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Galvanometer (Marking) Systems
- Multi
Position Marker (MPM)
 Laser
Galvo technology to continuously
laser mark
material, move the finished piece out and at the same time move the
next piece into the marking area. We have achieved speeds thought to
be impossible a few years ago.
Galvo Cutting and Marking (GCM)
 Laser
Galvo technology to cut/mark
material, move the finished piece out and move the next piece into the
processing area.
What took over 4 minutes to cut on a competitors machine, the GCM did it
in 78 seconds.
The
galvanometer (often abbreviated to "galvo") is a current-sensitive
device that operates in a similar manner to an analogue meter.
In an analogue meter, a small coil of wire is wound around a
lightweight aluminum bobbin that is suspended in the gap of a
permanent magnetic field by means of pivots. The coil has a thin
needle attached which extends over an indicating face that is the part
of the meter you see.
When electrical energy is applied to the coil, it develops a
magnetic field that will act against the field in the gap causing the
coil to move the indicating needle proportionally to the current
applied. Some meters are designed to be at rest at one end of the
scale (such as analogue VU meters), while others are at rest in the
centre of the scale (an analogue FM tuning indicator for example).
The first type of meter is a unipolar device as it reacts only to
an increase in the current applied; while the second type of meter is
a bipolar device as it reacts not only to the current applied, but
also the polarity of the current. When the signal is negative, the
indicating needle moves in one direction away from its central
position: when the signal is positive, it moves in the opposite
direction away from its central position.
Unfortunately meter movements are too small, to slow, and to
delicate to allow us to attach a mirror and control laser beam
deflection. We must use a more rugged type of device, a scanning type
galvanometer. Galvos can be thought of as very high speed, current
sensitive, limited rotation electrical motors. The amount of rotation
(within the rotational limits of the galvo) is determined by the
amount of current applied; with the direction of the limited rotation
controlled by the polarity of the current applied. Galvos (scanners)
are a current-sensitive bipolar device that are at rest in the centre
of their limited rotation.
Usage Note:
The words galvo or galvanometer
refers to the basic galvanometer itself, without an attached mirror.
Scanner refers to a galvanometer that has a mirror attached to it such
that it can deflect a laser beam by applying appropriate control
signals.
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