In manufacturing, there is increasing recognition of the need to increase energy efficiency, both to reduce process cost and improve carbon footprint. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to understand how manufacturing systems use energy directly and indirectly. These types of analyses have been carried out at the process level for traditional machining processes, as well as at the factory level to understand macroenergy flows and bottlenecks. Other researchers have accomplished considerable energy optimization work for laser processing. However, the emphasis of this work has been on the optimization of the laser–material interaction. This focus has overlooked the whole system viewpoint and the significance of supporting equipment. Laser welding, using a 300 W fiber laser, was chosen as the subject for this study; first, due to its ubiquity in many high-value manufacturing industries and second due to its potential as a gateway into other manufacturing processes, such as directed energy deposition and additive manufacturing. In this paper, the initial work was to produce a framework for categorizing the process states and subsystems found in a standard or generic laser machine tool. An electrical energy meter was used to measure the energy consumption for individual subsystems when creating autogenous weld tracks in 316L stainless steel. Analysis of these data showed that the laser is only 18% of the total power consumption, the most significant being the water-cooling subsystem (37%). Reported here is a complete analysis of laser welding energy efficiency at a system level. This primary analysis of current equipment typical energy consumption can be used to identify future strategies for energy efficiency improvements beyond the direct laser interaction. By focusing on the most energy-inefficient parts of the system, the greatest potential for improvements to the carbon footprint of laser processing can be quantified.

中文翻译：

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我的激光系统的效率如何？识别理论和辅助能源优化的机会

在制造中，人们越来越认识到需要提高能源效率，以降低工艺成本并改善碳足迹。为了实现这一点，有必要了解制造系统如何直接和间接使用能源。这些类型的分析已在传统加工过程的过程级别以及工厂级别进行，以了解宏观能量流和瓶颈。其他研究人员已经完成了用于激光加工的大量能源优化工作。但是，这项工作的重点是优化激光与材料的相互作用。该重点忽略了整个系统的观点和支持设备的重要性。本研究选择使用300 W光纤激光器进行激光焊接。第一的，归因于其在许多高价值制造业中的普遍存在，其次是由于其作为通往其他制造过程（如定向能量沉积和增材制造）的门户的潜力。在本文中，最初的工作是创建一个框架，用于对标准或通用激光机床中的工艺状态和子系统进行分类。当用316L不锈钢创建自生焊道时，使用电能表来测量各个子系统的能耗。对这些数据的分析表明，激光仅占总功耗的18％，其中最重要的是水冷子系统（占37％）。此处报告的是系统级别的激光焊接能效的完整分析。对当前设备典型能耗的初步分析可用于确定未来在直接激光相互作用之外提高能效的策略。通过关注系统中能源效率最低的部分，可以量化改善激光加工碳足迹的最大潜力。