FFJournal

The magazine for todays fabricating & forming technology

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A TREND Publication

May 2008

Lightning
ina

BOTTLE
Greater productivity through higher-wattage resonators

Laser Technology

BY RUSS OLEXA, EDITOR-AT-LARGE

New resonators increase cutting capabilities

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FFJournal May 2008

POWE

cutting sheet metal, laser manufacturers are always developing and introducing new resonators. Some reduce cutting time or cut thicker materials while also decreasing or eliminating maintenance, which adds up to lower part cycles and more parts produced.
One constant heard from users is the need for more powerful resonators to cut thicker materials, such as 1.25-in. steel, and to cut thinner materials faster. And the manufacturers have heard their pleas. New resonators offer the high wattage needed to cut thicker materials or have been redesigned to cut thicker materials but with lower wattage. Therefore, this article is about those new resonators from laser system manufacturing companies that build their own resonators (not just resonator producers) and have introduced new resonators within the last year to year and a half. There are many companies that build laser systems, but only a few of them build their own resonator. Others, such as Finn-Power and Amada for example, buy the resonator from companies that specialize in producing them, like Rofin-Sinar or Fanuc. The heart of any laser system is the resonator that initiates the beam. Two types are commonly used. One is an Nd:YAG (Nidium Yitrium Aluminum Garnet), where the YAG is a solid crystal, and the other is a gas laser that uses CO2 gas instead of a solid crystal. The CO2 laser is commonly used for metal cutting while the Nd:YAG is used for welding, some cutting and especially for marking, scribing and specialty drilling. While a solid crystal can be used to create a laser beam for cutting, using CO2 gas creates a wavelength that has the thermal properties needed for metal cutting. Wavelengths produced by other gases or solid-state lasers dont have the same energy potential. Thicker material cutting Demand for thicker material cutting led Prima Laser Systems, Chicopee, Mass., to introduce its CV Series Fast Axial Flow (turbine-style) CO2 laser resonator. The 5-kW system can cut up to 1-in. steel, thick aluminum plate and stainless steel from 0.6 in. to 0.8 in. with faster speeds. Pieter Schwarzenbach, vice president of laser technology at Prima, says that the CV Series produces high power with exceptional beam quality for difficult material processing. Its new design stresses simplicity, low operating costs and high reliability, reducing maintenance, he says. Schwarzenbach says that if a company has a two-year-old laser that cuts a significant amount of thick steel, stainless or aluminum, the higher wattage and cutting speeds of the CV Series should be considered as a replacement. With it, he says a company can cut more parts with the same amount of assist gas used with its present resonator, or decrease the amount of assist gas to save costs. He says that the beam has a high brightness for excellent power density and DC excitation for superior electrical efficiency. It uses a magnetic bearing turbine that eliminates bearing changes, a resonator structure for fast warm-up and temporal and spatial stability and a solid-state

O GAIN GREATER PRODUCTIVITY FOR

ER

Trumpf increases productivity with a diffusion-cooled, highly intense cutting beam. power supply for reliability and low-maintenance. It also features a user-friendly PC-based controller with advanced remote diagnostics and a single cabinet design for access to maintenance points. The resonator features machined aluminum end plates for increased optical stability and a resonator design that offers symmetry and near-zero growth during operation for a more stable beam. Advanced composite elements are used along with a kinematic mounting for increased beam quality and pointing stability. The oil-less, solid-state power supply features high-voltage components protected from environmental contamination and a fast rise time to cut complex contours without overheating. New solid-state power Frank Arteaga, laser product manager at Bystronic Inc., Hauppauge, N.Y., says that the companys 6-kW RF resonator was the result of an evolutionary process to meet the needs of those wanting more power to cut thicker materials with less maintenance. Bystronics Bylaser 6-kW RF laser resonator offers a solid-state power supply designed by Bystronic, which replaces the older vacuum-tube type for older DC and RF Bystronic resonators, he says. The technology offers zero maintenance and improved electrical efficiency. Cost savings are realized by eliminating the replacement of high-voltage or RF-tube components that have a limited life span. Bystronics RF technology uses low-frequency RF, (less than 1 Mhz), lowering component cost. Another Bylaser enhancement is the CNC-control monitoring of the resonator optics temperature and automatic power calibration features, he says. Temperature sensors are located in the output window and the end mirror, which monitor each components temperature. If one of the optics reaches a high temperature outside of its typical operating range, the system will give a warning and shut down the resonator power depending on the severity of the temperature increase. This feature provides additional operating security for unattended shift operations and for cutting reflective materials such as aluminum. Bystronics automatic power calibration recalibrates the resonator in minutes if the power drops below 10 percent of the requested wattage, enabling users to continue to operate their machines at full production speeds even though an optic might be on its last hours of operation. Arteaga says that Bystronics 6-kW resonator can cut up to 1-in. steel or stainless steel and up to 58-in. aluminum. Resonator cuts 1.25-in. steel Mitsubishi Laser, Wood Dale, Ill., introduced its 40 CF-R 4-kW CO2 resonator technology, built from Mitsubishis CFXseries resonators for the companys LVPlusII laser system. This resonator, and the companys next generation 60 CF-R 6-kW CO2 resonator, are designed to meet customer expectations for advanced cutting, says Jeff Hahn, laser product manager. We came up with enhancements in our resonator as to where components are placed, he says. Our resonator in-

May 2008 FFJournal

Laser Technology
cludes the power supply, the damper and vacuum pump Power Board all in one unit for faster and Electrode easier maintenance. Both resonators reduce rise time/fall PR Mirror Holder time, giving the laser beam a truer square-wave form. This provides a more consistent beam power and low power distribution while cutting and delivers a more consistent edge quality with more power stability even when used at Hi-Speed lower wattage. The uniform Power Sensor Heat Exchanger low-current discharge proBlower vides low power stability for improved micro machining The resonator is at the heart of any laser cutting system. and etching. mild steel. The 60 CF-R cuts up to 1.25-in. ing small-hole processing. Mitsubishis DiMitsubishi resonators have a cross-flow mild steel, 1-in. to 2-in. stainless steel and amond-Path technology maintains condesign that eliminates the turbine and 3 sistent beam quality by using a constant glass tubes used to excite the gas for low4-in. aluminum. beam-length system. It provides cutting cost ownership, says Hahn. Weve never stability up to 1,150 ipm. replaced a resonator in the last 21 years. Faster cutting Mels Eye, the optional intelligent The resonators Brilliantcut technolTrumpfs RF excited TruCoax 3200 (3.2process monitoring system has autofoogy produces a cutting surface roughness kW) CO2 laser resonator in the TruLaser cusing and other detection features to enequivalent to the typical machined fin2030 family of machines gets more sure cut quality. Burn detection tracks ish. Brilliantcut provides optimal propower from a smaller resonator for each cut, and when its no longer suscessing conditions and reduced taper greater performance, especially in thicker tained, the laser system automatically and discoloring on the heat-affected materials, says James Rogowski, product restarts. Pierce detection increases prozone, says Hahn. manager of 2-D lasers for Trumpf Inc., ductivity by eliminating the buffer in A new Jet Pierce technology decreases Farmington, Conn. conventional oxygen piercing. part time by allowing material to be Any time you use a coaxial gas resMitsubishis 40 CF-R can cut up to 1-in. pierced faster and more aggressively duronator [like the TruCoax], the more sur-

The 5,200-W laser resonator from Bystronic represents just one of the companys resonators, developed in-house.
FFJournal May 2008

Diagram: Mitsubishi Laser, (MC Machinery Systems Inc.)

Another Kind of Laser Light

lthough CO2 laser systems make up the vast majority used, theres a new diode laser available from IPG Photonics Corp., Oxford, Mass., The company produces a diode laser that allows high output powers for cutting and welding. It has better beam quality than whats achievable through traditional techniques, says Bill Shiner, vice president of industrial sales. Our proprietary designs are based on innovative diodeber techniques and highperformance proprietary components perfected by IPG over a 16-year investment and innovation period. An IPG diode ber optics laser, a 100 percent solidstate laser, doesnt need maintenance when welding, and it has no optics or resonator gasses to replace. It has a wall-plug efciency greater than 28 percent, no mirrors to align or replace, low cooling requirements and can deliver the beam through optical ber up to

200 m from the source. Its cabinet size is usually a quarter to half of the area of a traditional CO2 resonator of the same power. Diode life is greater than 100,000 hours with no yearly maintenance costs. With a small focal area, it allows precise cutting or welding and allows a longer focal length so the head can have a greater Z-axis variation and be further away from the material. For high-speed cutting of steel, the IPG laser produces cutting speeds beyond the limits of the motion equipment, Shiner says. They can integrate into motion systems including robots, scanners, conventional machine tools and cutting machines. For cost-effective use, it offers rapid switching through the ber optics to multiple work stations. This allows multiple work areas to be served by only one laser system, reducing costs for some applications and at a low acquisition cost.

face area you have inside the resonator between the electrodes, and the more power youll get, Rogowski says. So we made changes to the resonator to boost power. The higher-power resonator increases productivity with a diffusion-cooled, highly intense cutting beam in an ultra-compact footprint. The resonator is nearly solid state and has few moving parts, only a vacuum system and several switches. It doesnt have a blower or parts that other CO2 resonators have. From a maintenance standpoint, theres none except for a gas change every year or year and a half. Currently it costs less than $9 per hour to run, and Trumpf is working to bring expend-

able costs to less than $8 per hour, Rogowski says. As a laser manufacturer we want to increase our resonator sizes because of the demand for more speed for thinner materials and the ability to cut thicker materials, he says. This new resonator can cut up to 34-in. steel, 516-in. stainless steel and 1 4-in. aluminum. It can cut the same thickness of materials that higher-wattage, fast-axial-flow CO2 4-kW resonators can. In fact, Trumpfs TruCoax 3200 increased cutting speeds up to 100 percent in certain materials. This resonator gives a job shop the security to cut whatever comes through the door. FFJ

Bystronic Inc., Hauppauge, N.Y., 631/231-1212, fax: 631/231-1040, www.bystronic.com. IPG Photonics Corp., Oxford, Mass., 508/373-1100, fax: 508/373-1103, www.ipgphotonics.com. Mitsubishi Laser, (MC Machinery Systems Inc.), Wood Dale, Ill., 630/616-5920, fax: 630/616-4068, www.mitsubishi-world.com. Prima Systems, Chicopee, Mass., 413/598-5200, fax: 413/598-5201, www.prima-na.com. Trumpf Inc., Farmington, Conn., 860/255-6000, fax: 860/255-6424, www.us.trumpf.com.

Reprinted from FFJournal May 2008 Copyright Trend Publishing Inc.

May 2008 FFJournal