By integrating specific beam shapers, a new system design has now shown the potential to almost double productivity when welding bipolar plates for hydrogen fuel cells.

For this purpose, a company has integrated Scanlab's Intelliscan 2D scan head in a test setup. The necessary beam shaping was determined with a process simulation. The design of the beam shaper used is the result of a combined optical design that combines diffractive optical elements (DOE) with a scanning system. The application tests made it possible to shift the speed limit for error-free welding from 45 m/min to 70 m/min.