Laser assisted machining system for ceramics and hard materials
First Claim
1. A method for Laser Assisted Machining (LAM) of a finished part from a workpiece mounted in a machining arrangement, according to a machining process, using a cutter of the machining arrangement for removing material from the workpiece along a cutting path including a cutting zone of the workpiece ahead of the cutter where the cutting zone is heated to a desired machining temperature by a laser heating arrangement having one or more lasers operatively disposed for heating the cutting zone and at least one pyrometer arrangement for detecting a temperature of the cutting zone, the method comprising:
- inputting dynamic computer models in machine readable format for the workpiece, the finished part, the machining arrangement, and the laser heating arrangement, the dynamic computer models all being related to a common reference system, describing the physical shape and all potential movement and orientation of the models with respect to the common reference system;
inputting material property data in machine readable format for the workpiece and machining arrangement, including thermal and optical material properties of the workpiece and desired machining temperature data;
inputting laser and pyrometer operating parameters for the laser heating arrangement in machine readable format, with the laser operating parameters including input and output power, line-of-sight coordinates and beam configuration parameters for each laser of the one or more lasers, and the pyrometer operating parameters including input and output operating parameters of the pyrometer arrangement;
generating a recommended machining plan including the cutting path for the cutter and movement and orientation of the models of the workpiece, the finished part and the machining arrangement during machining of the finished part from the workpiece;
generating a recommended heating plan for the laser heating arrangement from the recommended machining plan, to heat the cutting zone with the one or more lasers and monitor the temperature of the cutting zone with the pyrometer arrangement, with the recommended heating plan including movement and orientation of the model of the laser heating arrangement during machining of the finished part from the workpiece;
verifying that the cutting zone of the workpiece is maintained at the desired machining temperature during the recommended machining plan;
verifying that the one or more lasers and the one or more pyrometers utilized in the recommended heating plan have an unobstructed line-of-sight from their location to the cutting zone throughout the recommended machining plan;
iterating the above method until the recommended machining and heating plans result in the cutting zone being maintained at the desired temperature with no obstruction of the line-of-sight throughout the machining process; and
machining the workpiece in accordance with the recommended machining and heating plans if it is verified that the cutting zone is maintained at the desired temperature and the line-of-sight is not obstructed throughout the machining process.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for laser assisted machining is provided, by utilizing a computer to develop interrelated heating and machining plans, from a variety of input data describing the material to be machined, the properties of lasers and pyrometers used for heating the material, and computer models of the machining arrangement, workpiece and final part to be produced. An iterative process continues until the machining and heating plans result in the cutting zone of the workpiece being maintained at a desired temperature with no obstruction in the line-of-sight of at least one laser and pyrometer throughout the machining process, while also maintaining the cutting tool at or below a desired maximum temperature.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for Laser Assisted Machining (LAM) of a finished part from a workpiece mounted in a machining arrangement, according to a machining process, using a cutter of the machining arrangement for removing material from the workpiece along a cutting path including a cutting zone of the workpiece ahead of the cutter where the cutting zone is heated to a desired machining temperature by a laser heating arrangement having one or more lasers operatively disposed for heating the cutting zone and at least one pyrometer arrangement for detecting a temperature of the cutting zone, the method comprising:
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inputting dynamic computer models in machine readable format for the workpiece, the finished part, the machining arrangement, and the laser heating arrangement, the dynamic computer models all being related to a common reference system, describing the physical shape and all potential movement and orientation of the models with respect to the common reference system; inputting material property data in machine readable format for the workpiece and machining arrangement, including thermal and optical material properties of the workpiece and desired machining temperature data; inputting laser and pyrometer operating parameters for the laser heating arrangement in machine readable format, with the laser operating parameters including input and output power, line-of-sight coordinates and beam configuration parameters for each laser of the one or more lasers, and the pyrometer operating parameters including input and output operating parameters of the pyrometer arrangement; generating a recommended machining plan including the cutting path for the cutter and movement and orientation of the models of the workpiece, the finished part and the machining arrangement during machining of the finished part from the workpiece; generating a recommended heating plan for the laser heating arrangement from the recommended machining plan, to heat the cutting zone with the one or more lasers and monitor the temperature of the cutting zone with the pyrometer arrangement, with the recommended heating plan including movement and orientation of the model of the laser heating arrangement during machining of the finished part from the workpiece; verifying that the cutting zone of the workpiece is maintained at the desired machining temperature during the recommended machining plan; verifying that the one or more lasers and the one or more pyrometers utilized in the recommended heating plan have an unobstructed line-of-sight from their location to the cutting zone throughout the recommended machining plan; iterating the above method until the recommended machining and heating plans result in the cutting zone being maintained at the desired temperature with no obstruction of the line-of-sight throughout the machining process; and machining the workpiece in accordance with the recommended machining and heating plans if it is verified that the cutting zone is maintained at the desired temperature and the line-of-sight is not obstructed throughout the machining process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A non-transitory controller-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the steps of a method for Laser Assisted Machining (LAM) of a finished part from a workpiece mounted in a machining arrangement, according to a machining process, using a cutter of the machining arrangement for removing material from the workpiece along a cutting path including a cutting zone of the workpiece ahead of the cutter where the cutting zone is heated to a desired machining temperature by a laser heating arrangement having one or more lasers operatively disposed for heating the cutting zone and at least one pyrometer arrangement for detecting a temperature of the cutting zone, wherein the method comprises:
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inputting dynamic computer models in machine readable format for the workpiece, the finished part, the machining arrangement, and the laser heating arrangement, the dynamic computer models all being related to a common reference system, describing the physical shape and all potential movement and orientation of the models with respect to the common reference system; inputting material property data in machine readable format for the workpiece and machining arrangement, including thermal and optical material properties of the workpiece and desired machining temperature data; inputting laser and pyrometer operating parameters for the laser heating arrangement in machine readable format, with the laser operating parameters including input and output power, line-of-sight coordinates and beam configuration parameters for each laser of the one or more lasers, and the pyrometer operating parameters including input and output operating parameters of the pyrometer arrangement; generating a recommended machining plan including the cutting path and movement and orientation of the models of the workpiece, the finished part and the machining arrangement during machining of the finished part from the workpiece; generating a recommended heating plan for the laser heating arrangement from the recommended machining plan, to heat the cutting zone with the one or more lasers and monitor the temperature of the cutting zone with the pyrometer arrangement, with the recommended heating plan including movement and orientation of the model of the laser heating arrangement during machining of the finished part from the workpiece; verifying that the cutting zone of the workpiece is maintained at the desired machining temperature during the recommended machining plan; verifying that the one or more lasers and the one or more pyrometers utilized in the recommended heating plan have an unobstructed line-of-sight from their location to the cutting zone throughout the recommended machining plan; iterating the above method until the recommended machining and heating plans result in the cutting zone being maintained at the desired temperature with no obstruction of the line-of-sight throughout the machining process; and then machining the workpiece in accordance with the recommended machining and heating plans if it is verified that the cutting zone is maintained at the desired temperature and the line of sight is not obstructed throughout the machining process. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification