Coherent light generators – Particular temperature control
Patent
1993-05-17
1998-04-21
Bovernick, Rodney B.
Coherent light generators
Particular temperature control
372 35, 372 58, H01S 304
Patent
active
057426279
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a laser oscillator system which is adapted to perform laser oscillation by exciting a laser gas in an electric discharge tube, which is forcibly cooled by a blower and a cooling unit, and more particularly to a laser oscillator system of this kind which uses a plate type heat exchanger as the cooling unit,
BACKGROUND ART
A gas laser oscillator system, such as a CO.sub.2 laser, very efficiently generates a high output laser beam having excellent characteristics, so that when coupled with a numerical control unit, it is suitable for machining a workpiece into a complicated shape of high-speed etc., and hence it has now been in wide use,
FIG, 4 schematically shows the arrangement of a conventional laser oscillator system. In FIG, 4, the laser oscillator system 1 is a CO.sub.2 gas laser which uses CO.sub.2 gas as a laser gas, and includes a laser oscillator 2, a laser beam machine 6, and a numerical control unit 7. The laser oscillator 2 is comprised of laser gas-circulating systems 31, 32 and a set of electric discharge tubes 21 and 22, respectively connected thereto therefor. The laser gas is forcibly circulated through the laser gas-circulating systems 31, 32 and the electric discharge tubes 21, 22 by a blower 43.
The laser gas supplied to the electric discharge tubes 21 and 22 is excited by high-frequency discharge caused therein by voltage from power supplies 23 and 24 for laser excitation. The laser gas heated to a high temperature due to excitation is supplied from a laser gas outlet 20 of the electric discharge tubes to a heat exchanger 410 arranged away from the laser gas outlet by a distance L, where it is cooled, and then delivered to the blower 43. The laser gas delivered from the blower 43 is cooled again by a heat exchanger 420 to remove heat generated by compression, and the resulting laser gas, the temperature of which is thus constantly controlled to a fixed value, is supplied to the electric discharge tubes 21 and 22.
The set of electric discharge tubes 21 and 22 has a total reflection mirror 25 and an output mirror 26 arranged on opposite sides of the set of electric discharge tubes 21, 22 to form a Fabry-Perot type oscillator which is adapted to amplify a laser beam generated by electric discharge and output part of the amplified laser beam to the outside. The laser beam emitted from the oscillator is deflected by a bender mirror 27, subsequently entering the laser beam machine 6, where it is used for machining a workpiece. The numerical control unit 7 controls the laser oscillator 2 and the laser beam machine 6 according to the programs stored therein.
In the laser oscillator system 1, the heat exchangers 410 and 420 as cooling units have been conventionally formed by fin type heat exchangers each of which is comprised of a fin type heat exchanger core and a hermetic box container, formed e.g. of aluminum casting, for enclosing the fin type heat exchanger core therein. The fin type heat exchanger operates to cool the laser gas by heat transfer from the laser gas flowing through the hermetic box container to the fin type core through which a coolant is caused to flow.
When the fin type heat exchanger is used in the laser oscillator system 1, however, inevitably, dust is produced from the fin type core itself and from the cast container enclosing the core. Particularly, a case may exist in which molding sand adhered to the cast container during casting of the container is separated off the casting surface into the laser gas. When such dust or other foreign matters are included in the laser gas, optical component parts (the total reflection mirror 25, the output mirror 26, etc.) used in the laser oscillator 2 are contaminated. This which requires replacement of these optical component parts, which are very expensive, or washing of them. Further, in the case of washing these optical component parts, the following problems arise: that inclusion of new dust and the like is inevitable. bender mirror 27, the laser beam machine 6, etc., which tak
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Manabe Mitsuo
Mitsui Kenji
Morita Yasuyuki
Bovernick Rodney B.
Fanuc Ltd.
Wise Robert E.
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