Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-22
2003-09-09
Dunn, Tom (Department: 1725)
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
Reexamination Certificate
active
06617544
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a control apparatus for a three-dimensional laser working machine. More specifically, this invention relates to a control apparatus for a three-dimensional laser working machine having a head structure that a working point does not change when a rotational axis and an attitude axis are rotated, and having a unit which teaches a tip position and a directional attitude of a nozzle.
BACKGROUND ART
As a three-dimensional laser working machine for working a sculptured surface, a three-dimensional laser working machine, which has a rotational axis (&agr; axis) rotatable around a center axis of a Z axis (vertical axis) and an attitude axis (&bgr; axis) rotatable around an axis slanted with respect to the Z axis and has a head structure that when the rotational axis and the attitude axis are rotated, a working point does not change, is known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-162592 (1989)).
FIG. 6
schematically shows the working head having the rotational axis (&agr; axis) and the attitude axis (&bgr; axis) In
FIG. 6
, the working head is shown by a reference numeral
50
, and the working head
50
has a rotational axis
52
, which is rotatable around a center axis of a Z axis by a bearing member
51
, at the tip of a Z axis member
60
, and an attitude axis
54
, which is attached to the tip of the rotational axis
52
by a bearing member
53
and is rotatable around an axis slanted with respect to the Z axis, and a laser nozzle
61
is attached to the tip of the attitude axis
54
. The working point is shown by a reference symbol N.
In the three-dimensional laser working of a sculptured surface, in order to maintain an optical axis of a laser emitted to a working surface in a normal direction with respect to the working surface, the laser nozzle is required to be always in an attitude which is orthogonal to the working surface, and teaching which fulfills this requirement is made prior to actual working.
There will be explained below an attitude change of the working head at the time of teaching an attitude change corner section with reference to FIG.
7
. In
FIG. 7
, P
1
, P
2
and P
3
show teaching points of a workpiece W. The teaching point P
1
is a teaching point on a horizontal surface, the teaching point P
2
is a teaching point on a 45 degrees slanted surface of the workpiece W, and the teaching point P
3
is a teaching point on an upright surface of the workpiece W. The laser nozzle
61
faces just downward at the teaching point P
1
, and is slanted 45 degrees at the teaching point P
2
, and faces the horizontal direction at the teaching point P
3
.
In order to bring the workpiece W into a state orthogonal to the teaching points P
1
, P
2
and P
3
, it is necessary to change rotating angles of the rotational axis
52
and the attitude axis
54
. For this reason, conventionally in the teaching operation on the attitude change corner section, an operator rotates the rotational axis
52
and the attitude axis
54
every time of the teaching, and brings the laser nozzle
61
into the orthogonal state with respect to the working surface and makes the teaching.
There will be explained below a procedure of the conventional teaching operation of the attitude change corner section with reference to FIG.
8
. Firstly, various setting of a teaching box is carried out, and the teaching operation for teaching working points is brought into a startable state by using a working machine (step S
100
).
Next, an instruction such as shutter opening of an auxiliary function code which is the initial setting in the working program is given, and the working axis is moved to a teaching point by pushing down a working axis feed key which is positioned in the teaching box or by using a handle or a joy stick and the teaching is made so that respective teaching points of the working program are created (step S
101
). When the teaching points are created, in the conventional teaching operation on the attitude change corner section, for example in the case of the teaching from the teaching point P
1
on the horizontal surface to the teaching point P
2
on the 45 degrees slanted surface, the working head
50
is moved so that a tip coordinate meets the teaching point P
2
on the 45 degrees slanted surface (step S
102
).
Next, the attitude axis
52
and the rotational axis
54
are moved independently by an operator so that the orthogonal state can be obtained (steps S
103
and S
104
), and this operation is repeated until the orthogonal state is obtained (step S
105
).
After the orthogonal state is obtained, the tip coordinate is checked for displacement (step S
106
).
When displacement occurs, the sequence returns to the step S
102
so that the tip coordinate is moved. After the tip coordinate is moved, in order to obtain the orthogonal state again, the attitude axis
52
and the rotational axis
54
are rotated. Namely, the steps S
102
through S
106
are repeated. Similarly, at the time of teaching from the teaching point P
2
on the 45 degrees slanted surface to the teaching point P
3
on the upright surface, the steps S
102
through S
106
are repeated.
When the program creation by the teaching operation of the attitude change corner section is completed, thereafter the working axis is moved to a teaching point by pushing down the Working axis feed key of the teaching box, or using the handle or the joy stick and the teaching is made so that the respective teaching points of the working program are created (step S
107
). However, if the teaching operation of the attitude change corner section is to be performed, then the steps S
102
through S
106
are executed. Finally, instructions such as shutter closing and program end of the auxiliary function code are given so that the creation of the working program is ended.
In the teaching point check operation, if the attitude angles (=the rotating angles of the rotational axis
52
and the attitude axis
54
) are to be changed, it is necessary to readjust the attitude angles at the teaching points, and the attitude angles are corrected according to the above procedure.
As mentioned above, in the working head of the three-dimensional laser working machine having the head structure that the working points do not change when the rotational axis and the attitude axis are rotated, when the attitude axis is rotated at the time of teaching, the orthogonal state is broken. For this reason, the operator rotates the rotational axis according to the movement of the attitude axis so as to obtain the orthogonal state. However, with this, since the orthogonal state should be made for each of the teaching points, as a number of the teaching points increases, the teaching takes longer time. Furthermore, if the attitude direction is to be corrected, then there arises a problem that the rotating angles of the rotational axis and the attitude axis should be corrected.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control apparatus for a three-dimensional laser working machine which is capable of making teaching which maintains an orthogonal state of a laser nozzle with respect to a working surface efficiently and fast in a three-dimensional laser working machine having a head structure that working points do not change when a rotational axis and an attitude axis are rotated.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The control apparatus according to the present invention controls a three-dimensional laser working machine. The three-dimensional laser working machine includes a head structure that working points do not change when a rotational axis and an attitude axis are rotated. The control apparatus decides a tip position and an attitude of a nozzle of the head structure and carries out working based on the decided tip position. This control apparatus comprises a unit which calculates a nozzle direction vector from current angles of the rotational axis and the attitude axis, a unit which calculates an angle where the attitude axis changes for constant time and calculating an angle through which the ro
Mukae Tomonori
Tsukamoto Masuki
Dunn Tom
Johnson Jonathan
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
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