Laser Cutting Contour Fidelity Using Camera Path Reconstruction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Laser cutting machines face challenges in achieving both high productivity and accuracy, particularly at corners and small radii, due to inertia, vibrations, and environmental factors, leading to path deviations that current model-based estimations often fail to account for.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method using a reference texture applied along the target path, captured by a camera, to reconstruct the actual path and calculate deviations, allowing for precise contour fidelity determination and compensation before cutting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If cutting speed is increased to improve productivity, then productivity is improved, but path accuracy deteriorates due to inertia and overshooting
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary measurement of the actual cutting path using a camera and reference texture before final evaluation. This allows the contour fidelity to be determined in advance, enabling corrective actions to be taken before production cutting begins, thus resolving the contradiction between speed and accuracy by pre-characterizing the machine's dynamic behavior.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a feedback loop where the actual cutting path is measured and compared against the target path to determine contour fidelity. This feedback mechanism allows for quantitative assessment of path accuracy at different cutting speeds, enabling optimization of the speed-accuracy tradeoff based on measured performance rather than theoretical models.
2Device complexity
If model-based estimation is used to predict contour errors, then complexity of measurement is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to incomplete modeling of environmental factors
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces complex mechanical measurement systems (encoders, sensors) with an optical measurement approach using a camera and image processing. This substitution captures actual cutting path deviations directly through optical recording of reference texture, eliminating the need for complex mechanical models while achieving higher measurement precision that includes all environmental factors automatically.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables accurate determination and correction of contour errors under varying environmental conditions, improving cutting quality by reducing path deviations and enhancing productivity without complex model calculations.
Implementation Method 1
captures the reflection pattern of the workpiece surface
Data Source
AI summary
In one aspect, the present invention relates to a contour checking device for calculating path deviations from a target path of a cutting head of a laser machine tool. The contour checking device comprises a reference texture interface for reading a reference texture along the target path, which is defined in particular for cutting a contour, a controller, which is intended for controlling the laser machine tool in such a way that the cutting head traverses the target path; at least one camera, wherein the controller for controlling the at least one camera is intended for continuously capturing overlapping frames of the reference texture along the traversed path; a processor, which is intended for executing an image processing algorithm for reconstructing the trajectory traversed by the cutting head from the captured overlapping frames of the reference texture; and wherein the processor is intended for calculating deviations between the reconstruction of the path traversed by the cutting head and the target path. The contour checking device also comprises an output interface, which is intended for outputting the calculated deviations.