Temperature determination in additive manufacturing systems
First Claim
1. An additive manufacturing system, the system comprising a controller configured to:
- operate a fluid dispenser to selectively dispense at least one of a plurality of print agents to a print-bed area containing a layer of a part being printed in a given three-dimensional printing process;
obtain temperature information from one or more temperature sensors, wherein each of the one or more temperature sensors is configured to measure a temperature of a respective pixel area in a plurality of pixel areas in the print-bed area for at least one layer of the part being printed;
obtain agent concentration information, the received agent concentration information comprising, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, a concentration of each of the plurality of printing agents present in the respective pixel area;
on the basis of the obtained temperature information and agent concentration information, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, determine the temperature for each printing agent in the plurality of printing agents which is present in the respective pixel area, the different printing agents having different respective temperatures within that pixel area; and
on the basis of the determined temperatures for each pixel area and printing agent, determine a power to be applied to a heating subsystem employed in the given three-dimensional printing process.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of controlling a heating sub-system in an additive manufacturing system. The method comprising receiving thermal imaging information from a temperature sensing subsystem, receiving additive manufacturing media concentration information from an additive manufacturing media concentration information database, on the basis of the received thermal imaging information and additive manufacturing media concentration information, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, determining the temperature for each additive manufacturing media agent in the plurality of additive manufacturing media agents which is present in the respective pixel area, and on the basis of the determined temperatures for each pixel area and additive manufacturing media agent, controlling the power to a heating subsystem employed in the given additive manufacturing process.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An additive manufacturing system, the system comprising a controller configured to:
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operate a fluid dispenser to selectively dispense at least one of a plurality of print agents to a print-bed area containing a layer of a part being printed in a given three-dimensional printing process; obtain temperature information from one or more temperature sensors, wherein each of the one or more temperature sensors is configured to measure a temperature of a respective pixel area in a plurality of pixel areas in the print-bed area for at least one layer of the part being printed; obtain agent concentration information, the received agent concentration information comprising, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, a concentration of each of the plurality of printing agents present in the respective pixel area; on the basis of the obtained temperature information and agent concentration information, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, determine the temperature for each printing agent in the plurality of printing agents which is present in the respective pixel area, the different printing agents having different respective temperatures within that pixel area; and on the basis of the determined temperatures for each pixel area and printing agent, determine a power to be applied to a heating subsystem employed in the given three-dimensional printing process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of controlling a heating sub-system in an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
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operating a fluid dispenser to selectively dispense at least one of a plurality of additive manufacturing media agents to a bed area containing a layer of a part being printed in a given additive manufacturing process; receiving thermal imaging information from a temperature sensing subsystem, the temperature sensing subsystem comprising one or more thermal cameras configured to measure the temperature of a respective pixel area in a plurality of pixel areas in the bed area; receiving additive manufacturing media agent concentration information from an additive manufacturing media agent concentration information database, the received additive manufacturing media agent concentration information comprising, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, a concentration of each of the plurality of additive manufacturing media agents present in the respective pixel area; on the basis of the received thermal imaging information and additive manufacturing media agent concentration information, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, determining a different respective temperature for each additive manufacturing media agent in the plurality of additive manufacturing media agents which is present in the respective pixel area; and on the basis of the determined temperatures for each pixel area and additive manufacturing media agent, controlling the power to a heating subsystem employed in the given additive manufacturing process. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, if executed by a processor of a three-dimensional printing system, cause the processor to:
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operate a fluid dispenser to selectively dispense at least one of a plurality of print agents to a print-bed area containing a layer of a part being formed in a given three-dimensional printing process; receive thermal imaging information from a temperature sensing subsystem, the temperature sensing subsystem comprising a plurality of thermal cameras configured to measure a temperature of a respective pixel area in a plurality of pixel areas in the print-bed area; receive agent concentration information, the received agent concentration information comprising, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, a concentration of each of a plurality of printing agents present in the respective pixel area; access a printing agent concentration information database, the printing agent concentration information database comprising a plurality of temperature correction lookup tables, each lookup table in the plurality of temperature correction lookup tables comprising temperature correction data for a plurality of different measured temperatures and different printing agent concentrations, wherein the accessing results in, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, corrected temperatures for each printing agent in the plurality of printing agents which is present in the respective pixel area; and on the basis of the corrected temperatures for each pixel area and printing agent, control the power to a plurality of fusing lamps employed in the three-dimensional printing process.
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Specification