The arrival of cold air announced the arrival of winter. In November and February, most regions across the country felt cold obviously. Cold weather will have a certain impact on laser cutting machine equipment. It is a commonplace thing to do well in winter in preventing the laser cutting machine from freezing. Risk avoidance is mainly carried out from the following aspects. Here is a brief introduction, We must pay attention to the following three key points:

1. Since the laser cutting machine uses water as the cooling medium, the operating ambient temperature of the laser should be above 5 ℃.

2. In winter, if there is no heating in the workshop, or the ambient temperature may be lower than 5 ℃. If the laser does not work at night or on weekends, the machine tool can still be turned on. In this way, the cooling water is still in circulation and will not freeze.

3. If your factory or workshop has a long holiday and the machine tool is not running during the holiday period. Be sure to pay attention to the thermal insulation treatment of the machine tool in winter. The water in the chiller, laser and laser cutting head must be drained to prevent the machine tool from being damaged due to icing.

The following are some technical data and solutions provided by REDSAIL Laser for antifreeze

1、 Basic principles and methods of antifreeze

All liquids have a "freezing point". When the liquid temperature is lower than this "freezing point", it will solidify to form a solid, while the volume of deionized water or purified water will become larger during the solidification process, which will "support" the pipeline and sealing connection of the water cooling system and cause damage. In order to avoid damage to the laser, output head and water cooler caused by solidification of cooling liquid, there are three solutions:

Scheme I: If there is no power failure in the local area, the water cooler will not be shut down at night to ensure that the coolant is in circulation and the temperature is not lower than the freezing point.

Scheme II: drain the cooling liquid in the laser, laser output head and water cooler after use every day.

Scheme 3 uses antifreeze as coolant.

2、 The cooling water emptying method and pipeline design scheme are as follows:

Open the drain valve of the chiller to drain all the water. Take out the filter element for drainage, because this part of water cannot be drained to prevent the shell from being damaged by icing. Some water that is not easy to discharge shall be blown off with compressed air to prevent water from flowing back into the laser and damaging the precision sensor inside the laser. All water valves must be closed.

Finally, turn over the drain of the water cooler to drain the remaining water in the final water tank.

Note: All cooling water in the laser, laser output surface, cutting head and water cooler must be drained clean to effectively maintain the whole set of water cooling pipeline and related devices!

3、 Use antifreeze for antifreeze

When the operating environment is often powered off and does not have the conditions to drain the coolant every day, antifreeze must be used. The base liquid of antifreeze is generally composed of alcohol and water, which requires high boiling point and flash point, specific heat and conduction

Dry, low temperature viscosity, not easy to bubble, not corrosive to metal parts, rubber hoses, etc. When selecting or preparing antifreeze, its freezing point should be 5 ℃ lower than the minimum temperature of the operating environment.

1. Use ethanol for short-term antifreeze:

If the power is cut off and the cooling water cannot be drained, the temporary short-term antifreeze is required, and ethanol (alcohol) can be added to deionized or purified water. The increase cannot exceed 40% of the water tank volume because of the corrosion of ethanol

It is highly corrosive to grease, paint, rubber parts and metal, so it cannot be used for a long time. It must be emptied within a week and the cooling pipeline must be cleaned with purified water or deionized water. If there are still antifreeze requirements, special antifreeze must be selected.

2. Use special antifreeze of professional brand:

CLARIANT brand is recommended. There are two types of antifreeze suitable for laser system:

1) Antifrogen? N Glycol water type

2) Antifrogen? L Propylene glycol water type

Note: Any antifreeze cannot completely replace deionized water and cannot be used for a long time all year round. After winter, the pipeline must be cleaned with deionized water or purified water, and the use of deionized water or purified water as coolant must be resumed.

The above is the general knowledge we should pay attention to about the antifreeze operation of metal optical fiber laser cutting machine in winter. Only when we are familiar with the antifreeze operation, can we better maintain our laser cutting machine equipment. Finally, I wish you a prosperous business and a wide range of financial resources!