What are the main functions of the ultrafast laser control card

Ultra fast laser refers to a laser with a very short pulse width. Compared to ordinary laser, ultra fast laser has a smaller thermal impact on the material due to its short pulse width, and the deformation generated can be almost ignored. Therefore, it can achieve higher precision laser processing. At present, the application of ultrafast lasers is mainly concentrated in high-end processing fields, including scientific research, medical devices, material processing, and so on.

The operation of CNC equipment requires a control system, and ultrafast lasers are usually controlled using motion control cards. Due to the square shape of the motion control card, it is commonly referred to as an ultrafast laser control card in the industry. The ultrafast laser control card can be connected to a computer or run offline. Operators can operate the laser equipment for processing by entering instructions into the control card.
The main functions of the ultrafast laser control card are as follows:

1. Laser control
Laser control is one of the main functions of the laser control card, including starting and stopping the laser, increasing and decreasing laser power, adjusting laser frequency and position, etc. Due to the fact that the output frequency, pulse width, and change speed of ultrafast lasers are faster than ordinary lasers, ultrafast laser control cards require higher requirements for chips and algorithms.

2. Motion control
Motion control is another main function of the laser control card, which controls the rotation of the motor by releasing pulse signals, thereby achieving control of the up, down, left, right movement of the motion axis. Due to the fact that ultrafast lasers are commonly used in high-end machining fields, more advanced algorithms need to be adapted in motion control to ensure that the motion axis does not deviate during high-speed movement.

3. File management
Laser equipment needs to be processed according to the design graphics, so the control card must have the function of receiving graphic files. The ultrafast laser control card often comes with a dedicated USB interface for receiving external files. If paired with a computer, it can also be directly transferred to the control card through the computer.

4. Graphics processing
After the designed images are fed into the control system, adjustments may need to be made to the processing, including adjustments to the graphic structure as well as micro connections, notches, merged line segments, etc. added to the processing plan. In addition to graphic processing, laser control cards generally have the function of arranging processing tasks, setting parameters such as processing times, duration, and cycles.

5. Security alarm
The safety alarm function can be divided into two categories. One is the alarm function during production and processing, mainly used to prevent situations such as collision of the moving shaft, overheating of the laser, sensor failure, etc. The second is the safety alarm of supporting components. After connecting to external IO, the ultrafast laser control card can monitor the operation of external equipment such as chillers and gas cylinders.