SOBY's new Bytronic Bysmart 10kW fiber laser cuts with lightning speed and reduces the annual power consumption associated with laser cutting by approx. 100,000 kWh. It can do this because it uses fiber technology, which, unlike classic CO2 technology, is not associated with enormous energy consumption.
The new fiber laser at SOBY can do something that the classic CO2 lasers are not able to: It is more energy efficient and significantly faster. The cutting speed is up to 10 times the speed that the previous installation could achieve. Therefore, the new laser system can deliver much faster and help to strengthen the short reaction time, which SØBY is already proud of. Finally, the fiber laser is more automatic than the previous laser cutter, and this results in a better product in many parameters.
Fiberteknologi giver enorme energibesparelser
John Søndergaard, who operates the laser cutters at SØBY, says that the new plant leads to enormous energy savings. The explanation is that the previous CO2-based laser system in completely classic operation only used approx. 8% of the supplied energy to do the cutting. The large energy loss occurs because CO2 technology cuts by creating a beam in the resonator, which must use energy-heavy turbos to accelerate the light particles. The light is sent through the system via mirrors to reach the laser head. The mirrors must be cooled down considerably to avoid being damaged by the large amount of heat generated by the light beams, which leads to a very large loss of energy.
Bytronic Bysmart 10kW fiber laser saves the production at SOBY approx. 100,000 kWh per year on electricity alone, because it replaces CO2 technology with fiber technology. Here, the energy is carried through fiber optic cables, which are no thicker than a strand of hair. The energy waste will be minimal, and therefore the installation can use as much as 94% of the supplied energy to cut. “It is a staggering improvement in energy consumption, which also weighed heavily in the consideration of acquiring the plant”, explains John.
Lightning-fast processing and overall production optimization
The new fiber laser easily processes several types of materials and thicknesses at an impressive speed. For 1 mm galvanized sheet, the previous laser cutter could process 7 meters per minute, while the new fiber laser processes 74 meters per minute. John Søndergaard says that it goes so quickly that before you have time to have a look into it, it is finished.
In addition, the rest of the production is relieved. The new fiber laser, for example, cuts black plate up to 25mm, stainless plate up to 30mm and galvanized plate up to 5mm as easily as butter. The former laser cutter processed galvanized sheet up to 3mm, and this meant that sheets up to 5mm had to be sent on to the punching department.
"The punches could easily handle the task, but it wore the machinery down hard. The new fiber laser can cut 5mm galvanized sheet without load, and this means that punching equipment can now be relieved, less wear occurs, and they are available for processing materials on which they perform best", he concludes.
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