Beam branching device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018106970-A1
Application number	US-201715786633-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 18, 2017
Priority date	Oct 19, 2016
Publication date	Apr 19, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A beam branching device capable of suppressing an increase in the cost and the like even when the number of branching directions of an incident beam is large and increasing the coupling efficiency even when the rotation accuracy of a rotary motor is not increased too high and coping with high-speed switching of the optical path is provided. In a beam branching device, a rotation shaft of a rotary motor is rotated to rotate a rotating member together with a plurality of reflection mirrors so that an incident beam is reflected from a reflection mirror surface portion of any one of the plurality of reflection mirrors and the incident beam is branched to a plurality of directions to switch an optical path of a reflection beam. A central axis of the rotating member is at a skewed position in relation to a central line of the incident beam, and the plurality of reflection mirrors are arranged at a position on the rotating member to face both sides in an axial direction of the rotating member with a position closest to the incident beam interposed therebetween.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A beam branching device comprising:
a rotary motor; a rotating member that rotates with a rotation shaft of the rotary motor; and an optical-path-switching optical system including a plurality of reflection mirrors attached to the rotating member so as to be spaced in an axial direction of the rotating member, the reflection mirror having a reflection mirror surface portion that is approximately perpendicular to a central axis of the rotating member, wherein the rotation shaft of the rotary motor is rotated to rotate the rotating member together with the plurality of reflection mirrors so that an incident beam is reflected from the reflection mirror surface portion of any one of the plurality of reflection mirrors and the incident beam is branched to a plurality of directions to switch an optical path of a reflection beam, and the optical-path-switching optical system is arranged so that the central axis of the rotating member is at a skewed position in relation to a central line of the incident beam, and the plurality of reflection mirrors are arranged at a position on the rotating member to face both sides in an axial direction of the rotating member with a position closest to the incident beam interposed therebetween.

2 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical-path-switching optical system is configured so that, when the plurality of reflection mirrors are positioned at predetermined angular positions by rotation of the rotating member, substantially the entire incident beam is reflected from the reflection mirror surface portion of any one of these reflection mirrors.

3 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
when the central line of the incident beam is virtually moved along a direction parallel to a shortest segment that connects the central axis of the rotating member and the central line of the incident beam so as to intersect the central axis of the rotating member, a virtual intersection angle between the central axis of the rotating member and the central line of the incident beam is approximately 45°.

4 . The beam branching device according to claim 3 , wherein
each of the reflection mirror surface portions of the reflection mirrors is formed in an elliptical shape or a polygonal shape including the elliptical shape of which the major axis is approximately identical to the line of intersection of an incidence plane and a reflection plane of the incident beam when the incident beam is reflected from the reflection mirror surface portion and of which the ellipticity is approximately √2.

5 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical-path-switching optical system is configured so that, even when the incident beam is reflected from the reflection mirror surface portion of any one of the plurality of reflection mirrors, the optical paths of the incident beam and the reflection beam are not interfered with the other reflection mirrors.

6 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical-path-switching optical system is configured so that the incident beam travels in a straight line without being reflected from any reflection mirror surface portion of the plurality of reflection mirrors by rotating the rotating member appropriately.

7 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical-path-switching optical system is configured so that in a period in which an arbitrary reflection mirror among the plurality of reflection mirrors is switched to the other arbitrary reflection mirror, the other reflection mirrors do not reflect the incident beam.

8 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of reflection mirrors are configured so that the incident beam is not irradiated to a portion other than the reflection mirror surface portion regardless of a rotation angle of the rotating member.

9 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical-path-switching optical system is configured so that the center of gravity of all constituent members that are rotated by the rotary motor is substantially on the central axis of the rotating member.

10 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
a plurality of optical-path-switching optical systems is provided along an optical path of the incident beam.

11 . The beam branching device according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical-path-switching optical system is configured so that a rotation angle of the rotating member is controlled on the basis of a command from a numerical controller that controls a laser apparatus that emits the incident beam or a numerical controller that controls a machining head that irradiates the reflection beam to a machining workpiece.

Assignees

• Fanuc Corp

Inventors

• Takigawa Hiroshi
• Matsuda Munekazu

Classifications

• G02B6/3514 Primary

  the reflective optical element moving along a line so as to translate into and out of the beam path, i.e. across the beam path · CPC title

• G02B6/354

  Switching arrangements, i.e. number of input/output ports and interconnection types · CPC title

• G02B6/352

  the reflective optical element having a shaped reflective surface, e.g. a reflective element comprising several reflective surfaces or facets that function together · CPC title

• B23K26/0673

  into independently operating sub-beams, e.g. beam multiplexing to provide laser beams for several stations · CPC title

• G02B6/3564

  Mechanical details of the actuation mechanism associated with the moving element or mounting mechanism details · CPC title