Theoretical Maximum Power for Portable Laser

[ohada]

Hey All,

Now that 1W portable lasers are becoming available, it made me wonder how - much higher can it get? I mean the absolute maximum theoretical limit, assuming 100% efficiency in converting battery electricity to light.

Taking for example a portable laser that runs on a 3.7V 2500mAh battery which takes 30 minutes to drain a fully charged battery - what's the limit on its power?

Basically what I'm asking is how do you convert from Volts and milliAmper per hour to Watts? And how would the wavelength affect the numbers? I know there are portable IR lasers with 2.5W output. Can we expect the future to bring us 2.5W 445nm lasers?

Anyone with the physics/engineering knowledge care to explain?

Ohad

 

[rangedunits]

We will eventually move on and get copper or silver heatsink

There a 20W ir portable lasers someone built.

 

[ohada]

We will eventually move on and get copper or silver heatsink

There a 20W ir portable lasers someone built.

Portable 20W?

But if you need a really good heatsink it means there's much heat generated that needs to be dispersed, no? Isn't that the opposite of efficient?

 

[Trevor]

Taking for example a portable laser that runs on a 3.7V 2500mAh battery which takes 30 minutes to drain a fully charged battery - what's the limit on its power?

5A @ 3.7v would do that and, assuming 100% efficiency, you'd get a 18.5W laser.

-Trevor

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Did someone say 20 WATTS of portable --- Move over Luke -- I have the FORCE !!!

HMike

 

[Chrysalid]

So when we're trying to get Theoretical Maximum Power for Portable Laser you could get a backpack with a car battery, a heat exchanger and a tube for the liquid cooled handheld unit and prepare to BBQ. Talk about Ghost Busters

 

[pullbangdead]

 

[Gryphon]

Just gotta love a portable CO2 laser!

 

[lasersbee]

I suppose the weight of the Laser... Driver and support equipment
(batteries) will decide how much one could carry to still call it portable..
Output power is in relation to stored energy volume.

Jerry

 

[Fonduman]

you could try making one out of a chainsaw. then it'd be, like, petrol powered :crackup:
"how many miles to the gallon?" "uh... around 5*10^12"

i've wondered if they might just be able to increase the size and sturdyness or diodes till they can put out 10s of watts. Seems ridiculous to try and get so much power from something so small. But i have no idea of how diodes work except that its something to do with a junction of p and n type semiconductors. Possibly theres an optimum size and it happens to be small.

im still working on a gravity turbine idea. but damn energy conservation keeps getting me
I believe the secret will be combining it with a strong permanent magnet

 

[Prototype]

There are diode bars made by Quatel that are 500W. They're infrared of course, but it's still a 500W diode bar :san:

 

[magonegro]

In R/C world its easy to find a LiPo bat with a 30C rating, thus a 3S 11.1 batt of 5000mah (you can hold it in your hand) could deliver a discharge rate of 30C*5A=150A. So 150A*11.1v=1665 Watt (1.6KW!! ) but at this rate it will last only 2 minutes. Thing is that this is pretty easy to find, but no 100% efective diodes, and even a 99% efective diode would have to dissipate 16W of heat!! Nothing impossible in portable battery terms. But anyways could someone imagine a 1KW laser pointer still called 'pointer' ?

 

[Coherent Light]

The Laser could also be Chemically based, and those in theory could be portable, and have a High power rating. You would only have one shot or at most a few.

Coherent:

 

[loosekannonn]

i think the key to a more powerful portable Laser lies in Material Science's hands.

if we had a super conducting material that remained super conductive well above normal room temperature, up to say 40*C;
I would think that 1KW 445nM lasers would not be far off.

 

[pullbangdead]

100% portable, take it anywhere in the world! Pop balloons, strike matches, impress your friends by setting your other friends on fire!

 

[MarioMaster]

I suppose I could strap my 60w diode bar to a handle and add some LiPos =P