Mechatronic System for Monitoring and Controlling the Direction of Propagation of the Laser Beam

Abstract

This paper presents design and test of a system for alignment monitoring and automatic control of a laser beam direction of propagation. A laser beam is aligned when the direction of propagation passes through two points defined in irises planes $(\mathrm{O}_{1}(\mathrm{x}1,\ \mathrm{y}_{1}),\ \mathrm{O}_{2}(\mathrm{x}2,\ \mathrm{y}_{2}))$, separated by an arbitrary distance, and having the same height from the working plane (Oi(yi) $=\mathrm{O}_{2}(\mathrm{y}_{2})$). The method of automatic laser beam alignment is based on detection of changes in position by using a CCD camera and automatic repositioning. By integrating actuators in the kinematic mounts, is achieved the automatic orientation of the beam through the center of two coordinates defined by the references Oi and O2. The coordinates of points Oi and O2 in the alignment system are sent to the CCD camera by generating two reflections using laser beam splitters. The position changes detected by the CCD camera are processed by the controller and converted into control pulses for the execution elements that perform the automatic orientation of the beam through the points O1, O2.