METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MONITORING A JOINING SEAM DURING JOINING BY MEANS OF A LASER BEAM

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for monitoring a joining seam, in particular during joining by means of a laser beam, wherein in the processing direction before a processing point a joining site is measured in order to detect the position and geometry thereof, at least one position of a joining seam is determined from the position of the joining point, and in the processing direction after the processing point the joining seam is measured in order to detect the geometry thereof at the determined position. The invention further relates to a device for carrying out said method and to a laser processing head equipped with such a device.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a joining seam, in particular during joining by means of laser radiation, wherein: a joint is measured in the processing direction in front of a processing point in order to detect its position and geometry, at least from the position of the joint before the processing point, a position of a joining seam is determined behind the processing point, and in the processing direction behind the processing point, the joining seam is measured at the determined position to detect its geometry.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the position of the processing point is detected and that the position of the joining seam from the position of the joint and the position of the processing point is determined.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a width of the joining seam is determined from a width of a keyhole or molten bath generated by laser radiation in the laser focus.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the determination of the width of the joining seam from the width of the keyhole or molten bath generated by laser radiation in the laser focus takes into account material, speed and/or power dependent parameters.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the determination of the width of the joining seam from the width of the keyhole or molten bath generated by laser radiation in the laser focus takes into account the amplitude of the laser beam oscillation with working laser beam rapidly oscillating transversely to the joint line.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein the joining seam known according to position and seam width is measured in order to determine the geometry of the joining seam for quality control.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein for measuring the joint line and the joining seam, in each case a light-section line is projected transversely across the joint line or joining seam and that the images of the light-section lines are evaluated by means of image processing to detect the position and geometry of the joint line before the processing location and the position, width and geometry of the joining seam behind the processing location.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the seam height, seam width, seam area, bead lengths, concavity, convexity of weld bead and/or dropouts, non-welded holes and/or edge notches are measured for detecting the geometry of the joining seam.

9. A device for monitoring a joining seam, in particular during joining by means of laser radiation, comprising: a first light-section device for generating a light-section line, which lies in the processing direction in front of a processing point transversely across a joint line, a second light-section device for generating a light-section line, which lies in the processing direction behind the processing point transversely across a joining seam, a camera that records images of the two light-section lines and the processing point, and an image processing device, configured to monitor the joining seam.

10. A laser processing head with a focusing optics for focusing a working laser beam onto a workpiece to be joined, and with a device for monitoring a joining seam comprising: a first light-section device for generating a light-section line, which lies in the processing direction in front of a processing point transversely across a joint line, a second light-section device for generating a light-section line, which lies in the processing direction behind the processing point transversely across a joining seam, a camera that records images of the two light-section lines and the processing point, and an image processing device, configured to monitor the joining seam.

11. The laser processing head according to claim 10, wherein the camera observes the workpiece surface through the focusing optics in the working laser beam path.

Description

[0035] The invention is explained in more detail below, for example, with reference to the drawing. It shows:

[0036] FIG. 1 a simplified schematic representation of a laser processing head with a device according to the invention for monitoring a joining seam,

[0037] FIG. 2A a screenshot of a recording of a light-section line (light-section) projected onto a joining seam (weld bead),

[0038] FIG. 2B a schematic representation of the light-section line according to FIG. 2A,

[0039] FIG. 3A a light-section of a joining seam (weld bead) with a flat, difficult to detect transition between the workpiece surface and seam,

[0040] FIG. 3B a schematic representation of the light-section line according to FIG. 3A,

[0041] FIG. 4A a screenshot of a recording of the light-section lines in the leader and trailer and of a keyhole or molten bath in the laser processing area,

[0042] FIG. 4B a schematic representation of the light-sections and of the keyhole or molten bath according to FIG. 4a,

[0043] FIG. 5a a schematic representation of the light-sections in the leader and trailer and of the keyhole or molten bath on the workpiece during welding of a fillet weld, to illustrate the detection of the geometric data in the leader and trailer and the position of the keyhole or molten bath,

[0044] FIG. 5b a schematic representation of the light-sections and the keyhole according to FIG. 5a, for illustrating the detection of the seam geometry,

[0045] FIG. 6a a schematic representation of the light-sections in the leader and trailer and of the keyhole or molten bath on the workpiece during welding of a butt joint, to illustrate the detection of the geometric data in the leader and trailer and the position of the keyhole or molten bath,

[0046] FIG. 6b a schematic representation of the light-sections and the keyhole according to FIG. 6a, for illustrating the detection of the seam geometry,

[0047] FIG. 6c a schematic representation of the light-sections and the keyholes according to FIG. 6a, for illustrating the detection of the position of the keyhole or molten bath with an oscillating working laser beam.

[0048] In the various figures of the drawing, components and elements corresponding to each other are provided with the same reference numerals.

[0049] As shown in FIG. 1, a laser processing head 10 has a housing 11 through which a processing laser beam 12 is led, which is focused by a focusing lens 14 on a workpiece 15. The focal point or focus 16 in this case lies on the workpiece surface or at a certain distance close above or below, depending on the requirements of the desired weld and melts the workpiece material for welding two sheets or the like. In this case, a vapor capillary is commonly configured in the region of the laser focus 16, that is, the so-called tool center point (TCP), which is also referred to as a keyhole and which lies in the center of the processing area. A camera 18 is provided for observing the keyholes or molten bath, which camera receives process radiation, back reflections and other light reflected at the workpiece surface via the focusing lens 14, a partially transmissive mirror 19 arranged in the working beam path and a camera objective 20 for observing the workpiece surface. The partially transmissive mirror 19 is substantially transparent to the working laser radiation, while it is reflective to other wavelength ranges.

[0050] In order to be able to detect the surface geometry of the workpiece, the position of the joint line in the leader, i.e., in the processing direction before the TCP, and the position and geometry of the joining seam or weld bead in the trailer, i.e., in the processing direction behind the TCP, a first and a second light-section device 21, 22 is provided, the respective laser light source 23, 24 of which projects a laser light line, which is referred to below as a light-section line 25, 26 or simply as a light-section. In order to generate the light-section lines 25, 26 in the leader or trailer, the laser light sources 23, 24 emit a laser beam 27, 28, which is configured fan-shaped either in a manner not shown, or which scans the surface of the workpiece transversely to the joint line or joining seam at high speed.

[0051] The images recorded by the camera 18 are delivered to an image processing device 30 which, from the light-section line 25 in the leader, measures the location or position of the joint line, an edge offset and a crack between the workpieces to be welded, for example, between two sheets. The shape and position of the joining seam or weld bead are detected from the light-section line 26 in the trailer. In particular, the seam height, the seam width, the seam area, the length of the weld bead surface in the transverse direction of the seam, the concavity or convexity of the seam are detected to thereby also identify dropouts and holes in the seam and edge notches.

[0052] To determine the location or position of the keyhole or TCPs, the working laser radiation and/or process light reflected back from the region of interaction between working laser beam 12 and workpiece 15 is recorded by the camera 18.

[0053] An image as seen by the camera is shown in FIG. 4A. The position of the joint line in the leader is used to track the laser focus 16 on the joint line when the laser focus 16 reaches the point of the joint line whose position is to be used for tracking. Here, the distance of the light-section line 25 in front of the laser focus 16 to the laser focus 16 and the feed rate at which the laser processing head 10 is guided along the joint line is to be taken into account. The feed rate is preferably read from a machine control, not shown, which controls the movement of the laser processing head 10.

[0054] It is also possible to deduce the distance between the laser processing head 10 and workpiece 15 from the distances between the light-section lines 25, 26 and the laser focus 16, since the distances between the light-section lines 25, 26 and the laser focus 16 increase when the laser processing head 10 approaches the workpiece 15, while the distances decrease when the laser processing head 10 moves away from the workpiece 15. The workpiece surface shape and possibly also a tilting of the laser processing head 10 with respect to a perpendicular to the workpiece surface can be detected from the angles of the light-section lines to one another and from their general shape.

[0055] FIGS. 2A and 2B show an example of a light-section line 26 that is projected on a convex weld bead.

[0056] The arc-shaped region of the light-section line 26 represents the surface of the weld bead, the edges of which are marked by the vertical lines 1 and r. The distance A between the points of intersection of the lines 1 and r with the light line 26, i.e., the Euclidean distance between the left and right edge point, represents the width of the seam, while the seam height H of the weld bead is given by the distance between the connecting line A and the arc-shaped region of the light-section line 26. The length of the weld bead is given by the length of the light line 26 between the marking lines 1, r.

[0057] FIGS. 3A and 3B show an example of a light-section line 26 in the trailer, in which the surface of the left workpiece passes over flat into the seam area, so that the left edge of the weld bead is difficult to detect. In FIGS. 3A (b), (c), and 3B (b), (c), the edges of the weld bead are marked by the lines 1, r, or the width of the seam is illustrated by the distance A.

[0058] FIG. 4A (a) and (b) shows a screenshot of the camera image, thus the image that the camera 18 records of the workpiece surface. The upper light-section line 25 represents the light-section in the leader, wherein the edge offset and the crack between the workpieces can be seen as a gap 30. The position of the joint line in the leader is determined from this gap 30. In the middle of the image, the region of interaction between the working laser beam 12 and the workpiece 15, in particular the keyhole or the molten bath generated by the working laser beam, can be seen as a spot 31. The position of the TCP can be determined from the location of the spot 31, which corresponds to the center of the spot 31, that is, the center of the keyhole or the molten bath.

[0059] The lower light-section line 26 represents the light-section in the trailer, from which the individual parameters of the weld bead are determined, which are required to determine the quality of the weld.

[0060] In FIGS. 4A (a) and B (a), the spot 31, which represents an image of the keyhole or the molten bath, is deflected leftward, while in FIG. 4A, B (b), the keyhole or the molten bath is deflected to the right.

[0061] The keyhole also oscillates quickly transversely the joint in a laser processing head, in particular welding head with fast oscillating laser beam. In addition to the width of the spot, the amplitude of the oscillation enters into the seam width, as is explained in more detail below with reference to FIG. 6c.

[0062] Thus, FIG. 4 shows images of three regions of the workpiece surface recorded at the same time.

[0063] In order to use the location of the joint line in the leader that is represented by the gap 30 in the light-section line 25 for tracking the laser focus 16, one should take into account the time required by the TCP to get from its position shown in the middle of FIG. 4, which corresponds to the location of the spot 31, to the respectively measured position of the joint line in the leader. If the position of the joint line in the leader and/or the position of the tool center point or laser focus 16, which is determined from the spot 31, is used for the determination of the seam center position, i.e., the location of the seam center transverse to the longitudinal direction of the joint line and/or the seam width, as is explained in greater detail below, it is also necessary to take into account the time required for the light-section line 26 to reach the position in which the position of the keyhole from the spot 31 was determined. The time delay results from the distance between the tool center point and the light-section and the respective feed rate, which can be constant or variable.

[0064] As shown in FIG. 5A, the joining position, i.e., the location or position of the joint line, the crack between the workpieces and the edge offset from the position and geometry of the gap 30 are determined from the geometry of the light-section line 25 in the leader. In addition, 3D points of the workpiece surface are detected, which are indicated in the drawing as crosses. The location and size of the keyhole or molten bath is determined from the spot 31. Finally, the geometry of the workpiece surface and in particular the geometry of the weld bead in the trailer is in turn determined from the light-section line 26. Furthermore, 3D points of the sheet metal or workpiece geometry in the space are detected, which are also indicated as crosses.

[0065] As shown in FIG. 5B, the location of the weld bead transverse to the joint line, as indicated by the arrow 34, results from the joining position, which is determined from the location of the gap 30, and the offset between the joining position and the position of the subsequently recorded spot 31. The width of the weld bead, which is indicated by the arrow 35, resulting from the width of the spot 31, which is indicated by the double arrow 33, and another factor, which depends on the feed rate, the material of the workpieces, the power of the working laser beam and the geometry of the workpiece surface in the leader.

[0066] From the lateral location of the weld bead and from its width, which was determined from the position of the joint measured in the leader and/or the location and size of the spot, then the region results in the recorded light-section line 26, which should be examined for the quality control of the weld in order to detect the seam geometry and dropouts, holes and edge notches.

[0067] While FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate the situation with fillet welds, FIGS. 6A and 6B show the corresponding elements in the welding of a butt splice, i.e., in the welding of a seam in which the two workpieces or sheets with their edges stand directly opposite each other without offset.

[0068] The seam width and the seam position are determined in a butt splice welding in the same manner as was described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B for the welding of a fillet weld.

[0069] If a working laser beam which oscillates quickly transverse to the joint line is used for welding, the keyhole also oscillates quickly transverse to the joint. As indicated in FIG. 6c for the situation with butt joint welding with oscillating working laser beam, the position of the spot 31, i.e., the position of the keyhole or molten bath, varies according to the amplitude of the laser beam deflection. The corresponding deflection of the spot 31 is illustrated in FIG. 6c by the double arrow 40. In the seam width, in addition, the amplitude of the oscillation enters into the width of the spot 31.

[0070] The determination of the position (seam center position) and the width of the joining seam from the position of the joint line in the leader, the offset between the position of the joint line in the leader and the keyhole, i.e., the spot 31, and from the position of the keyhole and the keyhole or spot width is particularly important, since in the ideal case, the light-section line 26 in the trailer has no interruption or deviation, since the joining seam then has a surface that is ideally aligned with two workpieces to be welded. By checking the region of the light line 26 in the trailer, which was determined by the measurements in the leader and processing region, a reliable quality monitoring can be achieved even with a butt splice welding.

[0071] In addition to the position of the weld bead from leader, offset and keyhole position, the offset of the weld bead to the joining position, i.e., the TCP, it is also possible to determine the tilt angle over the location of the workpiece in space from the 3D data from the leader and trailer and the position of the laser processing head.

[0072] According to the invention, the exact determination of weld bead end point is made possible in the image search region of the light-section line in the trailer, which are determined via the leader and spot (TCP). This results in the reliable determination of the absolute geometry data (under curvature, width, concavity, etc.) of the seam. Furthermore, it is also possible to use the brightness of the light-section line above the weld bead to examine surface defects. Finally, the laser power can also be measured and used for correlation with the brightness and geometry data in order to obtain a robust quality statement by correlation of all the data described above.

[0073] The correlation of joining position, sheet metal or workpiece geometry, geometry and surface data of weld bead and laser power data thus results in a total and reliable quality monitoring of the joining process.