Big Red Banger using 12 to 16 Opnext HL63133DG Diodes

[planters]

Fair enough. And no, DO NOT CHUCK PARTS. As your build will be unique it will be very worthwhile and although this is not a divergence competition, the performance will be interesting to follow. My suggestions were not intended to divert you. I suppose I miss interpreted your OP to be a review of the potential components of the design, I didn't release you had already acquired many of the components and were a lot further along.

OK. Regarding the base plate, your CAD image shows the diode mounts and the flex mounts recessed into milled depressions in the plate. It looks cool, but I believe that this may actually make the task of adjusting the mounts a little more difficult as well as significantly reducing the bending modulus of the plate. As you tighten the plate down against the TECs it will flex. The less it flexes the better both optically and as it effects TEC contact, thermally.

You haven't described your intentions for the cooling. Do you plan to cool aggressively below ambient? If so, do you have any experiments showing the effect on these diodes and how will you house the assembly to prevent condensation? Have you some idea of the TEC power requirements and will there be some consideration for the heat removal from the main projector base plate? I can make some suggestions.

[dave]

Hey Tony, I'm in the same boat as you - diodes that were purchased a while ago, and a project which has been a bit slow to complete...

Here is one of my modules to give you some ideas

Getting ~1.1w and a beam that fits on 5mm aperture mirrors nicely @ ~1mrad, much nicer far field spot than one of the wide stripe reds.. Big TEC sitting under the base plate driven with a PI( proportional integral ) driver ( lots of headroom - the TEC hardly gets driven to maintain the set temp )

[taggalucci]

I didn't release you had already acquired many of the components and were a lot further along.

Yes, I didn't make that clear. Here's what I have...

Regarding the base plate, your CAD image shows the diode mounts and the flex mounts recessed into milled depressions in the plate. It looks cool, but I believe that this may actually make the task of adjusting the mounts a little more difficult as well as significantly reducing the bending modulus of the plate. As you tighten the plate down against the TECs it will flex. The less it flexes the better both optically and as it effects TEC contact, thermally.

Point taken, also it simplifies the milling significantly. Don't quite understand your point about the bending modulus. I saw these not as recesses, but rather as protrusions, so I'm not sure how these protrusions would compromise the rigidity of the remaining plate. Anyway regardless of that, this is how it's now looking...



(Big thanks to Kitatit for knocking up the Opto Sigma mini prism table in SolidWorks for me so quickly)

With the design shown above, I have a big 12mm baseplate that's sinking the heat from the TECs. Sandwiched between the TECs and the baseplate are thermal conductive pads to even out any variance in the height of the 16 TECs. Above the TECs, is the sub-baseplate which has the two "steps" to facilitate the 3mm stacking of the back 8 lasers with the front 8 lasers. At the shallower end, the TECs have 5mm of sub-baseplate between them and the diode mounts (and therefore 8mm at the deeper end). This allows the overall height of the beams to match my big 2.1W CNI green (@ ~45mm).

Do you plan to cool aggressively below ambient?

I'm just looking to maintain a comfortable operating temperature, especially as these are beautiful 637nm diodes

Have you some idea of the TEC power requirements and will there be some consideration for the heat removal from the main projector base plate? I can make some suggestions.

The spec of each 15mm x 15mm TEC is as follows:

Max. thermal transfer power: Qc max = 3.9W at Th = 27°C, I = 3.3A, ∆T = 0°C
Max. temperature differential: ∆T max>=66°C at Th = 27°C, I = 3.3A, Qc = 0W
Power Supply: I = 3.3A
Power Supply: V = 2.0V DC

I'm looking for a suitable TEC driver(s) to run all 16. Solarfire suggested when asked about 12, that these could be run in 2 parallel x 6 series from his driver. Still waiting to hear back from him on whether his would run 16. He also suggested using 10 x 10k thermistors in series to get an average across the array.

Hey Tony, I'm in the same boat as you - diodes that were purchased a while ago, and a project which has been a bit slow to complete...

I'm struggling to find time, so I'm with you! Pulled a late night ('til 2AM) to get the CAD done so that it can go off to my designer mate for his magic touch before the file is sent to China.

Here is one of my modules to give you some ideas

Getting ~1.1w and a beam that fits on 5mm aperture mirrors nicely @ ~1mrad, much nicer far field spot than one of the wide stripe reds.. Big TEC sitting under the base plate driven with a PI( proportional integral ) driver ( lots of headroom - the TEC hardly gets driven to maintain the set temp )

Hopefully I'll get the specs I'm expecting and require minimal driving of the TECs.


Here's some other concept images...



M5 Nylon bolts to prevent thermal transfer between the hot and cold sides.

I'll clearly need to think about an aperture!

[-bart-]

M5 Nylon bolts to prevent thermal transfer between the hot and cold sides.

I recommend using m4 with an isolation washer.

You'll lose in little thermal isolation, but gain a lot in mechanical stability.

[andyf97]

What happened to this thread

[taggalucci]

What happened to this thread

Hi Andy,

This project has stalled due to work commitments Here's a view of where things are at...

[andyf97]

I know the feeling, I am also loaded with too many things to do.

That design looks very professional..

Hi Andy,

This project has stalled due to work commitments Here's a view of where things are at...

[MIIKKKLLLL]

Funny that this topic is resurfaced, because I'm re-building my 16x diodes this week .

I'm currently measuring 2.65W at the output, after PBS and wave plate. Quite happy with the results.

Attachment 39039

Attachment 39038


I have an advice as you still don't drill the wholes to fix the flex mounts : Fix them as close as possible to the beam exit, like that you can decrease the beam height deviation.

I also see that the main aluminium plate is really thick (should be really stable). As the generated heat on these diodes are really low (<0.7W/diode), *maybe* you can go with passive cooling

[andyf97]

Looks neat, what diodes are you using there.

Funny that this topic is resurfaced, because I'm re-building my 16x diodes this week .

I'm currently measuring 2.65W at the output, after PBS and wave plate. Quite happy with the results.

Attachment 39039

Attachment 39038


I have an advice as you still don't drill the wholes to fix the flex mounts : Fix them as close as possible to the beam exit, like that you can decrease the beam height deviation.

I also see that the main aluminium plate is really thick (should be really stable). As the generated heat on these diodes are really low (<0.7W/diode), *maybe* you can go with passive cooling

[MIIKKKLLLL]

I use the diodes we offer for sale, single mode Opnext 638nm, P0=170mW. Diode's beam properties are really nice.

The module can output more than 3W, but the diodes runs here at a conservative current to extend lifetime .