SPI Lasers Doubles 'Power And Control' To Its Customers With Latest Fiber Lasers
31 July 2008, Southampton, UK, SPI Lasers, a leading designer and manufacturer of fiber lasers, today announced that its latest products will double in power and control capability, enabling customers to cut and weld materials with faster process times and with more advanced control options than ever before.
SPI has increased its air-cooled lasers from 100 to 200W power and water cooled from
200 to 400W power, whilst also creating unique laser control functions offering direct
application benefits across a wide range of laser machining applications.
"The power, versatility and control capabilities of SPI's R4 Platform Products make
them the most advanced high power fiber lasers on the market today, enabling
ground breaking process improvements." said Andy Appleyard, Product Line Manager
for High Power Laser Systems.
New features on the R4 laser platform include XPR (Extended Performance Range)
and PSE (Pulse Shape Equalization). These new features build upon SPI's traditional
market leading performance in CW laser stability and superior modulation rate (CW
to 100KHz). XPR allows a high power laser to be switched to operate at average
powers down to <1% of the maximum rated output power, a factor of ten
improvement over SPI's closest competitors. The PSE feature overcomes the
traditional laser problem of first pulse over or under-shoot. PSE ensures the first
pulse is as useable as the any other in the pulse train.
SPI's trials in their US applications laboratory and also at advance customer sites
indicate significant process improvements in a number of key cutting, welding and
engraving laser applications. The SPI design team set out to enable their global
customer base to achieve lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and a faster return on
investment, something that manufacturing industry strives for in all sectors. We
envisage the new features becoming fundamental to many applications beyond
straight forward cutting or welding and the initial demand that we are seeing is
suggesting that our customers are as convinced as we are.
David Parker, Chief Executive Officer of SPI Lasers, welcomed the releases; "It is
clear that the fiber laser is now an accepted tool of choice in many applications. The
400W laser enables SPI to participate in a wide number of new fields, notably in the
welding arena. The new features have come about as a direct response to customer
feedback. They are designed to further enhance end user product quality and
processing yields, the improvement of which is a key focus area for our customers
especially in the prevailing economic situation."
A proof of concept and try before you buy program can be found by clicking on the
SPI web site at www.spilasers.com and registering your details on the 'Try before
you buy' page.
For further product information or to request a sales person to call you,
go to www.spilasers.com
SPI Lasers is a leading designer and manufacturer of optical fiber-based lasers that
are currently used in a wide range of industries. The current product family is used
to mark, weld, and cut materials used in the manufacture of a range of products.
The platform technology being developed to raise laser power levels for use in the
macro manufacturing sectors is expected further to widen the markets served by SPI
Lasers to include aerospace, automotive and white goods manufacture.
Among new markets in prospect, as higher-power lasers are deployed, is defence,
and SPI Lasers is currently involved in this sector through contracted development
work with a number of companies and government agencies.
SPI Lasers has a strong network of international distributors. In Europe the
international distributor is BFI Optilas, one of the region's largest distributors of
specialist products in the electronics and photonics markets. Outside Europe, SPI
Lasers' products are distributed on an exclusive basis in China, India, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Founded in 2000 on technology developed by the University of Southampton's
Optoelectronics Research Centre, the business is headquartered in Southampton,
United Kingdom.
www.spilasers.com www.spilasers.de www.spilasers-china.cn
For further information:
SPI Lasers plc
David Parker, President and Chief Executive Tel: +44 (0) 1489 779 696
david.parker@spilasers.com
David Holloway, Chief Financial Officer
david.holloway@spilasers.com www.spilasers.com
Media enquiries:
SPI Lasers
PR & Marketing Tel: +44 (0) 1489 774 515
PR@spilasers.com www.spilasers.com
