Additive manufacturing system and method for printing three-dimensional parts using velocimetry
AssigneeStratasys, Inc.
InventorJ. Samuel Batchelder
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An additive manufacturing system that retains a print head for printing a three-dimensional part in a layer-by-layer manner using an additive manufacturing technique, where the retained print head is configured to receive a consumable material, melt the consumable material, and extrude the molten material. The system also includes a velocimetry assembly configured to determine flow rates of the molten material, and a controller assembly configured to manage the extrusion of the molten material from the print head, and to receive signals from the velocimetry assembly relating to the determined flow rates.
Claims17
A method of calibrating a print head for use in an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
- extruding a molten material from the print head as an extrudate;
- routing a pulsed laser beam toward the extrudate to scatter light rays of the pulsed laser beam from the extrudate;
- detecting at least a portion of the scattered light rays with a detector over multiple sequential captured frames captured at time intervals based upon a timing of the pulsing of the laser beam, wherein each captured frame has a speckle pattern;
- processing the captured frames with a controller to generate speckle patterns;
- comparing the speckle patterns of the sequential multiple captured frames;
- determining a spatial shift in the speckle patterns;
- calculating a velocity of the extrudate with the controller based on the determined spatial shift and the time intervals;
- determining at least one average flow rate of the extrudate based at least on the calculated velocity;
- and
- producing calibration information for the print head based upon the at least one average flow rate.
A method of calibrating a print head for use in an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising steps of:
- feeding a consumable material to the print head using a drive mechanism based on a current feed rate setting having a predicted average flow rate;
- melting the consumable material in the print head to produce a molten material;
- extruding the molten material from the print head as an extrudate;
- routing a pulsed laser beam toward the extrudate to scatter light rays of the pulsed laser beam from the extrudate;
- detecting at least a portion of the scattered light rays with a detector over multiple sequential captured frames captured at time intervals based upon a timing of the pulsing of the laser beam, wherein each captured frame has a speckle pattern;
- processing the captured frames with a controller to generate speckle patterns;
- comparing the speckle patterns of the multiple captured frames;
- determining a spatial shift in the speckle patterns;
- calculating a velocity of the extrudate with the controller based on the determined spatial shift and the time intervals;
- determining an average flow rate of the extrudate at the current feed rate setting based at least on the calculated velocity;
- comparing the determined average flow rate to the predicted average flow rate;
- updating calibration information for the print head based on the determined average flow rate;
- changing the current feed rate setting to another feed rate setting having another predicted flow rate;
- and
- repeating the steps a limited number of times.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.