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WO2017044833A1 - Systèmes et procédés pour la commande du cycle thermique dans des environnements de fabrication additive - Google Patents

Systèmes et procédés pour la commande du cycle thermique dans des environnements de fabrication additive Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2017044833A1
WO2017044833A1 PCT/US2016/051081 US2016051081W WO2017044833A1 WO 2017044833 A1 WO2017044833 A1 WO 2017044833A1 US 2016051081 W US2016051081 W US 2016051081W WO 2017044833 A1 WO2017044833 A1 WO 2017044833A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
building material
container
temperature
additive manufacturing
temperature distribution
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/US2016/051081
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English (en)
Inventor
Piet VAN DEN ECKER
Tom Craeghs
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Materialise NV
Materialise USA LLC
Original Assignee
Materialise NV
Materialise USA LLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Materialise NV, Materialise USA LLC filed Critical Materialise NV
Publication of WO2017044833A1 publication Critical patent/WO2017044833A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • 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
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F12/00—Apparatus or devices specially adapted for additive manufacturing; Auxiliary means for additive manufacturing; Combinations of additive manufacturing apparatus or devices with other processing apparatus or devices
    • B22F12/10—Auxiliary heating means
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F12/00—Apparatus or devices specially adapted for additive manufacturing; Auxiliary means for additive manufacturing; Combinations of additive manufacturing apparatus or devices with other processing apparatus or devices
    • B22F12/90—Means for process control, e.g. cameras or sensors
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
    • B22F10/20—Direct sintering or melting
    • B22F10/28—Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
    • B22F10/80—Data acquisition or data processing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F12/00—Apparatus or devices specially adapted for additive manufacturing; Auxiliary means for additive manufacturing; Combinations of additive manufacturing apparatus or devices with other processing apparatus or devices
    • B22F12/80—Plants, production lines or modules
    • B22F12/82—Combination of additive manufacturing apparatus or devices with other processing apparatus or devices
    • B22F12/86—Serial processing with multiple devices grouped
    • 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
    • B29C64/165—Processes of additive manufacturing using a combination of solid and fluid materials, e.g. a powder selectively bound by a liquid binder, catalyst, inhibitor or energy absorber
    • 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
    • B29C64/171—Processes of additive manufacturing specially adapted for manufacturing multiple 3D objects
    • B29C64/182—Processes of additive manufacturing specially adapted for manufacturing multiple 3D objects in parallel batches
    • 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
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
    • Y02P10/00—Technologies related to metal processing
    • Y02P10/25—Process efficiency

Definitions

  • This application relates to the control of the thermal cycle of building material and objects in an additive manufacturing environment. More particularly, this application relates to systems and methods for controlling the thermal cycle through the use of individual build containers for different parts, temperature sensors, heating elements, and cooling elements.
  • Laser scanning systems are used in many different applications.
  • One of these applications is the field of additive manufacturing, in which three dimensional solid objects are formed based on a digital model. Because the manufactured objects are three dimensional, additive manufacturing is commonly referred to as three dimensional ("3D") printing.
  • 3D three dimensional
  • the use of laser scanning systems in additive manufacturing is especially prevalent in stereolithography, selective laser sintering ("LS”), and laser melting manufacturing techniques. These techniques use laser scanning systems to direct a laser beam to a specified location in order to polymerize or solidify layers of build materials which are used to create the desired three dimensional (“3D”) object.
  • the laser beam from the laser scanning provides only a portion of the energy needed to polymerize or solidify layers of the building material. The remaining necessary energy is instead provided by preheating the building material to a temperature near, but under, the melting point of the building material prior to scanning.
  • the object and the building material may need to cool down, such as by passively cooling. Once cooled below a certain temperature, the printed object is considered complete, although in some cases post-processing of the object may be necessary to finish the part (e.g., sand blasting to decrease surface roughness).
  • existing additive manufacturing devices allow for cooling processes, they do not provide sufficient information about and temperature control over the entire additive manufacturing process. Accordingly, techniques for controlling the thermal cycles across the entire additive manufacturing process are needed.
  • a system for controlling the thermal cycle of building material in an additive manufacturing environment may include a temperature actuator configured to at least one of heat or cool the building material and a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature distribution of the building material.
  • the apparatus may further include a computer control system comprising one or more computers having a memory and a processor.
  • the computer control system may be configured to determine a desired temperature distribution of the building material at one or more points in time over a time period and measure a current temperature distribution of the building material during each of the one or more points in time over the time period using the temperature sensor.
  • the computer control system may further be configured to cause the temperature actuator to at least one of heat or cool the building material based on a difference between the desired temperature distribution and the current temperature distribution at each of the one or more points in time during the time period.
  • a method of controlling the thermal cycle of building material in an additive manufacturing environment may include determining a desired temperature distribution of the building material at one or more points in time over a time period and measuring a current temperature distribution of the building material during each of the one or more points in time over the time period using the temperature sensor.
  • the method may further include modifying the temperature of the building material in a first location based on a difference between the desired temperature distribution at the first location and the current temperature distribution at the first location at one of the one or more points in time during the time period.
  • the temperature of the building material may also be modified in a second location based on a difference between the desired temperature distribution at the first location and the current temperature distribution at the second location at one of the one or more points in time during the time period.
  • Figure 1 is an example of a customized container for manufacturing 3D objects.
  • Figure 1A is another example of a customized container for manufacturing 3D objects.
  • Figure 2 illustrates an example of an additive manufacturing system configured to utilize the customized containers described in Figures 1 and 1 A.
  • Figure 2A illustrates an example of a container processing apparatus of the additive manufacturing system of Figure 2.
  • Figure 2B illustrates another example of a container processing apparatus of the additive manufacturing system of Figure 2.
  • Figure 3 is a flowchart which illustrates one example of a process for determining placement of one or more temperature sensors and/or one or more temperature actuators.
  • Figure 4 is a flowchart which illustrates one example of a process for controlling the thermal cycle of build material and objects.
  • Figure 5 is graphical illustration of a thermal cycle of build material in a build process.
  • Figure 6 is an example of a system for designing and manufacturing 3D objects.
  • Figure 7 illustrates a functional block diagram of one example of the computer shown in FIG. 6.
  • Figure 8 shows a high level process for manufacturing a 3D object using an additive manufacturing system.
  • Additive manufacturing processes generally include three phases: preheating, building, and cooling.
  • the inventors have recognized that during these three phases, the various thermal cycles can impact significantly the quality of the object.
  • the thermal cycles can impact and lead to deformation of the object during the build process.
  • the thermal cycles may also adversely affect the density and uniformity of the final object.
  • the cooling speed is a factor in the crystallinity of the material. Parts which are cooled faster have a lower degree of crystallinity. A lower degree of crystallinity can lead to a lower stiffness of the material in the final product.
  • the systems and methods disclosed herein provide the ability to control the thermal cycle throughout all three stages of the additive manufacturing process: preheating, build, and cooling.
  • the thermal cycle is controllable both for the build material and also those objects formed from the build material during additive manufacture.
  • Some embodiments described herein relate to the use of customized containers for holding build material and objects as they are manufactured during additive manufacture. These customized containers may have customized sizes.
  • the dimensions of the customized container may be based on the dimensions of the part to be built. For example, the dimensions of the container may be selected to minimize the amount of base material that will not be transformed into a solid material.
  • additive manufacturing techniques start from a digital representation of the 3D object to be formed.
  • the digital representation is divided into a series of cross-sectional layers, or "slices," which are overlaid to form the object as a whole.
  • the layers represent the 3D object, and may be generated using additive manufacturing modeling software executed by a computing device.
  • the software may include computer aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software.
  • Information about the cross-sectional layers of the 3D object may be stored as cross-sectional data.
  • An additive manufacturing (e.g., 3D printing) machine or system utilizes the cross-sectional data for the purpose of building the 3D object on a layer by layer basis. Accordingly, additive manufacturing allows for fabrication of 3D objects directly from computer generated data of the objects, such as computer aided design (CAD) files and in particular STL files. Additive manufacturing provides the ability to quickly manufacture both simple and complex parts without tooling and without the need for assembly of different parts.
  • CAD computer aided design
  • LS selective laser sintering
  • LS apparatuses often use a high-powered laser (e.g. a carbon dioxide laser) to "sinter" (i.e. fuse) small particles of plastic, metal, ceramic, glass powders, or other appropriate materials into a 3D object.
  • the LS apparatus may use a laser to scan cross-sections on the surface of a powder bed in accordance with a CAD design. Also, the LS apparatus may lower a manufacturing platform by one layer thickness after a layer has been completed and add a new layer of material in order that a new layer can be formed.
  • an LS apparatus may preheat the powder in order to make it easier for the laser to raise the temperature during the sintering process.
  • embodiments described herein may be described with respect to LS, the embodiments may also be used with other appropriate additive manufacturing techniques as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.
  • the properties of the building material (e.g., polymers, metal, etc.) used for additive manufacturing and the dimensions of an object built from the building material may be affected by the thermal cycles the material experiences during manufacture.
  • the quality of a manufactured object may be evaluated or measured based on certain material properties of the building material (e.g., mechanical properties).
  • the quality of a manufactured object may also be evaluated based on the measured dimensional accuracy of the object as compared to the dimensions described in the object model. Accordingly, the quality of a manufactured object may be directly tied to the thermal cycles (e.g., cycles of heating and cooling over time, temperature curves experienced, etc.) experienced by the materials.
  • the thermal cycle may be a historic temperature distribution of the object (e.g., the building material used to build the object) over time, such as a series of temperatures of the build material in different spatial sections of the build material at different points in time. Therefore, embodiments described herein may measure and control the thermal cycles experienced by the materials during additive manufacturing.
  • systems and methods described herein may utilize customized containers that act as the build area for objects to be manufactured.
  • the containers may be sized so as to be approximately the same length, width, and height of the maximum dimensions of the object to be built. Because they are sized to fit the manufactured object, the customized containers may be much smaller than the single large build area used in conventional systems.
  • the thermal mass of the building material in these customized smaller containers may be significantly less than the thermal mass of the building material present in a larger build area. As a result, the smaller container can be more homogeneously heated and/or cooled, and the thermal cycles accurately controlled. Using these types of customized smaller containers, it becomes feasible to ensure the building material closely tracks a desired thermal cycle throughout the build process of an object.
  • the desired thermal cycle for building material may be a set of desired temperature distributions of the building material at different time points.
  • the temperature distribution of build material may be the set of temperatures of the building material at different spatial points in the container.
  • a desired thermal cycle for the build material may need to have a slow cooling process (e.g., the temperature of the building material at any point decreases at a certain rate).
  • a slow cooling process may lead to high degrees of crystallinity in the built object. The high degree of crystallinity may result in increased stiffness.
  • by ensuring all the build material for the object cools around the same rate there may be fewer deformations due to the higher spatial homogeneity in the cooling process.
  • the desired thermal cycle for the build material may be to keep the material at a relatively high temperature for a certain period of time, and then quickly cool the build material.
  • the desired thermal cycle may be to keep the building material at a certain temperature between room temperature and the melting point of the material to achieve maximal crystallization.
  • the desired thermal cycle for the build material may be based on features (e.g., geometric features) of the object built from the build material.
  • the desired thermal cycle for portions of an object may be based on a thickness of the portions of the object.
  • an object or portions of the object that are thicker e.g., thicker walls
  • a thicker wall may be heated and cooled more quickly than a thin wall.
  • thickness may be used to adjust heating and cooling.
  • the desired thermal cycle may be based on other features of the object built from the build material, such as quality specification of the object to be built. For example, if an object has a quality specification of a prototype (e.g., quality specification is lower), then the cooling cycle of the desired thermal cycle may be different than if the object has a quality specification of an end-series object (e.g., finished product, quality specification is higher). In one example, an object with a quality specification of a prototype may be cooled more quickly than a product with a quality specification of an end-series object, for example, to build the object faster and/or at less cost for controlling the cooling process. There may be other examples of how quality specification may be used to adjust heating and cooling.
  • customized containers may also provide other advantages to the additive manufacturing process.
  • the customized containers may be designed to be separate and removable from the additive manufacturing machine, so they can be preheated and cooled in a separate area, allowing for the additive manufacturing machine to continue being used, such as with a different customized container. This may allow for increased efficiency in use of the additive manufacturing device.
  • multiple customized containers may be capable of being placed on the additive manufacturing device at the same time, and therefore multiple objects may be built in multiple containers at the same time.
  • Figure 1 illustrates an example of a customized container 100.
  • the customized container is sized as approximately the same size as the maximum dimensions of a part 105 (not shown in Figure 1, but shown in Figure 1A) to be built in the customized container 100.
  • customized containers 100 may be pre-designed in a number of different sizes so that an appropriate size container can be chosen for a particular part or object to be built.
  • the customized container 100 may be generally shaped as a rectangular box (or other appropriate geometric shape).
  • the customized container 100 may include walls 110 and a build plate 115.
  • the build plate 115 may be moveable (e.g., removable) with respect to the walls 110.
  • the customized container 100 in some embodiments, may further include a cover plate 120 that also may be removable.
  • the build plate 115 may be moveable to allow for access to objects built in the container 100, for new build plates to be used with the remaining portion of the customized container 100, etc.
  • the cover plate 120 may be removable to allow access to the interior of the customized container 100 as needed, but also to seal off the customized container 100 as needed.
  • the customized container 100 may also include one or more temperature sensors 125 and/or one or more temperature actuators 130 attached to (e.g., integrated into the walls 110, or on the exterior of the walls 110 of the container 100) the customized container 100.
  • These temperature sensors 125 and/or temperature actuators may be configured to sense temperature via direct physical contact or in a non-contact way.
  • the customized containers may use a radiant heater to actuate in combination with a thermal camera or pyrometer to measure temperature.
  • the walls 110 of the customized container 100 may include electrical wiring. The wiring may be integrated into the walls 110, or on the exterior of the walls 110 of the container 100.
  • the electrical wiring may connect to the one or more temperature sensors 125 and/or one or more temperature actuators 130. Further, the electrical wiring (or the temperature sensors 125 and/or one or more temperature actuators 130 directly) may connect to one or more connectors 140.
  • the one or more connectors 140 may be configured to interface with a controller that controls the function of the temperature sensors 125 and/or the temperature actuators 130.
  • the one or more connectors 140 may be positioned on the container 100 such that when the container 100 is placed in an additive manufacturing device, the connectors 140 interface with complimentary connectors on the additive manufacturing device that interface with a controller.
  • the controller may be attached or located in the containers 100, the additive manufacturing device, a container processing apparatus as described herein, or other suitable components of an additive manufacturing system.
  • the container 100 may be equipped with a memory that stores information regarding the container. This information may include, for example, size information, properties of the container, or other container-related information.
  • the stored information may be accessible via the connector 140 by a controller that may utilize the information to determine how to handle the particular container.
  • the controller may be configured to manage the preheating process in the container. It may also be configured to control various aspects of the build process, including for example, the preheating process in the container, the amount of building material to add or use, the cooling process, or some other aspect of the build process.
  • the controller may be configured to control other functionality of the machine such as, for example, a robotic arm which may be used to grip and maneuver the container within the additive manufacturing device.
  • the memory may be part of an RFID (radio-frequency identification) tag, NFC (near field communication) tag, or some other type of device that can be read by a controller with the appropriate hardware.
  • Figure 2 illustrates an example of an additive manufacturing system configured to utilize the customized containers 100 described in Figures 1 and 1A.
  • the system 200 includes at least an additive manufacturing device 210 configured to receive containers 100 (which are shown as the small rectangular-shaped objects in the system.
  • the containers may be moved onto the additive manufacturing device 210 manually or automatically.
  • a robot 220 e.g., moveable robotic arm
  • the system 200 may have conveyor belts 230 that are configured to move containers as needed through the system 200.
  • the system 200 may also include a container processing apparatus 240.
  • the container processing apparatus 240 may be configured to preheat and/or cool the building material in the containers 100.
  • the robot 220 and/or conveyor belts 230 may be configured to facilitate the containers 100 being placed on and removed from the container processing apparatus 240.
  • temperature sensors 125 and/or temperature actuators 130 may be included in the container processing apparatuses 240.
  • the container processing apparatuses 240 may include one or more complimentary connectors to interface with connectors 140 on the containers 100.
  • the connectors on the container processing apparatuses 240 may interface with a controller. As discussed above, such an interface may be used to allow the controller to determine properties of the container to properly control the build of objects and thermal cycles and/or control temperature sensors 125 and/or temperature actuators 130 to manage the thermal cycle of the building material.
  • the container processing apparatuses 240 may have the shape of a shelving wall, having a number of slots 245 configured to receive containers 100. Accordingly, multiple containers 100 can be processed (e.g., thermal cycles monitored and controlled) by the container processing apparatuses 240 at a time.
  • FIG. 2B illustrates another example of a container processing apparatus 240 of Figure 2.
  • the container processing apparatus 240 comprises a conveyor belt system 280.
  • the container processing apparatus 240 comprises one or more temperature sensors 125 and/or temperature actuators 130 placed alongside a conveyor belt 280.
  • the temperature sensors 125 and/or temperature actuators 130 may be positioned so as to monitor and control the thermal cycle of containers 100 that move along the conveyor belt 280.
  • the system 200 may comprise a first container processing apparatus 240 for receiving containers 100 and preheating the containers 100.
  • the containers 100 may be preheated with the build material inside the containers 100.
  • system 200 may have a separate build material conditioning apparatus 290 that is configured to store/receive build material and preheat it according to the desired thermal cycle, and place the build material in the container 100 on a layer by layer basis during the build process of an object.
  • a separate build material conditioning apparatus 290 that is configured to store/receive build material and preheat it according to the desired thermal cycle, and place the build material in the container 100 on a layer by layer basis during the build process of an object.
  • the container 100 may then be moved to the additive manufacturing apparatus 210, and the desired object built in the container 100. After the object is built, the container 100 may be moved to a second container processing apparatus 240 for receiving the containers 100 and cooling the containers 100 according to the desired thermal cycle.
  • the system 200 may further have a finalization apparatus 295, which removes the object from the container 100 and separates unused build material from the part (such as for reuse of the build material).
  • the unused build material may be placed back in another container 100 or in the build material conditioning apparatus 200.
  • Figure 3 illustrates an example of a process 300 for determining placement of one or more temperature sensors 125 and/or one or more temperature actuators 130 on the containers 100 and/or the container processing apparatus 240.
  • the process begins at block 305, where an object to be built using additive manufacturing techniques is selected.
  • the process then moves to block 310, where a container 100 is selected based on the size of the object to be built.
  • a computer simulation of a build of the selected object using an additive manufacturing device and the selected container is performed.
  • the simulation may be performed in various ways.
  • finite element analysis (FEA) or computational fluid dynamics analysis (CFD) may be used.
  • FEA finite element analysis
  • CFD computational fluid dynamics analysis
  • simulation software packages such as COMSOL® (http://www.comsol.com/comsol-multiphysics) or ANSYS may be used to simulate an entire thermal history for a build.
  • the projected thermal cycle (e.g., temperature distribution of building material) over time in the container is computed and stored.
  • the projected thermal cycle may be simulated based on a simulated preheat period, a simulated build period, and/or a simulated passive cool down period. Based on the simulation, it may be determined where spatially in the container the temperature is too hot or too cold at a given time period. The determination may be based on a desired thermal cycle for the building material (e.g., desired temperature distribution over time). In some embodiments, the determination may be based on features (e.g., quality specification, geometrical features, thickness, etc.) of the object to be built. As discussed, such features may also be used to determine the desired thermal cycle.
  • features e.g., quality specification, geometrical features, thickness, etc.
  • the placement of temperature sensors 125 and/or temperature actuators 130 may be selected so as to be able to monitor and/or affect the temperature in these locations. Accordingly, at block 320, it may be determined, based on the temperature distribution calculated over time, the positon to place temperature sensors 125 and/or temperature actuators 130 in the container 100 or on the container processing apparatus 240.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a process 400 for controlling the thermal cycle of build material and objects.
  • the process begins at block 405, where the temperature distribution of building material in the container 100 may be measured using one or more temperature sensors 125 at a given time point.
  • the process then moves to block 410, where the measured temperature distribution may be compared to a desired temperature distribution at the given time point.
  • decision block 415 it is determined if the measured temperature distribution of the building material differs from the desired temperature distribution (e.g., differs by a threshold temperature difference). If at decision block 415 it is determined the measured temperature distribution of the building material does not differ from the desired temperature distribution, the process continues to block 425. If at decision block 415 it is determined the measured temperature distribution of the building material does differ from the desired temperature distribution, the process continues to block 420.
  • temperature actuators 130 are used to heat/cool the building material in the appropriate areas of the container to try and achieve the desired temperature distribution.
  • the amount of heating/cooling applied to a particular area of the container may be based on a temperature difference between a desired temperature and measured temperature of the build material in the area at that time. The process then continues to block 425.
  • FIG. 5 is a graphical illustration of the measured thermal cycles that may be generated using the process described above in connection with Figure 4.
  • a graph 500 is shown which provides measurements from a build volume on a plastic laser sintering device. The graph illustrates the cooling down of different points in the build over time.
  • the x-axis 502 on the graph shows the time in hours.
  • the y-axis 504 shows temperature.
  • the temperature readings shown in the graph 500 may be measured with thermocouples attached to pins and/or probes inserted into the build material at various identified locations, and measured over time.
  • the locations 506 are described in Figure 5 as their position within the container in three dimensions. In this particular example, the locations in the container are described according to the following key:
  • the point BC3 represents a point at the bottom, in the center (in between the front and the back) and in the center/right. As can be seen in the graph, there is a significant measured difference in the cooling period of the point BC3 (top curve 508) or the point UF3 (the bottom curve 510). Thus, based on these measurements, the temperature actuators 130 may be used to influence the temperature in the various locations so that they conform to a desired temperature at various measured times.
  • Embodiments of the invention may be practiced within a system for designing and manufacturing 3D objects.
  • the environment includes a system 600.
  • the system 600 includes one or more computers 602a-602d, which can be, for example, any workstation, server, or other computing device capable of processing information.
  • each of the computers 602a-602d can be connected, by any suitable communications technology (e.g., an internet protocol), to a network 605 (e.g., the Internet).
  • any suitable communications technology e.g., an internet protocol
  • a network 605 e.g., the Internet
  • the computers 602a-602d 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 605.
  • the system 600 further includes one or more additive manufacturing devices (e.g., 3-D printers) 606a-606b.
  • additive manufacturing device 606a is directly connected to a computer 602d (and through computer 602d connected to computers 602a-602c via the network 605) and additive manufacturing device 606b is connected to the computers 602a-602d via the network 605.
  • additive manufacturing device 606 may be directly connected to a computer 602, connected to a computer 602 via a network 605, and/or connected to a computer 602 via another computer 602 and the network 605.
  • any of the computers 602a-602d may be configured to function as the controller described with respect to FIGs. 1-4. Further, any of the computers 602a-602d may be configured to perform the processes described herein, including the processes 300 and 400 described with respect to FIGs. 3 and 4.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a functional block diagram of one example of a computer of FIG. 1.
  • the computer 502a includes a processor 710 in data communication with a memory 720, an input device 730, and an output device 740.
  • the processor is further in data communication with an optional network interface card 770.
  • an optional network interface card 770 Although described separately, it is to be appreciated that functional blocks described with respect to the computer 502a need not be separate structural elements.
  • the processor 710 and memory 720 may be embodied in a single chip.
  • the processor 710 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 710 can be coupled, via one or more buses, to read information from or write information to memory 720.
  • the processor may additionally, or in the alternative, contain memory, such as processor registers.
  • the memory 720 can include processor cache, including a multi-level hierarchical cache in which different levels have different capacities and access speeds.
  • the memory 720 can also include random access memory (RAM), other volatile storage devices, or non-volatile storage devices.
  • 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 710 also may be coupled to an input device 730 and an output device 740 for, respectively, receiving input from and providing output to a user of the computer 602a.
  • 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 710 further may be coupled to a network interface card 770.
  • the network interface card 770 prepares data generated by the processor 710 for transmission via a network according to one or more data transmission protocols.
  • the network interface card 770 also decodes data received via a network according to one or more data transmission protocols.
  • the network interface card 770 can include a transmitter, receiver, or both. In other embodiments, the transmitter and receiver can be two separate components.
  • the network interface card 770 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. 8 illustrates a process 800 for manufacturing a 3-D object or device.
  • a digital representation of the object is designed using a computer, such as the computer 602a.
  • 2-D or 3-D data may be input to the computer 602a for aiding in designing the digital representation of the 3-D object.
  • information is sent from the computer 602a to an additive manufacturing device, such as additive manufacturing device 606, and the device 606 commences the manufacturing process in accordance with the received information.
  • the additive manufacturing device 606 continues manufacturing the 3-D object using suitable materials, such as a liquid resin.
  • the object is finally built.
  • 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 820, the 3-D object is generated.
  • FIG. 1 Various embodiments disclosed herein provide for the use of a controller or 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 concerne des systèmes et des procédés pour la commande du cycle thermique dans des environnements de fabrication additive. Certains modes de réalisation décrits ici se rapportent à l'utilisation de contenants sur mesure pour contenir le matériau de construction et les objets à mesure qu'ils sont fabriqués au cours de la fabrication additive.
PCT/US2016/051081 2015-09-10 2016-09-09 Systèmes et procédés pour la commande du cycle thermique dans des environnements de fabrication additive Ceased WO2017044833A1 (fr)

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WO2020242472A1 (fr) * 2019-05-30 2020-12-03 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Procédé de refroidissement pour système d'impression en trois dimensions
WO2021015714A1 (fr) 2019-07-19 2021-01-28 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Adaptation de simulations
US11235528B2 (en) 2017-09-02 2022-02-01 R3 Printing, Inc. Carriageless print head assembly for extrusion-based additive construction
US20220234287A1 (en) * 2019-09-26 2022-07-28 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Printing and curing binder agent

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US6153142A (en) * 1999-02-08 2000-11-28 3D Systems, Inc. Stereolithographic method and apparatus for production of three dimensional objects with enhanced thermal control of the build environment
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WO2015108547A2 (fr) * 2014-01-16 2015-07-23 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Production d'objets tridimensionnels

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US6153142A (en) * 1999-02-08 2000-11-28 3D Systems, Inc. Stereolithographic method and apparatus for production of three dimensional objects with enhanced thermal control of the build environment
US20110252618A1 (en) * 2010-04-17 2011-10-20 Evonik Degussa Gmbh Apparatus for reducing the size of the lower construction chamber of a laser sintering installation
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US11235528B2 (en) 2017-09-02 2022-02-01 R3 Printing, Inc. Carriageless print head assembly for extrusion-based additive construction
WO2020242472A1 (fr) * 2019-05-30 2020-12-03 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Procédé de refroidissement pour système d'impression en trois dimensions
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