The development of fiber laser technology and the reduction of costs have greatly promoted the application of fiber laser in metal sheet cutting. For example, as the requirements for lightweight automobiles continue to increase, the demand for laser cutting of three-dimensional sheet metal covering parts and structural parts has gradually increased. The thickest plates among structural parts such as passenger car body panels and beams are usually within 3mm, and the product structure is complex and changes rapidly. Ordinary robot-type 3D laser cutting machines cannot fully meet the requirements of related processes in terms of accuracy, stability, efficiency, etc. and quality requirements, at this time the advantages of the three-dimensional five-axis CNC laser cutting machine are highlighted. This article will combine the latest three-dimensional five-axis CNC laser cutting machine developed by our company to introduce high-performance laser processing equipment that can cut three-dimensional complex structure sheet metal parts of carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium alloy, aluminum alloy and other materials, and analyze the equipment’s performance.
Main component functions.
The scheme design is shown in Figure
The three-dimensional five-axis CNC laser cutting machine uses a technically mature fiber laser as the cutting light source and adopts an elevated gantry beam mobile structure to meet the needs of the cutting machine for high-speed cutting operation. At the same time, it is designed to have dual-station mobile work. platform to improve the efficiency of machine tool use. The overall structure of the three-dimensional five-axis CNC laser cutting machine includes: three-axis gantry body structure, rotating table, laser cutting head, high-power fiber laser and control system, etc. Among them, the worktable adopts a rotatable dual-station solution, using a sprocket chain to drive the worktable to rotate, and the rotation speed responds quickly; at the same time, a positioning cylinder is used to insert and pull out the positioning pin to achieve precise positioning. Can be equipped with fixtures to support workpieces. While the workpiece is being cut under the tooling clamping on one side of the workbench, the workpiece can be loaded and unloaded by the tooling on the other side of the workbench, which can effectively improve machine tool utilization and production efficiency.
Main component functions
Elevated gantry moving beam structure
The moving beam has a long moving stroke, fast speed, large driving acceleration, and high positioning accuracy requirements. Therefore, the system structure is required to have good dynamic response characteristics.. Through structural selection, carry out structural shape and size design; use kinematics, dynamics and other analysis to obtain the effective cutting space range of the cutting machine, as well as the force, speed, acceleration and other indicators of each component; carry out structural optimization design of beams and other components , reduce the driving power required by the servo system and improve the accuracy of the guide rail position.
Three-dimensional laser cutting head
The three-dimensional laser cutting head consists of a laser beam expansion device, a centering adjustment device, a horizontal adjustment device, a lens device, a reflector device, an up and down movement unit, a focusing cutting head, a rotating motor, etc. Both the A-axis and B-axis are driven by three-phase synchronous torque motors; the A-axis swings left and right in the direction of gravity, and the B-axis rotates 360° in the horizontal direction; the drive motor adopts cooling water circuit constant temperature control to improve motor performance; it is designed with a compressed air brake system The actuating device prevents the motor from colliding under the influence of gravity when it loses its enablement.
The W-axis follow-up compensation function
The W-axis follow-up compensation function uses a toothed belt to realize the W-axis linear displacement drive. The position detection of the displacement sensor is used to realize the W-axis closed-loop control and improve the control accuracy. It adopts double-sided guide rail guidance to improve the W-axis guidance accuracy. The distance between the nozzle and the plate is detected and the W-axis follow-up control keeps the cutting distance of the cutting head constant.
Through the capacitive sensor under the cutting head, the analog position signal of the cutting distance from the cutting head to the workpiece surface is collected and sent to the CNC system. The CNC system drives the cutting head to float up and down, automatically tracks and corrects the distance between the workpiece surface and the nozzle, and maintains the cutting head. The distance between the nozzle and the plate is constant to ensure cutting quality and prevent cutting head collision and safety interlocking, ensuring safe and reliable operation of the equipment.
Control system
This equipment is developed based on the FANUC CNC system. The control hardware takes the CNC controller as the core and is connected to the servo power module, various sensors, motor drivers, valve controllers, operation panels, etc., and obtains real-time information through various sensors. Position, pressure, temperature and other signals control and drive various servo drive motors, air compressors, valves, alarms, etc. to achieve three-axis movement of the gantry frame, cutting head rotation and compensation, equipment safety and braking control, specific functions As follows: laser cutting machine’s gantry frame (X1, X2, Y, Z) three-axis linear movement control; laser cutting system cutting head (B-axis rotation, A-axis swing, W-axis compensation) control; water cooling device, dust removal device, lubrication Device, double workbench control, protective door control, alarm control.
Conclusion
This article discusses a three-dimensional five-axis CNC laser cutting machine, and introduces its mechanical structure characteristics and working control principles in more detail. The equipment can be applied to three-dimensional complex components such as car body components, internal high-pressure formed parts, and high-strength steel formed parts. The processing of structural sheet metal covering parts has efficient production capabilities, meets the market’s demand for high-speed and high-efficiency cutting, reduces the production cost of similar products in the market, and improves customers’ market competitive advantages in the production process.