Early handheld laser welding machines used water cooling for heat dissipation. This method is simple in structure and easy to maintain. It has made great contributions to the market development of handheld laser welding from 0 to 1. However, in the process of use, the market gradually found that the water-cooled hand-held laser welding machine has shortcomings in portability and functional ductility. At the same time, the characteristics of anti-freezing in winter and anti-condensing in summer also increase the difficulty of equipment maintenance.
As the market demand becomes more sophisticated, some manufacturers have begun to consider using air-cooled solutions as hand-held laser welding machines.
Compared with the water-cooled solution, the hand-held laser welding machine using the air-cooled solution does not require additional water-cooling equipment, which greatly reduces the volume and weight of the equipment while reducing costs. In addition, it also provides convenience for adding functions such as cleaning and cutting in the later stage.
Some people in the industry believe that air-cooled handheld laser welding is the key to further replacing the argon arc welding market with greater cost-effectiveness advantages and more flexible application scenarios (small size, portability, and extended functions).
Most of the current laser equipment is equipped with a chiller, the purpose of which is to keep the temperature of key components constant, avoid changes in beam quality caused by temperature fluctuations, and damage to components caused by excessive temperature. For hand-held laser welding machines, how to use air cooling to achieve the same temperature control effect as water cooling has become a bottleneck restricting the industrial application of this new concept.
The first to break through this technical bottleneck is the global leader in fiber lasers – IPG. As early as November 2020, IPG has launched the LightWELD 1500, a fully air-cooled handheld laser welding machine, which represents the paradigm of other handheld laser welding systems on the market with its small size, light weight and unique air-cooled device. change. In June of the following year, the product was launched in China.
Also in 2020, Chinese domestic enterprises have also begun to carry out technical research around the air-cooled solution for handheld laser welding. In July 2021, GW Laser (Shanghai) launched the first air-cooled A1500W smart laser welding machine; in October, Reci Laser (Beijing) also released the FCA1500 air-cooled laser for handheld laser welding machines.
