Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Patent
1990-04-18
1993-05-04
Albritton, C. L.
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
21912184, 359845, B23K 2606
Patent
active
052084396
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser beam relay unit for use with a laser beam machine composed of a combination of an articulated robot and a laser oscillator and, more particularly, to a laser beam relay unit using air-cooled reflecting mirrors and having a simple construction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Laser beam machines in which a robot and a laser oscillator are combined are now widely used for welding or the heat treatment of metals. This is because the positioning accuracy of robots has been significantly improved and a laser oscillator can be combined with a commercially available robot to construct a laser beam machine.
With such a laser beam machine, a laser beam must be conducted from a laser oscillator to a wrist along an arm of a robot, and accordingly, a laser beam relay unit must be used to shift the direction of the laser beam somewhere along the path of the beam.
Reflecting mirrors used with the laser beam relay unit absorb a percentage of the laser energy, and therefore, the reflecting mirrors generate heat and become deformed; in some circumstances the thin reflecting films coated on the reflecting mirrors may be destroyed. Accordingly, the reflecting mirrors are usually cooled with water.
Preferably, however, water is not used with robots, because when water is used with a robot, water leakages may occur and water might penetrate the mechanism of the robot, such as the joints, and thus cause unnecessary failures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the background art described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a laser beam relay unit using air-cooled reflecting mirrors and having a simple construction.
To attain the above object, there is provided a laser beam relay unit having two reflecting mirrors for shifting the direction of a laser beam, characterized in that the two reflecting mirrors are placed in parallel to each other and at a predetermined angle relative to incident light, and fixed to rotatable light guiding members, and each of the reflecting mirrors is fixed to a reflecting-mirror holder provided in the back thereof with an inlet for cooling air, a retaining section in which air is retained, and an outlet for discharging air.
A laser beam incident on one of the reflecting mirrors is reflected therefrom, passes through the light guide members, and is then reflected from the other reflecting mirror, to thereby change the direction and position of the beam.
The reflecting mirrors are air-cooled and can be satisfactorily cooled because of the provision of the air retaining sections.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of a laser relay unit of the present invention;
FIG. 2(a) is a detailed schematic view of the reflecting-mirror holders of FIG. 1;
FIG. 2(b) is a sectional view taken along line A--A of FIG. 2(a); and
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of the laser beam relay unit of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a reflecting mirror 31 is fixed to a reflecting-mirror holder 10 by a press member 32. Cooling air 42 is introduced to cool the reflecting mirror 31 as described in detail later. The reflecting-mirror holder 10 is fixed to a light guiding member 33 rotatably coupled to a light guiding member 36 by bearings 34 and 35.
Further, a reflecting-mirror holder 20, to which a reflecting mirror 37 is fixed by press members 38, is fixed to the light guiding member 36.
Incoming laser light 41a from the left of the figure is reflected from the reflecting mirror 37, and the reflected laser light 41b travels upward and is reflected from the reflecting mirror 31 again as outgoing laser light. The light guiding 41c members 33 and 36 are rotatably coupled to each other by the bearings 34 and 35, and
REFERENCES:
patent: 3731992 (1973-05-01), Mansell
patent: 4473074 (1984-09-01), Vassiliadis
patent: 4606620 (1986-08-01), Nagano
patent: 4623229 (1986-10-01), Galan
patent: 4892991 (1990-01-01), Stadler et al.
patent: 5079402 (1992-01-01), Arai
Albritton C. L.
Fanuc Ltd
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