Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Methods of cooling laser tubes

Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby dren.dk » Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:39 pm

I've been lucky enough to buy a completely new 80W sealed laser tube locally, being Chinese and second hand there is less than a trace of documentation, so I have no hard data on how to cool it.

I'm hoping someone here can recognize the type and point me at the datasheet:
https://plus.google.com/105359218037313 ... FgYBEUwebb

... or tell me the data for your tube:
* Wattage
* Maximum outlet temperature
* Maximum temperature difference between inlet and outlet
* Minimum water flow.

My current thinking is that the tube is that I need to get rid of around 800 Watt while keeping the temperature difference down to a maximum of 30 deg C when moving at least 4 liters per minute, but getting 800W out of water is hard when the temperature difference between air (22 deg C) and the water is so low.
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby macona » Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:53 am

Pretty much all the commercial vendors that sell laser cutters with the 80 watt tube require you to use a chiller. You could probably get away with a large radiator and pump like a tig torch cooler. A bucket and pump is not going to cut it here. This is the same as what came with the one we had:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Industrial- ... 899wt_1165
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby gene » Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:31 pm

from what i'm seeing, heat produced is 4x the laser wattage. If you want to go cheaper for a chiller to cool, you could use an old large water fountain that you have modified and set the temperature to chill to just above room temperature. That should be able to exhaust the heat
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby J45on » Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:39 pm

Have a look at the bottom of this post viewtopic.php?f=16&t=694&p=5528&hilit=chiller#p5528
It shows the inside of a chiller
It is little more than a small coolant tank usually around 9 litres ,pump, metal coil and a fan
I recon you will be fine with the tried and tested 5 gallon/or 20 litre bucket and a pond pump if it gets warm add a radiator
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby macona » Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:18 am

Thats definitely not the one we had. The one we had you could hear the compressor. Plus it dropped the coolant considerably below room temp.
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby bdring » Fri Oct 14, 2011 12:14 pm

Just a reminder: The 2.x laser should not be cooled with water below room temperature. Condensation could be a problem. Most chillers people are talking about here don't really do that though.
Bart
"If you didn't build it, you will never own it."
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby trwalters001 » Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:35 pm

Hi All,

Here's another data point...

I was doing a pretty big cutting job with my 60W tube from Full Spectrum. I was running full power for at least an hour. My cooling system was a pump and reservoir. The reservoir holds ~4x the laser tube cooling volume. I hadn't been paying attention to the temperature (stoopid). After the hour of cutting, I said "Wonder how hot the cooling water is?" and felt the tubing exiting the laser. It was between warm and hot. A temperature of 95F feels neither hot or cold to the touch, so I know it was up around 120F. The laser power seemed fine (I was cutting 3mm acrylic). But - when I touched the tubing coming from the laser, I noticed that the front-mirror cooling piece HAD SEPARATED FROM THE TUBE! Apparently, the extra heat softened the adhesive enough for it to let go. I let the system cool down and reattached the piece to the front of the tube. I then added a fan and radiator to the system. I haven't had another big job, but everything is working well. Dodged a bullet this time...

Tim
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby andrewblanejr » Fri Oct 14, 2011 8:56 pm

trwalters001,

it sounds like your reservoir is smaller than a 5 gallon bucket? is that true?

/Andrew
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby educa » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:21 am

@trwalters01 & j45on

What kind of radiator would you add then?

I am trying to design a gool cooling for my 40 watt laser tube, possibly strong enough for a 60watt tube too.


Could I use a watercooling setup used to cool computer processors ?

They sell nie pumps and radiators for that.

Any idea ?


Kind regards,

Bart
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Re: Sealed CO2 laser cooling specs

Postby awesomenesser » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:57 am

educa wrote:@trwalters01 & j45on
What kind of radiator would you add then?
I am trying to design a gool cooling for my 40 watt laser tube, possibly strong enough for a 60watt tube too.
Could I use a watercooling setup used to cool computer processors ?
They sell nie pumps and radiators for that.
Any idea ?
Bart


I am using a pc liquid cooling system for my 40 watt laser. I have a swiftech pump and a dual 120mm radiator. I stuck a temp probe in the reservoir and the temperature topped out at about 28 degrees Celsius and this was during a multiple hour run. I would think the dual 120mm radiator would work out fine for the 60 watt laser but if you want to be safe you could get a triple radiator. PC cooling systems can be pricey but I already had the parts from a old computer, you could use a dirt bike radiator if you want to save money. Take a look at my buildlog if you would like to see how I fit the system in my laser.

My buildlog http://www.buildlog.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=667&start=20
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