Energy density mapping in additive manufacturing environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11260455-B2
Application number	US-201716337083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2017
Priority date	Sep 27, 2016
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating an energy density map of an object to be built in an additive manufacturing environment are provided. Certain embodiments provide a method for building an object utilizing additive manufacturing, the method including: receiving a job file for building the object, wherein the job file includes a plurality of slices of the object, and wherein a first slice of the object indicates scanning lines for applying an energy source to build material to build the first slice of the object; determining operation parameters of the energy source; and generating a first energy density map of the first slice of the object based on the job file and the operation parameters of the energy source, wherein the first energy density map indicates an amount of energy from the energy source per area of build material applied to the build material for the first slice of the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for building an object utilizing additive manufacturing, the method comprising:
receiving, at a processor, a job file for building the object, wherein the job file includes a plurality of slices of the object, and wherein a first slice of the object indicates scanning lines for applying an energy source to build material to build the first slice of the object;
determining, by the processor, operation parameters of the energy source, wherein the energy source comprises a laser or electron beam, and wherein the operation parameters of the energy source further comprise a size of the beam of the energy source;
generating, by the processor, a first energy density map of the first slice of the object based on the job file and the operation parameters of the energy source, wherein the first energy density map indicates an amount of energy from the energy source per area of build material applied to the build material for the first slice of the object;
determining a potential non-conformity in building the object when at least a portion of an area of the first energy density map has an energy level that is at least one of below a first threshold or above a second threshold; and
adjusting application of the energy source to build material corresponding to the at least the portion of the area of the first energy density map based on determining the potential non-conformity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation parameters of the energy source comprise at least one of a power of the energy source, a scanning speed of the energy source, a shape of a beam of the energy source, a current, or an acceleration voltage.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning lines comprise vectors indicating positions and directions to apply the energy source to the build material.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining dynamic behavior of the energy source, dynamic behavior comprising at least one of a rise time, a settle time, a delay time, an acceleration time, or a deceleration time of the energy source along the scanning lines, and wherein generating the first energy density map of the object is further based on the dynamic behavior of the energy source.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
building the object based on the job file; and
logging actual positions of the energy source over time while building the object, wherein generating the first energy density map of the object is further based on the actual positions of the energy source as applied to the first slice of the object over time.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a plurality of energy density maps of the plurality of slices of the object based on the job file and the operation parameters of the energy source; and
generating a three dimensional energy distribution of the object based on the plurality of energy density maps;
wherein the determining the potential non-conformity in building the object when the at least a portion of the area of the first energy density map has the energy level that is at least one of below the first threshold or above the second threshold comprises determining the potential non-conformity when a portion of a volume of the three dimensional energy distribution has an energy level that is at least one of below the first threshold or above the second threshold.

7. The method of claim 6 ,
wherein the adjusting application of the energy source to build material corresponding to the at least the portion of the area comprises adjusting application of the energy source to build material corresponding to the portion of the volume of the three dimensional energy distribution based on determining the potential non-conformity, wherein adjusting application of the energy source comprises at least one of adjusting the scanning lines, adjusting a power level of the energy source, adjusting a speed of the energy source, adjusting a beam shape of the energy source, or adjusting the size of the beam of the energy source.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
estimating geometrical non-conformities of the object based on the three dimensional energy distribution;
wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting application of the energy source to build material corresponding to the estimated geometrical non-conformities, wherein adjusting application of the energy source comprises at least one of adjusting the scanning lines, adjusting a power level of the energy source, adjusting a speed of the energy source, adjusting a beam shape of the energy source, or adjusting the size of the beam of the energy source.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining a potential non-conformity is further based on at least one of a size of the portion of the volume, an aspect ratio of the portion of the volume, or energy levels in other portions of the volume.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting application of the energy source comprises at least one of adjusting the scanning lines, adjusting a power level of the energy source, adjusting a speed of the energy source, adjusting a beam shape of the energy source, or adjusting the size of the beam of the energy source.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting application of the energy source to build material corresponding to a determined geometrical non-conformity, wherein adjusting application of the energy source comprises at least one of adjusting the scanning lines, adjusting a power level of the energy source, adjusting a speed of the energy source, adjusting a beam shape of the energy source, or adjusting the size of the beam of the energy.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting application of the energy source comprises adjusting the scanning lines comprising shortening, lengthening, adding, or deleting vectors of the scanning lines.

13. An apparatus for building an object utilizing additive manufacturing, the apparatus comprising:
a memory; and
a processor configured to:
receive a job file for building the object, wherein the job file includes a plurality of slices of the object, and wherein a first slice of the object indicates scanning lines for applying an energy source to build material to build the first slice of the object;
determine operation parameters of the energy source, wherein the energy source comprises a laser or electron beam, and wherein the operation parameters of the energy source further comprise a size of the beam of the energy source;
generate a first energy density map of the first slice of the object based on the job file and the operation parameters of the energy source, wherein the first energy density map indicates an amount of energy from the energy source per area of build material applied to the build material for the first slice of the object;
determine a potential non-conformity in building the object when at least a portion of an area of the first energy density map has an energy level that is at least one of below a first threshold or above a second threshold; and
adjust application of the energy source to build material corresponding to the at least the portion of the area of the first energy density map based on determining the potential non-conformity.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for building an object utilizing additive manufacturing, the method comprising:
receiving, at the processor, a job file for building the object, wherein the job file includes a plurality of slices of the object, and wherein a first slice of the obj

Assignees

• Mat Nv

Inventors

• Pavan Michele
• Van Den Ecker Piet
• Craeghs Tom

Classifications

• B22F10/85

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B22F10/10

  Formation of a green body · CPC title

• B22F10/20 Primary

  Direct sintering or melting · CPC title

• B29C64/135 Primary

  the energy source being concentrated, e.g. scanning lasers or focused light sources · CPC title

• Y02P10/25

  Process efficiency · CPC title