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https://carbonrobotics.com/features https://carbonrobotics.com/features Lasers are 150 watts, so a small fraction of the power draw. Seems like getting the au

https://carbonrobotics.com/features https://carbonrobotics.com/features Lasers are 150 watts, so a small fraction of the power draw. Seems like getting the automation is key, replacing herbicides would require multiple passes over the same ground.

jfkgktjrnnr 6y ago
150W of output power. Lasers are notoriously inefficient, CO2 ones are in the 5-20% range. So probably at least 1000W for the lasers, assuming 10% efficiency.
- maxerickson 6y ago
  The modest engine powering it is 55 kW.
  - stevespang 6y ago
    No wonder they call it CARBON robotics, using CO2 lasers and yet still pumping significant amount of combustion CO2 into the atmosphere . . .
  - Balgair 6y ago
    People who work in pulsed kW laser labs are all sitting here salivating at thought and also horrified at the thought. Salivating because that's a lot of power that you can use for experiments, much more than most laser technicians have ever seen. Horrified because not only are you going to go instantly blind (as usual), but now the rest of your head will smolder too.
    - repiret 6y ago
      55kW at 240V is only 230A. A typical house gets 200A service. It’s a lot of power, but you wouldn’t have to move mountains to get it if you worked at a lab that needed it. It could be had for less than the price of many used cars.
myself248 6y ago
Just a point of clarification, for a CO2 laser, getting 150 optical watts out the aperture usually means putting about 1500 electrical watts into the tube. The rest comes out as heat in the water jacket, which you pass through a radiator or possibly an active chiller, and those pumps and fans draw their own power as well. And before those 1500W get into the tube, they go through a high-voltage power supply, which is maybe 80% efficient if you're lucky. All-up power draw on a laser of that scale is somewhere north of 2KW from the wall. (And before anyone asks: Yes this is very good efficiency for a laser, which is one reason why CO2 is so popular. YAG and fiber lasers tend to be in the low single-digit percents.)

jfkgktjrnnr 6y ago

150W of output power. Lasers are notoriously inefficient, CO2 ones are in the 5-20% range. So probably at least 1000W for the lasers, assuming 10% efficiency.

maxerickson 6y ago
The modest engine powering it is 55 kW.
- stevespang 6y ago
  No wonder they call it CARBON robotics, using CO2 lasers and yet still pumping significant amount of combustion CO2 into the atmosphere . . .
- Balgair 6y ago
  People who work in pulsed kW laser labs are all sitting here salivating at thought and also horrified at the thought. Salivating because that's a lot of power that you can use for experiments, much more than most laser technicians have ever seen. Horrified because not only are you going to go instantly blind (as usual), but now the rest of your head will smolder too.
  - repiret 6y ago
    55kW at 240V is only 230A. A typical house gets 200A service. It’s a lot of power, but you wouldn’t have to move mountains to get it if you worked at a lab that needed it. It could be had for less than the price of many used cars.

myself248 6y ago

Just a point of clarification, for a CO2 laser, getting 150 optical watts out the aperture usually means putting about 1500 electrical watts into the tube. The rest comes out as heat in the water jacket, which you pass through a radiator or possibly an active chiller, and those pumps and fans draw their own power as well. And before those 1500W get into the tube, they go through a high-voltage power supply, which is maybe 80% efficient if you're lucky. All-up power draw on a laser of that scale is somewhere north of 2KW from the wall. (And before anyone asks: Yes this is very good efficiency for a laser, which is one reason why CO2 is so popular. YAG and fiber lasers tend to be in the low single-digit percents.)