Laser processing head and method for compensating for the change in focus position in a laser processing head

• US 8,456,523 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2010
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Precitec GmbH & Co. KG, Precitec ITM GmbH
• Original Assignee: Precitec GmbH & Co. KG, Precitec ITM GmbH
• Inventors: Stork genannt Wersborg, Ingo
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jay
• Assistant Examiner(s): TORRENTE, RICHARD T
• Application Number:
  US13/386,352
• Publication Number:
  US 20120188365A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• Field of Search: 348/90
• US Class Current: 348/90
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/046 Automatically focusing the laser beam

Abstract

The invention relates to a laser machining head (100) for machining a workpiece by means of a working laser beam (108), with a camera (102) with an imaging lens system (116) arranged in front of said camera in the beam path for observing a machining region of the workpiece that is being machined by means of the working laser beam (108), with a focusing lens system (114) for focusing the working laser beam (108) on the workpiece surface (104) or on a position defined in relation to the workpiece surface (104), and with an evaluation unit (122) which is designed to calculate a corrective adjusting displacement (ΔZos, ΔZB) by means of an adjusting displacement (ΔdKL) of the imaging lens system (116) in the direction of the optical axis in order to refocus the camera image when there is a shift in the focal point of the focusing lens system (114), which corrective adjustment displacement compensates a shift in the focal point of the focusing lens system (114) in relation to the workpiece surface (104) or with respect to a position defined in relation to the workpiece surface (104).

Claims

1. A laser processing head for processing a workpiece by means of a working laser beam, comprising

a camera with an imaging optical unit arranged upstream thereof in a beam path and serving for observing a processing region of the workpiece which is processed by means of the working laser beam,

a focusing optical unit for focusing the working laser beam with a processing laser light wavelength (λ

_L) onto the workpiece surface or onto a position defined relative to the workpiece surface,

an illumination device to illuminate the processing region of the workpiece with light having a wavelength (λ

_K) of an observation system,

an evaluation unit, which is designed to calculate a correction adjustment travel (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B) which compensates for a focal point displacement of the focusing optical unit relative to the workpiece surface or to a position defined relative to the workpiece surface by means of an adjustment travel (Δ

d_KL) of the imaging optical unit in the direction of the optical axis, which is necessary for focusing the camera image again in the event of a displacement of the focal point of the focusing lens,

wherein the evaluation unit is designed, in the calculation of the correction adjustment travel (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B) of the focusing optical unit from the adjustment (Δ

d_KL) of the imaging optical unit, to include in the calculation focusing differences of the imaging optical unit and of the focusing optical unit on account of the different wavelengths of the observation system (λ

_K) and the working laser light wavelength (λ

_L).

2. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a beam splitter for coupling the light from the illumination apparatus coaxially into the beam path of the laser processing beam in order to illuminate the processing region of the workpiece.

3. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 1, wherein the camera is designed to use a high dynamic range (HDR) method in order to obtain images.

4. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is designed to use, for determining the adjustment travel (Δ

d_KL) of the imagining optical unit in the direction of the optical axis, which is necessary for focusing the camera image again, a method for finding image sharpness which comprises a variance method, a sum-modulus-difference (SMD) method, a signal power (SP) method, a Fourier analysis method, a Laplace operator or Laplace focusing function method, or focusing by feature point or object tracking methods.

5. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an actuator system, which is designed to adapt the position of the laser processing head relative to a processing surface of the workpiece or movable parts of the optical system in order to traverse the correction adjustment distance (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B) for the compensation of the focal point displacement of the focusing optical unit.

6. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 5, wherein the evaluation unit is designed to directly control, by means of the actuator system, the position of the focal point of the focusing optical unit by traversing a correction adjustment travel (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B).

7. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit further comprises a cognitive system which, by means of a learning process, controls the adjustment of the focusing optical unit depending on a processing time or on processing situations such that the working focus of the laser beam always lies on the workpiece surface or in a position defined relative to the workpiece surface.

8. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 7, further comprising at least one sensor unit in addition to the camera, wherein the evaluation unit is designed to regulate or control the adjustment of the focusing optical unit with respect to the processing surface of the workpiece on the basis of the signals of the camera and of the at least one additional sensor unit.

9. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 8, wherein the at least one sensor unit is at least one microphone or solid-borne acoustic sensor, at least one additional camera, at least one photodiode, a probe and sensors for detecting technical evaluation and monitoring signals and also actuator system parameters such as the laser power.

10. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a temperature sensor at the focusing optical unit and/or a temperature sensor at a collimator optical unit for detecting the temperature of the associated optical unit.

11. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 10, wherein the evaluation unit is designed to feed the temperature of the collimator optical unit, detected by the temperature sensor to a learning process in order to control the adjustment of the focusing optical unit depending on the processing time or the processing situation.

12. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 7, wherein the evaluation unit is further designed to include a time interval (Δ

t), a laser power (P_L), a progression model (M) or a cognitive empirical value (C_OG) into a learning process for adjusting the focusing optical unit depending on the processing time or on the processing situation.

13. The laser processing head as claimed in claim 7, wherein the evaluation unit is designed to use, for the regulation or control of an adjustment travel (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B) of the focusing optical unit on the basis of signals of at least one sensor, classification algorithms or self-learning algorithms such as support vector machines, support vector classification, fuzzy logic, information fuzzy networks, fuzzy K-nearest neighbor classifier, K-nearest neighbor classifier, reinforcement learning, Bayesian networks and Bayesian knowledge databases, naive Bayesian classifiers, hidden Markov chains, artificial neural networks and back propagation, regression analysis, genetic programming or decision trees.

14. A method for compensating for the change in focus position in a laser processing head as claimed in claim 1, comprising the following steps:

focusing the working laser beam onto a workpiece in order to carry out a welding or cutting process on the workpiece,

moving the focal point of the working laser beam along a processing line on a processing surface, wherein the distance between focusing optical unit and processing surface of the workpiece is kept constant,

compensating for a focal point displacement of the focusing optical unit by adjusting the distance between focusing optical unit and processing surface of the workpiece by a correction adjustment travel (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B), wherein the correction adjustment travel (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B) of the focusing optical unit is calculated by means of an adjustment travel (Δ

d_KL) of the imaging optical unit in the direction of the optical axis, which is necessary for focusing the camera image of the camera again in the event of a displacement of the focal point of the focusing optical unit,

wherein the focusing differences of the imaging optical unit and of the focusing optical unit on account of the different wavelengths of the observation system (λ

_K) and the processing laser light wavelength (λ

_L) used are included in the calculation.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein, for the calculation of the adjustment travel (Δ

z_OS, Δ

z_B) of the focusing optical unit, use is further made of cognitive systems which, by means of a learning process, control the adjustment of the focusing optical unit depending on a processing time or on processing situations such that the working focus of the working laser beam always lies on the workpiece surface or in a position defined relative to the workpiece surface.