Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Nobuyuki Haji

Masayoshi Ueda

Moriaki Kawasaki

Tamotsu Ikeda

Koji Fujii

Minoru Yamada

Satoshi Eguchi

Nobuo Shinno

Shinsuke Kurahashi

Atsuki Yamamoto

Tamotu Ikeda

Flow laminators are attached to gas introducing parts installed in a laser generator preventing impurities from attaching to surfaces of a translucent mirror and a condensing lens. The flow laminators prevent airflow from producing a turbulent flow and air on the surface of the mirror and the lens are cleaned up, therewith reducing attachment of impurities further.

Laser generator

A light beam heating apparatus having a condensing lens mechanism including an aspherical lens and a spherical lens disposed in a light path. The light beam heating apparatus also includes a light source and a light path which transmits the light beam irradiated from the light source, to an object to be heated. The light beam is transmitted through an optical fiber along part the light path, and the aspherical lens and spherical lens are disposed on the optical fiber side and on the object-to-be-heated side respectively. The above-described construction functions to suppress lateral aberration when the diameter of an optical fiber in use is changed, thereby preventing deterioration of the imaging capacity. Also, the occurrence of chromatic aberration can be suppressed to a minimum. Thus, energy concentration in the light condensing section can be improved.

Light beam heating apparatus

A light beam heating apparatus is provided comprising: a light source; an optical fiber for transmitting light from the light source; a lens mechanism which is provided at an output end of the optical fiber; and a first adjustment device for adjusting a distance between the lens mechanism and the output end of the optical fiber.

Fiber optic light beam heating apparatus with adjustable lens position

In a light beam heating apparatus generating a light beam for heating a work, optical energy of the light beam is deteriorated as the lamp is used. The optical energy is controlled by detecting an optical intensity of the light emitted by the lamp. If the optical intensity is decided not to be increased to a desired value due to an increase in arc light source or the like, an exchange of the lamp is cautioned. Thus, a timing of the exchange of the lamp can be decided before the temperature of a work becomes lower than the desired value.

During a preheating period of a light beam heating apparatus for heating a material locally with a light beam, fans for cooling a lamp for generating a light beam are not operated. A power source supplies current to a lamp. A current detector detects the current supplied to the lamp from the power source. A delay circuit delays a current detection value from the current detector for a predetermined time period and then sends the value to a controller. Then, the controller starts to activate fans for cooling the lamp. Alternately, a temperature detector is provided to detect the temperature of the lamp. When the temperature reaches a prescribed temperature, the controller starts to activate fans for cooling the lamp. Thus, the internal temperature of the lamp reaches the thermal saturation temperature in a shorter period of time, and the optical energy for heating can be stabilized after preheating.

A photosensor arranged at the center of a light-receiving end of an optical fiber bundle detects an optical intensity which is converted by a photoelectric converter to an electric signal. Then, the optical energy provided at the optical fiber bundle is calculated based on the signal. On the other hand, a correction coefficient is calculated from optical intensity signals when the lamp is new and when the element in the lamp wears, and the setting value of the output optical intensity of the optical fiber bundle is corrected. Then, the current supplied to the lamp by a power supply is controlled according to a difference between the setting value and the measured optical energy. Thus, the optical energy to be received through the optical fiber bundle is controlled stably irrespective of the change of optical intensity distribution due to wear of the electrode of the lamp. Similarly, the correction coefficient is calculated from optical intensities measured with photodetectors arranged at and off the center of a light-receiving end of an optical fiber bundle.

Light beam heating apparatus with optical energy correction compensating

A light-beam heating apparatus utilizes light energy effectively by having a light emitting portion of a radiating lamp coincide with a first focal point of an ellipsoidal reflecting mirror automatically and with high accuracy Light intensity and positional information at a light receiving end of an optical fiber are detected by means of a photodetector, a light intensity signal converted by a photoelectric converter is inputted to an arithmetic drive circuit, a drive mechanism of a radiating lamp fitting mechanism is actuated, the light emitting portion of the radiating lamp is moved in the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction successively in a direction that the light intensity increases, a central axis of a distribution of light condensed by an ellipsoidal reflecting mirror and a central part of the light receiving end of the optical fiber are made to always coincide with each other so as to utilize the light energy effectively. The light energy incident to the optical fiber is computed from a light intensity signal and a detected position, and a lamp current is controlled so as to make the error with respect to an indicated value of a command circuit smaller, thereby to stabilize the light radiation energy at a predetermined value.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Nobuyuki Haji