Apparatus and method for recognizing irradiation-enabled area of beam irradiating device and for establishing a moving path of the device
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorDaisuke Tanaka
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Abstract
An apparatus that can change an irradiating direction of the beam and a method of recognizing an irradiation-enabled area with respect to a processing course for a work piece. The method establishes an irradiation-enabled area at a focal length that corresponds to one point along the processing course, even when the beam irradiating device is moved away from the one point along the processing course of the work piece. The method further recognizes the irradiation-enabled area with respect to the one point along the processing course.
Claims18
A method of positioning a beam irradiating device configured to change an irradiating direction of a beam of a laser welding robot by determining an irradiation-enabled area of the beam irradiating device in which the beam irradiating device can be positioned to irradiate a plurality of points along a processing course of a work piece, comprising:
- establishing a cone-shaped region based on a minimum focal length and a maximum focal length of the beam and a maximum angle range from one point along a processing course of a work piece, the minimum focal length and the maximum focal length of the beam defined by the bounds of the movement of a condensing lens of the beam irradiating device, and the maximum angle range defined by the bounds of the movement of a reflecting mirror of the beam irradiating device, the cone-shaped region including a plane on a bottom surface thereof and a vertex coinciding with the one point along the processing course, wherein the height of the cone-shaped region equals the focal length;
- determining the bounds of the irradiation-enabled area of the beam within the bottom surface of the cone-shaped region based on the focal length and the angle range from which the one point can be irradiated even when the beam irradiating device is moved within the irradiation-enabled area;
- forming a plurality of the irradiation-enabled areas based on a plurality of points spaced apart from each other by a resolution distance along the processing course;
- combining the irradiation-enabled areas into a combined irradiation-enabled area with respect to the entire processing course;
- and
- positioning the beam irradiating device along an optimum moving path in the combined irradiation-enabled area, without requiring that the moving path track the processing course, such that all points in the processing course are processed in a minimum amount of time or with a minimum amount of movement of the beam irradiating device.
An apparatus for determining an irradiation-enabled area of a beam irradiated from a beam irradiating device of a laser welding robot, the beam irradiating device being configured to change an irradiating direction of the beam, comprising:
- an input means for inputting a minimum focal length and a maximum focal length of the beam defined by bounds of the movement of a condensing lens of the beam irradiating device and a characteristic dimension of the irradiation-enabled area;
- and
- a computing means for:
- establishing the irradiation-enabled area located at a distance of the focal length from one point along a processing course of a work piece and based on the inputted minimum and maximum focal lengths, the characteristic dimension of the irradiation-enabled area, and a maximum angle range defined by the bounds of the movement of a reflecting mirror of the beam irradiating device, from which the one point can be irradiated even when the beam irradiating device is moved within the irradiation-enabled area;
- forming a plurality of the irradiation-enabled areas based on points spaced apart from each other by a resolution distance along the processing course;
- combining the irradiation-enabled areas into a combined irradiation-enabled area with respect to the entire processing course;
- and
- establishing an optimum moving path of the beam irradiating device within the combined irradiation-enabled area, without requiring that the moving path track the processing course, such that all points in the processing course are processed in a minimum amount of time or with a minimum amount of movement of the beam irradiating device.
A method of determining a moving path of a beam irradiating device of a laser welding robot when processing a work piece, the beam irradiating device being capable of changing an irradiating direction of a beam, the beam having a minimum focal length and a maximum focal length defined by bounds of the movement of a condensing lens of the beam irradiating device, the method comprising:
- establishing the bounds of an irradiation-enabled area corresponding to the minimum focal length and the maximum focal length of the beam and a maximum angle ranged defined by the bounds of the movement of a reflecting mirror of the beam irradiating device such that when the beam irradiating device is located anywhere within the irradiation-enabled area the beam can irradiate the one point along a processing course, wherein the work piece is processed at one point by the beam irradiated from the beam irradiating device;
- forming a plurality of the irradiation-enabled areas based on points spaced apart from each other by a resolution distance along the processing course;
- combining the irradiation-enabled areas into a combined irradiation-enabled area with respect to the entire processing course;
- and
- establishing an optimum moving path of the beam irradiating device within the combined irradiation-enabled area, without requiring that the moving path track the processing course, such that all points in the processing course are processed in a minimum amount of time or with a minimum amount of movement of the beam irradiating device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.