Coating removal device and coating removal method

Abstract

Provided is a coating removal device for removing an insulating coating on a surface of a conductor, the coating removal device comprising: a Galvano scanner for scanning and irradiating an object region of the conductor with a continuous wave laser beam; a gas injection mechanism for blowing an oxygen-containing gas and a blow gas to the object region of the conductor; and a control device for controlling the Galvano scanner and the gas injection mechanism so as to execute a step for oxidizing the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating the object region with the continuous wave laser beam while blowing the oxygen-containing gas to the object region, and a step for removing an oxide of the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating the object region with the continuous wave laser beam while blowing the blow gas to the object region.

Description

Coating Removal Device and Coating Removal Method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a coating removal device and a coating removal method.

[0002] For example, conductors having an insulating coating made of resin, such as enameled wires, are widely used. In order to connect conductors having an insulating coating, it is necessary to remove the insulating coating at the connection part. As methods for removing the insulating coating, there are methods of heating with a flame or immersing in a chemical solution, but it is necessary to perform an operation to remove the residue of the insulating coating, and automation is difficult. As an automated method for removing an insulating coating, a technique has been proposed in which an insulating coating is removed by irradiating a laser beam on the insulating coating while blowing a gas containing oxygen (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2024-57228

[0004] In order to completely remove the insulating coating by the method using a laser beam and a gas containing oxygen as described in Patent Document 1, a relatively high-output laser beam is required, so a relatively expensive pulsed laser must be used. For cost reduction, it is desirable that the insulating coating can be removed by a relatively inexpensive continuous-wave laser.

[0005] A coating removal device according to an aspect of the present disclosure is a coating removal device for removing an insulating coating on the surface of a conductor, including a galvanometer scanner that scans and irradiates a continuous-wave laser beam on a target region of the conductor, a gas injection mechanism that blows an oxygen-containing gas and a blowing gas onto the target region of the conductor, a control device that controls the galvanometer scanner and the gas injection mechanism to perform a step of oxidizing the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating the continuous-wave laser beam while blowing the oxygen-containing gas onto the target region, and a step of removing the oxide of the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating the continuous-wave laser beam while blowing the blowing gas onto the target region.

[0006] This is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a coating removal apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. This is a flowchart showing the procedure of a coating removal method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. This is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the oxidation step of the coating removal method of Figure 2. This is a schematic plan view illustrating the oxidation step of the coating removal method of Figure 2. This is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the oxide removal step of the coating removal method of Figure 2. This is a schematic plan view illustrating the oxide removal step of the coating removal method of Figure 2.

[0007] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a coating removal device 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0008] The coating removal device 1 is a device for removing an insulating coating C from the surface of a conductor W, and is a device capable of automatically executing a coating removal method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The conductor W may be formed from a metal such as copper, aluminum, iron, or an alloy, and a typical example is a flat copper wire. The insulating coating C may be formed from a composition mainly composed of a resin such as vinyl chloride, polyamide, polyimide, or polyamideimide. The coating removal device 1 comprises a laser oscillator 10, a galvanometer scanner 20, a gas injection mechanism 30, a robot 40, and a control device 50.

[0009] The laser oscillator 10 outputs continuous wave laser light. The laser oscillator 10 may be a blue laser oscillator such as a helium-cadmium gas laser oscillator, an argon ion laser, a gallium nitride semiconductor laser oscillator, or an indium gallium nitride semiconductor laser oscillator, or a CO2-based laser oscillator. ２ Laser oscillators, YAG lasers, fiber laser oscillators, etc., can be used.

[0010] The galvanometer scanner 20 scans and irradiates the target area of ​​the conductive material W from continuous wave laser light output by the laser oscillator 10 to remove the insulating coating C. The galvanometer scanner 20 is configured to adjust the irradiation position of the continuous wave laser light using a plurality of galvanometer mirrors that reflect the continuous wave laser light. The galvanometer scanner 20 may be a two-dimensional scanner that adjusts the irradiation position of the continuous wave laser light in two dimensions, or it may be a three-dimensional scanner that further has a lens to adjust the depth of focus of the continuous wave laser light.

[0011] The gas injection mechanism 30 blows oxygen-containing gas and blow gas onto a target area of ​​the conductor W. The gas injection mechanism 30 may be configured to include a gas nozzle 31, an oxygen-containing gas supply source 32, a blow gas supply source 33, and a supply channel 34 that selects either the oxygen-containing gas or the blow gas and supplies it to the gas nozzle 31. Examples of oxygen-containing gases include oxygen gas and air, with oxygen gas being particularly preferred as it can promote the oxidation of the insulating coating C. Examples of blow gases include nitrogen gas, argon gas, carbon dioxide gas, and air, with an inert gas that does not contain oxygen being particularly preferred as it is inexpensive, in order to efficiently remove oxide S from the insulating coating C while suppressing the oxidation of the electric wire. The gas injection mechanism 30 may have dedicated gas nozzles 31 for the oxygen-containing gas and the blow gas, respectively. Gas cylinders may be used as the oxygen-containing gas supply source 32 and the blow gas supply source 33, but a compressed gas production device having, for example, a concentrator or compressor may also be used. Furthermore, under certain conditions, air may be used as both the oxygen-containing gas and the blow-down gas. In this case, the oxygen-containing gas supply source 32 and the blow-down gas supply source 33 may be a single, shared supply source.

[0012] The robot 40 positions the galvanoscanner 20 and gas nozzle 31 relative to the conductor W. The robot 40 can be a vertical articulated robot as shown in the figure, but is not limited to this, and may be a Cartesian coordinate robot, a SCARA robot, a parallel link robot, etc. The robot 40 may be configured to photograph the conductor W with a camera (not shown) and position the galvanoscanner 20 and gas nozzle 31 while confirming their relative positions. Alternatively, the coating removal device 1 may not include the robot 40 and may be configured to position the conductor W at a predetermined position relative to the fixed galvanoscanner 20 and gas nozzle 31.

[0013] The control device 50 controls each component of the coating removal device 1 to execute one embodiment of the coating removal method according to the present disclosure shown in Figure 2. Specifically, the control device 50 controls the laser oscillator 10, the galvanoscanner 20, and the gas injection mechanism 30 to include the following steps: positioning the galvanoscanner 20 and the gas nozzle 31 relative to the conductor W (step S1: positioning step); oxidizing the insulating coating C of the conductor W by scanning and irradiating a first continuous-wave laser beam while blowing an oxygen-containing gas onto the target area of ​​the conductor W, as shown in Figures 3 and 4 (step S2: oxidation step); and removing the oxide S of the insulating coating C by scanning and irradiating a second continuous-wave laser beam while blowing a blow gas onto the target area, as shown in Figures 5 and 6 (step S3: removal step).

[0014] The first continuous-wave laser beam and the second continuous-wave laser beam are both output from the laser oscillator 10, and may have the same output or different outputs. The output of the first continuous-wave laser beam is appropriately selected considering other conditions so that the insulating coating C can be properly oxidized. The output of the second continuous-wave laser beam is appropriately selected considering other conditions so that the adhesion force of the oxide S on the insulating coating C is sufficiently reduced so that it can be blown off with blow gas.

[0015] It is preferable that the main scanning direction of the first continuous-wave laser beam in the oxidation process and the main scanning direction of the second continuous-wave laser beam in the removal process are different, and it is particularly preferable that they are substantially perpendicular. Substantially perpendicular means, for example, 85° to 95°, preferably 87° to 93°. It is difficult to make the oxidation of the insulating coating C by the first continuous-wave laser beam completely uniform, and regions with high and low oxidation degrees are formed in a striped pattern along the scanning line of the first continuous-wave laser beam. Similarly, the peeling-promoting effect of the oxide S of the insulating coating C by the second continuous-wave laser beam cannot be made uniform, so if the main scanning direction of the first continuous-wave laser beam and the main scanning direction of the second continuous-wave laser beam are in the same direction, there is a risk that the oxide S of the insulating coating C will be left behind in a striped pattern. In contrast, if the main scanning direction of the first continuous-wave laser beam and the main scanning direction of the second continuous-wave laser beam are different, the regions with low peeling effect of the oxide S of the insulating coating C will be discontinuous, and thus the remaining oxide S of the insulating coating C can be suppressed.

[0016] The scanning of the first continuous-wave laser beam and the scanning of the second continuous-wave laser beam may be a weaving scan in which movement in the main scanning direction and movement in the sub-scanning direction are performed simultaneously, but it is preferable to use a raster scan in which movement in the main scanning direction and movement in the sub-scanning direction are performed separately in order to irradiate the laser beam more uniformly.

[0017] As described above, the coating removal method using the coating removal device 1 removes the insulating coating C from the surface of the conductor W in a two-step process: an oxidation step and a step to remove the oxide S of the insulating coating C. Therefore, a laser oscillator 10 that outputs a continuous wave laser, which cannot achieve high power output at relatively low levels, can be used, and the insulating coating C from the surface of the conductor W can be automatically removed with a relatively inexpensive device configuration.

[0018] With respect to the above embodiments and modifications, the following additional notes are disclosed. (Note 1) The coating removal device (1) is a coating removal device for removing an insulating coating (C) from the surface of a conductor (W), and comprises a Gabarvanoscanner (20) that scans and irradiates a target area of ​​the conductor (W) with continuous wave laser light, a gas injection mechanism (30) that blows oxygen-containing gas and blow gas onto the target area of ​​the conductor (W), and a control device (50) that controls a laser oscillator (10), a Gabarvanoscanner (20), and a gas injection mechanism (30) to perform the steps of: oxidizing the insulating coating (C) by scanning and irradiating the target area with continuous wave laser light while blowing oxygen-containing gas onto the target area, and removing oxides from the insulating coating (C) by scanning and irradiating the target area with continuous wave laser light while blowing gas onto the target area.

[0019] (Note 2) In the coating removal apparatus of Note 1, the main scanning direction of the continuous wave laser beam in the step of oxidizing the insulating coating (C) and the main scanning direction of the continuous wave laser beam in the step of removing the oxide from the insulating coating (C) may be different.

[0020] (Note 3) In the coating removal apparatus described in Notes 1 and 2, the scanning of the continuous wave laser beam may be raster scanning.

[0021] (Note 4) In the coating removal devices of Notes 1 to 3, the blow gas may be nitrogen gas.

[0022] The coating removal method is a coating removal method for removing an insulating coating (C) from the surface of a conductor (W) using a laser oscillator that outputs continuous wave laser light, comprising the steps of: oxidizing the insulating coating (C) by scanning and irradiating a target area of ​​the conductor (W) with continuous wave laser light while blowing an oxygen-containing gas onto the target area; and removing the oxide from the insulating coating (C) by scanning and irradiating a target area with continuous wave laser light while blowing a blow gas onto the target area.

[0023] Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it is not limited to the individual embodiments described above. These embodiments can be added, replaced, modified, partially deleted, etc., in any way that does not depart from the gist of the present disclosure or from the spirit of the present disclosure derived from the claims and their equivalents. Furthermore, these embodiments can be implemented in combination. For example, the sequence of operations and processes in the embodiments described above are shown as examples only and are not limited thereto. The same applies when numerical values ​​or mathematical formulas are used in the description of the embodiments described above. For example, the coating removal apparatus according to the present disclosure may scan and irradiate a target area with continuous wave laser light supplied from an external laser oscillator using a galvanometer scanner.

[0024] 1 Coating removal device 10 Laser oscillator 20 Galvanometer scanner 30 Gas injection mechanism 40 Robot 50 Control device C Insulating coating W Conductor

Claims

1. A coating removal apparatus for removing an insulating coating from the surface of a conductor, comprising: a Gabarvano scanner that scans and irradiates a target area of ​​the conductor with continuous wave laser light; a gas injection mechanism that blows oxygen-containing gas and blow gas onto the target area of ​​the conductor; and a control device that controls the Gabarvano scanner and the gas injection mechanism to perform the following steps: oxidizing the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating the target area with continuous wave laser light while blowing oxygen-containing gas onto the target area; and removing oxides from the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating the target area with continuous wave laser light while blowing blow gas onto the target area.

2. The coating removal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main scanning direction of the continuous wave laser beam in the step of oxidizing the insulating coating is different from the main scanning direction of the continuous wave laser beam in the step of removing oxide from the insulating coating.

3. The coating removal apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the scanning of the continuous wave laser light is raster scanning.

4. The coating removal apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the blow gas is nitrogen gas.

5. A method for removing an insulating coating from the surface of a conductor using a laser oscillator that outputs continuous wave laser light, comprising: a step of oxidizing the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating a target area of ​​the conductor with continuous wave laser light while blowing an oxygen-containing gas onto the target area; and a step of removing oxides from the insulating coating by scanning and irradiating a target area with continuous wave laser light while blowing a blow gas onto the target area.

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