Fiber laser delivers improved performance, reliability

IPG Photonics Corporation, the world leader in highpowerfiber lasers, announced at the Photonics West a new generation of Kilowattclass lowmode Ytterbium fiber lasers offering lower cost per watt of laserpower, operating expenses and service requirements.

Leveraging its experience from delivering thousands ofKilowatt fiber lasers to commercial customers over a decade of time, theimproved 1060 nm laser from IPG offers customers exceptionally simple operationand extends the range of applications for fiber lasers.

“This year, we celebrate the tenth anniversary of ourintroduction of the first Kilowatt class fiber lasers,” said Dr. Valentin P.Gapontsev, CEO of IPG Photonics and inventor of the high power fiber laser.

“Drawing from our deep experience from more than 5,000Kilowatt class fiber lasers in demanding industrial applications, our newgeneration of fiber lasers improves upon IPG’s industry-leading productperformance, reliability and low cost of ownership. We used our newestinternally developed component base and our deep knowledge of fiber lasertechnology to create these new laser products.”

Dr. Gapontsev continued, “Our goal was to create productssuitable for a much broader range of applications than now, including variousapplications currently served by non-laser technologies. Our new lasers allowboth existing and new customers to derive significant benefits, while expandingthe available markets for IPG lasers.”

Designated as the YLS-xxx-Y13 series, the new lasers offercustomers lower operating costs and service requirements over IPG’s currentbest-in-class lasers.

The main benefits include increased wall plug efficiency (upto 33% from 28-30%), up to two times average improvement in beam quality and anincrease in the estimated mean time of uninterrupted laser operation from thecurrent one and one-half years to greater than three years.

As a result of the many technological improvements andincreased reliability, IPG now offers for this series an industryleadingthree-year warranty, an upgrade from the current two-year warranty.

The customer benefits stem from the many technologicalimprovements over IPG’s existing high performance products. These newimprovements include:

New higher power diode modules,

New fiber block design with 3X increase in damage powerthreshold, resulting in increased reliability,

New basic line of basic single-mode fiber modules withhigher power and efficiency,

New internally developed and manufactured modular digitalpower supplies with higher efficiency and enhanced unparalleled redundancyfeatures,

New digital laser diode current drivers with increasedcontrol flexibility, stability and precision,

New control system allowing integrated control of both laserand process subsystem,

New generation of compact multichannel beam switches,hermetically sealed for enhanced reliability,

New sealed laser cabinet design allowing for more reliablelaser operation in extreme operating conditions, and

New innovative high performance process heads for welding,cutting and remote welding applications.