Carriage synchronization of a multi-carriage three-dimensional printer
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsMichael Ewe, Eric Collins, Donnell D. Daniels
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An example three-dimensional printing system includes a first carriage, a second carriage, and a synchronization controller. The synchronization controller is coupled to the first carriage and the second carriage to synchronize movements of the first carriage and the second carriage. The synchronization controller is to avoid interference between the first carriage and the second carriage.
Claims17
A three-dimensional printing system, comprising:
- a first carriage moveable along a first linear path;
- a second carriage moveable along a second, different linear path, the first and second carriages structured to distribute build material for the printing system;
- a number of encoders to output an indication of a position of each of the first and second carriages along the first and second linear paths respectively, wherein the first and second linear paths intersect;
- and
- a synchronization controller to receive output of the number of encoders to synchronize movements of the first carriage and the second carriage and to avoid interference between the first carriage and the second carriage where the first and second linear paths intersect;
- wherein to avoid interference between the first carriage and the second carriage, the synchronization controller stops the second carriage if the second carriage passes a trigger position while the first carriage is in a collision zone.
A method, comprising:
- moving a first carriage across a staging zone to form a ribbon of build material across the staging zone;
- moving a second carriage through the staging zone and into a build zone to distribute the ribbon of build material as a layer of build material in the build zone, the second carriage moving in a direction perpendicular to the movement of the first carriage, a collision zone existing at an intersection of a path of the first carriage and a path of the second carriage;
- determining that the first carriage is in the collision zone;
- determining if a first time for the first carriage to exit the collision zone is less than a second time for a second carriage to enter the collision zone;
- and
- if the first time is less than the second time, starting movement of the second carriage;
- else
- if the first time is not less than the second time, delaying movement of the second carriage to avoid a collision between the first and second carriages in the collision zone;
- and
- to further avoid interference between the first carriage and the second carriage, stopping the second carriage if the second carriage passes a trigger position while the first carriage is in the collision zone.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing system, the computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to:
- synchronize movements of a first carriage and a second carriage that are distributing build material in a three-dimensional printing system, wherein the first and second carriages move along different, intersecting linear paths;
- avoid interference between the first carriage and the second carriage based on encoder data indicating a current location of the first and second carriages to prevent a collision between the first and second carriages;
- synchronize movements of the second carriage and a third carriage;
- and
- avoid interference between the second carriage and the third carriage based on encoder data indicating a current location of the second and third carriages to prevent a collision between the second and third carriages;
- and
- stopping the second carriage if the second carriage passes a trigger position while the first carriage is in a collision zone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.