Product

Ball and Roller Optics for foils, textiles, and thin plates

March 22, 2022

ProByLas comprehensive technology has also considered those plastic applications where the size, weight, and complexity to clamp the material during welding is impossible or simply the cost for tooling is price prohibited. The thought behind the Ball and Roller Optic development was a simple and effective concept to address these applications and deliver laser energy simultaneously.

Compressed air pushing a quartz sphere from a cylindrical shaft lets it roll over the material to provide the necessary clamping in every point to weld. At the same time, this quartz sphere or Ball acts as a lens to focus the laser energy on that region. When the Ball is not in contact with the material, it acts as a plug to prevent compressed air from leaking at the bottom of the shaft.

A similar concept in mind but with the idea to increase the width of the weld seam created allowed adding a Roller Optic to our portfolio.

Both optics are designed to operate in low and high-scale production environments. Depending on the application’s needs, the material can be fed at a certain speed between a fixed optic and an anvil for continuous operation. Contrary, the Ball and Roller Optic can be mounted onto an X-Y servo control inside our Turnkey M and Turnkey S welding systems for non-continuous operation. At the same time, the material lays down on a plate or fixture. For custom machine integration, both can also be mounted on a six-axis robot or CNC large table for 3D or 2D applications, respectively. Typically, these optics are used with foils, technical textiles, films, and thin plates.