Design and development of digital controller for Raytheon Precision Laser welder/driller

This paper presents the redesigning the distributed analog controller used in Raytheon Laser Precision welder/driller system which is around thirty years old. Main difficulty faced is that, the components associated with distributed analog controller of laser system are now obsolete. Some of the disadvantages of analog controllers are that they are bulky, expensive and complex design making troubleshooting difficult. Taking these disadvantages of analog controller into consideration, digitalizing the controller is important. Digital controller used is dsPIC30F4011, which will take care of the working of three phase rectifier, generating pulses for charging and discharging SCR, looks after system safety features and interlocks.