Background Introduction
Under the strategic promotion of "Made in China 2025," China's traditional industrial manufacturing industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by automation, intelligence, informatization, and networking. With its outstanding adaptability to automation and digitalization, laser processing technology is increasingly in demand across industries such as automotive, shipbuilding, aerospace, steel, medical devices, and 3C electronics. Among these, the demand for laser-cutting equipment continues to grow. As laser equipment moves towards high-end applications, driven by the needs of 3C electronics and high-end equipment fields, the technical requirements for laser cutting control systems—known as the "brains" of laser cutting equipment—are becoming increasingly stringent.
In the actual production process of laser processing, "high precision, high efficiency, and fast speed" are the fundamental demands of modern laser cutting equipment. These demands are closely related to the performance and algorithms of the control system. The control system influences both production efficiency and workpiece quality. As the core controller of the laser cutting system, the industrial PC (IPC) is responsible for receiving and processing instructions from the CNC system and converting these instructions into specific cutting actions. By precisely controlling parameters such as the position, speed, and power of the laser beam, the IPC ensures efficient and precise cutting along predetermined paths and parameters.
A leading domestic company specializing in motion control systems has leveraged years of R&D, testing, and experimentation in the field of laser cutting to propose a high-flexibility laser cutting control system, significantly enhancing processing efficiency and quality for its customers. This solution was specifically optimized for bevel cutting systems in industries such as shipbuilding, steel structure construction, and heavy machinery, addressing technical demands for accuracy and efficiency.
APQ’s wall-mounted industrial computer IPC330D is a high-performance industrial PC specifically designed for a variety of industrial scenarios. Featuring an aluminum-alloy mold design, it ensures stable and reliable performance while offering excellent heat dissipation and structural durability. These advantages make it widely adopted in laser cutting control systems, providing robust and reliable performance support. In this case, the client utilized the IPC330D-H81L2 as the core control unit, achieving the following optimized outcomes:
- Enhanced stability, effectively reducing vibration issues during the cutting process.
- Error compensation, significantly improving cutting precision.
- Suspended cutting, enabling efficient material utilization and cost savings by supporting suspended-edge cutting.
Performance Features of APQ IPC330D:
- Processor Support: Compatible with Intel® 4th/6th to 9th Gen Core/Pentium/Celeron desktop CPUs.
- Data Processing Power: Capable of handling diverse edge computing tasks efficiently.
- Flexible Configuration: Supports standard ITX motherboards and 1U power supplies with optional adapter cards for two PCI or one PCIe X16 expansion.
- User-Friendly Design: Front panel switch design with power and storage status indicators.
- Versatile Installation: Supports multi-directional wall-mounted or desktop installation.
Advantages of IPC330D in Laser Cutting Control Systems:
- Motion Control: 4-axis motion control enables highly coordinated movements for precise and high-speed laser cutting.
- Data Collection: Captures various sensor data during the cutting process, including laser power, cutting speed, focal length, and cutting head position.
- Data Processing and Adjustment: Processes and analyzes data in real-time, allowing dynamic adjustment of cutting parameters to ensure quality and efficiency, as well as providing support for plane mechanical error compensation.
- Self-Operating Mechanisms: Equipped with APQ’s proprietary IPC Assistant and IPC Manager software for remote control and management, fault warning, data recording, and operational reporting to support system maintenance and optimization.
Recognizing that limited installation space is a common challenge in industrial settings for laser cutting equipment, APQ has proposed an upgraded replacement solution. The compact magazine-style intelligent controller AK5 replaces traditional wall-mounted industrial PCs. Paired with PCIe for expansion, the AK5 supports HDMI, DP, and VGA triple display outputs, two or four Intel® i350 Gigabit network interfaces with PoE, eight optically isolated digital inputs, and eight optically isolated digital outputs. It also features a built-in USB 2.0 Type-A port for easy installation of security dongles.
Advantages of the AK5 Solution:
- High-Performance Processor: Powered by the N97 processor, it ensures robust data processing and high-speed computation, meeting the demands of complex intelligent vision software.
- Compact Design: Small, fanless design saves installation space, reduces noise, and enhances overall reliability.
- Environmental Adaptability: Resistant to extreme temperatures, enabling stable operation in harsh industrial environments.
- Data Security: Equipped with supercapacitors and hard drive power protection to safeguard critical data during sudden power outages.
- Strong Communication Capabilities: Supports EtherCAT bus for high-speed, synchronized data transmission, ensuring real-time communication between external devices.
- Fault Diagnosis and Warning: Integrated with IPC Assistant and IPC Manager for real-time monitoring of operational status, identifying and addressing potential issues like disconnections or CPU overheating.
As manufacturing continues to evolve and technologies advance, high-flexibility laser cutting control systems are increasingly moving toward intelligence, efficiency, and precision. By integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, these systems can more intelligently identify and handle various cutting scenarios, further enhancing cutting quality and efficiency. Additionally, with the emergence of new materials and processes, high-flexibility laser cutting control systems must continuously update and upgrade to meet new cutting requirements and technological challenges.
APQ remains committed to providing stable and reliable industrial PCs for laser cutting systems, ensuring data collection and processing, expansion and integration, user interface interaction, and safety and stability. By supporting the long-term stable operation of laser cutting systems, APQ helps improve production efficiency and product quality, driving smarter industrial development.
If you're interested in our company and products, feel free to contact our overseas representative, Robin.
Email: yang.chen@apuqi.com
WhatsApp: +86 18351628738
Post time: Dec-20-2024