Laser intensity as a basis for the design of passive laser safety barriers-a dangerous approach

Modern laser beam sources provide radiation with high output power and brilliance. Additionally, innovative laser system technology enables the deflection of the laser into every direction. These developments depict new aspects in laser safety. On the one hand, there is no standard design approach for laser safety barriers and, on the other hand, no practical database of resulting protection times is available. A prototype test rig was built up, which allows the determination of the protection time of different passive safety barriers. By experimental investigations, a process model for single steel sheets was established, which provides a relation between the applied process parameters and the protection time of the safety barrier. Within the conducted investigations, the laser power and the spot diameter were varied, whereas former investigations only considered the total laser intensity. The presented results show the influence of the varied parameters on the protection time and provide a first database, which will be extended within further investigations.