Adaptive feedback beam shaping of the CO2 welding laser

0352708 - ÚPT 2014 RIV US eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Jedlička, Petr - Mrňa, L. - Šarbort, M. - Řeřucha, Šimon
Adaptive feedback beam shaping of the CO2 welding laser.
Laser Beam Shaping XI (Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 7789). Bellingham: SPIE, 2010, 77890V: 1-8. ISBN 978-0-8194-8285-3.
[Laser Beam Shaping XI. San Diego (US), 02.08.2010]
R&D Projects: GA MPO 2A-3TP1/113
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20650511
Keywords : laser beam welding * adaptive optics * laser welding control * light emission monitoring
Subject RIV: BH - Optics, Masers, Lasers

The depth of penetration is probably the most important factor that influences the quality of a laser weld. The depth strongly depends on the focus of the welding beam. The sublimating material forms plasma vapors, that act as a lens and defocus the laser beam. Our contribution presents a method to compensate this phenomenon using an adaptive mirror - a mirror with flexible surface that can adjust the shape of the welding beam. The mirror is regulated by a feedback control loop so that the focus of the laser beam and the penetration depth remain in an optimal range. Since the only possibility to state the penetration depth is to monitor outer effects to estimate desired parameters. a sensor unit is used to monitor the optical emissions of the plasma vapors and the measured data are inputs to an algorithm that estimates the penetration depth.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0192158