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This page was translated automatically using artificial intelligence (DeepL). The German version is binding. More information about automatic translation
In collaboration with MOEWE Optical Solutions GmbH from Mittweida, SITA Messtechnik GmbH from Dresden and IPG Laser GmbH from Burbach, the Laser Institute at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences (LHM) has successfully demonstrated, for the first time, an extremely fast laser cleaning process for surfaces.
So-called cleaning lasers have been in use in industry for some time. They have an extremely high pulse power of more than one megawatt and a square process spot. They are often hand-guided. IPG has now, for the first time, developed such a laser with an output of 6 kW and tailored it to the requirements of a high-speed polygon scanner. In particular, a special operating mode allows the entire laser beam power to be utilised during the process, which would otherwise not be possible. MOEWE is the only company worldwide to offer polygon scanners for such high laser power. SITA has developed a measuring device capable of detecting organic residues on surfaces.
Lars Hartwig, Sebastian Weinhold and Mathias Müller from the LHM worked with the companies to configure the process and were able to demonstrate its cleaning effectiveness. With the new combination of a specialised laser and a polygon scanner, a surface the size of a DIN A4 sheet can be cleaned at an applied intensity of 20 MW/cm² in the unimaginably short time of just 0.18 seconds. In one minute, this configuration can clean 23 m², which is the area of a living room. Thanks to this high efficiency, such processes can now also be used on a large industrial scale. This is particularly relevant for battery and fuel cell manufacturing, amongst other things.
To demonstrate the speed of the process, videos were recorded by all those involved, which are to be shared via social media, amongst other channels. This will further raise the international profile of laser research at Mittweida, as IPG Photonics, with a turnover of 1.4 billion dollars, is one of the world’s largest laser companies.
The video from the LHM can be found on the institute’s YouTube channel at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxqakMoLWgQ
Text: Robby Ebert
Photos: Laser Institute, Mittweida University of Applied Sciences