Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

LPF Donation via Stripe | LPF Donation - Other Methods

Links below open in new window

ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Help with IR laser driver

Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
4
Points
0
I wish to drive a 1W IR laser and use it as a heating element. Please guide on how should i go about it. How do i construct a drive circuit and control it.
 





NKO29

0
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Messages
861
Points
28
How do u use a laser diode as a heating element? Anyways 1W wont heat that much... Not to mention it would be extremely dangerous!
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
4
Points
0
How do u use a laser diode as a heating element? Anyways 1W wont heat that much... Not to mention it would be extremely dangerous!
I currently have 1W and 2W IR lasers. Will 2W be enough? i need maximum temperature of 95 degree Celsuis.
 
Joined
May 15, 2010
Messages
1,307
Points
48
what are you trying to heat ? Lasers wouldn't be the best option for a heating element
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Messages
2,081
Points
63
Might be able to put the water in a container of some sort and heat the outside of it. You can probably find a driver on ebay.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2010
Messages
2,086
Points
0
Heating element?

470ohm_resistor.jpg
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
4,364
Points
83
Water is mostly transparent to the wavelengths that IR diodes emit, the result of which is that the water will not be heated much, if any at all, by irradiation. You need Far Infrared in order to heat water.

Did you purchase these diodes specifically for this purpose or did you have them already? I'm afraid you've wasted your money on potentially expensive and certainly exceptionally dangerous laser diodes.

I have a 15W far infrared laser and tested its ability to heat water and was very surprised at how far off from theoretical it performed. To heat one milliliter (ml) of water one degree Celsius it takes one Watt to do it in one second. So, 15W should raise the temp of 1ml of water by 15degC in 1sec. Unfortunately, water reflects some incident radiation due to refraction. Since I don't have a crucible made of GaAs or ZnSe which are the only materials transparent to Far IR I had to use an inefficient angle of incidence which only enhanced the reflective properties of the surface of water. I was only able to measure an 8degC increase in water temperature in 10ml of water after 10sec of irradiation; 8W of energy input. Additionally, the reflected laser beam caused local heating in the glass test tube resulting in thermal cracking and skewed results in subsequent tests.

You're better off heating the sample with nichrome wire; it is electrically 100% efficient, safe, affordable, and fool-proof.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
3,816
Points
63
I was just going to recommend a power resistor and dump it in the water XD
 




Top