Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Patent
1988-03-28
1989-09-12
Albritton, C. L.
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
21912174, 21912184, B23K 2608
Patent
active
048662380
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas laser device, and more particularly, to a gas laser device which can produce a high laser ouput for performing metal machining operations, such as welding or the like, and which can be coupled to a robot or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Laser machining requires a machining system which includes a laser oscillator and a robot coupled thereto for achieving its advantages. In order to emit a laser beam from the tip end of the arm of the robot, a reflecting mirror is attached to an articulatory joint of the robot for guiding the laser beam. Rather than the reflecting mirror, an optical fiber may be employed to guide the laser beam.
The reflecting mirror is, however, expensive and very difficult to adjust. A system employing an optical fiber can transmit energy up to several hundred watts at most, and hence, cannot guide energy up to several kilowatts which are needed to effect metal machining operations, such as welding or the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gas laser device which will solve the above problems, can produce a high laser output for metal machining operation, such as welding or the like, and can be coupled to a robot or the like.
In order to solve the above problems, there is provided according to the present invention a gas laser device in which a laser medium gas is circulated in an airtight container and a laser beam is generated from the gas excited by an electric discharge.
A main unit includes a laser gas oscillation controller, a robot controller, and a discharging power supply. A laser beam emitter, which includes a resonator, is separate from the main unit. The resonator is a lateral multimode resonator, the discharging power supply is a high-frequency power supply, and the resonator has a gas flow which is a lateral or vertical gas flow produced by using a compressor having a high compression ratio. The laser beam emitter is attachable to a distal end of a robot arm or the like.
Since the main unit and the laser beam emitter are separate from each other, the laser beam emitter can easily be attached to the distal end of the robot arm. By using the lateral multimode, the high-frequency power supply, and the lateral gas flow, a high-output laser beam can be generated with a small-size laser beam emitter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a resonator used in the FIG. 1 embodiment; and
FIGS. 3(a), 3(b), and 3(c) are schematic views of alternative parabolic surfaces used as rotating mirrors.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in specific detail with reference to the drawings.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 a jointed-arm robot 1 is a widely known ordinary jointed-arm robot. A resonator 2 is high-order lateral multimode resonator. FIG. 2 shows a portion of the resonator 2. A laser tube 11 is made of a dielectric material such as ceramics material and has a rectangular cross section, which is of a square shape in the illustrated embodiment. The reference numerals 12, 13 denote electrodes mounted on outer sides of the laser tube 11. A high-frequency power supply is applied to the electrodes through leads 14, 15. Optical parts such as an output coupling mirror, a reflecting mirror, and the like, and a laser gap passage are omitted from illustration in FIG. 2.
Assuming that the cross-sectional area of the laser tube is represented by S, the length thereof by L, and the output density by .rho., the laser output P can be expressed by: the square of the length L. Therefore, it is effective to increase the cross-sectional area S. Heretofore, however, if S is large, it has been difficult to achieve uniform discharge excitation, and a lateral multimode results, making beam convergence characteristics poor. As a consequence, this arrangement has
REFERENCES:
patent: 4547885 (1985-10-01), Allen et al.
patent: 4626999 (1986-12-01), Bannister
patent: 4675501 (1987-06-01), Klingel
patent: 4694139 (1987-09-01), Roder
Albritton C. L.
Fanuc Ltd.
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