Laser processing system

{
  "publication_number": "US11154947B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Laser processing system",
  "abstract": "There is provided a laser processing system including: a robot; a laser emission section provided on the robot; an irradiation path calculation section configured to calculate an irradiation path of a laser beam emitted from the laser emission section using information on a position of the robot; a determination section configured to determine whether the irradiation path calculated passes through an allowable irradiation region that is predetermined; and a laser-output reduction section configured to reduce output of the laser beam to be emitted to the irradiation path to a second output lower than a first output for processing in accordance with a determination by the determination section that the irradiation path does not pass through the allowable irradiation region.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A laser processing system comprising: a robot; a laser emission section provided on the robot; an irradiation path calculation section configured to calculate an irradiation path of a laser beam emitted from the laser emission section using information on a position of the robot; a determination section configured to determine whether the irradiation path calculated passes through an allowable irradiation region that is predetermined; and a laser-output reduction section configured to reduce output of the laser beam to be emitted to the irradiation path to a second output lower than a first output for processing in accordance with a determination by the determination section that the irradiation path does not pass through the allowable irradiation region, wherein: the allowable irradiation region is formed of a plurality of at least partially overlapping regions, the second output is set to be associated with each of the plurality of at least partially overlapping regions so as to have values different from each other between the plurality of at least partially overlapping regions, the determination section determines whether the irradiation path passes through each of the plurality of at least partially overlapping regions, and in accordance with a determination by the determination section that the irradiation path does not pass through one of the plurality of at least partially overlapping regions, the laser-output reduction section sets the second output to a value set in association with the one of the plurality of at least partially overlapping regions determined.",
    "2. The laser processing system according to claim 1, wherein the laser emission section includes a scanner configured to perform scan operation, and the irradiation path calculation section calculates the irradiation path further using information on a position of the scan operation of the scanner.",
    "3. The laser processing system according to claim 2, wherein the scanner includes a mirror configured to perform the scan operation and a motor configured to drive the mirror, and the information on the position of the scan operation includes information on a current position of the motor.",
    "4. The laser processing system according to claim 1, wherein the robot is a multiaxis robot, and the information on the position of the robot includes information on a length of an arm between axes of the multiaxis robot and a current position of a motor provided in each of axes at opposite ends of the arm.",
    "5. The laser processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information on the position of the robot includes a command written in a robot operation program.",
    "6. The laser processing system according to claim 2, wherein the information on the position of the scan operation includes a command written in a scanner operation program.",
    "7. The laser processing system according to claim 1, wherein the laser-output reduction section sets the second output to zero."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a laser processing system.\n\nThere is known a laser processing system in which a laser device and a galvano scanner are mounted on a leading end of a robot arm (e.g., refer to JP 2018-39039 A). JP 2018-39039 A discloses the following, “a command correction value is calculated on the basis of the acceleration of vibration acquired by an acceleration sensor provided at a leading end of a robot arm to suppress the displacement of a laser irradiation position due to the vibration, and a control command created by a galvano scanner control section to be transmitted to a galvano motor is corrected using the command correction value” (the paragraph [0026]).\n\nWhile the laser processing system as disclosed in JP 2018-39039 A comes into widespread adoption, it is desirable that the laser processing system is configured in further consideration of safety to prevent an unintended region from being irradiated with a laser due to unexpected operation or the like of a robot or the like.",
  "cpc": [
    "B23K 26/042",
    "B23K 26/082",
    "B23K 26/0884",
    "B23K 26/705",
    "B23K 37/006",
    "B25J 9/1651"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B23K 26/042",
    "B23K 26/08",
    "B23K 26/082",
    "B25J 9/16"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Fanuc Corp"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Tetsuro Matsudaira",
    "Masatoshi Hiramoto"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2019-06-19",
  "publication_date": "2021-10-26",
  "grant_date": "2021-10-26",
  "priority_date": "2018-06-28",
  "application_number": "US-201916445576-A",
  "family_id": "68886275",
  "cited_by_count": 0,
  "citations": [
    "US7291606B2",
    "JP2007030031A",
    "JP2007098416A",
    "US8412371B2",
    "JP2009214174A",
    "JP2012139711A",
    "US20120255938A1",
    "JP2012218029A",
    "US8742290B2",
    "WO2017051504A1",
    "JP2018039039A"
  ]
}