Fiber Laser cutting machine is an efficient, accurate and convenient tool, and it is an inevitable trend in the future industrial development. After nearly two decades of industry development, laser cutting machines have developed into an indispensable tool for sheet metal manufacturing. Therefore, in addition to meeting the basic cutting thickness and speed requirements, the equipment selection should pay attention to product stability, intelligence, low energy consumption, simple operation, low carbon and environmental protection.
Large fiber optic laser tools can be purchased in large manufacturing plants, each of which is dedicated to cutting specific thickness ranges: small beam systems for light gauges and large beam systems for thicker plates. For smaller manufacturing plants that rely on only one tool to cut all metal, if limited to a fixed size, the reduced productivity will be reduced, especially when faced with different combinations of operations. These workshops typically change the focus lens in the cutting head to better optimize the laser spot size for a given job. When the laser is unable to cut, each time the lens is changed, there is a loss of productivity and there is a risk of contaminating the lens and the cutting head, which can lead to catastrophic failures and higher maintenance and downtime costs.
Due to the lack of adjustability of the spot size of existing laser sources, tool integrators and manufacturers are forced to choose between the flexibility of the job portfolio and the performance and reliability of the tool. This compromise increases costs and reduces productivity.
Fiber lasers dominate the sheet metal cutting market with unmatched productivity, precision and cost-effectiveness. Fiber lasers in the 2-6 kW range have become the backbone of many manufacturing facilities, providing faster, more accurate thin metal cutting than traditional cutting technologies such as carbon dioxide (co2) lasers and plasma torches. However, many fiber laser systems are designed to be suitable only for metal cutting in a limited thickness range, especially in this case, a small, tightly focused laser beam provides the fastest cutting speed for thin gauge materials, but for Thick plates, which have large limitations in handling edge quality and maximum thickness. Or, because the slit is wider and the larger beam can improve the edge quality of the slab, a large speed loss occurs for cutting the slab.
The ability to automatically adjust the laser spot size will greatly extend the applicability, productivity and process window of fiber lasers. Most current methods require maneuvering of free space optics. For example, a zoom cutting head, a fiber-optic or free-space fiber coupler that changes fiber launch conditions, or a 2-4 output fiber-fiber switch coupled to a separately machined fiber. Such free-space optical methods can add significant cost and complexity and can degrade the performance and reliability of the tool. They are sensitive to offsets, contamination, and environmental conditions (temperature, vibration), causing power dependence (thermal lens), optical loss, and/or reduced switching speed. The zoom cutting head is equipped with an electric lens in the head that is larger and heavier than the standard cutting head, which reduces the acceleration performance and imposes additional design requirements on the gantry and the motor. Tool designers using these methods need to pass on the burden of cost, performance, and reliability to the customer (end user).
Post time: Oct-14-2019
