Weighing-machine controls powder feeder for single-stage laser cladding

The article describes a recently developed powder feed system which maintains the quantity of powder passed per unit time within a specified tolerance band with the aid of a controller.

Using the laser cladding process, the wear resistance of component surfaces can be substantially increased by applying hard coatings. The quality of the coating is mainly dependent on the exact dosing of the coating material fed in powder form to the melt pool.

The article describes a recently developed powder feed system which maintains the quantity of powder passed per unit time within a specified tolerance band with the aid of a controller.
The dosing principle that is used is based on the continual measurement of the momentary weight of the powder feeder using a platform load cell. After amplification and digitization the output from the load cell is passed to a PC running appropriate software which is used to control the feed rate.