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WO2016055386A1 - Système et procédé de recouvrement dans un environnement de fabrication additive - Google Patents

Système et procédé de recouvrement dans un environnement de fabrication additive Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2016055386A1
WO2016055386A1 PCT/EP2015/072856 EP2015072856W WO2016055386A1 WO 2016055386 A1 WO2016055386 A1 WO 2016055386A1 EP 2015072856 W EP2015072856 W EP 2015072856W WO 2016055386 A1 WO2016055386 A1 WO 2016055386A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
layer
parameters
recoating
building material
additive manufacturing
Prior art date
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Ceased
Application number
PCT/EP2015/072856
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English (en)
Inventor
Sam Coeck
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Materialise NV
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Materialise NV
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Materialise NV filed Critical Materialise NV
Publication of WO2016055386A1 publication Critical patent/WO2016055386A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B19/00—Programme-control systems
    • G05B19/02—Programme-control systems electric
    • G05B19/18—Numerical control [NC], i.e. automatically operating machines, in particular machine tools, e.g. in a manufacturing environment, so as to execute positioning, movement or co-ordinated operations by means of programme data in numerical form
    • G05B19/4097—Numerical control [NC], i.e. automatically operating machines, in particular machine tools, e.g. in a manufacturing environment, so as to execute positioning, movement or co-ordinated operations by means of programme data in numerical form characterised by using design data to control NC machines, e.g. CAD/CAM
    • G05B19/4099—Surface or curve machining, making 3D objects, e.g. desktop manufacturing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
    • B29C64/10—Processes of additive manufacturing
    • B29C64/106—Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material
    • B29C64/124—Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material using layers of liquid which are selectively solidified
    • B29C64/129—Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material using layers of liquid which are selectively solidified characterised by the energy source therefor, e.g. by global irradiation combined with a mask
    • B29C64/135—Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material using layers of liquid which are selectively solidified characterised by the energy source therefor, e.g. by global irradiation combined with a mask the energy source being concentrated, e.g. scanning lasers or focused light sources
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
    • B29C64/30—Auxiliary operations or equipment
    • B29C64/386—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
    • B29C64/393—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
    • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
    • B33Y50/00—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
    • B33Y50/02—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
    • G05B2219/30—Nc systems
    • G05B2219/49—Nc machine tool, till multiple
    • G05B2219/49013—Deposit layers, cured by scanning laser, stereo lithography SLA, prototyping

Definitions

  • This application relates to recoating a new layer of build material in an additive manufacturing environment. More particularly, this application relates to a system and method for automatically determining recoating parameters for an object being built in an additive manufacturing environment.
  • three dimensional solid objects are formed from a digital model. Because the manufactured objects are three dimensional, additive manufacturing is commonly referred to as three dimensional ("3D") printing.
  • 3D three dimensional
  • stereolithography One type of such an additive manufacturing technique is referred to as stereolithography. These techniques may direct a light source (e.g., ultra-violet, infrared, laser beam, etc.) to a specified location in order to polymerize or solidify (“cure”) layers of build materials which are used to create the desired three dimensional (“3D”) object.
  • the 3D object is built on a layer-by-layer basis by solidifying the layers of the build material.
  • a system for calculating recoating parameters in an additive manufacturing environment comprises a memory and a processor.
  • the processor is configured to determine one or more layer parameters for a first layer of an object.
  • the processor is further configured to calculate one or more recoating parameters for a second layer of the object based on the determined one or more layer parameters, wherein the second layer is built after the first layer.
  • the processor is further configured to controlling deposition of building material onto a build area of an additive manufacturing device based on the calculated one or more recoating parameters.
  • a method for calculating recoating parameters in an additive manufacturing environment comprises determining one or more layer parameters for a first layer of an object.
  • the method further comprises calculating one or more recoating parameters for a second layer of the object based on the determined one or more layer parameters, wherein the second layer is built after the first layer.
  • the method further comprises controlling deposition of building material onto a build area of an additive manufacturing device based on the calculated one or more recoating parameters.
  • a non-transitory computer-readable medium that when executed on a computer performs a method for calculating recoating parameters in an additive manufacturing environment.
  • the method comprises determining one or more layer parameters for a first layer of an object.
  • the method further comprises calculating one or more recoating parameters for a second layer of the object based on the determined one or more layer parameters, wherein the second layer is built after the first layer.
  • the method further comprises controlling deposition of building material onto a build area of an additive manufacturing device based on the calculated one or more recoating parameters.
  • Figure 1 is an example of a system for designing and manufacturing 3D objects.
  • Figure 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of one example of the computer shown in Figure 1.
  • Figure 3 shows a high level process for manufacturing a 3D object using.
  • Figure 4 A is an example of an additive manufacturing apparatus which may calculate recoating parameters and direct recoating using the systems and methods disclosed herein.
  • Figure 4B is an example of components the additive manufacturing apparatus of Figure 4A.
  • Figure 4C is another example of an additive manufacturing apparatus which may calculate recoating parameters and direct recoating using the systems and methods disclosed herein.
  • Figure 5 is a top view of an object being built on a building area of the additive manufacturing apparatus of Figure 4A.
  • Figure 6 is a flowchart which illustrates one example of a process for building an object using systems and methods for calculating recoating parameters automatically.
  • Systems and methods disclosed herein provide an improved way to recoat a new layer in an additive manufacturing environment as part of a build process.
  • One problem with some recoating processes is that one set of recoating parameters is chosen for all builds. Accordingly, the amount of building material added in the recoating process may not be proper based on the recoating parameters and, therefore, the build may fail and/or the build may take longer.
  • Some systems and methods of recoating account for an improper (i.e., too much or too little) amount of building material being added by fully immersing the build platform into the build material and then scraping away excess levels of build material.
  • Other systems and methods may use a combination of a system of depositing a layer of build material over the previously built layer using a recoater blade, eliminating the full immersion of the build platform, and the scraping away of excess levels of build material.
  • systems and methods disclosed herein allow for recoating parameters to be automatically calculated, in some embodiments on a layer by layer basis, for the build process of each object. Such systems and methods may, for example, reduce the amount of building material used, speed up build time, and/or produce objects of higher quality.
  • Embodiments of the invention may be practiced within a system for designing and manufacturing 3D objects.
  • the environment includes a system 100.
  • the system 100 includes one or more computers 102a-102d, which can be, for example, any workstation, server, or other computing device capable of processing information.
  • each of the computers 102a-102d can be connected, by any suitable communications technology (e.g., an internet protocol), to a network 105 (e.g., the Internet).
  • the computers 102a-102d may transmit and receive information (e.g., software, digital representations of 3-D objects, commands or instructions to operate an additive manufacturing device, etc.) between each other via the network 105.
  • information e.g., software, digital representations of 3-D objects, commands or instructions to operate an additive manufacturing device, etc.
  • the system 100 further includes one or more additive manufacturing devices (e.g., 3-D printers) 106a- 106b.
  • additive manufacturing device 106a is directly connected to a computer 102d (and through computer 102d connected to computers 102a- 102c via the network 105) and additive manufacturing device 106b is connected to the computers 102a-102d via the network 105.
  • an additive manufacturing device 106 may be directly connected to a computer 102, connected to a computer 102 via a network 105, and/or connected to a computer 102 via another computer 102 and the network 105.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of one example of a computer of FIG. 1.
  • the computer 102a includes a processor 210 in data communication with a memory 220, an input device 230, and an output device 240.
  • the processor is further in data communication with an optional network interface card 260.
  • an optional network interface card 260 Although described separately, it is to be appreciated that functional blocks described with respect to the computer 102a need not be separate structural elements.
  • the processor 210 and memory 220 may be embodied in a single chip.
  • the processor 210 can be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any suitable combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.
  • a processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
  • the processor 210 can be coupled, via one or more buses, to read information from or write information to memory 220.
  • the processor may additionally, or in the alternative, contain memory, such as processor registers.
  • the memory 220 can include processor cache, including a multi-level hierarchical cache in which different levels have different capacities and access speeds.
  • the memory 220 can also include random access memory (RAM), other volatile storage devices, or non-volatile storage devices.
  • RAM random access memory
  • the storage can include hard drives, optical discs, such as compact discs (CDs) or digital video discs (DVDs), flash memory, floppy discs, magnetic tape, and Zip drives.
  • the processor 210 also may be coupled to an input device 230 and an output device 240 for, respectively, receiving input from and providing output to a user of the computer 102a.
  • Suitable input devices include, but are not limited to, a keyboard, buttons, keys, switches, a pointing device, a mouse, a joystick, a remote control, an infrared detector, a bar code reader, a scanner, a video camera (possibly coupled with video processing software to, e.g., detect hand gestures or facial gestures), a motion detector, or a microphone (possibly coupled to audio processing software to, e.g., detect voice commands).
  • Suitable output devices include, but are not limited to, visual output devices, including displays and printers, audio output devices, including speakers, headphones, earphones, and alarms, additive manufacturing devices, and haptic output devices.
  • the processor 210 further may be coupled to a network interface card 260.
  • the network interface card 260 prepares data generated by the processor 210 for transmission via a network according to one or more data transmission protocols.
  • the network interface card 260 also decodes data received via a network according to one or more data transmission protocols.
  • the network interface card 260 can include a transmitter, receiver, or both. In other embodiments, the transmitter and receiver can be two separate components.
  • the network interface card 260 can be embodied as a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any suitable combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a process 300 for manufacturing a 3-D object or device.
  • a digital representation of the object is designed using a computer, such as the computer 102a.
  • 2-D or 3-D data may be input to the computer 102a for aiding in designing the digital representation of the 3-D object.
  • information is sent from the computer 102a to an additive manufacturing device, such as additive manufacturing device 106, and the device 106 commences the manufacturing process in accordance with the received information.
  • the additive manufacturing device 106 continues manufacturing the 3-D object using suitable materials, such as a liquid resin.
  • These suitable materials may include, but are not limited to a photopolymer resin, polyurethane, methyl methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, resorbable materials such as polymer-ceramic composites, etc.
  • the VisiJet line of materials from 3-Systems may include Visijet Flex, Visijet Tough, Visijet Clear, Visijet HiTemp, Visijet e-stone, Visijet Black, Visijet Jewel, Visijet FTI, etc.
  • Examples of other materials may include Objet materials, such as Objet Fullcure, Objet Veroclear, Objet Digital Materials, Objet Duruswhite, Objet Tangoblack, Objet Tangoplus, Objet Tangoblackplus, etc.
  • Another example of materials may include materials from the Renshape 5000 and 7800 series. Further, at a step 320, the 3-D object is generated.
  • FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary additive manufacturing apparatus 400 for generating a three-dimensional (3-D) object.
  • the additive manufacturing apparatus 400 is a stereolithography apparatus.
  • the stereolithography apparatus 400 includes a reservoir 402 that may hold building material, such as a volume of liquid (e.g., resin) used to build the 3-D object.
  • the stereolithography apparatus 400 further includes a transport system 404 that may be used to transport the liquid from the reservoir 402 to an object coater head 406.
  • the stereolithography apparatus 400 includes an object coater head 406 without a transport system.
  • the object coater head 406 may comprise a recoater blade in some embodiments.
  • the transport system may include one or more tubes, pipes, or hoses configured to transport the liquid from the reservoir 402.
  • the transport system 404 may include metal or plastic materials, such as DSM Somos® series of materials 7100, 8100, 9100, 9420, 10100, 11100, 12110, 14120 and 15100 from DSM Somos; Accura Plastic line of materials from 3D-Systems, or any other suitable material.
  • the stereohthography apparatus 400 may further include a guiding structure in the reservoir 402 configured to guide a flow of the liquid from the reservoir 402 to the transport system 404.
  • the structure may include a series of tubes or plates that are placed to strategically direct the flow of the liquid to the transport system 404.
  • the apparatus 400 also may include a building area where the liquid resin is deposited.
  • the building area typically includes a building area support (e.g., building area platform) upon which the 3D object is built.
  • a building area support e.g., building area platform
  • the building area support may be configured to sink into the reservoir during the building process. Accordingly, the building area and a 3D object being built on the build area support may be "dipped" in the reservoir thus depositing the liquid resin on the build area.
  • the stereohthography apparatus 400 further includes a light source.
  • the light source is typically included for the purpose of polymerizing the liquid to form a 3D object.
  • the light source may take various forms.
  • the light source may be an electromagnetic light source, such as a ultra-violet (UV) light source, an infrared (IR) light source.
  • the light source may be any type of laser beam capable of solidifying the liquid.
  • the stereohthography apparatus 400 may include at least one pump used to pump the liquid from the reservoir 402 to the object coater head 406.
  • a positive displacement pump and/or a centrifugal-type pump may be used.
  • the pump may include a filter unit to add further filtration to the liquid resin prior to being deposited to the building area.
  • the pump may provide a defined flow (e.g., 0.5-40 liters/min) that may be fixed or regulated via an active feedback loop.
  • the feedback loop may be direct based upon flow measurements.
  • the feedback may be indirect using measurements of the thickness of the layers being deposited in the additive manufacturing process.
  • the stereohthography apparatus 400 may be used to generate one or more 3D objects layer by layer.
  • the stereohthography machine 400 may utilize a liquid resin (e.g., a photopolymer resin) to build an object a layer at a time, such as by depositing the resin from the object coater head 406 in the form of a curtain and/or by dipping the build area support into the reservoir.
  • the object coater head 406 and/or build area support may deposit successive layers of the liquid resin to form the object.
  • the object coater head 406 and/or build area support may deposit (e.g., coat) a layer of the liquid resin used to build the 3D object on the building area support.
  • Subsequent layers may be then deposited (e.g., recoated) on the preceding layer after formation of the dimensions of the 3D object for the preceding layer.
  • the light source which as discussed above may be controlled by a computer, may trace a specific pattern on the surface of the liquid resin to form the dimensions of the 3D object for that layer. Exposure to the light source polymerizes, cures, or solidifies the pattern traced on the resin and adheres it to the layer below. After a layer has been polymerized, a new layer of liquid material is deposited (e.g., recoated) on the building area, for example the building area support may descend by a single layer thickness and/or the object coater head 406 may deposit resin, and a subsequent layer pattern is traced and is adhered to the previous layer. The building process is complete when the 3-D object is formed by depositing all layers of the 3D object.
  • the deposition of layers or recoating of the building material may be performed according to certain recoating parameters.
  • Systems and methods disclosed herein allow for recoating parameters to be automatically calculated, in some embodiments on a layer by layer basis, for the build process of each object. The calculation and use of such recoating parameters is described in more detail below with respect to additive manufacturing apparatus 400 described as a stereolithography machine 400. However, it would be understood by one of skill in the art that the systems and methods disclosed may also be used with other suitable additive manufacturing apparatuses.
  • FIG 4C is another exemplary embodiment of the stereolithography machine 400.
  • the stereolithography machine 400 in this embodiment includes a reservoir 402 for storing liquid building material, such as resin or other materials as described above with respect to Figure 4A.
  • the machine 400 includes an object coater head 406, such as the one described above with respect to Figure 4A.
  • the object recoater head 406 may comprise a recoater blade such as a doctor blade.
  • the object recoater head 406 may be configured to deposit liquid building material on the building area of the machine 400 as described above.
  • the object recoater head 406 may be configured to draw building material from the reservoir 402 and deposit it on the building area, for example be means of a vacuum pump and tubes connecting the object recoater head 406 to the reservoir 402.
  • the machine 400 in this embodiment, includes a building area which typically includes a building area support (e.g., building area platform) upon which the 3D object is built.
  • the building area support in this embodiment is configured to sink into the reservoir during the building process. Accordingly, the building area and a 3D object being built on the build area support may be "dipped" in the reservoir thus depositing the liquid resin on the build area.
  • the stereolithography apparatus 400 further includes a light source.
  • the light source is typically included for the purpose of polymerizing the liquid to form a 3D object.
  • the light source may take various forms.
  • the light source may be an electromagnetic light source, such as a ultra-violet (UV) light source, an infrared (IR) light source.
  • the light source may be any type of laser beam capable of solidifying the liquid.
  • the recoating parameters may be calculated by a control computer 434 shown in Figure 4B, which may comprise one or more computers.
  • the control computer 434 may be one or more of the computer 102(a) from Figure 2 and the computer 305 from Figure 3. Alternatively or additionally, the control computer 434 may be a separate computer that is designed to drive the recoating process.
  • the control computer 434 may interface with the additive manufacturing apparatus 400.
  • the control computer 434 may further include software configured to calculate recoating parameters and which directly or indirectly (by adjusting parameters read by a separate controller) control the deposition of layers or recoating of layers of the additive manufacturing apparatus 400.
  • the control computer 434 may directly or indirectly control the transport system 404, the object coater head 406, and/or the building area support.
  • the recoating parameters that may be calculated by the control computer 434 include one or more of the following: whether to perform a deep dip (e.g., dipping the building area support into the building material); a deep dip depth (e.g., the depth that the building area support is dipped into a building material), a deep dip time (e.g., the time duration that the building area support is dipped into a building material), a blade gap (e.g., the vertical separation distance between the bottom of the object coater head 406 and the top of the previous (cured) layer), a pre sweep time (e.g., the time duration between when the previous layer is cured and the object coater head 406 begins sweeping over the building area to deposit building material), a sweep speed (e.g., the speed that the object coater head 406 moves when sweeping over the building area to deposit building material, a number of sweeps (e.g., the number of times the object coater head 406 sweeps or moves over the building area
  • a deep dip depth
  • the recoating parameters may be automatically calculated based on a "remoteness" value that is calculated for the object.
  • the remoteness is defined herein as the maximum distance between a location within the layer contour to that contour. In other words, the remoteness may be defined as the maximum value of all of the distances between each point of a given layer on the object being built and the closest building material (i.e., the shortest distance to any portion of the building material).
  • Figure 5 shows a top view of a cured layer 515 of an object being built in a build area 505.
  • the uncured building material 510 surrounds the layer 515 and also is in an interior area within the layer 515.
  • Each of the points 520, 525, 540, and 550 are points of the layer 515 on the object being built. As shown, the layer 515 is split into portions 560 and 565 that are separate for the layer 515 (though the overall object may or may not be connected at a different layer). Such separate portions in a layer may be referred to as "islands.”
  • the shortest distance between the point 540 and the building material 510 is shown by the dashed line 542.
  • the shortest distance between the point 520 and the building material 510 is equal in two directions and shown by the distances 530 and 532.
  • the shortest distance between the point 525 and the building material 510 is equal in two directions and shown by the distances 534 and 536.
  • the shortest distance between the point 550 and the building material 510 is equal in many directions one such direction shown by the distance 552.
  • the distances 530, 532, 534, and 536 as shown are all equal, and are all the maximum value of shortest distance between any point on the layer 515 and any portion of the building material 510. Therefore, the remoteness of the layer 515 of the object would be the value of the distance 530, which is the same as the distance 532, 524, and 536.
  • the remoteness may be calculated on a layer by layer basis for an object being built.
  • the control computer 434 may attempt to calculate actual remoteness of a layer of the object such as by calculating the shortest distance between each point on the layer of the object and any portion of the building material, for example using a brute force method. Calculating such distances for each and every point on the layer of the object, however, may not be feasible as it may be too computationally complex. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the control computer 434 may calculate an estimate of the remoteness of a layer of the object, such as by using a Monte Carlo sampling approach or some other similar random, pseudorandom, or other sampling approach. For example, the control computer 434 may randomly select some number of points on the layer of the object and calculate the shortest distance between each selected point and any portion of the building material. The control computer 434 may select the maximum of the calculated shortest distances as the remoteness value.
  • the recoating parameters may be adjusted based on the remoteness of the object, and in some embodiments, based on the remoteness of a given layer of the object.
  • the remoteness of a given layer (e.g., layer n) of a building process may be used to determine the recoating parameters for the next layer (e.g., layer n+1).
  • control computer 434 may automatically calculate the recoating parameters based on the remoteness discussed above (which may be considered an example of a layer parameter) and some additional layer parameters including one or more of the following: a direction of recoating for a given layer, identification of trapped volumes in the object being built, and a critical zone time that is the time the object coater head 406 is moving after it passes a "critical zone.”
  • a direction of recoating for a given layer identification of trapped volumes in the object being built
  • a critical zone time that is the time the object coater head 406 is moving after it passes a "critical zone.”
  • the direction the recoating is performed e.g., the direction in which the object coater head 406 is moving as it deposits a layer of building material
  • the direction the recoating can influence which areas of the object can be recoated more easily.
  • surfaces or areas of the object that are in the opposite direction of the recoating direction may be easier to recoat.
  • the remoteness may generally be equal to the radius of the circle.
  • the recoating is moving in a particular direction, for example left to right across the circular surface, the areas to the right of the center of the circle may be more difficult to recoat, and therefore the recoating parameters may be adjusted for recoating such areas.
  • the object may contain "trapped volumes" or areas in the object that building material does not drain out of easily as the object fully surrounds the building material.
  • a critical zone may be a point or area that is "locally remote.”
  • a layer of an object may have an absolute remoteness value based on one or more points that is the maximum distance from any portion of the building material.
  • the layer may also have points that are not the maximum distance from the building material for the entire layer, but rather the maximum distance for some particular area of the layer, such as for an island.
  • the point 550 of the layer 515 may not be the point furthest from the building material for the overall layer 515, but may be the point furthest from the building material for the island 560. Accordingly, point 550 may be a locally remote point on island 560 and points 520 and 525 may be locally remote points on the island 565.
  • Such critical zones may be calculated by the control computer 434 in some embodiments.
  • the critical zones may be calculated on an island by island basis. Taking account of such critical zones may help reduce a postdip time by, for example, counting down a plurality of postdip times each associated with a given island.
  • the counter for the postdip time for each island may begin counting down after the recoater has passed over the critical zone, instead of counting down a postdip time after the entire platform has been recoated.
  • the last counter of the plurality of counters that reaches zero may determine the total post dip time.
  • multiple physical counters to count down for each island are not needed, and instead the total postdip time can be calculated based on a known recoater speed to determine the actual postdip time for the entire process.
  • control computer 434 may automatically calculate the recoating parameters based on the remoteness discussed above, optionally one or more layer parameters as discussed above, and one or more machine parameters of the additive manufacturing apparatus 400 including the following: a type of the recoating mechanism (e.g., transport system 404 and object coater head 406, building area support, etc.) used to recoat the building area, a type of building material used, and a thickness of layers produced by the additive manufacturing device 400.
  • a type of the recoating mechanism e.g., transport system 404 and object coater head 406, building area support, etc.
  • certain parameters of a layer may make the object easier to recoat (e.g., lower remoteness value, etc.) and certain parameters of a layer may make the object harder to recoat (e.g., higher remoteness value, etc.).
  • the control computer 434 may calculate recoating parameters.
  • the easier an object is to recoat may affect one or more of the recoating parameters as follows: a deep dip depth and/or time may be reduced or the deep dip eliminated entirely; a blade gap may be increased; a pre sweep time may be reduced; a sweep speed may be increased; a number of sweeps may be decreased; and a postdip delay time may be reduced.
  • the harder an object is to recoat may affect one or more of the recoating parameters as follows: a deep dip depth and/or time may be increased; a blade gap may be reduced; a pre sweep time may be increased; a sweep speed may be reduced; a number of sweeps may be increased; and a postdip delay time may be increased.
  • control computer 434 calculates recoating parameters at least in part based on pre-defined thresholds for one or more of the layer parameters. These predefined thresholds may be empirically determined and stored in the control computer 434.
  • each recoating parameter may be associated with one or more pre-defined thresholds unique to the recoating parameter.
  • a set of multiple recoating parameters may be associated with one or more pre-defined thresholds unique to the set of multiple recoating parameters.
  • a single dip determination threshold (e.g., 2mm) may be associated with whether the deep dip is performed. If the remoteness is below the dip determination threshold a deep dip may not be performed. If the remoteness is above the dip determination threshold a deep dip may be performed. Further, in some embodiments, the dip determination threshold may be associated with the set of both whether the deep dip is performed and the deep dip depth. In such embodiments, the deep dip depth may additionally be set to a value (e.g., 2mm) if the remoteness is above the dip determination threshold, and not set to a value if the remoteness is below the dip determination threshold.
  • a value e.g., 2mm
  • the recoating parameters may be set as follows: no deep dip is performed, the number of sweeps is set to 1, and the postdip delay time is set to 0. If the remoteness is above the first threshold and below the second threshold the recoating parameters may be set as follows: the deep dip depth is set to 5mm, the deep dip time is set to 5 seconds, the sweep speed is set to slow, the number of sweep is a positive integer N (e.g., 1), and the postdip delay time is set to 15 seconds.
  • N e.g. 1, 1
  • the recoating parameters may be set as follows: the deep dip depth is set to 10mm, the deep dip time is set to 10 seconds, the sweep speed is set to slow, the number of sweep is a positive integer greater than N (e.g., 3), and the postdip delay time is set to 15 seconds.
  • FIG. 6 is a flowchart which illustrates one example of a process for building an object using the systems and methods for calculating recoating parameters automatically discussed above.
  • the process begins at block 602, where an initial layer of building material is deposited on the build area of the additive manufacturing device 400 by the control computer 434 controlling the transport system 404, the object coater head 406, and/or the building area support to deposit the building material.
  • the initial layer of building material may be deposited using a first set of recoating parameters either specifically calculated for the initial layer, or based on a remoteness value of 0.
  • the process continues at a block 604, where the control computer 434 controls the light source to trace a pattern on the surface of the building material to cure the building material and form the dimensions of the object for the current layer.
  • control computer 434 determines if an additional layer of the object needs to be built. If at the block 606, the control computer 434 determines an additional layer does not need to be built, the process ends. If the control computer 434 determines an additional layer does need to be build, the process continues to a block 608.
  • the control computer 434 calculates one or more recoating parameters automatically. As discussed above, the control computer 434 may calculate the one or more recoating parameters based on one or more layer parameters, including remoteness, for the current layer built at the block 604. Further, in some embodiments, the control computer 434 may calculated the one or more recoating parameters also based on one or more machine parameters. Continuing at a block 610, the control computer 434 controls the transport system 404, the object coater head 406, and/or the building area support to deposit another layer of building material based on the one or more recoating parameters calculated at the block 608 for the current layer. The process then continues to the block 604.
  • FIG. 1 Various embodiments disclosed herein provide for the use of a computer control system.
  • a skilled artisan will readily appreciate that these embodiments may be implemented using numerous different types of computing devices, including both general purpose and/or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use in connection with the embodiments set forth above may include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
  • These devices may include stored instructions, which, when executed by a microprocessor in the computing device, cause the computer device to perform specified actions to carry out the instructions.
  • instructions refer to computer-implemented steps for processing information in the system. Instructions can be implemented in software, firmware or hardware and include any type of programmed step undertaken by components of the system.
  • a microprocessor may be any conventional general purpose single- or multi-chip microprocessor such as a Pentium® processor, a Pentium® Pro processor, a 8051 processor, a MIPS® processor, a Power PC® processor, or an Alpha® processor.
  • the microprocessor may be any conventional special purpose microprocessor such as a digital signal processor or a graphics processor.
  • the microprocessor typically has conventional address lines, conventional data lines, and one or more conventional control lines.
  • aspects and embodiments of the inventions disclosed herein may be implemented as a method, apparatus or article of manufacture using standard programming or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof.
  • article of manufacture refers to code or logic implemented in hardware or non-transitory computer readable media such as optical storage devices, and volatile or non-volatile memory devices or transitory computer readable media such as signals, carrier waves, etc.
  • Such hardware may include, but is not limited to, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), microprocessors, or other similar processing devices.

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Abstract

La présente invention porte sur un système et un procédé pour calculer des paramètres de recouvrement pour la construction d'un objet dans un environnement de fabrication additive. Divers modes de réalisation consistent à déterminer un ou plusieurs paramètres d'une couche donnée d'un objet en cours de construction, y compris un éloignement de l'objet. Sur la base des paramètres de couche déterminés, un ou plusieurs paramètres de recouvrement sont déterminés. Le ou les paramètres de recouvrement sont utilisés pour commander le dépôt de matériau de construction ou le recouvrement d'une couche de l'objet en cours de construction.
PCT/EP2015/072856 2014-10-07 2015-10-02 Système et procédé de recouvrement dans un environnement de fabrication additive Ceased WO2016055386A1 (fr)

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Cited By (2)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10442180B2 (en) 2017-05-15 2019-10-15 General Electric Company Systems and methods for additive manufacturing recoating
US10569364B2 (en) 2017-01-06 2020-02-25 General Electric Company Systems and methods for additive manufacturing recoating

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5945058A (en) * 1997-05-13 1999-08-31 3D Systems, Inc. Method and apparatus for identifying surface features associated with selected lamina of a three-dimensional object being stereolithographically formed
EP1120227A2 (fr) * 1994-04-25 2001-08-01 3D Systems, Inc. Techniques de construction ameliorees par stereolithographie
US20020188369A1 (en) * 2001-05-03 2002-12-12 Guertin Michelle D. Automatic determination and selection of build parameters for solid freeform fabrication techniques based on automatic part feature recognition

Patent Citations (3)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1120227A2 (fr) * 1994-04-25 2001-08-01 3D Systems, Inc. Techniques de construction ameliorees par stereolithographie
US5945058A (en) * 1997-05-13 1999-08-31 3D Systems, Inc. Method and apparatus for identifying surface features associated with selected lamina of a three-dimensional object being stereolithographically formed
US20020188369A1 (en) * 2001-05-03 2002-12-12 Guertin Michelle D. Automatic determination and selection of build parameters for solid freeform fabrication techniques based on automatic part feature recognition

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10569364B2 (en) 2017-01-06 2020-02-25 General Electric Company Systems and methods for additive manufacturing recoating
US10442180B2 (en) 2017-05-15 2019-10-15 General Electric Company Systems and methods for additive manufacturing recoating

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