Laser Assembly Cooling Jacket and Cladding Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laser arrangements face challenges in generating high-quality laser radiation with sufficient power for applications like medicine and material processing, particularly in maintaining efficient pump radiation within the active fiber and effectively cooling the converter fiber to manage high power levels.
Innovation Solution
A laser arrangement featuring a diode laser pump source with a wavelength range of 900 nm to 1050 nm, a converter fiber with a moisture- and water-resistant plastic cladding surrounded by a corrosion-resistant metallic material, and a tubular casing for liquid cooling to optimize pump radiation interaction and heat management, ensuring intensive radiation effects and efficient power handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the converter fiber is cooled with a liquid cooling medium flowing along the fiber, then the heat management is improved, but the structural complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The converter fiber is nested within a cooling jacket that has cooling channels formed directly in its wall structure. The cooling medium flows through these channels, creating an integrated heat management system where the cooling structure is embedded within the fiber assembly itself, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining effective cooling.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling jacket acts as an intermediary component between the converter fiber and the cooling medium. It provides thermal coupling to the fiber while maintaining structural integrity and facilitating heat transfer, thereby simplifying the direct connection requirements and reducing manufacturing complexity.
2Reliability
If the pump cladding is surrounded by additional claddings for moisture resistance and total reflection, then the pump radiation confinement is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cladding structure employs composite material layers with distinct functional properties: an inner pump cladding for optical confinement, a middle moisture-resistant cladding for environmental protection, and an outer corrosion-resistant metallic layer for structural durability. This composite approach achieves multiple functions simultaneously while streamlining the overall design.
Solution Approach 2:
Each cladding layer serves multiple functions: the moisture-resistant cladding provides both environmental protection and structural support, while the metallic outer cladding provides both corrosion resistance and mechanical strength. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components, simplifying manufacturing.
3Temperature
If the converter fiber is wound on a cooled spool, then the heat management is improved, but the structural complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling channels in the cooling jacket are arranged in a radial pattern around the converter fiber, utilizing the radial dimension for heat extraction. This dimensional arrangement maximizes heat transfer efficiency within a compact cylindrical volume, avoiding the need for large spool-based cooling systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the generation of high-quality laser radiation with power ranging from a few kW to over 10 kW, suitable for diverse applications, by ensuring effective pump radiation confinement and efficient cooling, thereby enhancing the intensity and reliability of the laser output.
Implementation Method 1
the converter fiber is accommodated in a tubular and/or hose-like casing through which a cooling medium, preferably a liquid cooling medium, flows
Implementation Method 2
this cladding then being surrounded by a further outer cladding made of a corrosion-resistant metallic material in a particularly advantageous embodiment. The further cladding surrounding the pump cladding ensures, among other things, that the pump radiation remains within the pump cladding as a result of total reflection
Implementation Method 3
a pump source which supplies pump radiation for the converter and has a plurality of laser diodes which generate the pump radiation
Implementation Method 4
an active fiber doped with at least one rare earth, i.e. doped with a laser-active material, is excited with a pump radiation, so that in this doped active fiber between two optical elements provided at the fiber ends and acting as resonator mirrors, a laser radiation is forced
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a laser assembly with a converter designed as a fibre laser for generating a converted output laser beam, and having a pumping source that supplies a pump beam to the converter and comprises a plurality of laser diodes that generate the pump beam and are formed by emitters mounted on laser bars, the pumping source comprising beam forming optics for forming the laser beams supplied by the emitters into the pump beam.