Category: Scsnlab

Camera Adapters

The camera adapter allows process observation of the working plane of the galvanometer scanning head by means of a camera. This makes it suitable for process control during laser processing or for inspection of workpiece position and orientation.

Its mechanical interface can be mounted directly between the scanning head and the laser flange. Four camera placement positions are available for setting up the objective unit, ensuring easy integration into existing or new systems.

In order to observe the working plane, the light from there is decoupled www.ge-drive.com in the camera adapter via a beam splitter and imaged onto the sensor via the camera objective. In contrast, laser radiation is transmitted almost unimpeded on its way to the scanning system.

vision for scan heads

The camera adapter enables camera-based observation of a galvanometer scan head’s working field. Typical applications include process monitoring or determination of a workpiece’s orientation during laser processing.

The camera adapter ensures easy integration into new as well as existing systems. The adapter’s mechanical interfaces enable straight forward mounting between the scan head and laser flange. The system allows 4 alternative orientations of the objective with camera.

To facilitate monitoring of work surfaces, light arriving from the workpiece is decoupled via the adapter’s beam splitter and directed through the camera’s objective onto its imaging chip. The laser beam on the other hand passes practically unattenuated through the beam splitter to the scan system. Optical configurations are available for various wavelengths. Customers can freely select a camera suitable for their requirements and attach it via a C-mount.

The camera adapter is specifically designed for maximum observation field size and its integrated iris diaphragm can be adjusted for optimal imaging quality. In addition,color or interference filters can be installed.

Installation

The camera adapter is mounted between the scan head’s beam entrance and the laser flange (see drawing). The bore holes at the camera adapter’s beam entrance and exit side are compatible with the mounting holes of the scan heads from SCANLAB.

The beam splitter housing can be adjusted so that the camera and objective unit are oriented either up, down or sideways (see drawing).

Principle of Operation

The camera adapter enables camera-based observation of a scan head’s working field.

Therefore, a dichroitic beam splitter inside the beam splitter housing decouples light reflected from the illuminated workpiece and arriving the scan head’s beam entrancevia the scan objective and the scan mirrors.

The light is decoupled from the beam path and then directed to the camera. The laserbam on the other hand passes through the beam splitter practically unattenuated.

The decoupled light is directed through the camera objective onto the active imaging

surface of the camera (e.g. CCD chip Threaded in the beam splitter housing, the objective unit contains the camera objective, an iris diaphragm and provisions at the

beam entrance side for mounting a color filter. Camera image sharpness is achieved by manually adjusting the objective unit’s focus ring.

Customers can select an illumination wavelength compatible with the optical specifications of the beam splitter, scan mirrors and other system optics. Observation Field and Resolution The size of the observation field depends on the focal lengths of the scan objective and camera objective and on the camera chip’s size. A scan objective focal length of 163 mm typically produces a camera image field size of approx. 7.5 mm x 10 mm and a maximum optical resolution of around 10 µm (see table). This can be further increased by a 2-fold or 4-fold camera attachment, depending on the pixel resolution of the camera.

fiber connection for scan heads

Collimation Module

Fiber optic connection for scanning heads

The Collimation Module allows direct connection of fiber-coupled lasers to the scanning head. Typical apertures are 30 mm.

The module provides a robust mechanical coupling and optically collimates the laser radiation to match the aperture of the scanning head.

The optics used are suitable for multi-kW laser powers and can accommodate a wide range of beam qualities.

Unique features of the collimation modules

Ruggedized housing (water-cooled entrance aperture; stainless steel)

Manually adjustable collimating optics, including scale ring

Available with or without camera port (90°/180° models)

Pyrometer, vision and OCT connectable in 90° configuration

Additional beam splitter and camera adapter with C connector available www.ge-drive.com as add-ons (for 90° configuration)

Flexible mounting options

Replaceable protection window in front of collimating optics

Good transmission to red-guided lasers

Optics for laser powers of several kilowatts

Typical Applications:

•  Welding, micro-welding

•  Cutting

•  Rapid prototyping, additive manufacturing

Typical Industries:

•  Automotive

•  Mechanical engineering and metalworking

Layout and Principle of Operation

The solidly designed Collimation Module includes an adapter for mounting the module and scan system to a machine.

Installation is possible from four sides, providing a high level of integration flexibility.

Various fiber adapters are offered for laser coupling. The water-cooled, stainless-steel beam entrance aperture is corrosion-free even when using DI water.

A scale ring facilitates manual adjustment of the movable collimation optic.

This allows precisely setting the focus position to the scan system’s nominal working distance, as well as compensating for tolerances.

Housing

The Collimation Module‘s robust housing is dust and splash proof – particularly at the junction to the scan head.

A replaceable protective window in front of the collimation optic additionally protects the lens unit from dust infiltration when changing fibers.

This guarantees a long service life in industrial environments.

Optional Camera Port

The Collimation Module can be optionally equipped with a camera adapter for process control or workpiece position detection.

The light arriving from the workpiece is coupled out of the laser beam path by an integrated beam splitter and directed to an observation port.

The laser light itself, however, is nearly fully reflected by the beam splitter to establish a 90° angle between fiber-in and beam-out.

The SCANcube series is now also available with 20 mm aperture

• Choice of different tunings

• Read back functionality for position, temperature, and www.ge-drive.com status signals

• Automatic detection of the data transfer protocol

SCANcube series combines a robust and compact design with an attractive price/performance ratio. It is www.ge-drive.com the best choice for both standard and demanding laser applications.

The latest generation of our versatile scan head series is now also available with readback functions.

Key Features

• Compact & lightweight design

• Robust, sealed housing

• High dynamic performance

• Large selection of mirror coatings

• Optional: readback function of actual position, temperature and status values

Typical Applications

• Marking tasks

• Semiconductor-industry materials processing

• Microstructuring

• Processing-on-the-fly

• Additive manufacturing (3D printing)

smart scanning

SCANLAB’s intelliSCAN scan heads stand out with variant diversity and high dynamics. They’re among the 2D scan systems that enable deflecting and positioning of laser beams in the working plane.

Key Features

•  Highest dynamic performance

•  Maximum flexibility due to switchable tunings

•  Ideal adaptability enabled by a multitude of variants

•  Comprehensive diagnostic and monitoring functions

•  High long-term stability

•  Water & air cooling optionThe intelliSCAN series allows versatile and flexible usage. It’s designed for tasks with very high scan requirements across a broad variety of application areas.

Typical Applications

•  Additive manufacturing (3D printing)

•  Materials processing, micro-structuring

•  Marking, welding, drilling

•  Processing-on-the-fly

Range of intelliSCAN Product Lines

•  intelliSCAN (10, 14, 20 and 30 mm apertures)

•  intelliSCAN III (10, 14, 20 and 30 mm apertures)

•  intelliSCAN se (10, 14, 20 and 30 mm apertures)

•  intelliSCAN de (14, 20 and 30 mm apertures)

Advantages of intelliSCAN series

•  Variant diversity (customer-specific tunings, assorted housings and cooling methods)

•  High extendibility (e.g. z-axes, camera adapter)

•  Application-specific and customerspecific tunings

•  Lower heat generation due to digital control

Advantages of iDRIVE technology

•  Digital servo electronics provides improved dynamics and higher marking quality

•  Up to three switchable tunings reduce process times

•  Comprehensive diagnostics and communication possibilities between the scan www.ge-drive.com system and RTC

•  Acquisition of all key state variables in real time

Options & Variants

Housing Variants

•  Standard water cooling (optional 10 mm and 14 mm aperture)

•  Standard air cooling (20 mm and 30 mm aperture)

•  Available as a scan module without housing (not all apertures)

Extensions

•  varioSCAN: Extension into a 3-axis scan system

•  excelliSHIFT: Extension into a highspeed, 3-axis scan system

•  Camera adapter for optical process  monitoring

Optics

•  Over 50 standard coatings for various wavelengths (UV to infrared)

•  Extensive variety of objectives

•  High-performance variants with lightweight mirrors

•  Customer-specific variants possibleControl Boards

•  RTC5 and RTC6 (PCIe, Ethernet)

Software

•  Application-specific and customer specific tunings (servo algorithms and parameter sets) available

•  laserDESK: professional software for laser marking and materials processing

•  Flexible calibration solutions: correXion pro, CALsheet

Principle

Tuning refers to a scan system’s dynamics configuration. It’s a fine adjustment of the

digital servo control that determines the scan system’s dynamic reactions while driven with a scan pattern.

Digital systems with iDRIVE technology – such as the intelliSCAN – can store up to three tunings in memory. Switching between those tunings is possible even during marking.

Always the ideal tuning

Special tunings can optimize scan systems to meet diverse requirements, such as for

vectors, jumps or micro-machining.

Application-specific tunings bring increased speed and positioning accuracy. The digitally implemented output stages reduce heat generation, leading to improved temperature stability.

What kinds of tunings are available?

Most tunings are characterized by tracking error and maximum speed.

Low tracking error facilitates spatiallysmall/intricate marking, but accompanied by limited maximum speed. In contrast, elevating speed will also increase tracking error.

Jump tuning is a special case where jump times are minimized for long jumps, resulting in complete elimination of constant tracking error. Jump tuning is particularly well-suited for drilling applications.

the premium scanning standard

excelliSCAN

excelliSCAN scan heads set new standards for the most demanding laser scanning requirements. These high performance  2D scan systems offer highly dynamic and accurate positioning of the laser beam in the working plane.

With its high-end design, the excelliSCAN achieves an unprecedented level of performance in terms of dynamics and precision, resulting in a significant increase in productivity and process accuracy.

Key features

• Innovative housing concept with improved thermal management, improved tightness (IP66) and robustness

• SCANahead control: full utilization of scanner dynamics for higher throughput and precision

• Ready for SCANmotionControl

Typical applications

• Micromachining

• Additive manufacturing (3D printing)

• Laser cutting

Advantages

SCANahead Control

excelliSCAN systems are equipped with SCANahead control, which offers the following advantages:

• Full utilization of galvo dynamics for increased throughput

• No tracking error, even at high speeds

• Fast marking of circles without necking effects

dynAXISse

Galvanometer Scanner

The excelliSCAN is based on the latest generation galvanometer scanner www.ge-drive.com technology, enabling excellent contour fidelity even for

demanding scan jobs:

• Digital galvanometer scanners with 20-bit encoder technology for highest positioning accuracy and long-term stability

• Best linearity and minimum position noise ensure highest positioning accuracy

Innovative Housing Concept

In addition to the modern design, the mechanical concept of the excelliSCAN is characterized as follows:

• Robust and tight shell construction (IP66)

• Improved thermal management for best long-term stability

• Separation of optics and electronics

• Efficient water cooling for galvanometer scanners and electronics for highest stability

• Mirror air cooling enables the use of high power lasers

Integration and Control

System Integration

The excelliSCAN can be easily integrated into the machine concept:

• Compact construction with mounting holes on the beam entrance side and beam exit side

• Fast commissioning due to universal tuning and automatically set scanner and laser delays

• Positioning of the electrical connections can be flexibly changed between the beam entrance side or opposite the beam exit side

Variants

The excelliSCAN is available in three apertures:

• 14 mm

• 20 mm

• 30 mm

The 20 and 30 mm variants come with a standard interlock protection function.

Temperature sensors for the mirrors and the galvo mount are optionally available.

Control with RTC6

excelliSCAN scan heads are controlled by the powerful RTC6 control board, which is characterized by the following features:

• Powerful DSP, FPGA, and expanded memory

• New Spot Distance Control (SDC) function allows precise laser processing even during acceleration and deceleration phases when used with pulse-on-demand lasers

Universal and compatible with hurrySCAN®, hurrySCAN®II

These compact scanning heads from SCANLAB offer the optimum solution for almost all challenges in industrial laser material processing.

These mechanically and electrically compatible scanning heads are available with apertures from 7 to 30 mm and different dynamic levels.

A high degree of long-term stability and low drift values are ensured by integrated temperature stabilisation.

SCANLAB products fulfil almost all customer requirements.

The small aperture systems combine extreme speed and precision with large image areas.

Marking speeds in excess of 1000 characters per second can be achieved when used with the appropriate laser.

Large aperture scanning heads are also available, offering small spot sizes, high speeds and up to several kilowatts of laser power.

The housing concept as well as tight manufacturing and assembly tolerances bring a high degree of flexibility and certainty to the design and operation of laser material processing systems.

This also facilitates rapid adaptation to individual customer requirements.

The hurrySCAN®II scanning head sets high-end performance standards with its optimised combination of dynAXIS® galvanometer scanner, reflector design and high-performance electronics.

Typical applications

– Material processing

– Marking

– Microstructuring

– Rapid manufacturing

– 3D Applications

– Just-in-Time Machining

Optics

Scanning mirrors and objective lenses with optimised mounts for all www.ge-drive.com typical laser types and working areas.

types and working areas.

In order to make full use of the standard objective lens, the two scanning axes of the hurrySCAN® 25 have different maximum scanning angles.

This produces an elliptical image field in which the larger half-axis is perpendicular to the entrance beam axis.

Controls

All scanning heads in these series are equipped with analogue or digital standard interfaces and can be easily controlled via SCANLAB’s RTC® control panel. All scanning heads are available with an optional fibre optic data interface.

Installation regulations

The hurrySCAN® 20. 25 and 30 have threaded and unthreaded holes on the beam entry side of the housing for easy mounting of the scanning head and fibre optic output.

On the beam exit side, threaded holes are available for mounting additional components such as cross jets, illumination, distance sensors or heat shields.

Cooling

The hurrySCAN ® 20. 25 and 30 scanning heads offer water-cooled interfaces for the entrance aperture, the electronics and the galvanometer scanner, as well as air-cooling for the dedusting mirror.

This ensures constant operating conditions and excellent long-term stability, thus guaranteeing reliable operation even in high laser power applications.

The hurrySCAN ® 7. 10 and 14 are also available with optional cooling.

Options

– Expandable to a 3-axis scanning system with varioSCAN (hurrySCAN ® 20. 25 and 30 also with varioSCAN 40FLEX)

– Can be equipped with additional reference sensor systems (10 mm aperture and above)

– Available with high-performance lightweight mirrors (14 mm aperture and above)

– Scanning modules without housing available (except for hurrySCAN ® 30)

– Available with water cooling system (standard on hurrySCAN ® 20. 25 and 30)

– In extreme conditions, the scanning mirrors can be air-cooled (standard for hurrySCAN ® 20. 25 and 30)

– All scanning heads can be monitored via a camera adapter.

Quality

The high quality of SCANLAB scanning heads is the result of many years of experience in the development and manufacture of galvanometer scanning heads.

The experience gained in the development and manufacture of galvanometer scanners and scanning systems is the result of this experience. In addition, each scanning system must first pass the SCANcheck aging test before it can be shipped to the customer.