ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRINTING THREE-DIMENSIONAL PARTS USING VELOCIMETRY
First Claim
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1. An additive manufacturing system comprising:
- a print head for printing a three-dimensional part in a layer-by-layer manner using an additive manufacturing technique, wherein the print head is configured to receive a consumable material, melt the consumable material, and extrude the molten material;
a velocimetry assembly configured to determine flow rates of the molten material; and
a controller assembly configured to manage the extrusion of the molten material from the print head, and to receive signals from the velocimetry assembly relating to the determined flow rates.
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Abstract
An additive manufacturing system that retains a print head for printing a three-dimensional part in a layer-by-layer manner using an additive manufacturing technique, where the retained print head is configured to receive a consumable material, melt the consumable material, and extrude the molten material. The system also includes a velocimetry assembly configured to determine flow rates of the molten material, and a controller assembly configured to manage the extrusion of the molten material from the print head, and to receive signals from the velocimetry assembly relating to the determined flow rates.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An additive manufacturing system comprising:
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a print head for printing a three-dimensional part in a layer-by-layer manner using an additive manufacturing technique, wherein the print head is configured to receive a consumable material, melt the consumable material, and extrude the molten material; a velocimetry assembly configured to determine flow rates of the molten material; and a controller assembly configured to manage the extrusion of the molten material from the print head, and to receive signals from the velocimetry assembly relating to the determined flow rates. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for using an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
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providing a print head retained by the additive manufacturing system; feeding a consumable material to the print head; melting the consumable material in the print head to produce a pre-extrudate of the molten consumable material; extruding the pre-extrudate from the print head as an extrudate; and determining flow rates of the pre-extrudate or the extrudate with a velocimetry assembly. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19)
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15. A method for using an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
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extruding a molten material from a print head retained by the additive manufacturing system as an extrudate; routing a pulsed laser beam toward the extrudate to scatter light rays of the pulsed laser beam from the extrudate; detecting at least a portion of the scattered light rays with a detector over multiple captured frames, wherein each captured frame has a speckle pattern; and comparing the speckle pattern of the multiple captured frames to determine flow rates of the extrudate. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 20)
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Specification