Efficiency of Robotic Lasers

Robot­ic laser cut­ting solu­tions pro­mote cost sav­ings by occu­py­ing less floor space than a tra­di­tion­al five-axis laser cut­ting machine, and opti­mizes pro­duc­tion layouts. 

Recent improve­ments have been made in diode lasers, mak­ing lasers more effec­tive for a wide range of appli­ca­tions. The new fiber lasers and disk lasers have a bet­ter beam qual­i­ty, mean­ing the user can go deep­er and faster.

While man­u­al laser weld­ing is still used in den­tal labs, med­ical device man­u­fac­tur­ing, jew­el­ry mak­ing, and research, most indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions like auto­mo­tive, aero­space, and heavy equip­ment man­u­fac­tur­ing are using robot­ic laser weld­ing. Regard­less of whether it is a hard or flex­i­ble automa­tion sys­tem, almost every laser weld­ing sys­tem is auto­mat­ed. A robot can trav­el at high speeds with high path accu­ra­cy as speed and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty increase, where­as a human oper­a­tor cannot. 

ABB offers new laser cut­ting soft­ware, Robot­Ware Cut­ting and Robot­Stu­dio Cut­ting Pow­er­Pac, that makes it easy for users to get their laser cut­ting appli­ca­tions oper­a­tional. The new soft­ware makes pro­gram­ming com­plex cut­ting paths and shapes effi­cient. Users can cre­ate and test pro­grams in their offices, which max­i­mizes up-time and effi­cien­cy. The soft­ware is equipped with an Iter­a­tive Learn­ing Con­trol algo­rithm that con­stant­ly improves per­for­mance and accuracy.

ABB’s IRB 4400 robots have been out­fit­ted with a com­plete laser cut­ting pack­age includ­ing laser source, cut­ting head, and soft­ware. This laser cut­ting pack­age uses True­Move, which ensures that regard­less of speed, the robot will fol­low its pro­grammed path for high effi­cien­cy and quality.

As tech­nol­o­gy pro­gress­es, remote laser weld­ing, hot-wire laser cladding, and laser addi­tive man­u­fac­tur­ing are emerg­ing as prime appli­ca­tions. Lasers allow the user to weld on mate­ri­als that might not have been weld­able in the past, along with greater free­dom and flex­i­bil­i­ty, lead­ing to high­er efficiency.

Lin­coln Elec­tric is involved with robot remote and scan­ner-based remote laser weld­ing for auto­mo­tive and appli­ance com­po­nents. Remote laser weld­ing is tar­get­ed to replace resis­tance spot weld­ing in many applications.

Laser cladding uses a focused laser beam as the heat source, result­ing in a bond with supe­ri­or strength and sur­face prop­er­ties. It allows for weld­ing with exot­ic mate­ri­als. Anoth­er advan­tage of robot­ic laser cladding is a rapid ther­mal cycle.

Hybrid laser arc weld­ing cou­ples laser tech­nol­o­gy with gas met­al arc weld­ing. It is an auto­mat­ed process that com­bines the high­ly focused laser with the joint fill­ing capa­bil­i­ty of the met­al inert gas process, result­ing in thick welds. It allows a true 3‑D weld­ing process, prov­ing effi­cien­cy in a sin­gle pass at a high speed.

Robots​.com offers robot sys­tems that can be inte­grat­ed for laser cut­ting or weld­ing appli­ca­tions. If you are inter­est­ed in automat­ing a laser robot into your pro­duc­tion line, con­tact us online or at 877−762−6881.