Accurate three-dimensional printing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017239752-A1
Application number	US-201715435110-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 16, 2017
Priority date	Feb 18, 2016
Publication date	Aug 24, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides three-dimensional ( 3 D) printing methods, apparatuses, and systems using, inter alfa, a controller that regulates formation of at least one 3 D object (e.g., in real time during the 3 D printing); and a non-transitory computer-readable medium facilitating the same. For example, a controller that regulates a deformation of at least a portion of the 3 D object. The control may be in situ control. The control may be real-time control during the 3 D printing process. For example, the control may be during a physical-attribute pulse. The present disclosure provides various methods, apparatuses, systems and software for estimating the fundamental length scale of a melt pool, and for various tools that increase the accuracy of the 3 D printing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for printing a three-dimensional object, comprising:
a) transforming at least a portion of a pre-transformed material with an energy beam to a transformed material to form a portion of the three-dimensional object; b) measuring a physical property at a position that is at or adjacent to the portion of the three-dimensional object; c) evaluating a deviation of the measured value of the physical property from a target value, which target value is obtained from a physical model of the three-dimensional object that comprises an electrical model; and d) using the evaluating to control at least one characteristic of the energy beam to achieve the target value of the physical property.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical model is an analogous model.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical model comprises a variable component or a non-variable component.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical model comprises an active, passive, or electromechanical component.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical model electronically imitates a physical property that affects the printing of the three-dimensional object.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical model comprises a resistor, capacitor, ground element, current source, voltage element, or an electrical branch.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the electrical branch comprises a resistor coupled in parallel to a capacitor.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the electrical branch represents a physical property of at least a portion of the three-dimensional object.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the physical property comprises (i) heat profile over time of the energy beam, (ii) thermal history of the energy beam, (iii) power profile over time of the energy beam, or (iv) dwell time sequence of the energy beam.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-transformed material forms a material bed.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the material bed is planarized using an apparatus comprising a cyclonic separator.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transforming is during a directing of the pre-transformed material to a platform.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-transformed material comprises a liquid, solid, or semi-solid.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-transformed material comprises a particulate material.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the particulate material is selected from at least one member of the group consisting of elemental metal, metal alloy, ceramic, and an allotrope of elemental carbon.

16 . A system for forming at least one three-dimensional object, comprising:
a platform disposed in an enclosure; an energy source that is configured to provide an energy beam that transforms a pre-transformed material to a transformed material, which energy beam is directed towards the platform, and which energy source is operatively coupled to the platform; a detector configured to detect a physical property of the transformed material, which detector is operatively coupled to the platform; and a controller operatively coupled to the energy source, and detector, wherein the controller is programmed to (i) direct the energy beam to transform at least a portion of a pre-transformed material to a transformed material to form a portion of the three-dimensional object; (ii) direct the detector to measure a physical property at a position that is at or adjacent to the portion of the three-dimensional object; (iii) evaluate a deviation of the measured value of the physical property from a target value, which target value is obtained from a physical-model of the three-dimensional object that comprises an electrical model; and (iv) use the evaluate in (iii) to control at least one characteristic of the energy beam to achieve the target value of the physical property.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the physical-model is adjusted in real time during the forming of the at least one three-dimensional object.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein real time is during a dwell time of the energy beam along a hatch line forming a melt pool.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller comprises a closed loop, open loop, feed forward, or feedback control.

20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the physical-model comprises one or more free parameters that are optimized in real time during the forming of the at least one three-dimensional object.

21 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller comprises an internal-state-model that provides an estimate of an internal state of the forming of the at least one three-dimensional object.

22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the internal state is derived from one or more measurements comprising a measurement of the control variable or a measurement of the input parameters.

23 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the internal-state-model comprises a state-observer.

24 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller comprises a graphical processing unit (GPU), system-on-chip (SOC), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), application specific instruction-set processor (ASIPs), programmable logic device (PLD), or field programmable gate array (FPGA).

25 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the electrical component comprises an active, passive, or electromechanical components.

26 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the electronic component comprises a variable or non-variable component.

27 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the pre-transformed material forms a material bed, and wherein the material bed is planarized using an apparatus comprising a cyclonic separator.

28 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the pre-transformed material comprises a particulate material.

29 . The system of claim 28 , wherein the particulate material is selected from at least one member of the group consisting of elemental metal, metal alloy, ceramic, and an allotrope of elemental carbon.

Assignees

• Velo3D Inc

Inventors

• Buller Benyamin
• LAPPAS Tasso
• Korepanov Sergey
• Lappen Alan Rick

Classifications

• B22F10/28

  Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] · CPC title

• B29C64/393 Primary

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B22F10/47

  characterised by structural features · CPC title

• B22F12/90

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

• B22F10/80

  Data acquisition or data processing · CPC title