TEMPERATURE DETERMINATION IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

• US 20180186079A1
• Filed: 09/28/2015
• Published: 07/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Granted Patent: US 10,639,848 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/165 using a combination of solid and fluid materials, e.g. a powder selectively bound by a liquid binder, catalyst, inhibitor or energy absorber
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/393 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 Processes of additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes

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.

Claims

1. An additive manufacturing system, the system comprising a controller configured to:

obtain temperature information from one or more temperature sensors, wherein each of the one or more temperature sensors is configured to measure the temperature of a respective pixel area in a plurality of pixel areas in a print-bed area for at least one layer of a part being printed in a given three-dimensional printing process;

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 a 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; 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.

2. The system of claim 1, the controller being configured to:

obtain further temperature information from the one or more temperature sensors, the obtained further temperature information comprising measured temperatures of pixel areas in the plurality of pixel areas for a subsequent stage of the given three-dimensional printing process;

on the basis of the obtained further temperature information and agent concentration information, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, further determine the temperature for each printing agent in the plurality of printing agents which is present in the respective pixel area; and

on the basis of the further determined temperatures for each pixel area and printing agent, dynamically update the power control to the heating subsystem employed in the subsequent stage of the given three-dimensional printing process.

3. The system of claim 1, the controller being configured to:

perform a lookup in a plurality of predetermined temperature adjustment data lookup tables, each lookup table in the plurality of predetermined temperature adjustment data lookup tables comprising predetermined temperature adjustment data for a set of different measured temperatures and different printing agent concentrations for a given printing agent in the plurality of printing agents,

wherein the power to be applied to the heating subsystem employed in the given three-dimensional printing process is further determined on the basis of the results of the performed lookup.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein controlling the power to the heating subsystem comprises determining a power to apply to each of a plurality of fusing lamps.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of printing agents comprises two or more of:

powder agent,

fusing agent, and

detailing agent.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the obtained temperature information comprises thermal imaging information from a plurality of thermal cameras.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to transmit a control signal representative of the determined power to the heating subsystem employed in the given three-dimensional printing process.

8. 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, 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 a print-bed area in a given additive manufacturing process;

receiving additive manufacturing media concentration information from an additive manufacturing media concentration information database, the received additive manufacturing media concentration information comprising, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, a concentration of each of a plurality of additive manufacturing media present in the respective pixel area;

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.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

receiving further thermal imaging information from the 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 a print-bed area for a subsequent stage of the given additive manufacturing process;

on the basis of the received further thermal imaging information and additive manufacturing media concentration information, for each pixel area in the plurality of pixel areas, further determining the temperature for each additive manufacturing media in the plurality of additive manufacturing media which is present in the respective pixel area; and

on the basis of the further determined temperatures for each pixel area and additive manufacturing media, dynamically updating the power control to the heating subsystem employed in the subsequent stage of the given additive manufacturing process.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising obtaining, from one or more predetermined temperature adjustment data lookup tables, predetermined temperature adjustment data for a plurality of different measured temperatures and different additive manufacturing media concentrations for each of the additive manufacturing media in the plurality of additive manufacturing media,

wherein the power to the heating subsystem employed in the given additive manufacturing process is further controlled on the basis of the obtained predetermined temperature adjustment data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more predetermined temperature adjustment data lookup tables are stored as media settings in the additive manufacturing system.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein controlling the power to the heating subsystem comprises controlling a power to apply to each of a plurality of fusing lamps.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein controlling the power to the heating subsystem comprises transmitting one or more control signals to the heating subsystem.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of additive manufacturing media comprises two or more of:

powder media,

fusing media, and

detailing media.

15. 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:

receive thermal imaging information from a temperature sensing subsystem, the temperature sensing subsystem comprising a plurality of thermal cameras configured to measure the temperature of a respective pixel area in a plurality of pixel areas in a print-bed area in a given three-dimensional printing process;

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.