Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Hitoshi Hongu

Hiroyuki Hayashikawa

Nobuo Shinno

Hidehiko Karasaki

Takayuki Yamashita

Naoya Horiuchi

Atsuki Yamamoto

Tetsuji Nishimura

Yutaka Iwasaki

Takuma Katoh

A gas laser oscillation device of the present invention including a blower unit having a rotating part that rotates, which includes an impeller, a rotating shaft, a motor rotor and a portion of bearings that are brought into contact with the rotating shaft, and a non-rotating part that does not rotate, which includes a motor stator, a casing and a portion of the bearings that are brought into contact with the casing. Two bearings are disposed between the rotating part and the non-rotating part. A grease supply mechanism that supplies grease to each of the two bearings is provided. A control unit drives the blower unit at a rotation rate lower than a rotation rate when a laser is output, after grease is supplied from the grease supply mechanism to the two bearings.

Gas laser oscillation device and gas laser processing machine

A gas laser oscillation device includes a discharge part, a blower part, and a laser gas path. The discharge part excites a laser gas medium and the blower part blows the laser gas. The laser gas path forms the circulation path of the laser gas between the discharge part and the blower part. The blower part includes an impeller section, a drive section, and an intermediate chamber disposed between the impeller section and the drive section. In the impeller section, a rotating blade to be rotated by a drive section via a rotating shaft is disposed. In the intermediate chamber, a main space and a gas damper space are partially partitioned by a gas shielding member.

Gas laser oscillation device

The gas laser oscillator apparatus of the present invention has laser gas sealed in a vacuum chamber under a decompressed condition lower than atmospheric pressure; a discharge means for exciting the laser gas; a blower means for blowing the laser gas; a laser-gas flow passage as a circulation passage of the laser gas between the discharge means and the blower means; and a gas compression means for discharging a predetermined amount of the laser gas from the laser-gas flow passage. The gas decompression means is structured on the application of Bernoulli's principle. The gas decompression means has a sequence for decreasing the ratio of air mixed into the laser gas below a predetermined level with use of a part of pressurized gas used in a laser processing machine or the gas laser oscillator apparatus.

Gas laser oscillator apparatus and laser gas replacement method

A gas laser oscillator includes a discharge section for exciting laser gas, a blowing section for transmitting the laser gas, and a laser gas flowing path for forming a circulation route of the laser gas between the discharge section and the blowing section. The blowing section is formed of a rotary part to be rotated by a shaft driver and a non-rotary part not to be rotated. The rotary part includes a rotary shaft to which an impeller is mounted at an end, the shaft driver for rotating the rotary shaft, an upper bearing and a lower bearing coupled to the rotary shaft. The rotary part is detachable from the non-rotary part.

A gas laser oscillator appropriately detecting a clogging of a laying pipe of a sub ejection apparatus is disclosed. The gas laser oscillator according to the present invention includes a laser gas flow pipe, a driving part, a divide wall, a main ejection apparatus, a sub ejection apparatus, a detect portion, and a clogged laying pipe judge part. The laser gas flow pipe constitutes a circulating route of the laser gas. The driving part drives the air blower for blowing the laser gas. The divide wall separates the air blower and the driving part. The main ejection apparatus has a valve, and ejects laser gas from the laser gas flow pipe. The sub ejection apparatus ejects laser gas from the driving part. The detector detects an amount of laser gas ejected from the main ejection apparatus and the sub ejection apparatus. The clogged laying pipe judge part judges that the laying pipe of the sub ejection apparatus is clogged when an amount of ejected laser gas measured at a time the valve of the main ejection apparatus is closed is lower than a predetermined value.

Gas laser oscillator

A laser oscillating apparatus includes a discharger for exciting a laser medium, a blower for blowing a laser gas and a laser gas path for connecting the discharger and the blower, and a laser oscillating apparatus characterized in that the blower includes a shaft portion provided with a blade wheel portion at a front end thereof, a driving portion for rotating the shaft portion, and a partition wall portion for separating the blade wheel portion and the driving portion, and a surface of the partition wall portion is provided with a metal layer dispersing precipitated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

Laser oscillating apparatus and laser working machine

A gas laser oscillator achieving a substantial increase in laser output is provided. This gas laser oscillator includes a permeable screen plate at a position of a laser gas passage and can increase the laser output substantially by suppressing and uniformizing laser gas pulsation in a discharge tube.

Axial flow type gas laser oscillator

A laser oscillator comprises a discharge tube for exciting laser medium, at least a pair of mirrors disposed along an optical axis of laser light emitted by the laser gas excited inside the discharge tube, a laser gas passage connected with the discharge tube, laser gas circulation means for circulating the laser gas inside the laser gas passage, and heat control means for controlling heat generated in at least one of the mirrors and the laser gas circulation means.

Gas laser transmitter

A support unit for supporting an OPM holder so as to be perpendicular to a laser beam axis is disposed in the lower part of the OPM holder. A rotary shaft is inserted into the support unit and rotary shaft support unit, and the OPM holder and DT base are assembled together. Thus, a rotation support unit is composed. The rotation support unit has a degree of freedom in the rotating direction. On the other hand, in the lower part of an RM holder, a support bar is provided. At the DT base, a rotating element and a rotating element support unit supporting the rotating element are composed so as to support the support bar. Thus, a slider structure slidable in the optical axis direction is formed.

Laser oscillator

A support unit () for supporting an OPM holder () so as to be vertical to the laser beam axis is disposed in the lower part of the OPM holder (). A rotary shaft () is inserted into the support unit () and rotary shaft support unit (), and the OPM holder () and DT base () are assembled together. Thus, a rotation support unit () is composed. The rotation support unit has a degree of freedom in the rotating direction of arrow (). On the other hand, in the lower part of an RM holder (), a support bar () is provided. At the DT base (), a rotating element () and a rotating element support unit () supporting the rotating element are composed so as to support the support bar. Thus, a slider structure () slidable in the optical axis direction is formed. The slider structure has a degree of freedom in the direction of arrow ().

Laser oscillating device

A gas laser oscillator comprising a laser gas pressure controller for controlling the pressure of laser gas in laser gas chamber to be constant, an electromagnetic valve for supplying laser gas into the laser gas chamber from a gas bottle so that the laser gas within the laser gas chamber is maintained constant, detection means for detecting that the cycle period of open/close actions of the electromagnetic valve became longer than a reference value, and an alarm display controller which issues an alarm. In a gas laser oscillator of the present invention, even such a micro vacuum leak that hardly ill-affects the laser output can be detected with ease while the gas laser oscillator is in operation. This makes it possible to apply an appropriate maintenance work beforehand on the vacuum seal. Thus, reliable gas laser oscillators can be offered in accordance with the present invention.

An orifice ( ) is disposed near the junction of a discharge tube ( ) and a laser gas lead-in pipe ( ). A laser gas relay pipe ( ) is disposed so as to allow the laser gas to flow parallel in the same direction as or in the reverse direction to the flowing direction of laser gas in the discharge tube ( ). The orifice ( ) includes a portion for impeding flow of laser gas, and plural holes for passing laser gas, and at least one of the holes is deviated from the center. The total area of the holes summing up the area of the plural holes provided in the orifice ( ) is at a rate of 0.5 to 0.8 to the sectional area of the discharge tube. The plural holes of the orifice ( ) are nearly circular, and the diameter of each hole is smaller than the radius of the orifice.

Laser oscillating apparatus

The gas laser oscillator having metal housings disposed near internal mirrors of the resonator for covering, for example, the external of connecting tubes partially or totally, means for detecting the micro discharge current flowing inside of the connecting tubes near the internal mirrors of the resonator, and a control circuit for controlling energy to be supplied into discharge tubes by comparing output signals output from the means for detecting the micro discharge current with reference signals. The gas laser oscillator prevents the micro discharge current from flowing in laser gas inside of the connecting tubes, thereby preventing degradation of a total reflection mirror and a partial reflection mirror defining the internal mirrors of the resonator.

A gas laser oscillator has at least a partial reflection unit and a total reflection unit, each of which comprises an extension unit for connecting between a gas introducing unit and a fixed block unit. The gas introducing unit has a gas inlet port for circulating laser gas in a laser tube, and the fixed block unit is provided for fixing a reflector. A gas inlet port of the gas introducing unit is arranged with a predetermined interval of 120 mm or more so that the reflectors are free from contamination by floating powders and deterioration by ultraviolet lays.

A gas laser oscillator has two discharge tube columns, both ends of which are connected by a bending unit, wherein each column comprises two discharge tubes connected in series. At the opposite ends of the bending unit, one column has a total-reflection mirror, and the other column has a partial-reflection mirror. These discharge tubes, the bending unit, the total-reflection mirror, and the partial-reflection mirror are mounted to a single optical bench. Each end of the discharge tubes is fixed to the optical bench by a clamp. When counted from the clamp nearest to the partial-reflection mirror, the first clamp, the fourth clamp, and the eighth clamp are non-movable with respect to the optical bench, while the remaining clamps are movable, and thus adjustable. One total-reflection mirror unit of the two total-reflection mirror units on the bending unit is non-movable, and the other total-reflection mirror unit is movable.

Growing community of inventors

Hyogo, Japan

Hitoshi Hongu