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CN-122003788-A - Method for monitoring the state of a component of a laser beam source

CN122003788ACN 122003788 ACN122003788 ACN 122003788ACN-122003788-A

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for monitoring the state of a component of a laser beam source in a laser processing machine, comprising determining a measured value (M, M i ) of a characteristic of interest of the component of the laser beam source, and comparing the measured value (M, M i ) with a respective error limit value (F, F i ), displaying a fault state of the component when the measured value (M, M i ) is below or above the error limit value, assigning an error state (error) to the component and switching off the laser beam source in the event of a violation of the error limit value (F, F i ), and defining a tolerance value (T, T i ) for each error limit value (F, F i ), assigning a warning state (red) when the measured value (M, M i ) of the component violates the tolerance value, wherein a second minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) is assigned for each error limit value, which is defined narrower than the first tolerance value (T, T i ), and assigning the yellow warning state (M minimum tolerance value) for the component (M, M i ) in the case of a violation of the second tolerance value.

Inventors

  • R. Batmus

Assignees

  • 通快激光欧洲股份公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260508
Application Date
20241008
Priority Date
20231010

Claims (10)

  1. 1. Method for monitoring the state of a component of a laser beam source in a laser processing machine, in which method measured values (M, M i ) of a property of interest of the component of the laser beam source are determined and compared with error limit values (F, F i ) respectively, a fault state of the component being displayed when the measured values (M, M i ) are below or above the error limit values, wherein in case of violation of the error limit values (F, F i ) an error state (error) is assigned to the component and the laser beam source is switched off, wherein for each error limit value (F, F i ) a tolerance value (T, T i ) is defined, and when the measured values (M, M i ) of the component violate the tolerance value, a warning state (red) is assigned, characterized in that for each error limit value a second minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) is assigned, which is defined to be narrower than the tolerance value (T, M i ) and in case of violation of the second tolerance value (M i ) is assigned to the minimum tolerance value (M).
  2. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that when the tolerance value (T, T i ) is violated, an operator (12) of the laser machining machine and a machine manufacturer (17) or a service company (13) of the machine manufacturer (17) are notified of the warning status (red) of the associated component, and when a minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) is violated, it is selected whether only the machine manufacturer (17) or a service company (13) of the machine manufacturer (17) is notified of the early warning status (yellow) of the associated component, or whether the operator (12) of the laser machining machine is also notified of the same, depending on the type of the associated component and error.
  3. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method is performed continuously during operation of the laser machining system.
  4. 4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the warning status (red) and the early warning status (yellow) of a single component or of a plurality of components or of all components of the laser beam source are jointly evaluated and thereby an optical traffic light signal (16) is generated for the condition of the component, the group of components or the entire laser beam source, wherein the red color of the traffic light signal (16) shows that at least one warning status is violated without violating an error limit value (F, F i ), the yellow color of the traffic light signal (16) shows that at least one minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) is violated, and the green color of the traffic light signal (16) shows that neither minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) nor tolerance value (T, T i ) is violated.
  5. 5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that once the measured value (M, M i ) of a component is again below the associated minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ), the error state (error) or the warning state (T, T i ) of the component is reset.
  6. 6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the measured value (M, M i ) caused by the operator (12) of the laser processing system is also displayed against a tolerance value (T, T i ) or a minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ).
  7. 7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the violation tolerance value (T, T i ) or the minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) caused by the operator (12) of the laser machining system is also displayed to the manufacturer (12) or service company (13) of the laser machining system.
  8. 8. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the status signal of the component is encoded as a 32-bit dataset.
  9. 9. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the time at which the measured value (M, M i ) violates the minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) and/or the tolerance value (T, T i ) is also recorded.
  10. 10. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the monitoring of the measured value (M, M i ) against the minimum tolerance value (MT, MT i ) can be switched on and off.

Description

Method for monitoring the state of a component of a laser beam source Technical Field The invention relates to a method for monitoring the state of a component of a laser beam source in a laser processing machine, in which method measured values of a property of interest of the component of the laser beam source are determined and compared with error limit values, respectively, and when the measured values are below or above the error limit values, fault states of the component are displayed, and in the event of a violation of the error limit values, an error state is assigned to the component and the laser beam source is switched off, and a first tolerance value is defined for each error limit value, and an emergency warning state is assigned when the measured values of the component violate the first tolerance value. Background The laser beam source is the core component of the laser processing machine. The most important components are optics and beam distribution, cooling circuits and their handling functions. Thus, these components are monitored by the sensor and their measurements are evaluated during production. If one of the measured values violates a predetermined error limit value, an error message is generated and production of the laser processing machine is interrupted. In case the failure of an individual component is less severe, i.e. when the measured value of the component is higher than the initial tolerance value or lower than the initial tolerance value but has not violated the error limit value, a warning message is issued. The machine operator then chooses to shut down the laser beam source in a controlled manner and repair or replace the problematic component. The error message and warning message may be read directly on the machine or may be transmitted to a remote monitoring station and a service company. However, the known method only gives a message if the correct functioning of the laser processing machine has been impaired. Object of the invention The object of the invention is to propose a method for monitoring a laser beam source of a laser processing machine, with which the failure tendency of a component of the laser beam source can be ascertained during operation of the machine in the background and even before errors occur which impair the correct functioning of the machine. Disclosure of Invention According to the invention, this object is achieved by a method for monitoring the state of a component of a laser beam source in a laser processing machine, in which method a measured value of a property of interest of the component of the laser beam source is determined and compared with error limit values, respectively, and when the measured value is below or above the error limit value, a fault state of the component is displayed, in the event of a measured value violating the error limit value, an error state is assigned to the component and the laser beam source is switched off, and for each error limit value a tolerance value is defined, and in the event of a measured value of the component violating the tolerance value a warning state is assigned, characterized in that for each error limit value a second minimum tolerance value is assigned, which is defined to be narrower than the tolerance value, and in that an early warning state is assigned when the measured value of the component violates the second minimum tolerance value. With this method, in addition to the actual error limit value and the first tolerance value, a further minimum tolerance value is assigned to each measured value, the violation of which has not yet shown a condition that impairs the operation of the machine, but rather represents an early warning of the future problematic development of the component. If the machine is to be shut down for other reasons (e.g., on a weekend), this gives the machine operator the opportunity to repair or replace the component. Such early warning is also of interest to the manufacturer of the laser processing machine and to the service company. The manufacturer or service company may make improvements to the component if minimum tolerance values that violate a particular component frequently occur at the customer. Even before the service technician inspects the laser machining machine, the technician can prepare for the intended job based on the stored violation of the minimum tolerance values of the individual components. Preferably, when the first tolerance value is violated, the early warning state of the associated component is notified to the operator of the laser machining machine and to the machine manufacturer or the service company of the machine manufacturer, and when the minimum tolerance value is violated, it is selected whether only the early warning state of the associated component is notified to the machine manufacturer or the service company of the machine manufacturer, or whether the operator of the laser machining machine is also notified, depending