A Shortcut for Calculating Laser Power Density
This post was originally posted in 2012. It is still very popular, so I wanted to share it here in case you get some value from it. Here’s a laser power density calculator, if that’s what you wanted. Laser engineers and technicians are often required to calculate a laser’s power density to determine whether a beam…
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Laser Monitoring in Your Factory Line – with Profinet
“You can do Profinet, right?”
John had just ordered 10 laser welding stations for his new car manufacturing facility. As a laser system integrator, you talked to him in detail about all the specs. What exactly does he need from the laser? What sort of control equipment does he have? What else does he need?
John added, almost as an afterthought – “The facility is in Germany, so of course we want all the lasers and devices running on Profinet. You can do that, right?”
Uh-oh.
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Non-Contact Beam Profiling of 100 kW and Above: How Can This Work?
I’ve mentioned BeamWatch before.
It’s an innovative technique for profiling high power lasers (1 kW and up).
I’ve even touched on the underlying Rayleigh scattering effect that makes this possible.
But how does this really work?
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Must You Measure Industrial Laser Performance?
With all the advancements in laser technology, lasers have become higher quality and more consistent.
Laser manufacturers test and measure their lasers during development, to make sure you, the laser end user, get the highest quality laser system.
With all this in mind then, do you really have to measure your laser system?
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Laser Measurement Solutions for High Power Industrial Laser Applications
Modern production facilities must constantly increase throughput, at less cost, with less scrap, and with minimum downtime. In this video overview, you will learn how application of new, advanced technology in measurement devices, can help both designers and users of industrial laser systems to optimize and control their processes, so they can accomplish these goals and achieve consistently good results – both in quality and quantity.
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Focus shift monitoring of high power lasers
Measuring the focal spot of a high power laser is challenging, at best.
The main issue is that when a high power laser is focused down to a small point, the power density can be extremely high, typically high enough to damage any sort of measurement equipment you would use.
The solution?
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How to Keep Your Industrial Laser Process Running Smoothly
Lasers are made of matter – of stuff.
And anything made of matter will degrade with time.
So if the laser degradation and eventual failure is inevitable, what can be done?
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Don’t Come to Our LASER World of PHOTONICS Booth Unless…
Going to Munich for LASER World of PHOTONICS 2015?
We’ll be showing several new products in Munich, not to mention quite a few of our classics.
But…
You’re going to be busy. You can’t (and shouldn’t) go to every booth. So I’m going to very clear. Our booth is not for everyone. However,
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Worried about High Power (10 kW) Laser Backscatter?
With high power lasers, there’s always a safety concern for equipment and people nearby.
(Of course, I’m not qualified to give a detailed analysis of what needs to be taken into account for laser safety. For that, you should consult a laser safety officer.)
I want to specifically ask whether there’s an issue of laser light reflecting off power measuring equipment.
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What to Do when Your Laser Doesn’t Perform to Spec
You’re so upset you could spit.
You just got a new laser for your factory floor, but it just won’t make parts that pass inspection.
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The Difficulties in M-Squared Measurement –And How to Overcome Them
A clear benefit of knowing the M2 of your laser is getting a lot of information about beam quality all in one number.
As simple as the output is, it is harder than you may imagine to measure and calculate M-Squared.
Let’s take a quick look at the theory behind M2 to see how it can be measured.
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How to Keep a Laser Power Sensor Clean
Harsh.
Extreme.
Noisy.
These are a few words used to describe an industrial environment.
What about your laser sensor? Will it survive this?
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