Method for detecting defects in a 3d printer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023419470-A1
Application number	US-202118039053-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 9, 2021
Priority date	Dec 15, 2020
Publication date	Dec 28, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for detecting defects in a 3D printer, wherein the method includes: a) capturing a first image of a construction space of the 3D printer, wherein the construction space is a 3D printed part that is shown in the first image; b) generating a second image that has a higher spatial resolution than the first image out of the first image by using a spatial resolution increasing artificial neural network.

First claim

1 . A computer-implemented method for detecting defects in a 3D printer, comprising:
a) capturing a first image of a construction space of the 3D printer, wherein the construction space comprises a 3D printed part that is shown in the first image; b) generating a second image that has a higher spatial resolution than the first image out of the first image by using a spatial resolution increasing artificial neural network, and d1) detecting in the first image possibly occurring defects in a powder bed that surrounds the part.

2 . A computer-implemented method for detecting defects in a 3D printer, comprising:
a) capturing a sequence of images of a construction space of the 3D printer, wherein the construction space comprises a 3D printed part that is shown in the images of the sequence; a1) combining the images of the sequence into a first image; b) generating a second image that has a higher spatial resolution than the first image out of the first image by using a spatial resolution increasing artificial neural network, and d1) detecting in the first image possibly occurring defects in a powder bed that surrounds the part.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a2) increasing the contrast of the first image by using a contrast increasing artificial neural network, wherein in step b) the first image with the increased contrast is used.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
c) increasing the contrast of the second image by using a contrast increasing artificial neural network.

5 . The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the contrast increasing artificial neural network has an input layer and an output layer and is trained by providing a first set of images with a low contrast and a second set of corresponding images with a high contrast and by adapting the weights of the contrast increasing artificial neural network such that when the images of the first set are respectively taken as the input layer, each histogram of the output layer approximates the histogram of the corresponding image of the second set.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
d2) detecting in the second image possibly occurring defects in the part and/or in the powder bed that surrounds the part.

7 . The method according to claim 6 ,
wherein in step d1) and/or step d2) the defects are detected by an image processing method and/or by a machine learning method.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
e) classifying the defects.

9 . The method according to claim 8 ,
wherein step a) and step b) and optionally step d1), and/or step e) are performed during manufacturing of the part.

10 . The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein step a) and step b) and optionally step d1), are performed after manufacturing of the part.

11 . A data processing apparatus comprising:
a processor adapted to perform the steps of the method according to claim 1 .

12 . A 3D printer comprising:
the data processing apparatus according to claim 11 , a construction space and a camera adapted to capture a first image and/or a sequence of images.

13 . A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
a computer program stored thereon comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method according to claim 1 .

14 . A non-transitory computer-readable data carrier having stored thereon the computer program according to claim 13 .

Assignees

• Siemens Energy Global Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Jahangir Hamid

Classifications

• G06T7/0004 Primary

  Industrial image inspection · CPC title

• B33Y40/00

  Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling · CPC title

• G06T2207/20084

  Artificial neural networks [ANN] · CPC title

• G06T2207/30144

  Printing quality · CPC title

• G06T1/0007 Primary

  Image acquisition · CPC title