Laser Drilling Trajectory Generation and Way-Point Sequencing

Laser drilling provides a highly productive method for producing arrays of holes on planar and freeform shaped components. Industrial applications include fuel injection nozzles, printed circuit boards (PCB¿s), inkjet printer heads, pinholes and slits for scientific instrumentation, high-resolution circuitry, sensors, fiber-optic interconnects, medical devices, and gas turbine combustion chamber panels. This book deals with time-optimal trajectory planning for two mainstream laser drilling methods: on-the-fly drilling and percussion drilling, which are used in the aerospace industry. The research has been conducted in collaboration with the Canadian aero-engine producer, Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC). The algorithms developed have been tested in a target application involving the laser drilling of cooling hole arrays on gas turbine engine combustion chamber panels.