Heating mechanisms for build volumes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018207876-A1
Application number	US-201515745830-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2015
Priority date	Sep 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 26, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An example method for cooling a build volume is described. In one implementation, a heating mechanism is set to a temperature identified based on the build material information, and the build volume is heated using the heating mechanism for a time period identified based on the build material information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A post-print system comprising:
a heating mechanism to heat a build volume when present in a housing within a first temperature range for a time period during a post-print stage; a cooling mechanism to cool the build volume when present in the housing within a second temperature range that is below the first temperature range; and a controller to control the heating mechanism and the cooling mechanism based on build material information associated with the build volume.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises a parameter engine to identify build material information of a print job to produce a three dimensional object, wherein:
the parameter engine identifies the first temperature range and the time period from a table or a thermal model, the first temperature range based on a material modification temperature of a build material of a build volume; the build material information represents a build material; and the time period has an inverse relationship with the first temperature range, the time period to satisfy a structural enhancement duration.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the parameter engine is to retrieve the build material information from at least one of:
a directly connected compute device; a remote storage location; or a computer-readable medium coupled to a transport device that includes the housing and is able to hold the build volume.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the heating mechanism heats a subset of build layers of the build volume.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the heating mechanism uniformly heats the build volume by applying heat to all layers of the build volume within the housing using heating blankets adjacent to the housing.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism uses a fluid and the cooling mechanism circulates the fluid within the housing when the housing contains the build volume.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the build material information is predetermined and the heating mechanism comprises at least one of:
a heat lamp; a resistor-based heat element around an exterior surface of the housing or inside a wall of the housing; or an insulator to maintain the build volume at a first temperature about at which the build volume was printed, wherein the insulator covers a surface of the housing.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the build volume achieves a first structural consistency level that is beyond a second structural consistency level of the build material during the print stage, wherein the first structural level is able to withstand a first rate of cooling that is greater than a second rate of cooling associated with a distortion threshold that represents an integrity limit of the second structural consistency level of the build material.

9 . A print device comprising:
a print engine to produce a build volume within a housing, the build volume including solidified build material and unsolidified build material; and a controller to:
select a temperature and a time period based on build material information, the build material information representing the solidified build material; and,
in response to a determination that a build layer is printed, cause a heating mechanism to maintain the solidified build material at the temperature for the time period, the temperature to be above a crystallization point of the solidified build material.

10 . The device of claim 9 , wherein the heating mechanism used to be the build volume in a printing stage and in a post-print stage.

11 . The device of claim 9 , wherein:
the heating mechanism identifies, in response to a determination of a fast print mode, the build material information by retrieving build material information from an electronic file that represents the print job; and the heating mechanism determines the temperature and the time period by looking up the build material information in a lookup table.

12 . A method for cooling a build volume produced by a three-dimensional print device, the method comprising:
setting a heating mechanism to a temperature identified based on a build material identifier, the temperature being above a crystallization point of a build material represented by the build material identifier; and after the build volume is printed, heating the build volume using the heating mechanism for a time period identified based on the build material identifier, wherein the time period represents a structural enhancement duration at the temperature that achieves a structural consistency level of the build volume.

13 . The method of claim 12 , comprising:
obtaining the build material identifier from print job information; retrieving the temperature and the time period from a lookup table using the build material identifier; and actively cooling the build volume with a fluid having fluid properties relative to the structural consistency level.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein obtaining the build material identifier from the print job comprises at least one of:
retrieving print job information from a computer-readable medium; and receiving a build material input from a user interface.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein heating the build volume comprises:
uniformly heating the build volume at the temperature; and selectively heating a layer of the build volume at the temperature based on a time stamp at which the layer was printed.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Querol Esparch Carmina
• De Pena Alejandro Manuel
• Freire Garcia Manuel

Classifications

• B29C64/264

  Arrangements for irradiation · CPC title

• B29K2995/004

  Semi-crystalline · CPC title

• B29K2101/12

  Thermoplastic materials · CPC title

• B29C67/00

  Shaping techniques not covered by groups B29C39/00 - B29C65/00, B29C70/00 or B29C73/00 · CPC title

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title