3d printer fresh and recycled powder supply management
AssigneePeridot Print LLC
InventorsSunil KOTHARI, Wesley R. SCHALK, Jun ZENG, Francisco OBLEA, Gary Dispoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Examples disclosed herein relate to 3D printer fresh and recycled powder supply management. In one implementation, a processor estimates fresh and recycled powder use and recycled powder creation by a 3D printer based on a set of print jobs. The processor may coordinate fresh and recycled powder resources based on the powder estimate and stored information about powder resources
Claims18
A computing system comprising:
- a three-dimensional (3D) printer;
- a processor;
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by the processor to perform processing comprising:
- determining, for an incoming print job, fresh and recycled powder amounts needed for the incoming print job;
- estimating fresh and recycled powder amounts to be available from a secondary powder source supplying multiple 3D printers based on print jobs scheduled at the multiple 3D printers prior to the incoming print job;
- managing fresh and recycled powder supplies of a primary powder source supplying the 3D printer, based on the fresh and recycled powder amounts needed for the incoming print job and the fresh and recycled powder amounts estimated to be available from the secondary powder source;
- and
- causing the 3D printer to print the incoming print job in accordance with the managed fresh and recycled powder supplies.
A method comprising:
- determining, by a processor and for an incoming print job, fresh and recycled powder amounts needed for the incoming print job;
- estimating, by the processor, fresh and recycled powder amounts to be available from a secondary powder source supplying multiple three-dimensional (3D) printers based on print jobs scheduled at the multiple 3D printers prior to the incoming print job;
- managing, by the processor, fresh and recycled powder supplies of a primary powder source supplying a 3D printer, based on the fresh and recycled powder amounts needed for the incoming print job and the fresh and recycled powder amounts estimated to be available from the secondary powder source;
- and
- causing the 3D printer to print the incoming print job in accordance with the managed fresh and recycled powder supplies.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform processing comprising:
- determining, for an incoming print job, fresh and recycled powder amounts needed for the incoming print job;
- estimating fresh and recycled powder amounts to be available from a secondary powder source supplying multiple three-dimensional (3D) printers based on print jobs scheduled at the multiple 3D printers prior to the incoming print job;
- managing fresh and recycled powder supplies of a primary powder source supplying a 3D printer, based on the fresh and recycled powder amounts needed for the incoming print job and the fresh and recycled powder amounts estimated to be available from the secondary powder source;
- and
- causing the 3D printer to print the incoming print job in accordance with the managed fresh and recycled powder supplies.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.