Welding optical unit with beamforming insert, and welding apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024367259-A1
Application number	US-202418773612-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 16, 2024
Priority date	Jan 18, 2022
Publication date	Nov 7, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A welding optical unit for shaping a processing beam of a processing head of a welding apparatus includes a collimation lens, a focusing lens, and a beamforming insert for forming one or more spots of the processing beam on at least one workpiece to be processed. The beamforming insert has a base face and one or more side faces lying opposite the base face, which converge at a common point or in a common plateau of the beamforming insert.

First claim

1 . A welding optical unit for shaping a processing beam of a processing head of a welding apparatus, the welding optical unit comprising:
a collimation lens, a focusing lens, and a beamforming insert for forming one or more spots of the processing beam on at least one workpiece to be processed, the beamforming insert having a base face and one or more side faces lying opposite the base face, which converge at a common point or in a common plateau of the beamforming insert.

2 . The welding optical unit according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more side faces substantially form a pyramid shape or a cone shape of the beamforming insert.

3 . The welding optical unit according to claim 1 , wherein each side face has a three-sided geometry.

4 . The welding optical unit according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more spots comprise three or more spots.

5 . The welding optical unit according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more spots comprise a substantially annular spot.

6 . The welding optical unit according claim 1 , wherein the beamforming insert is arranged before the collimation lens and the focusing lens in a beam propagation direction of the processing beam.

7 . The welding optical unit according claim 1 , wherein the beamforming insert is coupled with a displacement device that is adapted to displace the beamforming insert along a beam propagation axis of the processing beam and/or relative to the collimation lens.

8 . The welding optical unit according claim 1 , wherein a number of spots is at least equal to a number of side faces.

9 . The welding optical unit according to claim 8 , wherein the number of side faces is at least 4.

10 . The welding optical unit according claim 1 , wherein the beamforming insert is frustopyramidal or frustoconical.

11 . The welding optical unit according to claim 1 , wherein the common point is an apex or an indentation of the beamforming insert.

12 . The welding optical unit according claim 1 , wherein the base face of the beamforming insert is substantially planar.

13 . The welding optical unit according claim 1 , wherein the base face of the beamforming insert is a round base face.

14 . A welding apparatus for joining at least two workpieces, the welding apparatus comprising a processing head for directing a processing beam onto the at least two workpieces and a welding optical unit according to claim 1 .

15 . The welding apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the processing head comprises a laser fibre-optic cable having an inner fibre core and an outer fibre core.

16 . The welding apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the processing head further comprises a cable connector for the laser fibre-optic cable, which can be adjusted in relation to the collimation lens, and/or wherein the beamforming insert is adjustable in relation to the cable connector for the laser fibre-optic cable.

Assignees

• Trumpf Laser Gmbh

Inventors

• Haug Patrick
• Flamm Daniel
• Tillkorn Christoph

Classifications

• B23K26/0734

  into an annular shape · CPC title

• B23K26/0676

  into dependently operating sub-beams, e.g. an array of spots with fixed spatial relationship or for performing simultaneously identical operations · CPC title

• B23K26/0648 Primary

  comprising lenses · CPC title

• B23K26/0665

  by beam condensation on the workpiece, e.g. for focusing · CPC title

• B23K26/21

  by welding · CPC title