High-power fiber laser and heating device setting method and application system thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses a high-power optical fiber laser and a heating device setting method and application system thereof, and relates to the field of cooling structure setting, the high-power optical fiber laser comprises a plurality of first heating devices, a plurality of second heating devices, at least one heat sink cold plate and a structure cold plate; the plurality of first heating devices are distributed on the heat sink cold plate; the plurality of second heating devices are arranged on the structural cold plate; the heat emitted by the first heating device is higher than the heat emitted by the second heating device. The use area of the heat sink cold plate can be reduced, so that the manufacturing cost and the maintenance cost of the high-power fiber laser are reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of cooling structure settings, and particularly to a high-power fiber laser, a method for setting its heating devices, and an application system. Background Art

[0002] Affected by efficiency, the current typical electro-optical efficiency of high-power fiber lasers is about 35%. During actual operation, a large amount of heat is generated. Therefore, high-power fiber lasers all need to design heat sink cold plates for heat dissipation during operation.

[0003] Currently, the main methods for setting heat sink cold plates in typical high-power fiber lasers are mainly as Figure 1 and Figure 2 shown. Its bottom is a liquid-passage water-cooled plate with water-cooling channels machined inside, which can support the circulation of cooling water (or other cooling liquids) for active refrigeration and heat dissipation. Various components required for fiber lasers are installed on the surface of the heat sink cold plate. According to the amount of heat generated, they can be roughly divided into two categories: high-heat-generating devices and low-heat-generating devices. High-heat-generating devices mainly refer to components with a heat generation of not less than 10 watts, which have requirements for the contact temperature of their device mounting surfaces (usually the bottom of the device) and require active refrigeration, such as fiber bundlers, fiber pump diodes (Laser Diodes, LD), fiber laser cladding strippers, etc. Low-heat-generating devices mainly refer to components with a heat generation of not more than 10 watts, which have no requirements for the contact temperature of their device mounting surfaces (usually the bottom of the device), have a certain working temperature capacity, and do not require active refrigeration, such as fiber gratings, some fibers, fiber combiners, sensors in fiber lasers, and some electronic components.

[0004] In the above-mentioned existing design methods of high-power fiber lasers, the following design defects and deficiencies mainly exist: First, the design and processing requirements of the heat sink cold plate with internal water-cooling channels usually result in a relatively thick cold plate, large weight and volume.

[0005] Second, due to the need to machine water-cooling channels in the water-cooled heat sink cold plate, its machining process is complex, the processing cycle is long, involving removal machining (milling), laser welding, brazing, etc., resulting in a high processing cost of the cold plate, and thus increasing the cost of high-power fiber lasers.

[0006] Thirdly, all the devices in the high-power fiber laser need to be installed and sealed on the same side of the heat sink cold plate, which will significantly reduce the maintainability of the high-power fiber laser, resulting in an increase in maintenance time and cost. For example, if a highly heat-generating device is damaged due to a fiber laser failure during operation, causing local burning or malfunction of the laser, at this time, the entire heat sink cold plate needs to be disassembled for repair. Moreover, because the fiber laser and other devices are installed and sealed on the same side of the heat sink cold plate, in the case of severe failures, it may even lead to the scrapping of the entire heat sink cold plate, and then the other components installed on it will be scrapped as a whole, resulting in poor maintainability of the high-power fiber laser and a significant increase in usage costs. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The purpose of this application is to provide a high-power fiber laser, a method for setting heat-generating devices thereof, and an application system, which can reduce the usage area of the heat sink cold plate, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost and maintenance cost of the high-power fiber laser.

[0008] To achieve the above purpose, this application provides the following solutions: In a first aspect, this application provides a high-power fiber laser, including: a plurality of first heat-generating devices, a plurality of second heat-generating devices, at least one heat sink cold plate, and a structural cold plate; The plurality of first heat-generating devices are distributed and arranged on the heat sink cold plate; the plurality of second heat-generating devices are all arranged on the structural cold plate; the heat generated by the first heat-generating devices is higher than the heat generated by the second heat-generating devices.

[0009] Optionally, the heat sink cold plate is detachably arranged on the side surface of the structural cold plate; the side surface refers to the surface formed along the thickness direction of the structural cold plate at the edge position of the structural cold plate.

[0010] Optionally, one end surface of the heat sink cold plate is detachably arranged on the end surface of the structural cold plate; the end surface refers to the surface formed along the length direction and width direction of each plate.

[0011] Optionally, the detachable arrangement includes bonding and welding.

[0012] Optionally, the size of the contact area between the heat sink cold plate and the structural cold plate is determined based on the heat dissipation requirements of the second heat-generating devices.

[0013] Optionally, a plurality of threaded holes are arranged on the structural cold plate; the plurality of threaded holes are used to install the second heat-generating devices.

[0014] Optionally, the thickness of the structural cold plate is less than the thickness of the heat sink cold plate.

[0015] Optionally, a water cooling channel or an air cooling channel is arranged in the heat sink cold plate.

[0016] Second aspect, the present application provides a method for setting heat-generating devices of a high-power fiber laser, and the method is used for setting the high-power fiber laser provided above; the method includes: Obtain the heat-generating devices used for setting the high-power fiber laser; Set a heat threshold, and regard the heat-generating devices with heat values higher than or equal to the heat threshold as the first heat-generating devices, and regard the heat-generating devices with heat values lower than the heat threshold as the second heat-generating devices; Set the first heat-generating devices on the heat sink cold plate, and set the second heat-generating devices on the structural cold plate.

[0017] Third aspect, the present application provides a cooling structure application system, including: a plurality of first heat-generating devices, a plurality of second heat-generating devices, and a cooling structure formed by an assemblable setting of a heat sink cold plate and a structural cold plate; A plurality of the first heat-generating devices are distributed on the heat sink cold plate part of the cooling structure; a plurality of the second heat-generating devices are all arranged on the structural cold plate part of the cooling structure; the heat generated by the first heat-generating devices is higher than the heat generated by the second heat-generating devices.

[0018] According to the specific embodiments provided by the present application, the present application has the following technical effects: The present application provides a high-power fiber laser, a method for setting its heat-generating devices, and an application system. By introducing a structural cold plate, setting the second heat-generating devices (i.e., low-heat-generating devices) on the structural cold plate, and setting the first heat-generating devices (i.e., high-heat-generating devices) on the heat sink cold plate, compared with the existing solution of setting all devices on the heat sink cold plate, the present application can achieve the purpose of reducing the usage area of the heat sink cold plate, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the high-power fiber laser. Moreover, by separately installing the high-heat-generating devices and the low-heat-generating devices on the heat sink cold plate and the structural cold plate respectively, when a device in a certain cold plate fails, only the corresponding installation structural cold plate needs to be replaced. Compared with the existing solution, it can improve the maintainability of the high-power fiber laser, thereby shortening the maintenance time and reducing the maintenance cost. Description of the Drawings

[0019] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the embodiments. Obviously, the following-described drawings are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0020] Figure 1 It is a front view schematic diagram of the structure of an existing high-power fiber laser; Figure 2 It is a top view schematic diagram of the structure of an existing high-power fiber laser; Figure 3 The front view schematic diagram of the structure of a high-power fiber laser provided by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 4 The top view schematic diagram of the structure of a high-power fiber laser provided by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 5 The front view schematic diagram of the structure of a high-power fiber laser provided by another embodiment of the present application; Figure 6 The top view schematic diagram of the structure of a high-power fiber laser provided by another embodiment of the present application; Reference numerals: 1 - heat sink cold plate, 2 - first heating device, 3 - second heating device, 4 - structure cold plate, 5 - cooling channel. Detailed implementation manners

[0021] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0022] To make the above objects, features, and advantages of the present application more obvious and understandable, the present application will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation manners.

[0023] The high-power fiber laser (abbreviated as laser) specifically includes components that vary according to different optical technical solutions, but mainly fall into the following categories: (1) A cold plate (i.e., a structure cold plate) for installing low-heat components inside the laser can be designed as 1 piece.

[0024] (2) A heat sink cold plate for installing high-heat components inside the laser can be set to 1 to 2 pieces according to the specific quantity and the overall design concept of the laser.

[0025] (3) Several high-heat components, commonly including high-power (6 + 1) × 1 pump bundle collectors or 1 to 2 (18 + 1) × 1 collectors, etc. inside the fiber laser, 1 to 2 high-power cladding light strippers, several high-power pump diodes LD (such as 140W fiber pump diodes, 300W fiber pump diodes, etc.), and in some special solutions, a laser drive power module, etc. may also be included.

[0026] (4) Several low-heat-generating devices, commonly including (1+1)×1 combiners inside fiber lasers, 1:1 splitters or fiber sampling splitters with other ratios, fiber gratings, low-power cladding light strippers, low-power pump diodes LD (such as 3W fiber pump diodes, 9W fiber pump diodes, etc.), internal control and communication devices of fiber lasers (such as photoelectric sensors, temperature sensors), communication control modules (such as optical control circuit boards), and so on.

[0027] The laser structure cold plate required for integrating and assembling internal devices of the laser is classified into two types according to the heat dissipation capacity: The first type is the heat sink cold plate, which is internally designed with a water cooling channel and can be used for the active refrigeration requirements of high-heat-generating devices; the second type is the structure cold plate, which is an ordinary cold plate without a flow channel structure inside. Only surface processing is required to install low-heat-generating devices, making the thickness of the structure cold plate smaller than that of the heat sink cold plate. Based on this, in an exemplary embodiment, the present application provides a high-power fiber laser, such as Figures 3 - 6 shown, the high-power fiber laser includes: a plurality of first heat-generating devices 2 (i.e., high-heat-generating devices), a plurality of second heat-generating devices 3 (i.e., low-heat-generating devices), at least one heat sink cold plate 1, and a structure cold plate 4.

[0028] The plurality of first heat-generating devices 2 are distributed and arranged on the heat sink cold plate 1. The plurality of second heat-generating devices 3 are all arranged on the structure cold plate 4. The heat generated by the first heat-generating device 2 is higher than (or equal to) the heat generated by the second heat-generating device 3.

[0029] During the machining process of the structure cold plate 4, only threaded holes or other fixing structures for device installation need to be machined on its surface for installing the second heat-generating device 3.

[0030] Further, the cooling channel 5 provided in the heat sink cold plate 1 can be a water cooling channel, but according to actual requirements, the cooling channel 5 can also be set as an air cooling channel.

[0031] In another exemplary embodiment of the present application, the heat sink cold plate 1 is vertically assembled on both sides of the structure cold plate 4, and it can also diffuse heat to the structure cold plate 4 through heat conduction to achieve partial heat dissipation capacity of the structure cold plate 4. Based on this, in this embodiment, as Figure 3 and Figure 4 shown, the heat sink cold plate 1 is detachably arranged on the side of the structure cold plate 4. The side refers to the surface formed along the thickness direction of the structure cold plate 4 at the edge position of the structure cold plate 4.

[0032] In actual application, the detachable assembly connection method of the structure cold plate 4 and the heat sink cold plate 1 can be changed according to design requirements. For example, any other connection method based on this idea, such as bonding, welding, etc., can be used as an alternative solution.

[0033] In another exemplary embodiment of the present application, in addition to selectively mounting the heat sink cold plate 1 vertically on both sides of the structural cold plate 4, the heat sink cold plate 1 can also be horizontally mounted on the surface edge of the structural cold plate 4, and according to the heat dissipation requirement of the structural cold plate 4, the heat contact surface between the heat sink cold plate 1 and the structural cold plate 4 can be increased, the heat conduction surface can be increased, and the heat dissipation capacity of the structural cold plate 4 can be indirectly enhanced. Based on this, as Figure 5 and Figure 6 shown, one end face of the heat sink cold plate 1 is detachably arranged on the end face of the structural cold plate 4. The end face refers to the face formed along the length direction and width direction of each plate.

[0034] As an optional implementation manner, the size of the contact area between the heat sink cold plate 1 and the structural cold plate 4 is determined based on the heat dissipation requirement of the second heat generating device 3.

[0035] In summary, by separating and designing the structure of the high-power fiber laser in the present application, the following advantages are achieved: First, the structural cold plate has no flow channel structure inside, so its plate thickness can be very thin, and it has the advantages of small volume and light weight.

[0036] Second, during the machining process of the structural cold plate, only threaded holes or other fixing structures for device installation need to be machined on its surface, so its machining process is simple, the machining cycle is fast, and the cost is low. For the remaining heat sink cold plate, its internal flow channels are more concentrated, the area is greatly reduced, and the weight, volume, machining cost, and cycle of the cold plate can all be greatly reduced.

[0037] Third, by classifying the high-heat generating devices and low-heat generating devices and designing the installation cold plates separately, and assembling and connecting them during actual use, the maintainability and cost of the laser can be effectively improved. Generally speaking, the failure points of the laser are related to the heat generation amount. Usually, the devices with a large heat generation amount have lower reliability due to the requirements of internal thermal management than the devices with a small heat generation amount. Most of the failures of the laser occur in the high-heat generating device area. The failure rate of low-heat generating devices is usually very low. Therefore, based on the structure set in the present application, when a certain high-heat generating device fails, the repair point is only the area on its corresponding heat sink cold plate, and there is no repair impact on the low-heat generating area. When a serious failure occurs, only the heat sink module corresponding to the high-heat generating device needs to be scrapped. The above measures make the repair plan of the laser have a higher granularity, that is, repair where there is a failure, which can significantly improve the maintainability of the laser, reduce the scrapped part of the laser due to failures, and thus effectively reduce the maintenance, repair, and scrapping costs of the laser.

[0038] Fourth, in the present application, it is described that the heat sink cold plate is vertically assembled on both sides of the structural cold plate, which can improve the heat dissipation capacity of the heat sink cold plate part, and the heat can also be diffused to the structural cold plate by heat conduction to improve the heat dissipation capacity of the structural cold plate part.

[0039] 5. Classify and design the installation cold plate of the laser according to the actual heat generation of the optical fiber device, which can achieve more reasonable thermal management classification and more reasonable laser repair plan, and then effectively reduce the processing cost and processing cycle of the laser structural parts.

[0040] In another exemplary embodiment of the present application, a method for setting the heat generating device of a high-power fiber laser is also provided for setting and forming the high-power fiber laser provided above. This method includes: Step 1: Obtain the heat generating device used for setting the high-power fiber laser.

[0041] Step 2: Set the heat generation threshold, and regard the heat generating device with a heat generation value higher than or equal to the heat generation threshold as the first heat generating device, and regard the heat generating device with a heat generation value lower than the heat generation threshold as the second heat generating device.

[0042] Step 3: Set the first heat generating device on the heat sink cold plate and set the second heat generating device on the structural cold plate.

[0043] In another exemplary embodiment of the present application, a cooling structure application system can also be provided. This application system includes: a plurality of first heat generating devices, a plurality of second heat generating devices, and a cooling structure formed by the heat sink cold plate and the structural cold plate that can be assembled and set.

[0044] A plurality of first heat generating devices are distributed on the heat sink cold plate part of the cooling structure. A plurality of second heat generating devices are all set on the structural cold plate part of the cooling structure. The heat generated by the first heat generating device is higher than the heat generated by the second heat generating device.

[0045] Based on the above design method and application system provided by the present application, it can be applied to fields such as solid-state lasers such as disk lasers and slab lasers. Based on this idea, the design ideas of the heat sinks of other laser structures are all alternative solutions to the above-provided solutions of the present application.

[0046] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. For the sake of concise description, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as the combinations of these technical features do not conflict, they should all be considered as the scope recorded in this specification.

[0047] In this article, specific examples are used to elaborate on the principles and implementation manners of the present application. The descriptions of the above embodiments are only used to help understand the method and its core idea of the present application; at the same time, for those of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of the present application, there will be changes in the specific implementation manners and application scopes. In summary, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present application.

Claims

1. A high-power fiber laser, characterized in that, Including: A plurality of first heating devices, a plurality of second heating devices, at least one heat sink cold plate, and a structural cold plate; The plurality of first heating devices are distributed and arranged on the heat sink cold plate; the plurality of second heating devices are all arranged on the structural cold plate; the heat generated by the first heating devices is higher than the heat generated by the second heating devices.

2. The high-power fiber laser according to claim 1, characterized in that, The heat sink cold plate is detachably arranged on the side surface of the structural cold plate; the side surface refers to the surface formed at the edge position of the structural cold plate along the thickness direction of the structural cold plate.

3. The high-power fiber laser according to claim 1, characterized in that, One end surface of the heat sink cold plate is detachably arranged on the end surface of the structural cold plate; the end surface refers to the surface formed along the length direction and width direction of each plate.

4. The high-power fiber laser according to claim 3, characterized in that, The detachable arrangement includes bonding and welding.

5. The high-power fiber laser according to claim 3, characterized in that, The size of the contact area between the heat sink cold plate and the structural cold plate is determined based on the heat dissipation requirement of the second heating devices.

6. The high-power fiber laser according to claim 1, characterized in that, A plurality of threaded holes are arranged on the structural cold plate; the plurality of threaded holes are used for installing the second heating devices.

7. The high-power fiber laser according to claim 1, characterized in that, The thickness of the structural cold plate is less than the thickness of the heat sink cold plate.

8. The high-power fiber laser according to claim 1, characterized in that, A water cooling channel or an air cooling channel is arranged in the heat sink cold plate.

9. A method for setting a heating device of a high-power fiber laser, characterized in that, The method is used to set and form a high-power fiber laser as described in any one of claims 1-8; the method includes: Obtaining the heating devices used for setting the high-power fiber laser; Setting a heating threshold, taking the heating devices with a heating value higher than or equal to the heating threshold as the first heating devices, and taking the heating devices with a heating value lower than the heating threshold as the second heating devices; Arranging the first heating devices on the heat sink cold plate and arranging the second heating devices on the structural cold plate.

10. A cooling structure application system, characterized in that, Including: A plurality of first heating devices, a plurality of second heating devices, and a cooling structure formed by the detachable assembly of a heat sink cold plate and a structural cold plate; The plurality of first heating devices are distributed and arranged on the heat sink cold plate part of the cooling structure; the plurality of second heating devices are all arranged on the structural cold plate part of the cooling structure; the heat generated by the first heating devices is higher than the heat generated by the second heating devices.

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