Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Makoto Ryudo

Koji Fujii

Jingbo Wang

Masatoshi Nishio

Hitoshi Nishimura

Ryo Ishikawa

Hideaki Yamaguchi

Doukei Nagayasu

Yoshiaki Takenaka

Kiyotaka Eizumi

Yasuhiro Goto

Yasushi Mukai

Naoto Ueda

Hideki Ihara

Hiroyuki Hayashikawa

Mamoru Watanabe

Mikiji Suzuki

Jing Bo Wang

Kazushige Hirasawa

Dokei Nagayasu

Kinichi Matsuyama

Yasuhiro Gotou

Kin-ichi Matsuyama

Takasi Kakutani

Mitsuru Mukai

A laser device includes a laser oscillator, a dehumidifier, and a controller controlling an operation of the dehumidifier. The controller controls the dehumidifier such that the dew point inside the laser oscillator is lower than the first dew point when a monolayer or less of water molecules is adsorbed, or such that the dew point is equal to or higher than the second dew point when more than a monolayer of water molecules is adsorbed inside the laser oscillator, and is lower than the third dew point at which the dew condensation starts to occur inside the laser oscillator.

Laser device and dehumidification management method for laser device

Laser processing device () includes: laser-beam switching apparatus () that switches between a first optical path and a second optical path as an optical path along which a laser beam is to travel, the first optical path including first fiber (), the second optical path including second fiber () that has a core diameter that is larger than a core diameter of first fiber (); and processing head () that illuminates a same processed point on workpiece () with a laser beam that has passed through the first optical path or the second optical path. When illumination with laser beam that has passed through the first optical path is performed for a predetermined period of time, laser-beam switching apparatus () switches from the first optical path to the second optical path.

Laser processing device and laser processing method

There is provided an optical axis alignment mechanism between the laser oscillator and the optical fiber. The laser oscillator emits laser light, which then emerges from the emission end of the optical fiber via the axis alignment mechanism. Part of the laser light is received on the light-receiving surface of the CCD camera of a laser light evaluator. Thus, the laser light evaluator acquires a light intensity distribution. The light intensity distribution is used by the optical axis alignment mechanism to align the axis of the laser oscillator with the axis of the optical fiber.

Alignment method

A laser processing head includes parallel plate () that shifts an optical axis of a laser beam to be emitted from a top to a bottom of body case () from a first optical axis to a second optical axis, parallel plate () that shift the optical axis of the laser beam from the second optical axis to a third optical axis, and body case () that accommodates holders (and) that respectively hold parallel plates (and). The laser processing head further includes a rotation mechanism that rotates holders (and) around a first rotary axis. Opening () that a laser beam reflected by an incident surface of second parallel plate () passes through is formed in holder (), and light receiving part () that receives the laser beam having passed through opening () is disposed in body case ().

Laser processing head and laser processing device using same

A laser device includes: a laser resonator for emitting a laser beam; a condenser lens for collecting the laser beam emitted from the laser resonator; an optical fiber for transmitting the laser beam collected by the condenser lens; at least one light sensor opposing a light receiving surface of the condenser lens and outside an optical path of the laser beam, the at least one light sensor detecting an amount of return light from the condenser lens; and a controller for determining a presence of an abnormality when a value of the amount detected by the at least one light sensor is greater than a predetermined maximum threshold.

Laser device

A fiber coupling device () includes the following components: a wedge plate () for receiving light and refracting the light in a predetermined direction, a condenser lens () for collecting the light refracted by the wedge plate (); and an optical fiber () having an incident surface for receiving the light collected by the condenser lens (). The wedge plate () is held rotatable around the optical axis () of the light incident on the wedge plate (). The light refracted by the wedge plate () and collected by the condenser lens () is incident on a different point on the incident surface depending on the rotation angle of the wedge plate ().

Fiber coupling device

A fiber coupling device includes a housing and a window provided in the housing. The fiber coupling device is configured to collectively guide plural laser beams to at least a first fiber, the plurality of laser beams each being emitted from a corresponding one of plural external laser light sources and entering through a laser beam inlet. The housing is configured such that the laser beams enter the housing from the laser beam inlet. The window is provided inside the housing and faces the laser beam inlet. The fiber coupling device is not required to detach when an optical axis is adjusted.

A condenser lens for collecting a laser beam () is disposed between the laser oscillator and the incident end surface of the optical fiber. The laser beam () is divided into a plurality of beams (). The power of the laser beam () is measured and maximized by adjusting the position of the condenser lens. The FFP of the laser beam () is measured and minimized by adjusting the position of the condenser lens. These adjusted positions are stored as the first and second lens positions. The FFP of the laser beam () is measured while the condenser lens is being moved between these positions so as to make the BPP not more than a predetermined value.

Core adjustment method

A semiconductor laser module includes a laser diode array, an optical fiber array, a fiber array fitting for fixing the optical fiber array, a casing, and a support fitting for fixing the fiber array fitting and casing. The fiber array fitting and support fitting have a first contact section that is in line-contact or surface-contact with the plane section parallel with the light emission surface of the laser diode array, and are laser-welded and fixed to each other at the first contact section. The support fitting and casing have a second contact section that is in line-contact or surface-contact with the plane section vertical to the light emission surface of the laser diode array, and are laser-welded and fixed to each other at the second contact section.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor laser module

Semiconductor laser module and method for manufacturing same

An optical processing apparatus has high reliability and stable welding quality. In the processing apparatus, a semiconductor laser and an optical system are disposed to a flow path of processing gas. The gas protects the semiconductor laser and the optical system from moisture and dust while cooling them. In addition, the apparatus also leads the processing gas to flow through a holder of the optical system to increase cooling effect for the optical system and to improve an optical accuracy. The apparatus guides the processing gas along a surface of a cover glass inside a nozzle ejecting the processing gas to a workpiece, to prevent the surface of the cover glass from being damaged and stained. The processing gas is ejected in a direction coaxial with a direction of output light, so as to shield an area being processed.

Optical machining device

A joining equipment in which a neural network is employed for controlling a joining process. A dynamic analog model is used for neuron elements configuring the network. The equipment includes a detector, a controller, and a neural network. The detector detects a joining state of a joining portion when work pieces are joined with each other. The controller controls the output of the joining equipment. In response to output signals from the detector, the neural network transmits signals to the controller. Such a structure allows the joining equipment to flexibly respond to complicated changes in joining states. Besides, using similarity with a thermal conduction equation enables to minimize the number of input items fed into the neural network. Furthermore, using an approximate solution to the thermal conduction equation realizes to accelerate the time for numerical calculation without loss of accuracy.

Joining equipment

Resistance welding machine control method

A method for evaluating quality of a resistance weld is provided, in which a nugget generation state during a welding process is evaluated by observable numerical values based on physical phenomena, and which can afford a wide application range in welding material as well as a capability of accurate knowledge as to the nugget generation state of the weld. Based on that a specific resistance value of a metal material to be welded has a temperature dependency in a conduction state of AC or current-pulsated welding current, a rate of change of inter-chip dynamic resistance instantaneous value during a current changing period is determined, a changing state of the dynamic resistance instantaneous value is further calculated, and a heat-generating state of a weld zone, i.e., a nugget formation state is estimated. Thus, a quality evaluation of a weld is performed accurately.

Method and apparatus for evaluating quality of resistance welds

The invention concerns a method of controlling welding conditions of a resistance welder, in which the nugget generating state can be estimated with general-purpose properties, and in which accurate and high-quality resultant welding can be obtained. Through a process of using a heat conduction simulator for performing simulation of a welding portion on the basis of heat conduction calculation, estimating the status quantity expressing the state in which a nugget is formed in the welding portion during welding, comparing the status quantity with reference status quantity led out of a physical phenomenon generating during welding at the time of estimation, and correcting the heat conduction simulator on the basis of the comparison result, it is possible to control the welding conditions accurately, and it is possible to obtain accurate and high-quality resultant welding.

Growing community of inventors

Hyogo, Japan

Makoto Ryudo