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Laser World of Photonics 2019

Megatrends in Munich

E-mobility and autonomous driving will be hot topics at Laser World of Photonics in Munich, from 24 to 27 June

This year’s Laser World of Photonics will have a particular focus on electro-mobility and autonomous driving, two global megatrends that are expected to grow dramatically over the coming decade.

The laser and imaging technology on show at this year’s exhibition will play a crucial role in breaking into these mass markets, particularly in the efficient mass production of electric vehicles, as well as enabling improved safety via smart sensors. 

More than 33,000 visitors are expected at this year's show in Munich

Market observers anticipate that by 2025, one in every four new cars worldwide will be electric-propelled. And the forecasts for 2030 are for an electro-mobility market share of between 50 and 75 per cent.

Laser technology provides the necessary accuracy and flexibility for the production of electric vehicles, from the welding of hairpins and the cutting of electrical sheets for electric motors, to the welding of connections in battery cells and the joining of dissimilar materials in lightweight vehicle designs.

Application panels

A dedicated application panel: ‘No E-Mobility without Laser Technology’ has been added to the range of presentations this year. The new panel will take place on Tuesday 25 June from 3 to 5.20pm in hall A3, and will be chaired by Dr Hans-Joachim Krauß, of Bayerisches Laserzentrum, Dr Günter Ambrosy, of Trumpf, and Dr Alexander Olowinsky, of the Fraunhofer Institute for Lasertechnology ILT. The pre-existing Lasers in Manufacturing (LiM 2019) section of the Laser World of Photonics Congress – run in parallel with the trade show – will also include presentations on how lasers can be used to facilitate e-mobility. Other laser materials processing application panels also taking place in hall A3, include:

  • Modelling and Simulation of Laser Material Processes (Monday 24 June, 10am to 12.20pm)
  • Perspectives and challenges for applications with Ultrashort Pulsed Lasers (Monday 24 June, 2.40 to 5pm)
  • Smart Production of Metallic Parts by Additive Manufacturing (Wednesday 26 June, 10am to 12.20pm)
  • Machine Intelligence and the Role of Photonics (Wednesday 26 June, 3 to 5.20pm)
  • Lasers in Microelectronics: The Future is digital (Thursday 27 June, 10am to 12.20pm)

Special show: Photonics in Production

Topics including battery manufacturing and laser beam welding with blue light (more on page 24)  – a new trend in laser processing identified to be especially suited to the field of e-mobility – will be showcased at the ‘Photonics in Production’ exhibit in hall A3, at booth 251.

Here, 300m2 of floor space will be dedicated to providing a comprehensive view into current trends and research findings in the field of laser material processing. Two live demonstrations will be given at the exhibit, one on high-efficiency welding with blue light, and the other on measuring welding depths using OCT and machine learning technologies. 

Guided tours

This year the guided tours – introduced in 2017 – will be based on the topics discussed in the applications panels. Trade fair visitors will be accompanied by experts from established research institutions on the selected topics. Tours are approximately two hours long and will begin at the Photonics in Production exhibit. 

The topics of the upcoming tours, which require advanced registration, are: 

  • Inline process monitoring of laser welding processes (Tuesday 25 June, 9.30am)
  • Guidance and shaping of high power laser radiation (Tuesday 25 June, 1.30pm)
  • Current trends in laser drilling (Wednesday 26 June, 10am)
  • Laser beam welding using visible laser radiation (Wednesday 26 June, 2pm)

Encouraging young talent

The trade fair continues to support the relationship between industry and academia, with activities such as the Makeathon, which made its debut in 2017. Around 80 to 100 students – from Germany and abroad – have the chance to demonstrate their photonics expertise by developing innovative solutions using the technology over a 24-hour period. The solutions are then presented.

Katja Stolle, exhibition director for the trade fair, said this event has been moved to a more central location in its exhibition hall this year, further highlighting the event and encouraging more attendees to stop by and learn about the projects undertaken by the students.

The organisers of the trade fair are also encouraging students to visit exhibition booths in greater numbers, with a new ‘QR Rally’, where certain exhibition stands throughout the halls will feature a scannable QR code that students can capture with their smartphones.

The code will then lead them to a set of questions that they can answer and discuss with exhibitors. 

Both the Makeathon and the ever-growing Start-Up Pavilion, which offers discounted exhibitor rates for new companies looking to make their market debut, will be located in hall B2.

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Featured exhibitor: Ophir

Hall A2, Booth 209

Automated Beam Profiling for Manufacturing

Measure critical beam parameters in industrial environments at high power levels with Ophir BeamWatch Integrated. The solution was developed for use in automated production lines and is based on Ophir’s non-contact laser measurement technology. BeamWatch Integrated accurately captures and analyses focal spot data of industrial lasers for wavelengths from 980 to 1,080nm. The system provides real-time measurements of focused laser beams with a power density that is too high for traditional measurement devices. Because there is no contact with the focused beam, there is no wear on the instrument, making it ideal for 24/7 use in production environments. Beam parameters measured include focus spot width and location, focal shift, centroid, M2, divergence, beam parameter product, Rayleigh length, beam tilt angle and absolute power.

  • Real-time measurement
  • Focal shift detection
  • Laser measurement during loading/unloading
  • Power meter with integrated Profinet interfaces
  • Limit values can be set to trigger actions
  • All parameters are analysed and stored

More information: 

www.ophiropt.com/photonics

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Featured exhibitor: 3D-Micromac

Hall A2, Booth 129

Selective Laser Annealing System for Semiconductor, Power Device and MEMS Manufacturing

3D-Micromac will be exhibiting its new microPRO laser annealing system, designed to enable several key process steps in semiconductor, power device and MEMS manufacturing, such as:

  • Ohmic contact formation in silicon carbide (SiC) power devices to improve resistance
  • Giant magneto resistive (GMR) and tunneling magneto resistive (TMR) sensor manufacturing
  • Dopant activation for insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), as well as activation of backside-illuminated CMOS image sensors.

The system combines a state-of-the-art laser optic module with 3D-Micromac’s modular semiconductor manufacturing platform and provides selective annealing in a versatile system.

The microPRO features a line scan option for vertical selective annealing and a step-and-repeat spot option for horizontal selective annealing, as well as three optional laser wavelengths.

microPRO provides the following benefits:

  • High precision, repeatability and throughput
  • Excellent selectivity to different substrates and films
  • Very high energy homogeneity
  • Precise process monitoring 
  • Multiple options for pulse length, pulse energy and overlap

More information:

www.3d-micromac.com

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Featured exhibitor: Newson

Hall A3, Booth 413

Smart deflectors for adaptable steering

Newson will be showcasing its Smart Deflectors for adaptable steering of the laser beam. The Smart Deflector can be fitted with 10, 15, 20 or 30mm aperture mirrors and offers a fully-integrated rotational servo system. Available angular ranges are 800, 640 and 180mrad.

Other features of the Smart Deflector include: Single coaxial SDP (shared data power) connection; 20 bit set point control; low drift (typical 12μrad per eight hours); low temperature coefficient (typically 25ppm/°K); moving coil drive with low inductance for superior speed; fully digital H-bridge for single supply (12VDC) operation at maximum efficiency; spring preloaded hybrid bearing system for long life time; and field replaceable mirrors and auto tune support.

The firm will also be exhibiting its CUA32 control card, a six-axis numerical control system that can steers up to three Smart Deflectors and up to three stepper drivers.

Features of the CUA32 control card include: full 3D hybrid marking support; control of up to 17 digital and four analogue IO’s; direct AC (110-240 V) or DC (24-48V) power connection; up to eight systems can be interconnected as master/slave; USB and Ethernet for host connection; Ethernet, CAN and UART for system integration; DIN rail mountable; modular internal construction for easy customisation; application interface through G-code or DLL; and configuration software for activation of advanced features.

More information: 

www.newson.be

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Read more about:

E-mobility, Fuel cells, Batteries, Welding

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