The invention relates to a method and a laser machining device 10 for machining a workpiece 13. The laser machining device 10 has a laser 11 for generating a laser beam 12, which is deflected by way of a deflecting device 15 in accordance with a pattern defined by a control unit 14 and is directed onto a workpiece surface 17 of a workpiece 13, which surface is to be machined. The point of impingement 18 of the deflected laser beam 12b on the workpiece surface 17 is guided along at least one spiral path within a circular hatched area 16. The spiral path 19 is characterized by spiral path parameters. One spiral path parameter is the line spacing a between neighboring points of intersection P of the spiral path 19 with an axis running through the center point M of the spiral path 19.

The invention relates to a method and a laser machining device 10 for machining a workpiece 13. The laser machining device 10 has a laser 11 for generating a laser beam 12, which is deflected by way of a deflecting device 15 in accordance with a pattern defined by a control unit 14 and is directed onto a workpiece surface 17 of a workpiece 13, which surface is to be machined. The point of impingement 18 of the deflected laser beam 12b on the workpiece surface 17 is guided along at least one spiral path within a circular hatched area 16. The spiral path 19 is characterized by spiral path parameters. One spiral path parameter is the line spacing a between neighboring points of intersection P of the spiral path 19 with an axis running through the center point M of the spiral path 19.

A method and an apparatus for joining two workpieces by means of a processing beam by forming a weld seam along a lap joint, wherein a gap formed at the lap joint between the two workpieces is filled during welding. The processing beam performs a spatial oscillatory movement parallel and/or perpendicular to the joint during welding. The oscillation parameters of said oscillation, the feed rate, the power of the processing beam and the angle of incidence of the processing beam onto the surfaces of the workpieces are adjusted dynamically during the welding process such that the upper sheet is fused in line with demand and the melt flows from the upper sheet down to the lower sheet thus closing the gap. The gap height is measured permanently during welding and the process parameters are adjusted such that a reliable closing of the gap is made possible.

A method and an apparatus for joining two workpieces by means of a processing beam by forming a weld seam along a lap joint, wherein a gap formed at the lap joint between the two workpieces is filled during welding. The processing beam performs a spatial oscillatory movement parallel and/or perpendicular to the joint during welding. The oscillation parameters of said oscillation, the feed rate, the power of the processing beam and the angle of incidence of the processing beam onto the surfaces of the workpieces are adjusted dynamically during the welding process such that the upper sheet is fused in line with demand and the melt flows from the upper sheet down to the lower sheet thus closing the gap. The gap height is measured permanently during welding and the process parameters are adjusted such that a reliable closing of the gap is made possible.

A system for machining materials by means of laser beam includes a deflection device for deflecting the laser beam and a wobble device configured to superimpose a wobble movement of the laser beam with a wobble figure and a wobble frequency onto a feed movement of the laser beam corresponding to a machining path by controlling the deflection device. The wobble device is configured, for carrying out the wobble movement, to control the deflection device according to a compensated wobble movement. Control values for a deflection of the laser beam along the wobble figure are adapted as a function of the wobble frequency and/or a path speed of the wobble movement that varies along the wobble figure is adapted as a function of a position of the laser beam in the wobble figure and as a function of the wobble frequency.

A method for welding a workpiece with a vision guided welding platform. The welding platform comprises a welding tool, and a camera for guiding the movement of the welding tool from a start point to an end point. The method includes the steps of adjusting a focal length of the camera such that a focal plane of the camera is located on a surface of the workpiece and obtaining a surface image of the workpiece. The method further includes the steps of determining a current focal length of the camera, determining a corrected pixel length of a pixel in the surface image and determining the number of pixels between the start point and the end point of each movement of the welding tool. Using the corrected pixel length, a distance between the start and end points is determined and the welding tool is guided to move therebetween.

A laser cutting head with movable mirrors may be used to move a beam, for example, to provide beam alignment and/or to provide different wobble patterns for cutting with different kerf widths. The laser cutting head includes a cutting nozzle for directing the laser beam together with a gas to a workpiece for cutting. The movable mirrors provide a wobbling movement of the beam within a relatively small field of view, for example, within an aperture of the cutting nozzle. The movable mirrors may be galvanometer mirrors that are controllable by a control system including a galvo controller. The control system may also be used to control the fiber laser, for example, in response to the position of the beams relative to the workpiece and/or a sensed condition in the cutting head such as a thermal condition proximate one of the mirrors.

A laser cutting head with movable mirrors may be used to move a beam, for example, to provide beam alignment and/or to provide different wobble patterns for cutting with different kerf widths. The laser cutting head includes a cutting nozzle for directing the laser beam together with a gas to a workpiece for cutting. The movable mirrors provide a wobbling movement of the beam within a relatively small field of view, for example, within an aperture of the cutting nozzle. The movable mirrors may be galvanometer mirrors that are controllable by a control system including a galvo controller. The control system may also be used to control the fiber laser, for example, in response to the position of the beams relative to the workpiece and/or a sensed condition in the cutting head such as a thermal condition proximate one of the mirrors.

A laser machining system includes: a laser irradiation device that irradiates a workpiece with a laser beam; a workpiece moving device that moves the workpiece; a laser irradiation controller that controls the laser irradiation device to control an irradiation position of the laser beam; and a workpiece move controller that controls the workpiece moving device to control at least one of the position and the posture of the workpiece. The workpiece move controller transmits information about at least one of the position and the posture of the workpiece to the laser irradiation controller. The laser irradiation controller compensates for the irradiation position of the laser beam based on the information received from the workpiece move controller.

An apparatus and method for detecting edges or for seam tracking when machining workpieces by means of a laser beam, e.g. joining or cutting. The present invention provides an apparatus for seam tracking of the process in the laser material processing, comprising at least two separate illumination elements, each emitting differently polarized light and a polarization camera.