JPH02295695A - Robot for laser processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve working efficiency by mounting a mirror to a robot body freely turnably in the same direction as the turning direction of an arm and turning the mirror at the turning angle of half the turning angle of the arm, thereby reflecting the laser beam from a guide cylinder to a nozzle part. CONSTITUTION:The mirror 32 is turned to the turning angle of half the turning angle of the arm 18 by a turning means when the arm turns to an arbitrary turning angle. The laser beam outputted by an external laser shooting device 11 passes the guide cylinder 25 and arrives at the mirror. The mirror can reflect this laser beam to the nozzle part 15 at the front end of the arm. The nozzle part processes the member to be processed by irradiating this member with the above-mentioned laser beam. The external laser shooting device is merely required to make the laser beam incident to the guide cylinder and can be disposed to an arbitrary position with respect to the robot. The disposition of the plural robots in parallel is possible and the operations are shared by the plural robots, by which the working efficiency is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a laser processing robot that automatically performs processing such as cutting and welding using a laser, and particularly relates to a laser processing robot that automatically performs processing such as cutting and welding using a laser. The present invention relates to a laser processing robot that can be arranged in parallel and expand the working range of the robot on a workpiece.

(Prior Art) In general, spot welding, laser welding, etc. are used in automobile manufacturing factories to perform processes such as joining various parts of a car body, etc. With recent advances in automation technology, these tasks are now being performed automatically by so-called robots.

Especially recently, spot welding requires spot marks, which increases the weight of the car, and spot welding, which involves welding only parts, makes it difficult to improve the rigidity of the car body. For these reasons, there is a strong demand for laser welding, and conventionally, for example, such laser processing is automatically performed by a laser processing robot shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

The laser processing robot 1 shown in FIG. 6 is mounted on a moving table 2 that moves the robot body linearly with respect to the workpiece to be laser processed. The two arms 3 are connected to each other by joints, and a nozzle 4 that emits laser light is attached to the tip of each arm 3. The robot 1 uses this nozzle 4 to
The workpiece placed on the workbench 5 can be positioned at any desired processing position.

Also, on the side of this robot 1, as shown in FIG.
A laser beam passage tube 6 is attached to the movable table 2, which is expandable and retractable in the moving direction, and the robot 1 is positioned above the robot 1 as shown in the figure, and forms and emits laser beams for processing. Laser light emitted from a laser emitting device 7 is inputted through the passage tube 5.

As shown in FIG. 7, the human-powered laser beam is guided by a mirror 8 disposed on each arm 3 to pass through the center of each joint of the robot 1, and is directed along each arm 3 to a nozzle 4. When the nozzle 4 is positioned at the processing position of the workpiece, the laser beam can be irradiated to the workpiece position to perform laser processing on the workpiece.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in such conventional robots,
The passage tube for supplying the laser to the robot needs to be placed in a position aligned with the center of the joint of the arm. If you try to position the robot so that the nozzle protrudes more toward the workpiece for a relatively large workpiece, the laser emitting device must also be placed closer to the workpiece. However, there is a problem in that the laser emitting device gets in the way.

In addition, since the laser emitting device is installed integrally with the robot, it is difficult to arrange multiple robots in parallel with the workpiece, and it is difficult to improve processing efficiency by using multiple robots. It was difficult to improve productivity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to form a passage for the laser beam to pass through each joint part of the robot, which makes the structure of the joint part complicated, and at least one mirror is required for each joint part. This not only increases costs but also complicates maintenance and the like, and there is also a risk that the output of the laser beam will be attenuated due to reflection from the plurality of mirrors.

The present invention was made to solve these conventional problems, and by arranging the robot closer to the workpiece, the arm protrudes more toward the workpiece, and the movement of the arm is improved. It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser processing robot that can expand the range, arrange a plurality of robots in parallel to a workpiece, and improve productivity.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an arm having a laser passage therein, which is rotatably attached to a robot body, and which is directed toward the central axis of rotation of the arm. A guide tube that guides the laser beam in a direction perpendicular to the arm is disposed opposite to the base of the arm, while a nozzle portion that irradiates the workpiece with the laser beam is provided at the tip of the arm, and the center of rotation is A mirror is attached to the robot body so as to be rotatable in the same direction as the rotation direction of the arm at a position where the axis intersects with the laser beam from the guide tube, and the mirror is attached to the robot body so as to be rotatable in the same direction as the rotation direction of the arm, and the rotation angle of the arm is half the rotation angle of the arm.
The robot body is characterized in that the robot main body includes a rotating means that rotates the mirror at a rotation angle of .about.0000 to reflect the laser light from the guide tube to the nozzle section.

(Function) The present invention configured as described above functions as follows.

When the arm rotates to an arbitrary rotation angle, the mirror is rotated to a rotation angle that is half of the rotation angle by the rotation means. Then, the laser beam output from the external laser emitting device passes through the guide tube and reaches the mirror, which
This laser light can be reflected to a nozzle section at the tip of the arm, and the nozzle section can perform laser processing by irradiating the workpiece with this laser light.

Therefore, the external laser emitting device can be placed at any position with respect to the robot by simply injecting the laser beam into the guide tube. For example, by placing the laser emitting device behind the robot, Only the robot can be placed close to the workpiece, and the arm can be made to protrude more towards the workpiece for relatively large workpieces, making it possible to expand the range of laser processing.

(Example) Below, a laser processing robot according to the present invention will be explained in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a laser processing robot according to the present invention, and the figure shows a laser emitting device 11 that forms a laser beam for processing and supplies this laser beam to the robot 10. It is shown positioned at the rear. This robot 10 is configured as follows.

A main shaft portion 14 for rotating a rotating table 13 is formed on a base 12 that fixes the robot 10 main body to the floor surface, and a main shaft motor for driving is disposed inside the main shaft portion 14. The rotating table 13 is driven by this main shaft motor. The rotary table 13 has an arm portion 1 provided with a nozzle portion 14 for irradiating laser light for processing at the tip.
6 is attached, and this arm portion 16 is connected to the rotating base 1.
3 and is rotatably attached to this rotating table 13,
It consists of an arm base 17 that supports the arm portion 16 and an arm 18 that is linearly extendable and retractable, and the rotation center axis of the arm base 17 is orthogonal to the rotation center axis of the rotation table 13.
The arm 16 is rotatable in a direction perpendicular to the direction of rotation of the rotary table 13. Further, an arm rotation motor 19 for driving the arm 16 is attached to the rotation table 13 in the same way as the main shaft portion 14, and the arm 16 is driven by this arm rotation motor 19. ing. Further, an arm motor for extending and retracting the arm 18 is disposed inside the arm base 17, and the arm 18 can be extended and retracted by this arm motor.

The nozzle part 15 attached to the tip of the arm part 16 has a nozzle base 20 that rotates in a direction perpendicular to the direction of extension and contraction of the arm 18 and a nozzle base 20 that rotates in a direction perpendicular to the direction of rotation of the nozzle base 20. The nozzle base 20 and the nozzle 21 each have a nozzle base drive motor (not shown) and a nozzle base drive motor (not shown), similar to the rotating table 13 and the arm base 17. It is designed to be driven by a nozzle drive motor.

The main shaft motor, arm rotation motor, arm motor, nozzle base drive motor, and nozzle motor are connected to a control device (not shown), and this control device controls the operation of these motors and controls the operation of the robot 10. It is meant to be controlled.

That is, the nozzle 21 includes the rotating table 13, the arm base 17,
The arm 18, the nozzle base 20, and the nozzle 21 can be positioned at any desired processing position with respect to the workpiece by rotating and expanding/contracting movements, respectively.

Further, a laser passage is formed inside the arm portion 16 and the nozzle portion 15 to allow processing laser light supplied from the external laser emitting device 11 to reach the nozzle 21 .

The laser light introduced into the arm base 17 through the laser light introduction port 22 formed in the arm base 17 travels straight through the inside of the arm 16 by a rotary mirror installed in the arm base 17, which will be described later, and passes through the nozzle base 20 and the arm base 17. The laser beam is reflected by a mirror 23 disposed in the nozzle 21 and reaches the nozzle 21, and the nozzle 21 irradiates the workpiece with the laser beam, thereby performing laser processing.

On the other hand, a laser emitting device 11 that supplies laser light for processing to the robot 10 forms a laser light with an output necessary for processing, outputs the formed laser light from an output port 24, and outputs the laser light that is output from the output port 24. passes through a guide tube 25 connected to this output port 24 and reaches the laser beam introduction port 22 . A mirror 26 is disposed at the bending part of the guide tube 25 so as to reflect the laser beam in the bending direction, and the guide tube 25 directs the laser beam from the rotation center axis of the rotation table 13 to the laser beam introduction port. It is designed to reach 22. The end of the guide tube 25 is connected to the arm base 17 via a bellows 27, and is protected from the outside against high-power laser light.

Next, the inside of the arm portion 16 of such a robot 10 will be explained based on FIG. 2, which is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the robot 10, and FIG. 3, which is a cross-sectional view thereof.

As shown in FIG.
The rotary table 13 is connected to the rotary table 13, and is pivotally supported by the rotary table 13 with its rotation center axis intersecting with the rotation center axis of the rotary table 13.

A rotating mirror 32 that reflects the laser light incident from the laser light introduction port 22 and reaches the nozzle part 15 at a position where the respective rotation center axes intersect is connected to a mirror motor that drives the rotating mirror 32. The rotating mirror 32 is connected to the output shaft 35 of a reducer 34 which is integrally attached to the arm part 16.
It is designed to rotate in the same direction as the rotation direction of. This mirror motor 33, like other motors, is connected to a control device (not shown), and this control device controls the arm portion 16.
The rotating mirror 32 is driven to rotate to a rotation angle of 1/2 of the rotation angle of It is possible to always reflect the incident laser light onto the nozzle section 15.

Further, an arm extension mechanism 36 for extending and contracting the arm part 16 is attached to the arm base 17, and this arm extension mechanism 36 is connected to a rail 41 linearly guided by a slide bearing 4o attached to the arm base 17.
An arm body 42 is attached to the arm body 42, and the arm motor 43 is attached to the arm body 42 as shown in FIG. A nut 45 is connected to the ball screw 44 and is screwed to the ball screw 44.
is attached to the arm base 17, and when the arm motor 43 is driven, the ball screw 44 is rotated, and the arm body 42 is linearly moved by the nut 45 according to the rotation of the ball screw 44, and the arm portion 16 is expanded and contracted. It is supposed to move.

In the robot 10 configured in this way, a workpiece can be irradiated with a laser beam for processing as described below.

Each motor is driven by a control device (not shown), and the nozzle 21 is positioned at a processing position of a workpiece to be laser processed. At this time, the rotating mirror 32
It rotates to an angle that is half of the rotation angle of 6.

The laser beam formed and output by the laser emitting device 11 passes through the guide tube 25 and reaches the rotating mirror 32, and this laser beam is reflected by the rotating mirror 32 and enters the nozzle section 15. Laser processing is performed by irradiating the processing position of the workpiece from the nozzle 21.

Therefore, in such a robot, the rotation table 1
A laser beam incident from above the central axis of rotation of the arm part 16 is arranged at the intersection of this central axis and the central axis of rotation of the arm part 16,
The laser beam is incident on the nozzle section 15 by the rotating mirror 32 that rotates at an angle that is half the rotation angle of the arm section 16, and the nozzle section 15 irradiates the workpiece with laser light to perform laser processing. Therefore, the laser emitting device 11 only needs to output a laser beam on the rotation center axis of the rotating table 13 via the guide tube 25, and can be placed at any position regardless of the placement position of the robot 10. For example, by arranging the laser emitting device 11 at the rear of the robot 10 as shown in FIG.
The robot 10 can protrude toward the 0 side, making it possible to expand the working range of the robot 10 on the workpiece 70.

Moreover, by adopting such an arrangement, as shown in the same figure, it is possible to arrange a plurality of robots 10 in parallel with respect to the workpiece 70, and the work that was conventionally performed by one robot can be done in parallel. Each robot 10 can share the work, improving work efficiency and improving productivity.

Furthermore, since the rotating mirror 32 is arranged at the intersection of the rotation center axis of the rotation table 13 and the rotation center axis of the arm section 16, the number of mirrors attached to the robot 10 is reduced. This makes maintenance easier, and the output attenuation of the laser beam due to the mirror is reduced.

Further, the rotating mirror 32 can also be rotated by a rotating mechanism as shown in FIG.

In the figure, a rotating mirror 32 is connected via a gear train to an arm base 17 that is rotated by an arm rotating motor 19, so that the rotating mirror 32 is moved to the arm by the rotating movement of the arm base 17. A rotation mechanism is shown that makes the rotation angle one-half of the rotation angle of 16.

One side of the arm base 17 is connected to the output shaft 31, and the other side is connected to the rotating base 13 by a fixed hinge bin 50, which is attached to the rotating base 13 facing the output shaft 31, inserted through a bearing 51. Pivotally supported, arm base motor 1
9 to rotate. A bracket 52 is attached to the tip of the fixed hinge pin 50 for rotatably disposing the rotating mirror 32 at the intersecting position.
It is attached to the tip of the rotary table 13 and fixed to the rotating table 13. Further, a rotating wheel 53 formed integrally with the rotating mirror 32 is inserted through the bracket 52 via a bearing 54 on the same axis as the rotation center axis of the arm base 17. On the output shaft 31 side of 53, a fourth float 55 forming the gear train is attached between the bracket 52 and the rotating mirror 32. Furthermore, the end of the rotation shaft 53 on the output shaft 31 side is connected to a fixed hinge pin 56 fixed to the arm base 17 via a bearing 57.
The end of the fixed hinge pin 56 on the bracket 52 side is attached to the first l! which forms the gear train. i car 58 is installed. The bracket 52 has this first m wheel 58.
A second gear 59 that transmits the rotational force is attached to one end, and a third gear 6 that transmits this rotational force to the fourth gear 55 is attached to the other end.
A gear shaft 61 to which a rotating mirror 32 is attached is inserted through a bearing 62, and the rotational force of the 11th!1 wheel 58, that is, the rotational movement of the arm base 17 is transferred to the rotating wheel 53 to which the rotating mirror 32 is attached. This rotational movement allows the rotational mirror 32 to be rotated. Further, the first gear 58 and the second gear 59 have the same number of teeth, and the third gear 58 and the second gear 59 have the same number of teeth.
The ratio of the number of teeth between the m wheel 60 and the fourth gear 55 is set to 1:2, so that the rotation angle of the arm base 17 is
The mirror 32 is configured to rotate at a rotation angle of 1/1.

The rotating mechanism configured in this manner rotates the rotating mirror 32 as follows.

When the arm rotation motor 19 is driven by a control device (not shown), the rotational force reduced by the reducer 30 is transmitted from the output shaft 31 of the reducer 30 to the arm base 17, and the arm base 17 can be rotated at any time. Move to the moving angle. At the same time, the rotational force of the arm base 17 is applied to the rotation shaft 53 supported by the bracket 52 fixed to the rotation table 13.
Gear 58, second gear 59, third gear 60, and fourth gear 5
5, and the rotation shaft 53 moves the rotation mirror 32 to an angle that is half the rotation angle of the arm base 17.

Therefore, similarly to the above, the laser beam output by the laser emitting device 11 passes through the guide tube 25 and reaches the rotary mirror 32 from above the rotation center axis of the rotary table 13, and the laser beam is transmitted to the rotary mirror 32. 32 reflects the laser beam and makes it enter the nozzle portion 15, and the nozzle 21 irradiates the processing position of the workpiece with the laser light, thereby performing laser processing.

Note that such a rotation mechanism is not limited to one that utilizes a gear train, but may be constructed using a belt, a boob, etc., for example, and uses the rotational movement of the arm base 17 as a driving source to rotate the arm base 17. Of course, it is sufficient if the rotation angle is 1/2 of the rotation angle of .

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, the present invention has the following effects.

The laser beam incident from a direction perpendicular to the central axis of rotation of the arm is directed to a mirror that rotates in the same direction as the rotation direction of the arm and at a rotation angle that is half of this rotation angle. The laser beam is reflected by the nozzle part 15, and the nozzle part 15 irradiates the workpiece with the laser beam, thereby performing laser processing. Therefore, a laser emitting device or the like that forms and outputs the laser beam externally is It is only necessary to output the laser beam in a direction perpendicular to the rotation center axis of the arm through the guide tube, and it can be placed at any position regardless of the placement position of the robot. By placing the device behind the robot, it is possible to bring the robot closer to the workpiece, allowing the arm to protrude further toward the workpiece, expanding the working range of the nozzle unit relative to the workpiece. becomes possible.

In addition, by adopting such an arrangement, multiple robots can be arranged in parallel for the workpiece, and by sharing the work among these multiple robots, work efficiency is improved and productivity is improved. become.

Furthermore, since the mirror is located at a position where the rotation center axis of the arm intersects with the laser beam that is incident from a direction perpendicular to the rotation center axis, the mirror can be attached to the robot. This reduces the number of burrs, which is economical, and makes maintenance etc. easier, and the output attenuation of the laser light due to the mirrors is reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a laser processing robot according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the laser processing robot according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the laser processing robot according to the present invention. 4 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the arm portion of the laser processing robot according to the present invention; FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the arrangement of the laser processing robot according to the present invention;
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional laser processing robot. 10... Robot, 11... Laser emitting device, 13
... Rotating table, 15... Nozzle part, 16... Arm part (arm), 17... Arm base (base), 19.
...Arm rotation motor, 25...Guide cylinder, 32...
Rotating mirror (mirror), 33...Mirror motor (rotating means), 34...Reducer (rotating means), 35...Output shaft (rotating means), 36...Arm extender Drawing, 50・
... Fixed hinge pin (rotating means), 52... Bracket (rotating means), 53... Rotating shaft (rotating means), 55
... Fourth gear (rotating means), 56... Fixed hinge bin (rotating means), 58... First gear (rotating means), 5
9...Second gear (rotating means), 60...Third gear (
Rotating means), 61... Gear shaft (rotating means), 70...
・Workpiece parts. Patent Applicant Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Mikio Hatta (and one other person) Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] An arm having a laser passage inside is rotatably attached to a robot body, and a guide tube for guiding a laser beam in a direction perpendicular to the central axis of rotation of the arm is opposed to the base of the arm. On the other hand, a nozzle portion for irradiating the workpiece with the laser beam is provided at the tip of the arm, and a mirror is provided on the arm at a position where the rotation center axis and the laser beam from the guide tube intersect. The mirror is attached to the robot body so as to be rotatable in the same direction as the rotation direction of the arm, and the mirror is rotated at a rotation angle that is half of the rotation angle of the arm to direct the laser beam from the guide tube to the nozzle. A laser processing robot comprising a rotating means on the robot body to reflect the laser beam.