Harmonized code for Laser diodes and DPSS Lasers?
Answer:
The present invention relates to bar code reading systems and particularly to a bar code reader which is adapted for portable operation by conserving the electrical power utilized to operate the reader while at the same time limiting output optical power in the form of laser radiation to those prescribed by governmental regulation.
The invention is especially suitable for use in laser bar code readers and scanners (the term reader including scanners which scan a light beam across the bar code). However, the invention may also be utilized in fixed station bar code systems where radiation level limitation and efficiency of operation is desired.
Limitation of laser radiation is subject to regulatory restrictions in output power. Present regulations in the United States by the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) require the output power of a practical (i.e., Class II) laser bar code scanner operating in the visible region of the spectrum to an average of 1 milliwatt (mw). Visible laser diode scanners which are presently available exhibit cw output power of 3 to 5 mw. 3 mw output power is obtained from model TLD 9200 manufactured by the Toshiba Corporation of Japan. CW power output of laser diodes may shortly exceed 10 mw. These governmental restrictions and other approaches for their accommodation in bar code systems are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,606 entitled "Bar Code Scanner Laser Radiation Limit Control System", issued to John Boles and Jay Eastman on Jan. 27, 1987.
In a typical laser diode bar code scanner as shown in FIG. 1, a DC voltage reference 10 serves as an input to a laser regulator circuit 12. The regulator powers the laser diode 14 in a cw manner. The output from the laser is shaped by suitable optics (not shown) and scanned across the bar code by a scanning mechanism (not shown). Scattered light from the bar code is detected by a photodetector 16, ac coupled by a capacitor 18 and amplified by a band limited preamplifier 20. The preamplifier typically utilizes high and low pass filters that surround the frequencies present in the analogue bar code signal. The preamplifier also commonly contains an automatic gain control function (AGC). The output from the preamplifier is presented to a digitizer circuit 22 that converts the analogue signal corresponding to the bar code to a digital representation of the bar code. This digitized bar code signal may be decoded by bar code decoder equipment. Such a system operates in a cw mode. The optical power is limited to the level (1 mw) specified by regulatory restrictions.
It has been discovered in accordance with the invention that the operating current applied to the laser may be substantially reduced without degradation in the reading performance of the system and power consumption (i.e., current consumption) may likewise be reduced thereby specially benefitting portable battery powered devices, such as hand held bar code scanners. Such power conservation and radiation limiting advantages are obtained by operating the light source (laser) in a pulse mode rather than a cw mode but in a portion of the optical power vs operating current characteristic of the light source which obtains the power conservation and radiation limitation (without degradation in reading performance) advantages.
for more info..link...click on
http://math.nist.gov/mcsd/savg/others/ph...
hope this is the best answer...
all the best.
The answers post by the user, for information only, FunQA.com does not guarantee the right.
More Questions and Answers: