Movable Work Rests for Laser Machining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Laser machining systems face issues such as damage to supporting point peaks, non-uniform cuts, contamination, and operational impairment due to weld deposits and slag, which affect the machining quality and handling of workpieces, particularly when cutting plate-like materials.
Innovation Solution
A workpiece rest with movable supporting elements that can be attached to rest elements, featuring a corrugated or sawtooth structure to prevent displacement, and designed to elevate product and residual parts post-machining for easy separation, with protective sections to shield from the cutting beam and contaminants, ensuring secure and precise positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If rest elements are lowered during machining to prevent weld deposits, then damage to supporting point peaks is reduced, but non-uniform cuts occur when workpiece rests on lowered peaks
Solution Approach 1:
The rest elements are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing them to be lowered dynamically during the machining process. This dynamic adjustment prevents weld deposits on the supporting point peaks while maintaining cut uniformity by coordinating the lowering action with the workpiece position and cutting beam movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The height parameter of the rest elements is changed during machining - they are lowered when the cutting beam is in the impingement region and can be raised or maintained at different levels depending on workpiece position. This parameter change prevents damage to supporting point peaks while avoiding non-uniform cuts through controlled adjustment.
2Manufacturing precision
If rest peaks are made longitudinally movable to enable uninfluenced machining, then machining quality improves, but guides become contaminated and blocked by burned-off portions and chips
Solution Approach 1:
The guiding function is extracted from the rest peaks themselves and transferred to a separate guide structure. The rest peaks can now move longitudinally for precise positioning without their movement being constrained or contaminated by guide structures, eliminating the cleaning and maintenance issues while preserving machining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
A separate guide structure acts as an intermediary between the rest peaks and the contamination source. The guides remain stationary and external to the moving rest peaks, allowing the peaks to move freely for precise positioning while the guides provide stable guidance without being contaminated by burned-off portions and chips.
3Productivity
If cutting beam power is increased to improve cutting speed, then productivity increases, but damage to supporting point peaks from welding deposits and reflections worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The rest elements are lowered in advance before the cutting beam reaches the supporting point peaks. This preliminary action prevents the high-power cutting beam from directly impinging on the supporting point peaks, thereby preventing welding deposits and reflections while maintaining high cutting speed and productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
Workpiece rests are disclosed, for holding workpieces in machining systems which machine the workpieces using a cutting beam, e.g., a laser beam. A workpiece rest includes a frame, a plurality of rest elements which are arranged adjacent to one another in the frame so as to support the workpiece, and a supporting element attached to at least one of the rest elements.