Beam manipulation system
OwnerCharles Bibasinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beam director, typically comprises a first mirror rotating about a longitudinal axis, with a reflective surface at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis, which enables a laser beam to be transmitted along the longitudinal axis and redirected onto a work surface, which is typically perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. A second stationary arcuate mirror segment may be used to reflect the beam along an arcuate path on the work surface. Previous beam director systems can be improved or simplified by: 1) elimination of the second mirror with a 90° reflection to the work surface; 2) fixing the Tangent factor when drawing/rendering/sintering/cutting using f-theta like lens; and 3) fixing the Tangent factor by controlling the amount and/or the duration of energy.
Claims18
A beam director comprising:
- a light source for generating a beam of light;
- a reflector configured to receive the beam of light from the light source along a rotational
- axis of the reflector for reflecting the beam onto a work surface at a constant angle to the rotational axis;
- an actuator for rotating the reflector about the rotational axis;
- wherein the rotational axis is substantially parallel to the work surface;
- and
- wherein the reflector is capable of receiving the beam of light along the rotational axis, and reflecting the beam of light onto the work surface at a plurality of different angular positions of the reflector following a path relative to the work surface and tracing out a line perpendicular to the rotational axis on the work surface;
- and
- a controller for controlling an amount of energy delivered by the light source to the work surface by increasing power to the light source in an amount equal to losses proportional to energy not absorbed by the work surface quantified by E0*cos(angular position) where angular position is the angle between the beam of light and a normal to the work surface, and where E0 is peak power at about the focal point of the light source.
A method of directing a beam towards a work surface with a beam director, the method comprising:
- generating a beam of light with a light source;
- rotating a reflector about a rotational axis with an actuator;
- directing the beam from the light source towards the reflector along the rotational axis of the reflector;
- reflecting the beam with the reflector at an angle to the rotational axis towards the work surface;
- whereby the reflector receives the beam of light along the rotational axis, which is parallel to the work surface, and reflects the beam of light onto the work surface at a plurality of different angular positions of the reflector following a path relative to the work surface and tracing out a line perpendicular to the rotational axis on the work surface;
- and
- controlling an amount of energy delivered by the light source to the work surface by increasing power to the light source in an amount equal to losses proportional to energy not absorbed by the work surface quantified by E0*cos(angular position), where angular position is the angle between the beam of light and a normal to the work surface, and where E0 is peak power at about the focal point of the light source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.