Velocity profiling in an extrusion apparatus
AssigneeStratasys, Inc.
InventorsJames W. Comb, Paul J Leavitt, Edward Rapoport
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus has an extrusion head for extruding a bead of a liquified material at an extruded pump flow rate, an extrusion head motor for driving the extrusion head at a variable head velocity, a pump for providing liquified material to the extrusion head, and a control for providing control signals to both the extrusion head motor and the pump. The control signals control operation of the extrusion head and the pump so that the head velocity is slaved to an estimated profile of the extruded pump flow rate divided by a predetermined bead cross-sectional area.
Claims24
An apparatus comprising:
- an extrusion head for extruding a bead of a liquified material at an extruded pump flow rate;
- an extrusion head motor for driving the extrusion head at a variable head velocity;
- a liquifier for liquifying the filament of material;
- a filament drive for providing the filament of material to the liquifier;
- and
- a control for providing control signals to both the extrusion head motor and the filament drive, the control signals controlling operation of the extrusion head and the filament drive so that the head velocity is proportional to an estimated profile of the extruded pump flow rate.
An apparatus comprising:
- an extrusion head for extruding a bead of a liquified material at an extruded pump flow rate;
- an extrusion head motor for driving the extrusion head at a variable head velocity;
- a pump for providing liquified material to the extrusion head;
- and
- a control for providing control signals to both the extrusion head motor and the pump, the control signals controlling operation of the extrusion head and the pump so that the head velocity is slaved to an estimated profile of the extruded pump flow rate divided by a predetermined bead cross-sectional area.
In an apparatus having an extrusion head for extruding a liquified material at an extruded pump flow rate, an extrusion head motor for moving the extrusion head at a variable head velocity, and a control for providing control signal inputs to the extrusion head motor, a method for extruding the liquified material in a bead having a predetermined cross-sectional area, the method comprising the step of:
- controlling the head velocity according to an estimated profile of the extruded pump flow rate divided by the predetermined bead cross-sectional area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.