JPH11277288A - Nozzle for laser torch - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simultaneously supply assist gases of multiple points coaxially to a laser beam with simple constitution by providing an optical member consisting of a material having high transmissibility of the laser beam disposed to close the opening of a nozzle with plural through-holes for blowing the assist gases. SOLUTION: The front end of a lens holder mechanism 11 housing an fθ lens 10 is provided with the cylindrical nozzle 12 and is provided with the columnar optical member 13 so as to close the nozzle 12. The optical member 13 comprises the material which extends near to a laser beam processing point and is transmissible to the laser beam of the wavelength to be used. The optical member 13 is provided with a plurality of the through-holes 13-1 for blowing the assist gas in correspondence to the irradiation points of the laser beam and the shape thereof may be determined without being restricted by the condensing shape of the laser beam. Namely, the optical member 13 is transmissible to the laser beam of the wavelength to be used and, therefore, the structure of the columnar shape provided with the through-holes 13-1 of the multiple points is equally well.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus for irradiating a workpiece with laser light from the tip of a cylindrical laser torch having a built-in optical lens system such as a condenser lens, and more particularly to a laser torch. Regarding improvement.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Referring to FIG. 4, as an example of a laser processing apparatus, a laser processing apparatus for processing a multi-point of a work by oscillating a laser beam in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction using a galvano scanner. explain. Laser oscillator 41
Is guided to a mask 45 via an expander 43 and a mirror 44. The pulsed laser light that has passed through the mask 45 is reflected downward by the mirror 47. The laser light reflected by the mirror 47 is
Is swung in the X and Y directions by the galvanometer mirror 48 and the second galvanometer mirror 49. Laser light is fθ lens 5
It is swung so as to irradiate the processing area 52 set on the work 51 through 0.

The work 51 is mounted on an XY stage 53, but illustration and description of a drive system of the XY stage 53 are omitted here. Also, mirror 4
An alignment system for positioning the work 51 by the lens 54 and the CCD camera 55 is provided above the lens 7, but the description is also omitted.

Usually, first and second galvanometer mirrors 48,
49 and the fθ lens 50 are housed in a cylindrical casing,
It is configured as a laser torch. As is well known, the fθ lens 50 is formed by combining a condensing lens and a plurality of other lenses, and is represented by a single lens in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a part of a laser torch in a laser processing apparatus for processing by irradiating a laser beam to one point, particularly a tip portion called a nozzle. When processing is performed by irradiating a laser beam to one point, f
There is no need to use a θ lens, and only a condenser lens is used. A lens holder mechanism 62 for holding the condenser lens 61 is incorporated below the cylindrical casing 60. On the lower side of the condenser lens 61, a glass holder 63
The inside of the torch is protected by the protective glass 64 held by the. This is to prevent dust and gas components generated during laser processing from entering the torch. An assist gas introduction port 65 is provided below the protective glass 64. A nozzle sleeve 66 is provided at the tip of the casing 60, and a nozzle 67 is attached to the nozzle sleeve 66. The nozzle sleeve 66 is exchanged according to the focal length of the condenser lens 61.

As is apparent from FIG. 5, a nozzle 6 used in a laser processing apparatus for processing by irradiating a laser beam to one point.
7 is different from the laser processing apparatus described in FIG. 4 in the space from the condenser lens 61 to the laser processing point.
A cone-shaped one adapted to the condensing shape of the laser beam is adopted. The cone-shaped nozzle 67 is made of metal (aluminum or copper) or Teflon. These metals and Teflon have the function of reflecting or absorbing the laser beam of the wavelength to be used without transmitting the laser beam.

[0007]

Such a cone-shaped nozzle cannot be used as a laser torch nozzle as shown in FIG. This is because, when a galvano scanner is used, the laser light oscillates at a plurality of locations, and the laser light hits the inner wall of the cone-shaped nozzle. For this reason, the nozzle must be formed in a cylindrical shape. In this case, there is a problem that the assist gas introduced into the nozzle is diffused and does not work well on the laser processing point.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a laser beam having a shape which is not limited to the irradiation position of the laser beam and which is coaxial with the laser beam.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser torch nozzle capable of supplying an assist gas to a point or a plurality of points at the same time.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a laser processing apparatus for performing laser processing by irradiating a workpiece with laser light from the tip of a cylindrical laser torch having a built-in optical lens system. The nozzle constituting the optical member is provided with an optical member made of a material having high permeability to the laser light so as to close the opening of the nozzle, and the optical member has a through hole for blowing an assist gas introduced into the laser torch. A nozzle for a laser torch characterized by having at least one hole is provided.

In the case of a laser processing apparatus provided with a galvano scanner for oscillating the laser beam and irradiating the laser beam to a plurality of predetermined portions of the work, the optical member includes a predetermined portion of the work. A plurality of the through holes are provided at locations corresponding to the plurality of locations.

[0011]

According to the present invention, the material of the optical member at the tip of the laser torch is made of a material that transmits laser light of the wavelength to be used. In addition, a nozzle that is not restricted by the irradiation position of the laser beam can be configured.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a laser torch nozzle according to the present invention, in which an assist gas is supplied simultaneously at multiple points coaxially with the laser optical axis. At the tip of the laser torch, there is a lens holder mechanism 11 that houses the fθ lens 10. A cylindrical nozzle 12 is further provided at the tip of the lens holder mechanism 11, and a cylindrical optical member 13 is closed so as to close the nozzle 12.
Is provided. The optical member 13 is extended from the vicinity of the laser processing point, and is made of a material that transmits laser light having a wavelength to be used. Specifically, a YAG having a wavelength of 1.06 μm
When a laser beam is used, the optical member 13 uses a synthetic quartz or a glass material such as BK-7, which is a transparent body.
When using a CO ₂ laser beam having a wavelength of 9.3 μm or 10.6 μm, ZnSe (zinc selenium) is used.
When ultraviolet laser light having a wavelength of 355 nm or 246 nm is used, synthetic quartz is used. On the other hand, the nozzle 12
Is made of metal (aluminum or copper), and an assist gas supply port 14 is provided on a side surface.

The present embodiment is directed to the laser processing apparatus as described with reference to FIG. 4, and since the laser processing point is at a predetermined multipoint position, as shown in FIG. In correspondence with the light irradiation point, a plurality of through holes 13-1 for assist gas blowing (here, 3
) Are provided. These through holes 13-1 can be determined without being restricted by the condensing shape of the laser beam.
That is, the conventional cone-shaped nozzle requires an opening limited to the condensing shape of the laser beam. However, in this embodiment, even if the diameter of the through hole 13-1 is smaller than the laser condensing shape, the optical member 13 is transparent to the laser light of the wavelength to be used, so that the cylindrical member is used for supplying the assist gas. The structure having the multi-point through-hole 13-1 may be used.

The number and position of the through holes 13-1 are set in accordance with a predetermined laser processing point. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a protective glass as described with reference to FIG. 5 is provided below the fθ lens 10.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, and shows a nozzle in a laser processing apparatus that performs processing by irradiating a laser beam to one point in the laser processing apparatus.
In this embodiment, a nozzle 22 is provided at the tip of a lens holder mechanism 21 that holds the condenser lens 20. The nozzle 22 has a through hole 22-1 at the center, and an optical member 23 is provided so as to close the through hole 22-1. The optical member 23 has a through hole 23-1 along the central axis. The optical member 23 is the optical member 1 described with reference to FIG.
The same material as in No. 3 is used. In addition, the nozzle 22 includes
An assist gas supply port 24 is provided.

In this embodiment, by setting the diameter and length of the optical member 23 in accordance with the wavelength of the laser light, the optical member 23 can be used as an optical fiber-like laser light waveguide.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a nozzle capable of simultaneously supplying multiple points of assist gas coaxially with laser light with a simple structure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a nozzle for a laser torch according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the optical member shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a nozzle for a laser torch according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a laser processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of an example of a conventional laser torch nozzle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 fθ lens 11, 21 Lens holder mechanism 12, 22 Nozzle 13, 23 Optical member 14, 24 Assist gas supply port 20 Condensing lens

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A laser processing apparatus for performing laser processing by irradiating a workpiece with laser light from the tip of a cylindrical laser torch having a built-in optical lens system, wherein the nozzle constituting the tip of the laser torch is provided with a nozzle An optical member made of a material having a high laser light transmittance is provided so as to close the opening of the laser torch, and the optical member is provided with at least one through hole for blowing an assist gas introduced into the laser torch. Laser torch nozzle. 2. The laser torch nozzle according to claim 1, further comprising: a galvano scanner for oscillating the laser beam to irradiate a predetermined plurality of positions on the work, wherein the optical member includes a predetermined position of the work. A nozzle for a laser torch, wherein a plurality of the through holes are provided at locations corresponding to the plurality of locations.