Patent ID: 9289852
Filing Date: 2016-03-22
CPC Classification: B23K

Claim Text:
1. A laser processing machine comprising: a laser processing head, said laser processing head having an interior, said interior having an interior wall, said interior wall being disposed about a central axis; a nozzle associated with said laser processing head, said nozzle having a nozzle opening for a focused laser beam, said nozzle opening having at least one edge; a beam handling unit disposed near said nozzle opening, said beam handling unit being made of a material converting a focused laser beam at said at least one nozzle opening edge to a wide-band heat beam, said beam handling unit positioned to emit the wide-band heat beam as a secondary electromagnetic radiation beam in a propagation direction back into said interior and away from said nozzle opening and said beam handling unit; a beam reflector disposed in said laser processing head to reflect the secondary electromagnetic radiation beam; and, a plurality of radiation sensors, said plurality of radiation sensors being located to sense electromagnetic radiation through at least one hole in said interior wall, said plurality of radiation sensors each respectively disposed at a respective axial distance from said beam handling unit, said beam reflector being positioned to reflect the secondary electromagnetic radiation beam for sensing by at least one of said plurality of radiation sensors.