As the weather is getting cold (some regions are already below 0 Celsius), LX Laser kindly reminds you of not only add clothes to keep warm, but also maintain fiber laser sources, fiber laser heads and water chillers in autumn & winter.
1.Theory of anti-freezing
Each liquid have freezing points. When temperature below the freezing point, liquid will change into solid state, The volume of deionized water or distilled water will keep expanding during solidification. That will be harm to the water cooling tubes and sealing connections.
2. Methods of anti-freezing
There are 3 methods to prevent such kind of damage:
2.1 In case of stable power supply in local place, keep the water chiller running at night. Considering energy saving meanwhile, please adjust the low-temperature and high-temperature water to 5-10 Celsius, making sure the cooling liquid keeps circulation above freezing point.
2.2 Drain the cooling water from fiber laser source, fiber laser head and water chiller after closing laser cutting machines every time.
1). Open the drain and drain the water in the water tank.
2). Use plugs to block the OUTLET(H), INLET(H) and INLET(L), open the water supply inlet.
3). Blow the OUTLET(L) with a compressed air gun for 80 seconds, and block it with a plug after blowing. (It is recommended to put a silicone ring in front of the compressed air gun to prevent air leakage during the blowing process)
4). Blow the OUTLET(H) with a compressed air gun for 80 seconds, and block it with a plug after blowing
5). Blow the water supply inlet with a compressed air gun until no obvious water droplets are discharged.
6). Remove the water pipe from WATER IN of fiber laser source.
Use compressed air to ventilate the WATER IN, until the residual water in the cooling water pipeline of fiber laser source is drained from WATER OUT.
7). Remove the water pipe from WATER IN of fiber laser head.
Use compressed air to ventilate the WATER IN, until the residual water in the cooling water pipeline of fiber laser head is drained from WATER OUT.
8). Then seal both in &out holes with water pipe or rubber plug to avoid dust.
2.3 If the operating environment of laser cutting machines is often blackouts, or the factory does not have the conditions to drain the cooling water every day, you must use antifreeze.
Antifreeze basically consists of water and alcohols, which require high flash point and boiling point, high specific heat and conductivity, small low-temperature viscosity, no blister, no corrosion to metal or rubber, etc.
The freezing point should be 5 Celsius lower than the lowest temperature of operating environment.
And you must use professional brand antifreeze, please do not use ethanol instead.
Attention: No antifreeze can completely replace deionized water and cannot be used for a long time throughout the year. After winter, please clean up the pipeline with deionized water or purified water, and revive deionized water or purified water as cooling liquid.
If conditions permit, we strongly suggest improving electric environment to keep the water chillers running, or update the design of pipeline of cooling water so that can make the drainage every day fast and simple.
3.Notes:
1) If the outside temperature is over 5 Celsius, the water chiller can change to electrical heating mode (Automatic intermittent opening)
2) If the outside temperature is below 5 Celsius, the water chiller should use continuous refrigeration mode (Auto continuous opening)
3) No matter under what kind of working modes, the water chiller and fiber laser source (low-pressure) should remain open. Please keep the pipeline circulation clear, while other auxiliary equipment can be shut down.
4) The water chiller must switch into continuous refrigeration mode when the machine works regularly.
5) If the laser cutting machines need to be shutdown for a long time, please empty the water tank and further deep empty with clean air, and empty the water from water pump and filter of water chiller.
