Control of Laser Droplet Generation from Metal Wire

In laser droplet generation from a metal wire a droplet is generated by laser heating of the wire-end. In the paper a problem of laser droplet sequence generation, which results in unsuccessful droplet detachment is considered. To solve this problem, a control system and strategy for laser droplet sequence generation are proposed. The control bases on in-process monitoring of the initial position and temperature of the wire-end are presented. The results show that by ensuring proper initial wire-end position and stationary wire-end temperature which can be influenced by laser pulse parameters, a reliable generation of a droplet sequence can be achieved.