CA2028844C - Method and apparatus for quality assurance for laser welding or cutting applications - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for quality assurance for laser welding or cutting applicationsInfo
- Publication number
- CA2028844C CA2028844C CA002028844A CA2028844A CA2028844C CA 2028844 C CA2028844 C CA 2028844C CA 002028844 A CA002028844 A CA 002028844A CA 2028844 A CA2028844 A CA 2028844A CA 2028844 C CA2028844 C CA 2028844C
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- laser
- welding
- detector
- workpiece
- photodiode
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Fee Related
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Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
- B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
- B23K26/02—Positioning or observing the workpiece, e.g. with respect to the point of impact; Aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam
- B23K26/03—Observing, e.g. monitoring, the workpiece
- B23K26/032—Observing, e.g. monitoring, the workpiece using optical means
Abstract
"Method and Apparatus for Quality Assurance for Laser Welding or Cutting Applications"
Method for on-line quality assurance when processing materials with laser energy by means of electro-optical detection of the near-infrared radiation of the material which is thrown out of the "key-hole" during the material processing operation with laser, thus detecting the dimension of hollows (pores, holes) which have arisen in the workpiece. The detection of the thermal radiation of the thrown out material is effected in a wavelength of 800 nm up to approximately 1300 nm, preferably with simultaneous detection of the ultraviolet radiation of the plasma cloud in a preferred wavelength of approximately 200 nm up to 450 nm.
Finally there is also a description of the processing procedure for the near-infrared signals.
Method for on-line quality assurance when processing materials with laser energy by means of electro-optical detection of the near-infrared radiation of the material which is thrown out of the "key-hole" during the material processing operation with laser, thus detecting the dimension of hollows (pores, holes) which have arisen in the workpiece. The detection of the thermal radiation of the thrown out material is effected in a wavelength of 800 nm up to approximately 1300 nm, preferably with simultaneous detection of the ultraviolet radiation of the plasma cloud in a preferred wavelength of approximately 200 nm up to 450 nm.
Finally there is also a description of the processing procedure for the near-infrared signals.
Description
Description 2 0 2 8 8 4 4 The invention concerns a method for quality assurance when processing materials with laser energy, preferably laser beam welding or cutting, in the course which the ultraviolet light 5 arising in the plasma cloud during the material processing operation is detected by a detector in a wavelength of approximately 200 nm up to approximately 450 nm to control the laser beam coupling in the workpiece as well as the check for specified limits of other process parameters such as laser output 10 power, beam defocussing, beam quality, feeding of shielding gas and working gas as well as workpiece structure, cleaning status of the workpiece surface, and welding gap width. Such a quality assurance method is known from DVS-report Number 113 on the conference "ECLAT'88", p. 58 - 59.
Known devices, which are realized after the a.m. method, are using a light sensitive detector consisting of a silicon photodiode, which has an enhanced W-light sensitivity, and an optical filter, which is transparent only for the a.m. W -light wavelengths. The filter is located between the welding pool (4) 20 and the detector. The received W-signal is turned into an electric signal by the detector, and is feeded in a processing unit. With such a device, it is possible during a laser material processing, to detect changes of the a.m. parameters and notify them as possible material processing faults.
This known device has the disadvantage, that it is not possible to detect and indicate a processing fault during a laser welding process, when two or more parameters with contrary effects X ~
on the welding plasma have changed at the same time. Furthermore, if a high detection sensitivity is adjusted, such a device indicates too many faults, being in fact the result of a laser welding process parameter disturbances but are not certainly the 5 result of welding failures.
As background of this invention also the use of a photodiode for monitoring a laser drilling process was considered.
This well known monitoring method is shown in:
JP-DS "Pat. abstr. of Japan", 1987, Vol.11/No.166, M-593, Kokai 10 No.: 61-296980.
The object of this invention is the assignment to propose a device of the a.m. manner, due to which a quality control of the weld, being produced by laser energy, is effected during the welding process itself, independent of the fact which 15 change of one or several processing parameters has caused a welding fault.
For solving this problem it is proposed to build an apparatus according to the characteristic part of the main claim.
This has the advantage, that the quantity of the liquid material 20 which is thrown out of the welding pool (4) due to the energy feed and consequently due to the vapour pressure in the "key-hole", is electro-optically detected in a wavelength of 800 nm up to preferably 1300 nm by at least one photodiode and transformed into an electrical signal which is led to a processing unit, to 25 determine the dimension of the hollows having arisen in the workpiece. The welding faults can be detected with the invented apparatus according to claim 2, and can be signalized as processing faults with the aid of a processing unit according to claim 6.
The fundamental advantage of the invented method according to claim 1 or 2 consists in the fact that a not ambigous 5 monitoring of real welding faults is possible.
This is based on the fact that the dimension of the drops which are thrown out of the welding pool is equivalent to the dimension of the pores and hollows being left in the weld.
The apparatus according to claim 2 has the advantage 10 that the method according to claim 1 can practically be used.
With this apparatus according to claim 2 even deep-seated pores arising in the weld during a laser welding process as preferred laser beam operation process can be detected without destruction.
This shows an additional advantage of the invented apparatus 15 according to claim 1 or 2: due to the detection of the workpiece position relative to the laser processing head during the laser operating process, the position of the detected welding faults in the workpiece can reliably be found after the operation for further analysing purposes or for a workpiece post processing.
The a.m. position detection can be realized e.g. for a rotary-symmetrical workpiece with an incremental or absolute rotary angle encoder whose rotary spindle is coupled to the workpiece in the rotary angle during the operation.
Further advantages of the main claim and the invented 25 apparatus according to claim 2 and/or in combination with other claims consist in the fact that besides holes also pores are detected and signalized during the laser welding operation as preferred operation process. So it is possible that even gas-tight welds can be produced with the invented method.
Due to this fact and in combination with the a.m. fault position detection on the workpiece the production of welds with 5 laser beam can be made more profitable, because it can be effected without supervision personnel also during night shifts. The welding process can entirely be documentated.
The assurance of the produced quality leads to a higher degree of automation, to a quicker and faultless material flow, 10 i.e. to a clearly increased productivity of a laser welding unit.
According to today's status of technology the detection of deep-seated pores in a weld is only possible after the welding operation with the aid of e.g. very expensive X-ray cameras or with an ultrasonic microscope.
The invented method according to claim 1 and 6 increases furthermore the efficiency of laser material processing preferably when welding or cutting with laser by means of the fact that the high control quality of the invented method due to the invented devices according to claim 2 or 3 or 4 prevents the waste of 20 material and time necessary for a quality test after production.
The dimension of the thrown out "spatters" equals the integral of the signal being detected by the invented detector for a defined period of time.
According to claim 6 it is possible to determine the 25 stability of a weld and/or the largeness of a workpiece damage due to just a single "spatter eruption".
The synchronization of the signal processing with the supply frequency according to claim 6, has the advantage that signal disturbances being dependant on the supply frequency are suppressed. Due to this fact the signal processing unit will work 5 correctly without adjusting it, when the mains frequency will to be changed between 50 Hz and 60 Hz.
An additional advantage of the invented near-IR-sensitive device according to claim 3, consists in the possibility of its belated integration into an already existing W -signal 10 monitoring unit.
The devices according to claims 2, 3 and 4 are characterized by easy handling as only one detector head has to be mounted and adjusted. The fact that the a.m. devices even work without a focusing lens offers an additional advantage in the 15 handling of the device, as in this case an exact adjustment of the detector head is not necessary - an approximate alignment of the detector head is sufficient.
In addition to the invented a.m. device the W-signal can also be detected. The combination of both a.m. methods 20 according to the claims 4 and 5, offers the possibility of an exact on-line statement concerning the quality of a laser produced weld, because the additional W-information helps to a correct interpretation of the detected near-IR signal.
The W -light will arise as soon as sufficient laser 25 energy has been injected into the workpiece, so this gives the possibility of non-contact and laser system independent detection of the beginning and the end of a welding process.
The a.m. procedure can also be applied for cutting with laser beam with the difference that during the cutting process as well the space above as below the operating spot is monitored according to the invented method.
The devices according to claim 5 are advantageous for monitoring the laser piercing process with the aid of the upper detectors (compare Figure 7), respectively the laser cutting process mainly with the aid of the lower detectors.
The described advantages are applicable with laser 10 processing units which work preferably with C0-2 lasers, but also with pulsed solid-state power lasers.
Further advantages are shown in the following descriptions of preferable application. The diagrams of the figures can versatilely be combined, and the combinations are 15 referring to claim 1 or to a combination of claims.
In the following the invention is described with examples of application:
Figure 1 Schematic drowing of the arrangement for quality assurance 20 according to the invented method in a preferred configuration when welding metals with laser beam;
Figure 2 Schematic drowing of a preferred design of the invented device according to claim 2;
25 Figure 3 Schematic drowing of a preferred design of the invented device according to claim 3;
Figure 4 Schematic drowing of a preferred design of the invented device according to claim 4;
Figure 5 5 Schematic drowing of a preferred welding configuration of the invented method according to one of the claims 2 - 4;
Figure 6 Schematic drowing of a preferred welding configuration of the invented method according to claim 2;
10 Figure 7 Schematic drowing of a preferred cutting configuration of the invented method according to claim 5;
Figure 8 Schematic drowing of a preferred configuration of the invented 15 signal processing unit according to claim 6.
A rough examination of possible welding faults results in a classification into two groups:
1. Welding faults being caused during the laser processing operation by exceeded evaporation rates of the material 20 in process or by impurities (in this case holes and pores can arise).
Known devices, which are realized after the a.m. method, are using a light sensitive detector consisting of a silicon photodiode, which has an enhanced W-light sensitivity, and an optical filter, which is transparent only for the a.m. W -light wavelengths. The filter is located between the welding pool (4) 20 and the detector. The received W-signal is turned into an electric signal by the detector, and is feeded in a processing unit. With such a device, it is possible during a laser material processing, to detect changes of the a.m. parameters and notify them as possible material processing faults.
This known device has the disadvantage, that it is not possible to detect and indicate a processing fault during a laser welding process, when two or more parameters with contrary effects X ~
on the welding plasma have changed at the same time. Furthermore, if a high detection sensitivity is adjusted, such a device indicates too many faults, being in fact the result of a laser welding process parameter disturbances but are not certainly the 5 result of welding failures.
As background of this invention also the use of a photodiode for monitoring a laser drilling process was considered.
This well known monitoring method is shown in:
JP-DS "Pat. abstr. of Japan", 1987, Vol.11/No.166, M-593, Kokai 10 No.: 61-296980.
The object of this invention is the assignment to propose a device of the a.m. manner, due to which a quality control of the weld, being produced by laser energy, is effected during the welding process itself, independent of the fact which 15 change of one or several processing parameters has caused a welding fault.
For solving this problem it is proposed to build an apparatus according to the characteristic part of the main claim.
This has the advantage, that the quantity of the liquid material 20 which is thrown out of the welding pool (4) due to the energy feed and consequently due to the vapour pressure in the "key-hole", is electro-optically detected in a wavelength of 800 nm up to preferably 1300 nm by at least one photodiode and transformed into an electrical signal which is led to a processing unit, to 25 determine the dimension of the hollows having arisen in the workpiece. The welding faults can be detected with the invented apparatus according to claim 2, and can be signalized as processing faults with the aid of a processing unit according to claim 6.
The fundamental advantage of the invented method according to claim 1 or 2 consists in the fact that a not ambigous 5 monitoring of real welding faults is possible.
This is based on the fact that the dimension of the drops which are thrown out of the welding pool is equivalent to the dimension of the pores and hollows being left in the weld.
The apparatus according to claim 2 has the advantage 10 that the method according to claim 1 can practically be used.
With this apparatus according to claim 2 even deep-seated pores arising in the weld during a laser welding process as preferred laser beam operation process can be detected without destruction.
This shows an additional advantage of the invented apparatus 15 according to claim 1 or 2: due to the detection of the workpiece position relative to the laser processing head during the laser operating process, the position of the detected welding faults in the workpiece can reliably be found after the operation for further analysing purposes or for a workpiece post processing.
The a.m. position detection can be realized e.g. for a rotary-symmetrical workpiece with an incremental or absolute rotary angle encoder whose rotary spindle is coupled to the workpiece in the rotary angle during the operation.
Further advantages of the main claim and the invented 25 apparatus according to claim 2 and/or in combination with other claims consist in the fact that besides holes also pores are detected and signalized during the laser welding operation as preferred operation process. So it is possible that even gas-tight welds can be produced with the invented method.
Due to this fact and in combination with the a.m. fault position detection on the workpiece the production of welds with 5 laser beam can be made more profitable, because it can be effected without supervision personnel also during night shifts. The welding process can entirely be documentated.
The assurance of the produced quality leads to a higher degree of automation, to a quicker and faultless material flow, 10 i.e. to a clearly increased productivity of a laser welding unit.
According to today's status of technology the detection of deep-seated pores in a weld is only possible after the welding operation with the aid of e.g. very expensive X-ray cameras or with an ultrasonic microscope.
The invented method according to claim 1 and 6 increases furthermore the efficiency of laser material processing preferably when welding or cutting with laser by means of the fact that the high control quality of the invented method due to the invented devices according to claim 2 or 3 or 4 prevents the waste of 20 material and time necessary for a quality test after production.
The dimension of the thrown out "spatters" equals the integral of the signal being detected by the invented detector for a defined period of time.
According to claim 6 it is possible to determine the 25 stability of a weld and/or the largeness of a workpiece damage due to just a single "spatter eruption".
The synchronization of the signal processing with the supply frequency according to claim 6, has the advantage that signal disturbances being dependant on the supply frequency are suppressed. Due to this fact the signal processing unit will work 5 correctly without adjusting it, when the mains frequency will to be changed between 50 Hz and 60 Hz.
An additional advantage of the invented near-IR-sensitive device according to claim 3, consists in the possibility of its belated integration into an already existing W -signal 10 monitoring unit.
The devices according to claims 2, 3 and 4 are characterized by easy handling as only one detector head has to be mounted and adjusted. The fact that the a.m. devices even work without a focusing lens offers an additional advantage in the 15 handling of the device, as in this case an exact adjustment of the detector head is not necessary - an approximate alignment of the detector head is sufficient.
In addition to the invented a.m. device the W-signal can also be detected. The combination of both a.m. methods 20 according to the claims 4 and 5, offers the possibility of an exact on-line statement concerning the quality of a laser produced weld, because the additional W-information helps to a correct interpretation of the detected near-IR signal.
The W -light will arise as soon as sufficient laser 25 energy has been injected into the workpiece, so this gives the possibility of non-contact and laser system independent detection of the beginning and the end of a welding process.
The a.m. procedure can also be applied for cutting with laser beam with the difference that during the cutting process as well the space above as below the operating spot is monitored according to the invented method.
The devices according to claim 5 are advantageous for monitoring the laser piercing process with the aid of the upper detectors (compare Figure 7), respectively the laser cutting process mainly with the aid of the lower detectors.
The described advantages are applicable with laser 10 processing units which work preferably with C0-2 lasers, but also with pulsed solid-state power lasers.
Further advantages are shown in the following descriptions of preferable application. The diagrams of the figures can versatilely be combined, and the combinations are 15 referring to claim 1 or to a combination of claims.
In the following the invention is described with examples of application:
Figure 1 Schematic drowing of the arrangement for quality assurance 20 according to the invented method in a preferred configuration when welding metals with laser beam;
Figure 2 Schematic drowing of a preferred design of the invented device according to claim 2;
25 Figure 3 Schematic drowing of a preferred design of the invented device according to claim 3;
Figure 4 Schematic drowing of a preferred design of the invented device according to claim 4;
Figure 5 5 Schematic drowing of a preferred welding configuration of the invented method according to one of the claims 2 - 4;
Figure 6 Schematic drowing of a preferred welding configuration of the invented method according to claim 2;
10 Figure 7 Schematic drowing of a preferred cutting configuration of the invented method according to claim 5;
Figure 8 Schematic drowing of a preferred configuration of the invented 15 signal processing unit according to claim 6.
A rough examination of possible welding faults results in a classification into two groups:
1. Welding faults being caused during the laser processing operation by exceeded evaporation rates of the material 20 in process or by impurities (in this case holes and pores can arise).
2. Welding faults just like gaps which arise in a weld produced with laser energy after the process during the cooling of the material.
25 The enclaimed invention enables a reliable on-line detection of welding faults of the a.m. classification 1.
During the energy feed into the workpiece 5 by concentrating the laser beam 1 preferably through a focusing lens 2 on the welding pool 4 a "key-hole" 6 arises into the inner part of the workpiece, from which liquid material in form of "metal 5 spatters" 15 is thrown out sporadically and a plasma cloud 3 arises above the "key-hole".
The welding process spot 4 is projected on a photodetector 8 through a focusing lens 10 and an optical band-pass filter 9 preferably of coloured glass filter type UG 11. The 10 optical components are mounted into a cylindrical housing 7 being equipped with a "lens shade" in welding process direction which protects the detector from ambient light. The aperture 14 is formed as a setting screw, which has been mounted eccentrically into the detector head (compare Figure 1 and 2). The signal of 15 the photodiode 8 is transformed with a preamplifier 11 to a level which enables a signal processing with a processing unit 12. A
welding fault being detected in the processing unit can be used for further control purposes via an interface circuit 13 (preferably for sorting out bad welded parts). The optical axis 20 16 of the detector head is directed to the space right above the operating spot 4. With the aid of the shiftable aperture 14 can be prevented that the welding pool 4 is projected on the IR-sensitive detector 8. Details of the detector head according to claim 1 and/or 2 are shown in Figure 2. Such a device consists of 25 a light-sensitive detector 8, preferably a silicon photodiode and an optical filter 9 being exclusively transparent for the a.m.
near-IR-light wavelengths. The filter 9 is located between the welding pool 4 and the detector 8. The detected light signal is converted into an electric signal by the detector 8 and is processed in a processing unit 11 + 12. The electric connection to the photodiode 8 is made via a connector 21 and a connecting 5 cable 22. The preamplifier 11 is preferably mounted into the detector head housing. Figure 3 shows a preferred design of a W -IR combined design of the device according to claim 3.
The photodiode 8 is a silicon photodiode which has a good near-IR-sensitivity as well as a good near-W -sensitivity.
10 The filter 29 is a coloured glass type UG 3, being transparent for both of the a.m. wavelengths.
The device shown in Figure 4 combines the invented device according to claim 2 with a W-detector. All advantageous features for the invented devices are combined by the local 15 separation of both of the photodetectors 8 (IR) and 18 (W), by using a 45 violet mirror 20 in a common detector protecting housing with "lens shade" 7, as well as by using a shiftable aperture 14. In this case a coloured glass filter in front of the photodetector is not necessary as the mirror 20 and the silicon 20 photodiode 8 have already a band-pass filter behaviour.
Figure 5 shows a preferred welding configuration for the application of the invented devices according to one of the claims 2 to 4. For detector heads according to claim 2 or 4 the angle 23 of the optical axis of the detector 16 to the horizontal can range 25 between 0 and preferably 30 respectively approximately 0 for detector heads according to claim 3 (compare Figure 5). Figure 6 shows a preferred welding configuration for the application of the invented devices according to claim 2. The near-IR detector head with the photodiode 8 corresponds as preferred design to the claims 1 or 2 or 4. The UV-detector head is constructed similar to the near-IR detector head, however, it contains different 5 optical components (photodiode 18, coloured glass or interference filter 19). Figure 7 shows a preferred cutting configuration according to claim 5. The detector heads are corresponding to the claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 and are used preferably in the same design above and below the laser processing spot (compare Figure 7). In 10 this configuration the upper detector is used for monitoring the piercing process, and the lower detector for monitoring the cutting process.
The processing of the near-IR signals is effected in a preferred design as shown schematically in Figure 8. The detector 15 head 7 according to claim 2 supplies the signal to a preamplifier 11. The amplified signal passes a high-pass filter 24 for suppressing the level of the ambient light. A first comparator 28 compares the output signal of the high-pass filter 24 with a threshold 30, which is set for monitoring single strong 20 "eruptions" 15 out of the "key-hole".
The duration of "single eruptions" gives the largeness of the single bigger holes in the weld. The duration of such an "eruption" is measured with 27 (stopwatch) and the gained information is collected in 26 for the purpose of fault decision.
25 The stability of the produced weld is checked by integrating the signal from 24 in an integrator 32. The integrator is synchronously functioning with the mains frequency via 33 and transformer 34. The output signal of the integrator 32 is further processed in a second comparator 28. An exceeding of the threshold 31 means a loss of stability in the weld. The duration of the failure is measured with 35 (similar to 27) and further 5 processed with 26. Then the fault signal reaches the circuit output 25 via the interface circuit 13.
L E G E N D
1. laser beam, 2. laser beam focusing device, 3. plasma plume, 4. welding pool or laser material processing spot, 5. workpiece, 6. "key-hole", 7. detector head, 8. IR-sensitive photodiode, 9. optical pass filter for 800-1300 nm, 10. lens inside of the detectorhead, 11. preamplifier IR-signal, 12. IR-signal processing unit, 13. control interface, 14. shiftable aperture, 15. metal spatter, 16. optical axis of a detectorhead, 17. not used, 18. UV-sensitive photodiode, 19. colour or interference pass filter for W light, 20. 45-violet mirror, 21. detectorhead plug, 22. detectorhead connecting cable, 23. angle of the detectorhead opt. axis to the horizontal, 24. longpass filter for IR-light, 25. output of the signal processing unit, 26. failure decision circuit, 27. stop-watch circuit, 28. comparator, 29. colour filter e.g. UG3, 30. threshold for the comparator (28), 31. threshold for the comparator (36), 32. integrator, 33. mains synchronizing circuit, 34. mains trafo, 35. stop-watch circuit, 36. comparator.
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25 The enclaimed invention enables a reliable on-line detection of welding faults of the a.m. classification 1.
During the energy feed into the workpiece 5 by concentrating the laser beam 1 preferably through a focusing lens 2 on the welding pool 4 a "key-hole" 6 arises into the inner part of the workpiece, from which liquid material in form of "metal 5 spatters" 15 is thrown out sporadically and a plasma cloud 3 arises above the "key-hole".
The welding process spot 4 is projected on a photodetector 8 through a focusing lens 10 and an optical band-pass filter 9 preferably of coloured glass filter type UG 11. The 10 optical components are mounted into a cylindrical housing 7 being equipped with a "lens shade" in welding process direction which protects the detector from ambient light. The aperture 14 is formed as a setting screw, which has been mounted eccentrically into the detector head (compare Figure 1 and 2). The signal of 15 the photodiode 8 is transformed with a preamplifier 11 to a level which enables a signal processing with a processing unit 12. A
welding fault being detected in the processing unit can be used for further control purposes via an interface circuit 13 (preferably for sorting out bad welded parts). The optical axis 20 16 of the detector head is directed to the space right above the operating spot 4. With the aid of the shiftable aperture 14 can be prevented that the welding pool 4 is projected on the IR-sensitive detector 8. Details of the detector head according to claim 1 and/or 2 are shown in Figure 2. Such a device consists of 25 a light-sensitive detector 8, preferably a silicon photodiode and an optical filter 9 being exclusively transparent for the a.m.
near-IR-light wavelengths. The filter 9 is located between the welding pool 4 and the detector 8. The detected light signal is converted into an electric signal by the detector 8 and is processed in a processing unit 11 + 12. The electric connection to the photodiode 8 is made via a connector 21 and a connecting 5 cable 22. The preamplifier 11 is preferably mounted into the detector head housing. Figure 3 shows a preferred design of a W -IR combined design of the device according to claim 3.
The photodiode 8 is a silicon photodiode which has a good near-IR-sensitivity as well as a good near-W -sensitivity.
10 The filter 29 is a coloured glass type UG 3, being transparent for both of the a.m. wavelengths.
The device shown in Figure 4 combines the invented device according to claim 2 with a W-detector. All advantageous features for the invented devices are combined by the local 15 separation of both of the photodetectors 8 (IR) and 18 (W), by using a 45 violet mirror 20 in a common detector protecting housing with "lens shade" 7, as well as by using a shiftable aperture 14. In this case a coloured glass filter in front of the photodetector is not necessary as the mirror 20 and the silicon 20 photodiode 8 have already a band-pass filter behaviour.
Figure 5 shows a preferred welding configuration for the application of the invented devices according to one of the claims 2 to 4. For detector heads according to claim 2 or 4 the angle 23 of the optical axis of the detector 16 to the horizontal can range 25 between 0 and preferably 30 respectively approximately 0 for detector heads according to claim 3 (compare Figure 5). Figure 6 shows a preferred welding configuration for the application of the invented devices according to claim 2. The near-IR detector head with the photodiode 8 corresponds as preferred design to the claims 1 or 2 or 4. The UV-detector head is constructed similar to the near-IR detector head, however, it contains different 5 optical components (photodiode 18, coloured glass or interference filter 19). Figure 7 shows a preferred cutting configuration according to claim 5. The detector heads are corresponding to the claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 and are used preferably in the same design above and below the laser processing spot (compare Figure 7). In 10 this configuration the upper detector is used for monitoring the piercing process, and the lower detector for monitoring the cutting process.
The processing of the near-IR signals is effected in a preferred design as shown schematically in Figure 8. The detector 15 head 7 according to claim 2 supplies the signal to a preamplifier 11. The amplified signal passes a high-pass filter 24 for suppressing the level of the ambient light. A first comparator 28 compares the output signal of the high-pass filter 24 with a threshold 30, which is set for monitoring single strong 20 "eruptions" 15 out of the "key-hole".
The duration of "single eruptions" gives the largeness of the single bigger holes in the weld. The duration of such an "eruption" is measured with 27 (stopwatch) and the gained information is collected in 26 for the purpose of fault decision.
25 The stability of the produced weld is checked by integrating the signal from 24 in an integrator 32. The integrator is synchronously functioning with the mains frequency via 33 and transformer 34. The output signal of the integrator 32 is further processed in a second comparator 28. An exceeding of the threshold 31 means a loss of stability in the weld. The duration of the failure is measured with 35 (similar to 27) and further 5 processed with 26. Then the fault signal reaches the circuit output 25 via the interface circuit 13.
L E G E N D
1. laser beam, 2. laser beam focusing device, 3. plasma plume, 4. welding pool or laser material processing spot, 5. workpiece, 6. "key-hole", 7. detector head, 8. IR-sensitive photodiode, 9. optical pass filter for 800-1300 nm, 10. lens inside of the detectorhead, 11. preamplifier IR-signal, 12. IR-signal processing unit, 13. control interface, 14. shiftable aperture, 15. metal spatter, 16. optical axis of a detectorhead, 17. not used, 18. UV-sensitive photodiode, 19. colour or interference pass filter for W light, 20. 45-violet mirror, 21. detectorhead plug, 22. detectorhead connecting cable, 23. angle of the detectorhead opt. axis to the horizontal, 24. longpass filter for IR-light, 25. output of the signal processing unit, 26. failure decision circuit, 27. stop-watch circuit, 28. comparator, 29. colour filter e.g. UG3, 30. threshold for the comparator (28), 31. threshold for the comparator (36), 32. integrator, 33. mains synchronizing circuit, 34. mains trafo, 35. stop-watch circuit, 36. comparator.
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Claims (6)
PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. Method for quality assurance when welding or cutting with laser energy, in the course of which the ultraviolet light arising in the plasma cloud during the material processing operation is detected by a detector in a wavelength of approximately 200 nm up to approximately 450 nm to control the laser beam coupling in the workpiece as well as the check for specified limits of other process parameters such as laser output power, beam defocussing, beam quality, feeding of shielding gas and working gas as well as workpiece structure, cleaning status of the workpiece surface, and welding gap width, characterized by the fact, that the quantity of the liquid material being thrown out of the welding pool due to the vapour pressure in the "key-hole"
which arises when feeding the energy, is detected in a wavelength of 800 nm up to preferably 1300 nm by at least one photodiode, turned into an electric signal and fed to a processing unit to determine the dimensions of the hollows having arisen in the workpiece.
which arises when feeding the energy, is detected in a wavelength of 800 nm up to preferably 1300 nm by at least one photodiode, turned into an electric signal and fed to a processing unit to determine the dimensions of the hollows having arisen in the workpiece.
2. Apparatus for quality assurance when laser welding according to claim 1, characterized by the detection of the thrown out material by at least one photodiode (8) being sensitive in a wavelength of 800 nm up to 1300 nm, and being mounted into a detector protecting housing (7), which disposes of a "lens shade"
for protecting the a.m. photodiode against disturbing ambient light as well as of an aperture (14) which can be moved vertically to the optic axis (16) of the detector protecting housing thus preventing a direct visual contact between photodiode and welding pool.
for protecting the a.m. photodiode against disturbing ambient light as well as of an aperture (14) which can be moved vertically to the optic axis (16) of the detector protecting housing thus preventing a direct visual contact between photodiode and welding pool.
3. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by minimum two S1-photodiodes (8, 18) inside the detector housing (7) and an optical UV- and IR- pass filter (29), e.g. colour glass filter UG3, placed between the detector housing (7) and the welding pool (4).
4. Apparatus according to claim 3, characterized by minimum two different photodiodes (8,18) and by a combination of a semi-transparent mirror (20) such as a 45°-ultraviolet mirror and an optical pass filter (19), which are separating the UV- and the near-IR- radiation.
5. Apparatus for quality assurance when laser cutting and for controlling this process or for controlling a laser drilling process according to claim 1 containing a UV-light sensitive detectorhead and its signal processing unit, characterized by the projection of the spaces above and below the workpiece adjacent to the laser processed "key-hole" (6) round the optical laser beam axis (1) on minimum two different near-IR
sensitive photodiodes (8).
sensitive photodiodes (8).
6. Signal processing method according to claim 1, characterized preferably by the integration of the signals of the near-IR sensitive photodiodes in a period of time equal to a multiple of the used mains period (e.g. for 60 Hz, T=n * 16,6 ms) and the comparison of the integrated signals with a preadjusted threshold.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEP3908187.7 | 1989-03-14 | ||
| DE3908187A DE3908187A1 (en) | 1989-03-14 | 1989-03-14 | METHOD FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN LASER BEAM WELDING AND CUTTING |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2028844A1 CA2028844A1 (en) | 1990-09-15 |
| CA2028844C true CA2028844C (en) | 1995-04-25 |
Family
ID=6376261
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002028844A Expired - Fee Related CA2028844C (en) | 1989-03-14 | 1990-03-14 | Method and apparatus for quality assurance for laser welding or cutting applications |
Country Status (7)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US5272312A (en) |
| EP (1) | EP0414869B1 (en) |
| JP (1) | JPH03504214A (en) |
| AT (1) | ATE116181T1 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2028844C (en) |
| DE (2) | DE3908187A1 (en) |
| WO (1) | WO1990010520A1 (en) |
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-
1989
- 1989-03-14 DE DE3908187A patent/DE3908187A1/en not_active Ceased
-
1990
- 1990-03-14 JP JP2504223A patent/JPH03504214A/en active Pending
- 1990-03-14 CA CA002028844A patent/CA2028844C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1990-03-14 US US07/623,379 patent/US5272312A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1990-03-14 WO PCT/EP1990/000412 patent/WO1990010520A1/en active IP Right Grant
- 1990-03-14 AT AT90904266T patent/ATE116181T1/en active
- 1990-03-14 EP EP90904266A patent/EP0414869B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1990-03-14 DE DE59008117T patent/DE59008117D1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| WO1990010520A1 (en) | 1990-09-20 |
| DE3908187A1 (en) | 1990-09-20 |
| CA2028844A1 (en) | 1990-09-15 |
| EP0414869B1 (en) | 1994-12-28 |
| US5272312A (en) | 1993-12-21 |
| JPH03504214A (en) | 1991-09-19 |
| DE59008117D1 (en) | 1995-02-09 |
| ATE116181T1 (en) | 1995-01-15 |
| EP0414869A1 (en) | 1991-03-06 |
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