Minimization of a CW CO2 Laser Output Ripple by using High Frequency Resonance Phenomena

In a conventional DC power supply used for CO2 laser, the circuit elements such as a rectifier bridge, a current-limiting resistor, a high voltage switch, energy storage capacitors ans a high-voltage isolation transformer using high turn ratio are necessary. Consequently, those supplies are expensive and require a large space. Thus, laser resonator and power supply should be optimally designed. In this paper, we propose a new power supply using high frequency resonance phenomena for CW(Continuous wave) CO2 laser (maximum output of 23W with discharge length of 450mm). It consists of a transformer including leakage inductance, magnetizing inductance and half-bridge converter, a three-stage Cockcroft-Walton and PFC(Power factor correction) circuit. The output ripple voltage can be controlled the minimum of 0.24% under the high frequency switching of 231kHz. Furthermore, the output efficiency was improved to 16.4% and the laser output stability of about 5.6% was obtained in this laser system.