Development of a 5kW blue laser that produces the world's highest-level brightness from optical fiber

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Head Office: 2-6-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideya Moridaira; hereafter “Furukawa Electric”) and Nichia Corporation (Head Office: 491 Oka, Kaminaka-cho, Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture; President: Hiroyoshi Ogawa; hereafter “Nichia”) have jointly developed a blue LDM with an output of 800W, which is over 1.5 times higher than the conventional product. By incorporating this blue LDM into our laser system, Furukawa Electric has achieved an output of 5kW, the world's highest level of brightness from optical fiber.

Since the launch of the Blue-IR Hybrid Laser BRACE®X in January 2022 that has a blue LDM developed in collaboration with Nichia, the Furukawa Electric lineup has been strengthened by achieving the industry's highest level^(note) of spatter-less processing for 5 mm-thick copper and the industry's first^(note) high-speed, residue-free stripping of magnet wire. As the electrification of mobility accelerates, there is a growing demand for high-power blue laser solutions that contribute to improved efficiency in the production processes of electric axles, etc., which are key components of electric vehicles (xEVs).

Furukawa Electric and Nichia have jointly developed a blue LDM with an output of 800W (core diameter: 110μm), which is more than 1.5 times higher than the conventional product. Furthermore, Furukawa Electric has achieved an output of 5kW (core diameter: 300μm), the world's highest level of brightness and more than double the output of our existing product, by combining the optical output from the optical fibers into a single optical fiber with a combiner. Since the laser beam is emitted from a single optical fiber, it has high affinity with optical systems such as the galvanometer scanner, which simplifies the manufacturing equipment configuration and achieves high-speed processing during the manufacture. This laser expands the range of spatter-less processes and can reduce the welding time for 4mm-thick copper to one third of the conventional welding time. Meanwhile, the improved output of the blue laser also enables it to be used for welding on its own; for example, it reduces the welding time for xEV magnet wires by about 20% compared to the conventional hybrid laser system. Such a reduction in welding time will lead to improved manufacturing productivity for customers. Processing experiments using the blue laser can be conducted at the Laser Application Laboratory in Japan.

Furukawa Electric and Nichia Form a Business Alliance in Core Technology (Laser Processing) Supporting the Production of Mobility Electrification

Starting Sales of the “BRACE™ X” Blue-IR Hybrid Laser with a 1kW blue laser