Design of gas circulation system in the high power fast axial flow CO 2 laser

Abstract

Increasing the output power of the fast axial flow CO₂ laser requires a proportional growth of the mass flow with the laser power for convective cooling of the active laser medium. The previous research on high power CO₂ laser was mostly focused on gas discharge. However, little attention was focused on the gas circulation system, which is also an essential technology to ensure the long time stable work of the high power fast axial flow CO₂ laser. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of the 7 KW fast axial flow CO₂ laser, expounded the important role of the gas circulation system, and then analyzed the parameters, the structure and the design of the system. After that, this paper compared various types of blowers and heat exchangers, chose magnetic levitation radial turbine blower and rectangle finned heat exchanger, in light of the prominent performance and compact structure. Further more, this paper also supplied the methods of the blower and heat exchanger selection and design. The results indicate that the magnetic levitation radial turbine blower and rectangle finned heat exchanger which have been chosen are suitable to the 7 kW fast axial flow CO₂ laser.