Trumpf Gmbh & Company

Juergen Michael Weick

Hans Klingel

Frank Ackermann

Klingel, Hans

On laser cutting machines the laser cutting head is movable relative to the laser generator, respectively relative to the workpiece to be cut, in a plane parallel to the workpiece by means of a drive controlled by a numerical control. The laser cutting head also has an adjusting device for adjusting the focal position of the laser beam, by means of which the focus can be shifted with respect to the laser cutting head perpendicular to the workpiece. The position of the laser beam focus perpendicular to the workpiece influences the cutting quality obtained, respectively the resulting cutting characteristics. A laser cutting machine which is functionally efficient under workshop conditions and suitable for automatic operation, for which a sure optical adjustment of the focal position is possible, has not been available up to now. The new laser cutting machine should eliminate this problem. For this purpose on a laser cutting machine of the type described above, the numerical control for maintaining a constant focal position perpendicular to the workpiece also controls the adjusting device for adjusting the focal position, depending on the position of the laser cutting head in its plane of motion parallel to the workpiece.

Laser cutting machine with focus maintaining beam delivery

A high frequency cross-flow gas laser has a tubular conduit divided into a multiplicity of gas flow sections with gas inlets adjacent each of the mirrors therein and outlets therebetween. A pair of electrodes is provided along each flow section to produce a high frequency electrical discharge in the lasing gas mixture, and a cooler is used to chill the gas withdrawn from the conduit for recycling thereto. The electrode pairs are desirably radially rotated relative to one another to produce uniformity of the energy discharge across the cross-section of the lasing gas mixture.

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Asperg, Germany

Juergen Michael Weick