A system for LAM that uses a scalable array of individually controllable laser beams that are generated by a fiber array system to process materials into an object using a powder bed, wire feed, or direct deposition. The adaptive control of individual beams may include beam power, focal spot width, centroid position, scanning orientation, amplitude and frequency, piston phase and polarization states of individual beams. These characteristics can be independently adjusted to control LAM characteristics including microstructure, mechanical and surface quality characteristics. The system may also have a set of material sensors that gather information on a material and environment immediately before, during, and immediately after processing. This information can be used to adapt the material processing routine to improve LAM productivity and parts quality. The system also supports a variety of beam shaping methods that improve the quality of produced objects or mitigate processing issues.

A method for butt-welding of sheet metal, especially bodywork in the motor vehicle industry, where at least two flat workpieces with any desired contours are fed to a machining process. In a first sub-process, the workpieces are positioned in relation to one another forming a minimal gap and secured in place with holding means. In another sub-process, the position and width of the gap are measured continuously immediately before welding together and the measurements are used to control a laser welding head. The laser welding head is fit with a rotatable twin-spot lens, where the relative alignment of a main spot to an auxiliary spot is controlled depending on the absolute position of the gap and the gap width during the welding process while the processing lens of the laser welding head is rotated around the laser beam axis with the angle of rotation alpha.

An apparatus and method for detecting edges or for seam tracking when machining workpieces by means of a laser beam, e.g. joining or cutting. The present invention provides an apparatus for seam tracking of the process in the laser material processing, comprising at least two separate illumination elements, each emitting differently polarized light and a polarization camera.

According to an embodiment, an object tracking device in a welding process tracks and outputs a predetermined object in a welding image. The object tracking device comprises a camera device capturing the welding image including a base material and a welding torch for welding the base material, a controller receiving a plurality of camera control parameter-varied images from the camera device, identifying the predetermined object in the received images, and generating an object tracking image, the plurality of camera control parameter-varied images having varied camera control parameters of the camera device, and an output device outputting the welding image captured by the camera device, the plurality of images received by the controller, or the object tracking image generated by the controller.

According to an embodiment, an object tracking device in a welding process tracks and outputs a predetermined object in a welding image. The object tracking device comprises a camera device capturing the welding image including a base material and a welding torch for welding the base material, a controller receiving a plurality of camera control parameter-varied images from the camera device, identifying the predetermined object in the received images, and generating an object tracking image, the plurality of camera control parameter-varied images having varied camera control parameters of the camera device, and an output device outputting the welding image captured by the camera device, the plurality of images received by the controller, or the object tracking image generated by the controller.

The invention pertains to a laser machining system includes first deflection optics, second deflection optics, and a coupling device. The first deflection optics deflect a machining laser beam in two directions in space. The second deflection optics deflect a measuring beam in two directions in space independently of the machining laser beam. The coupling device is arranged in a beam path of the machining laser beam and couples the measuring beam into the beam path of the machining laser beam.

The invention pertains to a laser machining system includes first deflection optics, second deflection optics, and a coupling device. The first deflection optics deflect a machining laser beam in two directions in space. The second deflection optics deflect a measuring beam in two directions in space independently of the machining laser beam. The coupling device is arranged in a beam path of the machining laser beam and couples the measuring beam into the beam path of the machining laser beam.

A system that uses a scalable array of individually controllable laser beams that are generated by a fiber array system to process materials into an object. The adaptive control of individual beams may include beam power, focal spot width, centroid position, scanning orientation, amplitude and frequency, piston phase and polarization states of individual beams. Laser beam arrays may be arranged in a two dimensional cluster and configured to provide a pre-defined spatiotemporal laser power density distribution, or may be arranged linearly and configured to provide oscillating focal spots along a wide processing line. These systems may also have a set of material sensors that gather information on a material and environment immediately before, during, and immediately after processing, or a set of thermal management modules that pre-heat and post-heat material to control thermal gradient, or both.

The invention relates to a method for monitoring a joining seam, in particular during joining by means of a laser beam, wherein in the processing direction before a processing point a joining site is measured in order to detect the position and geometry thereof, at least one position of a joining seam is determined from the position of the joining point, and in the processing direction after the processing point the joining seam is measured in order to detect the geometry thereof at the determined position. The invention further relates to a device for carrying out said method and to a laser processing head equipped with such a device.

A method that makes it possible to produce actual cutting contours on tubes with only rough tolerances, to which contours others of the tubes can be joined and welded, wherein, as a result of the actual cutting contours being modified, the rough shape tolerance of the tubes does not enter the tolerance chain, or enters the latter only a little, for the tubes to be fully welded to form a tubular frame. It also allows the automated reception of only pre-oriented tubes by a gripping arm and the infeed thereof to a laser cutting device.