output. For example, in the case of a 1 KW class carbon dioxide laser processing apparatus, the capacity of the air-cooling type cooling device is about 10,000 kcal / Hr, and the air-cooling blast capacity of the condenser is about 50 m ³ / min. Therefore,
It is necessary to process a large amount of dust generated by the dust collector 12 of the dust collector 7, and by using an electric dust collector as the dust collector 12, it is possible to efficiently handle the dust collecting work. That is, the dust is charged by the electric cohesion due to the discharge and is coarsened, so that the clogging in the filter is reduced and the dust can be effectively collected. Moreover, in the case of a general laser processing machine, the amount of dust suction and exhaust air in the processing section is about 10 to 50 m depending on the case.
It is about ³ / min, and the capacity of the air flow for air cooling and the volume of exhaust air for dust collection are almost the same, and when combined, the effect of the invention can be greatly exerted. Further, an example of a mechanism of dust collection by electric aggregation of the electrostatic precipitator is schematically shown in FIG. In the figure, a discharge is generated between the discharge disk 16 and the dust collecting disk 17, the dust 18 that has been sucked in is charged, the particles are coarsened, and the rotation of the dust collecting disk 17 efficiently separates the coarsened particles. 1
9 is sent to the filter.

In the explanation of the embodiment of the present invention, although the dust collection capacity of the air-cooling type cooling device is explained as only the blower 9 in FIG. 1, it is located before the condenser (for example, fin tube type heat exchanger). There may be a dust collecting means such as a filter, and in FIGS. 1 and 2, the dust collector and the laser processing machine, the laser oscillator and the air cooling type cooling device, the duct, etc. are shown to correspond one-to-one. However, the same effect can be obtained even in a complicated system without being particular about this.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the laser processing apparatus having the air cooling type cooling device, the dust suction port in the processing section and the exhaust duct connected thereto are connected to the air suction port of the air cooling type cooling means. Since it is configured as described above, it is not necessary to separately install a dust collector, and there is an effect that a low cost, space-saving, and low operating cost laser processing apparatus can be obtained.

Further, in the laser processing apparatus having the air cooling type cooling means, the dust collecting means for collecting dust in the processing part is provided, and the condenser of the air cooling type cooling means is provided between the dust collecting part of the dust collecting means and the blower. Since it was configured to incorporate, at a low price,
This has the effect of obtaining a laser processing device that saves space and has low operating costs.

Further, when the carbon dioxide laser oscillator is used as the laser oscillator, by using an electric dust collector in the dust collecting section,
It is possible to efficiently process a large amount of dust generated by the high-power laser of the carbon dioxide laser processing apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a laser processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram showing a laser processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an electrostatic precipitator according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a system diagram of a conventional laser processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of a processing portion of a conventional laser processing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Laser Processing Device 2 Laser Oscillator 3 Processing Head 4 Workpiece 5 Suction Port 6 Exhaust Duct 7 Dust Collector 8 Air Cooling Cooler 9 Blower 10 Air Suction Port 11 Suction Port 12 Dust Collection Part 13 Condenser 14 Compressor 15 Evaporator 16 Discharge disk 17 Dust collection disk 18 Dust supplied to the electrostatic precipitator 19 Coarse particles

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Atsuhiko Kawamura 5-14-14 Yada Minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya Mitsubishi Electric Co., Ltd.Nagoya Works (72) Inventor Shuichi Sawai 5-14 Yada Minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Company Nagoya Works

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A laser processing apparatus for processing a workpiece by converging a laser beam supplied by a laser oscillator and irradiating the workpiece as a focused laser beam to cool the workpiece. A dust suction port for collecting dust generated during processing of the work piece is provided in the vicinity of the work piece, and an exhaust duct connected to the dust suction port is an air suction port of the air-cooling cooling means. Connect to
A laser processing apparatus having a dust collecting function added to the air cooling type cooling means. 2. A laser processing apparatus for condensing a laser beam supplied from a laser oscillator and irradiating the workpiece as a condensed laser beam to process the workpiece, an evaporator constituting a compression refrigeration cycle, A compressor and a condenser are provided, and an air-cooling type cooling means for cooling the laser oscillator and a dust collecting means for collecting dust generated during processing of the workpiece are provided, and the dust collecting means is at least collected. It is composed of a dust collecting portion that collects dust and a blower that sucks and exhausts the dust, and that the condenser of the air cooling type cooling means is arranged between the dust collecting portion of the dust collecting means and the blower. Characteristic laser processing equipment. 3. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the laser processing apparatus is a carbon dioxide laser processing apparatus, and the dust collecting portion of the dust collecting means is an electric dust collector.