These lasers can cut trees, clear kites and nests from hundred of feet away

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Chengdu-based RedCoast Laser builds portable laser obstacle removers that let power crews burn debris and overgrown branches off high-voltage lines from the ground. Its latest 1,000-watt fibre laser weighs about 24 kilograms and can cut through tree trunks up to 30 centimetres thick, according to the company.

China’s power crews now clear junk off high-voltage lines from hundreds of metres away, using a beam of light.

The device comes from RedCoast Laser, a Chengdu company founded in 2017.

Kites, plastic sheets, bird nests and even stray drones get tangled on power lines, and branches keep growing into them. Any of these can cause an outage, and clearing them has usually meant workers climbing high-voltage towers.

RedCoast’s operator stays on the ground, zooms in on the target and fires.

Inside is a fibre laser at 1,080 nanometres, just beyond what our eyes can see. It focuses that energy onto a tiny spot, like a magnifying glass in the sun, so plastic melts and wood chars and snaps.

The 1,000-watt model weighs about 24 kilograms, and the 500-watt version is light enough for one person to carry. RedCoast says it can cut through trunks up to 30 centimetres thick, usually in seconds to minutes.

The company says more than 1,200 customers use it, including China’s State Grid, and built-in trigger locks and alarms guard against a misaimed shot.

a month ago

Innovation

These lasers can cut trees, clear kites and nests from hundred of feet away

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