Three dimensional printer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017173689-A1
Application number	US-201615379575-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 15, 2016
Priority date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication date	Jun 22, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A lamination molding apparatus, including: a chamber covering a desired molding region and being filled with an inert gas of predetermined concentration; a molding table configured to be vertically controllable in the chamber; a laser beam emitter to irradiate a predetermined irradiation region with a laser beam to form a sintered layer and irradiate a predetermined target irradiation position with the laser beam to form a sintered trace, the irradiation region being disposed on a material powder layer formed on the molding table for each of a plurality of divided layers obtained by dividing a desired three-dimensional object at a predetermined thickness.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A lamination molding apparatus, comprising:
a chamber covering a desired molding region and being filled with an inert gas of predetermined concentration; a molding table configured to be vertically controllable in the chamber; a laser beam emitter to irradiate a predetermined irradiation region with a laser beam to form a sintered layer and irradiate a predetermined target irradiation position with the laser beam to form a sintered trace, the irradiation region being disposed on a material powder layer formed on the molding table for each of a plurality of divided layers obtained by dividing a desired three-dimensional object at a predetermined thickness, and the target irradiation position being disposed on the material powder layer; a cutting device including a cutting tool capable of moving in the chamber; an imaging unit to capture the sintered trace; a calculating means to calculate a positional displacement by comparison of the target irradiation position and an actual irradiation position, the actual irradiation position being determined according to the sintered trace; and a correction means to correct the laser beam emitter based on the positional displacement such that laser beam coordinates and spindle coordinates are consistent, the laser beam coordinates being coordinates of the laser beam emitter, and the spindle coordinates being coordinates of the cutting tool.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the imaging unit and the cutting tool are provided on a common drive mechanism.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cutting tool is configured to form a cut trace on the sintered trace; and
the imaging unit is configured to capture the cut trace such that imaging system coordinates and the spindle coordinates correspond to each other, the imaging system coordinates being coordinates of the imaging unit.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the correction means is configured to correct the laser beam emitter when the positional displacement is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is so configured that a molding process of a lamination molded object is cancelled when the positional displacement is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser beam emitter is configured to form at least two of the sintered traces; and
the imaging unit captures the at least two of the sintered traces.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser beam emitter irradiates the material powder in a region with the laser beam to form the sintered trace such that the sintered layer and the sintered trace are not stuck together or do not overlap each other in the region.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a molding plate provided on the molding table, the molding plate having a smaller area than a surface of the molding table, and wherein:
the laser beam emitter forms the sintered trace within a margin region, the margin region being disposed, on the molding table, outside of the molding plate.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the correction means corrects the laser beam emitter at a predetermined time interval.

10 . A correction method for correcting positional displacement of a lamination molding apparatus, comprising:
a supplying step to supply a material powder on a molding table; a forming step to form a sintered trace by irradiation of a predetermined target irradiation position with a laser beam, the sintered trace being formed by sintering the material powder; a capturing step to capture the sintered trace; a calculating step to calculate positional displacement by comparison of the target irradiation position and an actual irradiation position, the actual irradiation position being determined according to the sintered trace; a correcting step to correct a laser beam emitter based on the positional displacement such that laser beam coordinates and spindle coordinates are consistent, the laser beam coordinates being coordinates of the laser beam emitter, the spindle coordinates being coordinates of a cutting tool.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein an imaging unit utilized in the capturing step and the cutting tool are provided on a common drive mechanism.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the cutting tool forms a cut trace on the sintered trace and
the cut trace is captured in the capturing step such that imaging system coordinates and spindle coordinates correspond to each other, the imaging system coordinates being coordinates of an imaging unit, the spindle coordinates being coordinates of the cutting tool.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein in the correcting step, the laser beam emitter is corrected when the positional displacement is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein in the correcting step, a molding process of a lamination molded object is cancelled when the positional displacement is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein at least two of the sintered traces are formed in the forming step and captured in the capturing step.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein in the forming step, the sintered trace is formed within a region, a sintered layer being formed by sintering the material powder in the region, the sintered layer and the sintered trace not being stuck together or overlapping each other.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein in the forming step, the sintered trace is formed by sintering the material powder within a margin region, the margin region being disposed, on the molding table, outside of a molding plate.

18 . The method of claim 10 , wherein in the correcting step, the laser beam emitter is corrected at a predetermined time interval.

Assignees

• Sodick Co Ltd

Inventors

• Okazaki Shuji
• Miyashita Yasuyuki

Classifications

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B22F3/24 Primary

  After-treatment of workpieces or articles {(B22F3/1146 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B22F12/49

  Scanners · CPC title

• B22F12/38

  Housings, e.g. machine housings · CPC title

• B22F12/90

  Means for process control, e.g. cameras or sensors · CPC title