Laser technology is gradually known by more and more people and has rapid development in the past few decades. Its major application include industrial manufacturing, communication, medical cosmetology, entertainment and so on. Different application requires different wavelength, power, light intensity and pulse width of the laser source. In real life, few people would like to know the detailed parameters of the laser source. Nowadays, laser source can be classified into solid-state laser, gas laser, fiber laser, semiconductor laser and chemical liquid laser.
Fiber laser is no doubt the “star” among the industrial lasers in the past 10 years with huge application and fast growing speed. In some point, the development of fiber laser is the result of the development of semiconductor laser, especially the domestication of semiconductor laser. As we know, laser chip, pumping source and some core components are actually semiconductor laser. But today, this article talks about the semiconductor laser used in industrial manufacturing instead of the one used as the component.
Semiconductor laser - a promising techniqueIn terms of electro-optical conversion efficiency, solid-state YAG laser and CO2 laser can reach 15%. Fiber laser can reach 30% and industrial semiconductor laser can reach 45%. That suggests that with same power laser output, semiconductor is more energy efficient. Energy efficiency means saving money and a product that can save money for the users tend to become popular. Therefore, many experts think that semiconductor laser would have a promising future with great potential.
Industrial semiconductor laser can be classified into direct output and optical fiber coupling output. Semiconductor laser with direct output produces rectangle light beam, but it is easy to be affected by back reflection and dust, so its price is relatively cheaper. For semiconductor laser with optical fiber coupling output, the light beam is round, making it hard to be affected by the back reflection and dust problem. What’s more, it can be integrated into robotic system to achieve flexible processing. Its price is more expensive. Currently, global industrial use high power semiconductor laser manufacturer includes DILAS, Laserline, Panasonic, Trumpf, Lasertel, nLight, Raycus, Max and so on.
Semiconductor laser has wide applicationsSemiconductor laser is less often used to perform cutting, for fiber laser is more capable. Semiconductor laser is widely used in marking, metal welding, cladding and plastic welding.
In terms of laser marking, using semiconductor laser below 20W to perform laser marking has become pretty common. It can both work on metals and non-metals.
As for laser welding and laser cladding, semiconductor laser is also playing an important role. You can often see semiconductor laser being used to perform welding on the white car body in Volkswagon and Audi. The common laser power of those semiconductor laser is 4KW and 6KW. General steel welding is also an important application of semiconductor laser. What’s more, semiconductor laser is doing a good job in hardware processing, shipbuilding and transportation.
Laser cladding can be used as a repair and refurbishment of the core metal parts, so it is often used in heavy industry and engineering machinery. Components like bearing, motor rotor and hydraulic shaft will have certain degree of wearing. Replacement could be a solution, but it costs a lot of money. But using laser cladding technique to add the coating to restore its original appearance is the most economical way. And semiconductor laser is no doubt the most favorable laser source in laser cladding.
Professional cooling device for semiconductor laserSemiconductor laser has compact design and in high power range, it is quite demanding for the refrigeration performance of the equipped industrial water chiller system. S&A Teyu can offer high quality semiconductor laser air cooled water chiller. The CWFL-4000 and CWFL-6000 air cooled water chillers can suit the need of 4KW semiconductor laser and 6KW semiconductor laser respectively. These two chiller models are both designed with dual circuit configurations and can work under a long time. Find out more about S&A Teyu semiconductor laser water chiller at https://www.teyuchiller.com/fiber-laser-chillers_c2
