Lasers for hardening steel surfaces can be used for high-precision hardening of the smallest structures. The new Scansonic RLH-A Rel. III laser optics offer increased precision compared to the earlier version. The company’s laser experts will be showcasing the innovation at this year’s LASER World of PHOTONICS (Hall A3, Stand 307).

Scansonic RLH-A laser processing optics were originally developed in cooperation with the automotive industry. Typical applications include laser hardening of camshafts or other rotating engine parts. Precisely defined heat treatment of highly-stressed surfaces is the key to lightweight construction. The reduction of weight and moving mass is an important factor in lowering fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. A major advantage of laser hardening is that the parts can be specifically heated. This minimizes distortion, which is often inevitable during flame or induction hardening. It also eliminates the need for post-processing. Users benefit from significantly higher efficiency and lower costs.

Innovative control technology ensures perfect results

Continuous advancements in engine design technology lead to increasingly complex components with intricate structures in the 0.1-millimeter range. The challenge in hardening these geometries is to regulate the laser power input so that the temperature in the areas to be hardened and the hardening depth remains constant – regardless of the metal thickness. Excessively high temperatures can lead to distortion of the components or melting at the edges.

The surface temperature of the component is measured during the hardening process with a pyrometer integrated into the optics. The control technology in the new RLH-A Rel. III uses two different methods for this. One is to control the scanner, which changes the speed of the laser beam on the surface. On thinner structures that heat up faster, the laser beam moves faster than on thicker pieces. The second control option regulates laser intensity. Using these two methods together ensures a precisely maintained temperature on the surface of the component for perfect hardness results.

Variable spot geometry and size

Along with the innovative control technology, Scansonic has integrated more features into its new laser optics. Spot geometry and size can now be adjusted separately to make the RLH-A Rel. III even more flexible in operation. In the past, the optics had to be changed for different components. Now, various applications can be used with the same optics. This increases efficiency and lowers user costs.

Like many other Scansonic optics, the entire RLH-A is based on a modular system and can be easily adapted to any specifications. Modern bus systems for communication within the laser optics and connection to a higher-level control ensure added flexibility.

Scansonic will also be presenting a simplified version of the laser optics at the trade show. The RLH-A Basic is available without the components required for laser beam scanning and adjusting spot geometry. This makes the lower-priced laser optics suitable for surface hardening of tools used in metal-forming presses and other applications.

About Scansonic MI GmbH

Scansonic supplies systems and solutions for laser welding, laser brazing, and laser hardening along with high-precision sensors for process monitoring. The company’s products are primarily used in the automotive industry, rail vehicle construction, and energy technologies. Scansonic MI is the global market leader in laser-based joining systems for body construction. The company is part of the Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.). This medium-sized enterprise headquartered in Berlin has roughly 320 employees and generates annual sales of approx. €49.5 million (forecast 2019).

www.scansonic.de

The LASER World of PHOTONICS 2019 is where Lumics will be introducing its latest additions to the renowned LuOcean product family, Lumics’ most successful series of high power fiber coupled diode laser modules.

Lumics is again redefining the benchmark and paving the way for customers to simplify design and manufacturing of innovative diode laser based devices by showcasing its latest developments to the LuOcean series. The LuOcean series is products are the ultimate choice for applications in medical & life science, and soft material welding & processing.

The M4 Diode Laser Module

This latest addition to the LuOcean product family offers power levels up to 550W. The available wavelength range spans from 760nm up to 1940nm. Single emitters electrically wired in series allow for low current despite of high power levels. Just as all the LuOcean models also the M4 offers a fiber port for a detachable fiber, as well as the possibility to have up to three independently controllable wavelengths in one module.

The built-in single emitters are produced in-house and are carefully burn-in tested to ensure class-leading performance and ultra-long life time. Customers can freely select amongst a wide range of additional signal and sensor features, offered also two-fold for redundancy.

The Driver Kit

With this proprietary OEM driver solution Lumics makes again a significant step towards providing complete state-of-the-art solutions. This driver kit with digital interface was designed and highly optimized for the Lumics LuOcean series, and the built-in protective features and industry standard RS232 interface considerably simplifiy design and production on customers’ site.

The driver kit is freely configurable with a single PCB controller board, together with up to 8 laser driver boards and up to 2 TEC drivers. Full digital access and control to all functions of the laser module, current range up to 28A, pulse widths down to 100µs, the possibility to synchronize the driver boards and TEC drivers satisfy even demanding requirements.

In addition Lumics also showcases in Munich for the first time its own newly designed TEC chiller plates to complement the LuOceanportfolio.

Come and discover the complete LuOcean diode laser portfolio at LASER Munich, Hall A3, Booth 307.

About Lumics

Lumics GmbH in Berlin is a class-leading manufacturer of diode lasers, fiber coupled single- and multi-mode laser diode modules and complete OEM laser solutions based on Lumics‘ patented in-house single emitter technology. The company is part of the Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.). This medium-sized enterprise headquartered in Berlin has roughly 320 employees and generates annual sales of approx. €49.5 million (forecast 2019).

Elektromobilität ist einer der Schwerpunkte der diesjährigen LASER World of PHOTONICS, die vom 24. bis 27. Juni 2019 in München stattfindet. Das Berliner Unternehmen Scansonic stellt dort (Halle A3, Stand 307) ihre neue Laseroptik vom Typ RLW-S vor. Sie wurde speziell für das anspruchsvolle Schweißen von Kupfer-Hairpins bei der Produktion von Elektromotoren entwickelte.

Bei der Fertigung der Statoren setzen immer mehr Hersteller auf Kupfer-Hairpins anstelle von Kupferdrahtwicklungen. Dabei werden die wie Haarnadeln geformten Teile aufgesteckt und deren Köpfe miteinander mit dem Laserstrahl verschweißt. Pro Stator sind das zwischen 160 und 220 Hairpins, die in einem Zeitfenster von maximal 60 bis 120 Sekunden verarbeitet werden. Die Elektromotoren gewinnen dadurch an Leistung bei reduzierter Baugröße.

Die größte Herausforderung war bisher, die Lage der Hairpins sicher zu erkennen. Grund: Die Oberflächen der Hairpins können aufgrund der mechanischen Vorverarbeitung unterschiedlich stark reflektieren. Das erschwert die Bildverarbeitung. Zudem ist der Laserschweißprozess selbst extrem anspruchsvoll, weil Kupfer bei Raumtemperatur eine sehr geringe Absorption aufweist. Diese steigt jedoch während des Schweißvorgangs zusammen mit der Temperatur stark an, verbunden mit der hohen Wärmeleitfähigkeit und der geringen Schmelzbadviskosität des Materials.

RLW-S erhöht Leistung und Prozesssicherheit

Scansonic-Optiken, Sensoren sowie Systeme zur Prozessüberwachung finden speziell im Automobilbau, dem Schienenfahrzeugbau und der Energietechnik Anwendung. Bei laserbasierten Fügesystemen im Karosseriebau ist Scansonic Weltmarktführer. Die neuartige Laseroptik vom Typ RLW-S ist eine der jüngsten Entwicklungen und wird bereits erfolgreich in der Fertigung namhafter Automobil-Zulieferer eingesetzt.

RLW-S bringt dabei entscheidende Vorteile. Das auf Laserscannern basierende System lenkt den Laserstrahl bis auf Zehntelmillimeter genau. Möglich macht das eine integrierte Kamera, die in der Lage ist, den Bearbeitungspunkt genau zu identifizieren. So kann der Schweißprozess exakt nach einem vorgegebenen Muster ausgeführt werden. Gleichzeitig gewährleistet die Kamera eine permanente Prozessüberwachung und damit eine hohe Prozesssicherheit. Kunden ermöglicht dies höchste Verlässlichkeit mit festen, porenfreien Nähte bei hoher Reproduktionsrate. Vorhandene Laserquellen können in die Bearbeitungsstrategie integriert werden.

Die Scansonic-Ingenieure arbeiten bei jeder Entwicklung eng mit ihren Kunden zusammen. Auf der Messe zeigen sie neben der RLW-S weitere Laserschweiß- und -lötoptiken, Lösungen zur Prozessbeobachtung sowie Sensoren – darunter die ALO4, die nächste Generation der weltweit marktführenden ALO-Bearbeitungsoptik zur taktilen Nahtführung im Karosseriebau.

Über Scansonic MI GmbH

Scansonic bietet Systeme und Lösungen in den Bereichen Laserschweißen, Laserlöten und Laserhärten sowie präzise Sensorik zur Prozessüberwachung. Die Produkte finden speziell im Automobilbau, dem Schienenfahrzeugbau und der Energietechnik Anwendung. Bei laserbasierten Fügesystemen im Karosseriebau ist die Scansonic MI Weltmarktführer. Das Unternehmen gehört zur mittelständischen Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.) mit Hauptsitz in Berlin, die mit rund 320 Mitarbeitern einen Umsatz von etwa 49,5 Mio. Euro (Prognose 2019) erwirtschaftet. www.scansonic.de

E-mobility is a main focus at this year’s LASER World of PHOTONICS taking place in Munich from June 24 to 27, 2019. This is where the Berlin-based Scansonic company will be introducing its new RLW-S laser optics (Hall A3, Booth 307). The technology was specially developed for the complexities of welding the copper hairpins used in electric motors.

A growing number of manufacturers are using copper hairpins instead of copper winding in the production of stators. The heads of these hairpin-shaped parts are inserted into the stator and welded together by a laser beam. Each stator has 160 to 220 hairpins that are processed in a time window ranging from 60 to maximum 120 seconds. This technology reduces the overall size of electric motors and improves performance.

The biggest challenge thus far has been to reliably detect the position of the hairpins. This is because mechanical preprocessing of the hairpin surface results in different levels of reflectivity, which makes image processing more complicated. The laser welding process is extremely demanding because copper has very low absorption at room temperature. During the welding process, absorption and temperature increase sharply along with the high thermal conductivity and low molten bath viscosity of the material.

RLW-S improves performance and process reliability

Scansonic is the global market leader in laser-based joining systems for body construction. The company’s optics, sensors and process-monitoring systems are primarily used in the automotive industry, rail vehicle construction, and energy technologies. New Scansonic developments include the innovative RLW-S laser optics that are already being successfully used in production by well-known automotive suppliers.

RLW-S offers a number of key advantages. The system uses laser scanners to precisely guide the laser beam to within a tenth of a millimeter. This is made possible by an integrated camera that accurately detects the processing point and enables the welding to be completed according to a predetermined pattern. The camera also ensures continuous process monitoring and high process reliability. This gives customers maximum dependability with strong, pore-free seams at high reproduction rates. Existing laser beam sources can be fully integrated into the processing strategy.

Scansonic engineers work in close cooperation with customers on each new development. At the trade show they will be showcasing the new RLW-S along with other laser welding and brazing optics, process monitoring solutions, and sensors – including the ALO4, the next-generation, industry-leading ALO processing optics for tactile seam tracking in body construction.

About Scansonic MI GmbH

Scansonic supplies systems and solutions for laser welding, laser brazing, and laser hardening along with high-precision sensors for process monitoring. The company’s products are primarily used in the automotive industry, rail vehicle construction, and energy technologies. Scansonic MI is the global market leader in laser-based joining systems for body construction. The company is part of the Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.). This medium-sized enterprise headquartered in Berlin has roughly 320 employees and generates annual sales of approx. €49.5 million (forecast 2019).
www.scansonic.de

Bisher waren enge technische Grenzen gesetzt beim gezielten Härten von kleinen Flächen wie dem Inneren eines Bohrlochs oder innenliegenden Oberflächen von kleinen Werkstücken. Standardverfahren für das Oberflächen- oder Randhärten von Stählen wie Flammhärten, Induktionshärten, Laserstrahl- und Elektronenstrahlhärten müssen für diesen Einsatz mit Hilfsmitteln arbeiten, die deutliche Nachteile mit sich bringen. Andere setzen auf das Ofenhärten, bei dem jedoch das gesamte Werkstück gehärtet wird. Die Gefahr, dass sich das Werkstück hierbei verzieht, ist hoch.

Neuartiges koaxiales Laserstrahlhärten

Scansonic MI, Innovationsführer für Laseroptiken zum Schweißen, Löten und Härten, hat nun ein neues Verfahren namens CoHard entwickelt. Es ermöglicht, auch Bauteile per Laserstrahl zu härten, bei denen dies aufgrund ihrer Geometrie bisher nicht möglich war. Herzstück des neuen koaxialen Laserstrahlhärtens ist eine Optik, die den Laserstrahl mit Kegellinsen – so genannten Axicons – ringförmig fokussiert. Der divergierende Laserstrahl trifft dabei in einem flachen Winkel von 5° bis 15° hinter der Fokusebene auf die Innenwandung der Bohrung. Durch axiales Verschieben der Optik kann das gesamte Areal gehärtet werden. Da der Bereich, in dem die Laserenergie absorbiert wird, äußerst schmal ist, verzieht sich das Werkstück nicht oder nur minimal. Auch muss es während des Härtens nicht gedreht werden, da das Profil des Laserstrahls rotationssymmetrisch ist.

Bisher passten in kleine Bohrungen unter 15 mm beispielsweise keine Induktoren, die genügend Leistung abgeben können. Um Laserstrahlhärten in Bohrungen einsetzen zu können, mussten Umlenkspiegel im Bohrloch platziert werden. Diese werden allerdings thermisch sehr stark belastet und lassen sich kaum vor Verschmutzung schützen.

Positive erste Praxistests

Die ersten Praxistests mit CoHard belegten die hohe Leistungsfähigkeit des neuen Verfahrens. Als Strahlquelle kam ein Yb:YAG-Laser mit einem Strahlparameterprodukt von 24 mm x mrad und einer Leistung von 3 kW zum Einsatz. Gehärtet wurde ein Bohrloch mit einem Durchmesser von 8 mm und einer Tiefe von 25 mm; die Vorschubgeschwindigkeit betrug 2,5 mm/s. Messungen am Werkstück verifizierten die gleichmäßige Härtung der Oberfläche über die gesamte Länge des Bohrlochs. Mit der aktuellen Konfiguration lassen sich mit dem Verfahren demgemäß Bohrungen von 5 bis 40 mm Tiefe und mit einem Durchmesser von 3 bis 10 mm problemlos härten.

„Unser neues CoHard-Verfahren bietet neue Möglichkeiten für eine Vielzahl von Anwendungen – vom gezielten Härten von Führungen und Dichtflächen, wie sie bei Hochdruckpumpen und Ventilen zum Einsatz kommen, bis hin zum Härten von Bolzen mit sehr präzisen Anforderungen an Oberflächenhärte“, erklärt Peter Fixemer, Produktmanager für den Bereich Laserstrahlhärten bei Scansonic. Das Produkt befindet sich derzeit noch im Status einer vielversprechenden Studie. Zusammen mit Kunden und deren individuellen Anforderungen wird sich daraus eine Serienoptik entwickeln.

Über Scansonic MI GmbH

Scansonic bietet Systeme und Lösungen in den Bereichen Laserschweißen, Laserlöten und Laserhärten sowie präzise Sensorik zur Prozessüberwachung. Die Produkte finden speziell im Automobilbau, dem Schienenfahrzeugbau und der Energietechnik Anwendung. Bei laserbasierten Fügesystemen im Karosseriebau ist die Scansonic MI Weltmarktführer. Das Unternehmen gehört zur mittelständischen Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.) mit Hauptsitz in Berlin, die mit rund 320 Mitarbeitern einen Umsatz von etwa 49,5 Mio. Euro (Prognose 2019) erwirtschaftet. www.scansonic.de

Hardening of small surfaces, like the inside of a drill hole or the inner surface of a small workpiece, has in the past been subject to strict technical limitations. Standard methods for hardening the surfaces and edges of steel, including flame, induction, laser beam and electron beam hardening, require auxiliary means that are accompanied by specific disadvantages. Other processes use bake hardening, but this hardens the entire workpiece and can easily cause warping.

Innovative coaxial laser hardening

Scansonic, an innovation leader in laser optics for welding, brazing and hardening, has developed a new process called CoHard. This technology uses a laser beam to harden components which, due to their geometry, were not previously suitable for laser hardening. At the heart of the new coaxial laser hardening process is an optic that focuses the laser beam annularly using cone-shaped lenses known as axicons. The diverging laser beam strikes the inner wall of the hole behind the focal plane at a low angle of 5° to 15°. Axial shifting of the optic makes it possible to harden the entire surface. The area in which the laser energy is absorbed is extremely narrow, which minimizes or eliminates warping of the workpiece. And there is no need to rotate the workpiece during hardening because the profile of the laser beam is rotationally symmetric.

In the past, inductors capable of delivering sufficient power did not fit into holes smaller than 15 mm. In order to use laser beam hardening, deflection mirrors had to be placed in the drill hole. However, these mirrors are exposed to extremely high temperatures and can hardly be protected from contamination.

Initial testing shows positive results

The high efficiency of the new CoHard process was demonstrated in the first practical tests. Using a Yb:YAG laser as a beam source with a beam parameter product of 24 mm x mrad and a power of 3 kW, a drill hole with a diameter of 8 mm and a depth of 25 mm was hardened at a feed rate of 2.5 mm per second. Measurements on the workpiece verified the uniform hardening of the surface over the entire length of the drill hole. With the current configuration, the process can be easily used to harden holes with a diameter of 3 to 10 mm and a depth of 5 to 40 mm.

"Our new CoHard process opens up new possibilities for a wide range of applications – from hardening of guides and sealing surfaces used in high-pressure pumps and valves, to the hardening of bolts with extremely precise surface hardness specifications," explains Peter Fixemer, Product Manager for Laser Hardening at Scansonic. The product is currently in a very promising prototype phase. Series-production optics will be developed by working together with customers and their individual requirements.

About Scansonic MI GmbH

Scansonic supplies systems and solutions for laser welding, laser brazing, and laser hardening along with high-precision sensors for process monitoring. The company’s products are primarily used in the automotive industry, rail vehicle construction, and energy technologies. Scansonic MI is the global market leader in laser-based joining systems for body construction. The company is part of the Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.). This medium-sized enterprise headquartered in Berlin has roughly 320 employees and generates annual sales of approx. €49.5 million (forecast 2019).

www.scansonic.de

Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.) has taken a 24.9% share in the startup company Escarda Technologies with its headquarters in Bonn, Germany, thereby expanding their technology and shareholding portfolio.

The Spanish name Escarda (English: weeding) describes the purpose of the company. The engineer and founder Julio Pastrana is currently working on a process for fighting against unwanted plants in fields with the aid of innovative laser technology and artificial intelligence. A camera identifies the undesirable plants which are then precisely pinpointed and burned by a laser. It is an environmentally friendly and entirely chemical-free weed control method that is also suitable for larger agricultural farms – eliminating the need for time-consuming manual labour. Escarda is supported by the Faculty of Agriculture of Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and the company can use the test plots and image database of the university.

With its innovative development approach, Escarda Technologies is a perfect match for the technology and shareholding portfolio of B.I.G. Among the subsidiaries of B.I.G. is Scansonic MI, a pioneer of laser-based welding and soldering processes and a world market leader in the field of laser-based systems for car body construction applications. Another subsidiary is Lumics, a leading company producing laser diode modules for medical applications.

"This new investment opens up a completely new field of activity: agriculture," explains Katrin Robeck, Executive Director of B.I.G. "For us, this is not only an exciting growth market. We are particularly interested in the ecological challenge." Escarda founder Julio Pastrana has high hopes for the technological collaboration: "With B.I.G., we have found a partner whose expertise enables us to not only optimise the further development of our innovation, but also to accelerate it considerably." The partners plan to launch the new technology for laser-based, pesticide-free weed control by 2021.

Link to the video: http://escarda.net/videos/EscardaVideo.mp4

Berlin, May 2019 – E-mobility is a main focus at this year’s LASER World of PHOTONICS taking place in Munich from June 24 to 27, 2019. This is where the Berlin-based Scansonic company will be introducing its new RLW-S laser optics (Hall A3, Booth 307). The technology was specially developed for the complexities of welding the copper hairpins used in electric motors.

A growing number of manufacturers are using copper hairpins instead of copper winding in the production of stators. The heads of these hairpin-shaped parts are inserted into the stator and welded together by a laser beam. Each stator has 160 to 220 hairpins that are processed in a time window ranging from 60 to maximum 120 seconds. This technology reduces the overall size of electric motors and improves performance.

The biggest challenge thus far has been to reliably detect the position of the hairpins. This is because mechanical preprocessing of the hairpin surface results in different levels of reflectivity, which makes image processing more complicated. The laser welding process is extremely demanding because copper has very low absorption at room temperature. During the welding process, absorption and temperature increase sharply along with the high thermal conductivity and low molten bath viscosity of the material.

RLW-S improves performance and process reliability

Scansonic is the global market leader in laser-based joining systems for body construction. The company’s optics, sensors and process-monitoring systems are primarily used in the automotive industry, rail vehicle construction, and energy technologies. New Scansonic developments include the innovative RLW-S laser optics that are already being successfully used in production by well-known automotive suppliers.

RLW-S offers a number of key advantages. The system uses laser scanners to precisely guide the laser beam to within a tenth of a millimeter. This is made possible by an integrated camera that accurately detects the processing point and enables the welding to be completed according to a predetermined pattern. The camera also ensures continuous process monitoring and high process reliability. This gives customers maximum dependability with strong, pore-free seams at high reproduction rates. Existing laser beam sources can be fully integrated into the processing strategy.

Scansonic engineers work in close cooperation with customers on each new development. At the trade show they will be showcasing the new RLW-S along with other laser welding and brazing optics, process monitoring solutions, and sensors – including the ALO4, the next-generation, industry-leading ALO processing optics for tactile seam tracking in body construction.

About Scansonic MI GmbH

Scansonic supplies systems and solutions for laser welding, laser brazing, and laser hardening along with high-precision sensors for process monitoring. The company’s products are primarily used in the automotive industry, rail vehicle construction, and energy technologies. Scansonic MI is the global market leader in laser-based joining systems for body construction. The company is part of the Berlin.Industrial.Group. (B.I.G.). This medium-sized enterprise headquartered in Berlin has roughly 320 employees and generates annual sales of approx. €49.5 million (forecast 2019).

www.scansonic.de