IPG Photonics Corporation
Laser cutting head with dual movable mirrors providing beam alignment and/or wobbling movement

Abstract:

A laser cutting head with movable mirrors may be used to move a beam, for example, to provide beam alignment and/or to provide different wobble patterns for cutting with different kerf widths. The laser cutting head includes a cutting nozzle for directing the laser beam together with a gas to a workpiece for cutting. The movable mirrors provide a wobbling movement of the beam within a relatively small field of view, for example, within an aperture of the cutting nozzle. The movable mirrors may be galvanometer mirrors that are controllable by a control system including a galvo controller. The control system may also be used to control the fiber laser, for example, in response to the position of the beams relative to the workpiece and/or a sensed condition in the cutting head such as a thermal condition proximate one of the mirrors.