Radial blower for gas circulation in a compact 2-kW CO2 laser

Ralf Swysen; Michael Auer; Hans Karl Haak

doi:10.1117/12.20569

1 October 1990 Radial blower for gas circulation in a compact 2-kW CO2 laser

Ralf Swysen, Michael Auer, Hans Karl Haak

Proceedings Volume 1276, CO2 Lasers and Applications II; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.20569
Event: The International Congress on Optical Science and Engineering, 1990, The Hague, Netherlands

Abstract

A new class of compact C02-lasers in the kilowatt range uses radial compressors for circulating the laser gas through resonator and laser head 1 , The highest degree of a compact, modular design is achieved when the turbo blower is integrated directly into the laser head 2 At the Technologie Zentrum Nord a prototype of a new compact C02-laser with 2.5 kW CW-output power and a volume of only 0.6 m3 has been developped in the past two years . The results of our work reveal the necessity of a special design of the laser head when using turbo blowers in fast axial flow, rf-excited C02-lasers. First it is obviously appropriate to integrate the blower into the laser head, and second, the gas flow has to be optimized by specially shaped parts in the laser head to reduce pressure losses. Further we report on the performance of the turbo compressor with different gas mixtures, derived from measuring gas velocities and mass flow rates. These results are correlated to laser output power and efficiency. Cw output power of more than 2.5 kW has been achieved with our laboratory prototype. Efficiencies between 18% and 23% have been measured for the pumping process.

Citation Download Citation

Ralf Swysen, Michael Auer, and Hans Karl Haak "Radial blower for gas circulation in a compact 2-kW CO2 laser", Proc. SPIE 1276, CO2 Lasers and Applications II, (1 October 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.20569

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