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US 11,660,703 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for auto-aligning of a process gas jet nozzle and laser machining beam
AssigneeRaytheon Technologies Corporation
InventorAnthony Pizzola
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An adjustment collar for a laser machine tool includes a first actuator between an outer housing and an inner collar, the first actuator operable to move the inner collar with respect to the outer housing in the X-axis and a second actuator between the outer housing and the inner collar, the second actuator operable to move the inner collar with respect to the outer housing in the Y-axis.
Claims8
A method for adjusting an adjusting collar to move a process gas jet nozzle with respect to a laser cutting head to align a gas jet axis with respect to a laser beam axis, the method comprising:
- adjusting a first actuator between an outer housing of an adjusting collar mounted to a laser cutting head and an inner collar of the adjusting collar, the first actuator operable to move the inner collar with respect to the outer housing along an X-axis;
- adjusting a second actuator between the outer housing of the adjusting collar mounted to the laser cutting head and the inner collar of the adjusting collar, the second actuator between the outer housing and the inner collar, the second actuator operable to move the inner collar with respect to the outer housing along a Y-axis;
- determining a location of the laser beam axis based on a position of the laser cutting head;
- cutting a hole in a sacrificial workpiece with the laser of a laser beam cutting head;
- determining a capacitance with the process gas jet nozzle to find the edge of the hole;
- comparing the location of the gas jet axis with respect to the location of the laser beam axis;
- and
- adjusting the adjusting collar to move the process gas jet nozzle with respect to the laser cutting head to align the gas jet axis with respect to the laser beam axis.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.