Monitoring and Controlling Fiber Laser Based Machining Processes

摘要

In this presentation we discuss the developed solutions based in both monitoring as well as control strategies for the use of laser in two applications in which we profit from the laser advantages by developing sensors and detectors that can be used to either provide in-situ information or establish closed-loop controls. The first application is the removal of excess of material with laser cutting in parts fabricated by forging related techniques. Since burrs and other defects are not regular, the most optimal cutting parameters do not always guarantee successful cutting of the excess of material. A home-made monitoring system based on the capture of the scattered light of the laser beam can provide information about the effective removal of material and hence, it can be employed for automated operations. The second application deals with the micro-drilling of large surfaces. In fact, in this application it is highly desirable to have a tool that could inform somehow about the performance of the process in order to obtain a feedback about the final quality. For this, an optical sensor monitoring the scattered light of the processing laser has been placed at the top and bottom of the processed panel. Deviations of the signal during micro-drilling can be correlated with local defects of the process performance.