A method, device, equipment and storage medium for predicting powder bed powder usage

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method, device, equipment and storage medium for predicting powder usage of a powder bed, the method comprising: obtaining three-dimensional model information of an object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information comprising slice thickness and effective length of multiple slices obtained after layered cutting of the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, determining a first powder usage required for a forming bin when printing the current slice based on the slice thickness and effective length, determining a height of powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the first powder usage, determining a second powder usage required to be provided by the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the height, and determining a third powder usage required when printing the object to be printed based on the second powder usage. When predicting the powder usage, the present invention takes into account the size change of each slice layer, thereby determining the powder usage when printing each slice layer, and can more accurately predict the powder usage for printing the object to be printed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of additive manufacturing, and in particular relates to a method, device, equipment and storage medium for predicting powder usage in a powder bed. Background Art

[0002] Additive manufacturing is a rapid prototyping technology based on the principle of discrete stacking. It constructs objects layer by layer using digital model files. The additive manufacturing process primarily involves two steps: three-dimensional design and layer-by-layer printing. The model is first created using computer modeling software, then the resulting three-dimensional model is divided into layers of cross-sections to guide the printer in printing. Compared to traditional subtractive manufacturing methods, it offers advantages such as shortened production time, improved efficiency, greater utilization of raw materials, and the ability to achieve complex structures for enhanced product performance.

[0003] Powder is a key raw material required for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (PBM), and total powder consumption requires precise calculation. Insufficient powder can halt the manufacturing process, leading to component failure and wasted powder, severely impacting processing efficiency and increasing production costs. Excessive powder addition increases storage requirements and procurement costs. Therefore, prior to production, it is essential to estimate the powder quantity required for PBM based on the specific characteristics of the part.

[0004] Due to the vast diversity of parts produced and the wide variety of equipment used for powder bed fusion, there is no unified method for estimating powder usage. Currently, this method relies primarily on rough estimates based on experience by production personnel, which varies from person to person, making it difficult to accurately predict powder usage. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present invention provides a method, device, equipment and storage medium for predicting powder bed powder usage, so as to solve the problem that the powder usage required for the current powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process relies on manual estimation, which easily leads to a large difference between the estimated amount and the actual amount.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for predicting powder usage in a powder bed is provided, wherein the powder bed includes a powder silo for containing powder, and a forming silo for printing an object after obtaining powder from the powder silo. The method comprises:

[0007] Acquiring three-dimensional model information of the object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information including slice thicknesses and effective lengths of multiple slices obtained by layering the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is a projected length obtained by projecting each slice in a horizontal direction;

[0008] Determining, based on the slice thickness and the effective length, an amount of first powder required by the forming chamber for printing the current slice;

[0009] determining, based on the first powder usage, a height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice;

[0010] According to the height, the second amount of powder required to be provided by the powder bin when printing the current slice is determined, and according to the second amount of powder, the third amount of powder required to print the object to be printed is determined.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present invention, a device for predicting powder usage in a powder bed is provided, wherein the powder bed includes a powder silo for containing powder, and a forming silo for printing an object after obtaining powder from the powder silo. The device includes:

[0012] a three-dimensional model information acquisition module, configured to acquire three-dimensional model information of the object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information including slice thicknesses and effective lengths of a plurality of slices obtained by layer-cutting the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is a projected length obtained by projecting each slice in a horizontal direction;

[0013] a first powder dosage determination module, configured to determine the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice based on the slice thickness and the effective length;

[0014] a height determination module, configured to determine, based on the first powder usage, a height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice;

[0015] a second powder amount determination module, configured to determine, based on the height, the amount of second powder that the powder bin needs to provide when printing the current slice;

[0016] The third powder amount determining module is configured to determine a third powder amount required for printing the object to be printed according to the second powder amount.

[0017] According to another aspect of the present invention, an electronic device is provided, comprising:

[0018] at least one processor; and

[0019] a memory communicatively connected to the at least one processor; wherein,

[0020] The memory stores a computer program executable by the at least one processor, and the computer program is executed by the at least one processor so that the at least one processor can perform a method for predicting powder usage in a powder bed as described in any embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and the computer instructions are used to enable a processor to implement a method for predicting powder bed powder usage according to any embodiment of the present invention when executed.

[0022] The technical solution of an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for predicting the amount of powder used in a powder bed, the method comprising: obtaining three-dimensional model information of an object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information comprising the slice thickness and effective length of multiple slices obtained after layered cutting of the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is the projection length of each slice projected in the horizontal direction, determining the first powder amount required for a forming bin when printing the current slice based on the slice thickness and the effective length, determining the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the first powder amount, determining the second powder amount required to be provided by the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the height, and determining the third powder amount required when printing the object to be printed based on the second powder amount, when predicting the powder amount, the embodiment of the present invention takes into account the size changes of each layer of slices, thereby determining the powder amount when printing each layer of slices, and can more accurately predict the powder amount for printing the object to be printed.

[0023] It should be understood that the content described in this section is not intended to identify the key or important features of the embodiments of the present invention, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Other features of the present invention will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0025] Figure 1 This is a flow chart of a method for predicting powder bed powder usage according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of powder bed printing according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 3 2 is a schematic diagram of the effective length of an object to be printed provided in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 4 This is a schematic top view of a powder bin and a forming bin according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 5 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for predicting powder bed powder usage according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 6 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device for implementing a method for predicting powder bed powder usage according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solutions of the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0032] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the description and claims of the present invention and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the numbers used in this way can be interchanged where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present invention described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0033] Example 1

[0034] Figure 1 A flow chart of a method for predicting powder bed powder usage is provided for the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] The powder bed includes a powder bin for containing powder and a forming bin for printing an object after obtaining the powder from the powder bin.

[0036] During powder bed printing, the powder used for printing is pushed from the powder hopper to the build chamber, forming a uniform, thick layer of powder. This process is called spreading. Printing is then performed based on each layer of powder spread, forming a layer of the object to be printed. Through multi-layer printing, the complete printed part is formed.

[0037] For each powder application, if the powder layer is too thin, it will lead to a lack of powder in the component area, repeated melting of the component, reduced dimensional accuracy of the component, and increased structural defects of the component; if the powder layer is too thick, it will reduce the energy density of the electron beam or laser beam spot, which will also lead to an increase in structural defects of the component and reduce the surface finish of the component.

[0038] Current methods for predicting powder usage do not consider the impact of powder thickness, which significantly impacts the dimensional accuracy, surface finish, and structural defects of components. The present invention incorporates powder thickness into its calculations when predicting powder usage, resulting in a highly accurate prediction.

[0039] The method can be performed by a device for predicting the amount of powder used in a powder bed. The device for predicting the amount of powder used in a powder bed can be implemented in the form of hardware and / or software.

[0040] like Figure 1 As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0041] S110, obtaining three-dimensional model information of the object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information including slice thickness and effective length of multiple slices obtained by layered cutting of the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is the projection length of each slice obtained by projecting it in the horizontal direction.

[0042] The 3D model information of the object to be printed can be obtained from the 3D slice software. In addition to the slice thickness and effective length, the spatial dimensions of the object to be printed can also be obtained from the 3D slice software.

[0043] After determining the spatial dimensions of the model to be printed, you can select a forming chamber and powder chamber of appropriate sizes for printing.

[0044] Exemplary, reference Figure 2 A schematic diagram of powder bed printing. In the 3D layer cutting software, the length, width and height dimensions of the rectangular space occupied by the object to be printed c can be determined to be 190mm×79mm×137mm. A forming bin bottom plate d with a size of 250mm×250mm and a powder bin bottom plate b with a size of 250mm×250mm can be selected. a is a scraper for spreading the powder from the powder bin to the forming bin. The object to be printed c can be cut into layers with uniform slice thickness, and the slice thickness of each layer is 0.05mm. Then the total number of layers is: 137mm÷0.05mm=2740 layers. Assuming that the object to be printed c is a regular cylindrical object, such as Figure 2 Here, c is a complete object to be printed consisting of three cylindrical objects, and the cross-sectional shape of each layer is consistent.

[0045] refer to Figure 3A schematic diagram of the effective length of an object to be printed, Figure 3 yes Figure 2 In the top view of the forming chamber, the effective length of the slice refers to the projected length obtained by horizontal projection. Figure 3 It can be seen from the figure that L is the distance between the leftmost point and the rightmost point of the object to be printed in the horizontal direction. For the object to be printed c, there are some positions inside it where no projection exists, such as Figure 3 The length L1 in the image is the part of the object to be printed that does not have a projection length. Figure 3 When the effective length of the object to be printed c is calculated, the effective length can be obtained by calculating L-L1. For example, if L1 is 31 mm, then the effective length of each layer L i =L-L1=190mm-31mm=159mm.

[0046] Since the longer the effective length of the scraper a is when pushing the powder from the powder bin to the forming bin, the higher the powder utilization rate and the lower the loss rate, the effective length of as many slices as possible can be maximized by selecting the appropriate sizes of the forming bin and powder bin, and adjusting the placement angle of the object to be printed.

[0047] S120: Based on the slice thickness and the effective length, determine the amount of first powder required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice.

[0048] When printing different objects to be printed, the powder material used and the density of the objects to be printed may be different. After obtaining the slice thickness and the effective length corresponding to each slice, the density of the powder used, the density of the object to be printed, and the bottom area of ​​the forming chamber can be combined to jointly determine the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice. The first powder dosage refers to the total amount of powder that needs to be pushed into the forming chamber when printing the current slice. Compared with some current methods of predicting powder dosage by directly multiplying the height of the object to be printed by the bottom area of ​​the forming chamber, the embodiment of the present invention considers the effective length of each slice layer and calculates the powder dosage required for each slice layer, which can obtain a more accurate prediction.

[0049] In one embodiment, the forming chamber is a rectangular parallelepiped chamber, and step S120 includes the following sub-steps:

[0050] S120-1, obtaining a first density of the object to be printed and a second density of the powder in the powder bed, and determining a first bottom surface area of ​​the forming chamber;

[0051] S120-2, determining the required amount of planar powder in the forming chamber when printing the current slice based on the first bottom surface area and the slice thickness;

[0052] S120-3, determining a required amount of the fourth powder corresponding to a space to be filled due to a difference between the first density and the second density when printing the previous slice;

[0053] S120-4, taking the sum of the plane powder requirement and the fourth powder requirement as the first powder amount required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice.

[0054] When determining to print the current slice, in order to more accurately calculate the amount of the first powder required for the forming chamber, the amount of the first powder may be calculated by dividing it into two parts.

[0055] The fourth powder requirement comes from the fact that during printing, part of the powder in the forming chamber will be irradiated by the electron beam or laser beam. After being irradiated by the energy source, the powder will melt, and the density of the irradiated powder will increase and the volume will decrease. The ratio of the volume of the powder melted by printing the current layer to the volume of the current layer after printing is completed = density of dense material / bulk density of powder, that is, first density / second density. For example, when the powder used for printing is TC4 alloy, the bulk density of TC4 alloy powder is ρ 松 =2.58g / cm 3 , the solid density ρ of TC4 alloy 实 =4.51g / cm 3 .

[0056] Therefore, a concave space will be formed after the previous layer is printed, which is the space that needs to be filled. The volume of each layer of slice can be obtained from the 3D slicing software. When the volume of the slice, the first density and the second density are determined, the volume of the melted powder can be determined, and then the volume of the space that needs to be filled can be obtained by subtraction.

[0057] When scraper a pushes the powder from the powder bin to the forming bin and flattens it, the space to be filled needs to be filled with powder. The fourth powder requirement can be determined based on the powder required for the space to be filled according to the working properties of the powder bed and scraper a. The fourth powder requirement is more than the powder required to fill the space to be filled.

[0058] Another part of the powder demand comes from the fact that before each layer is printed, the bottom plate of the forming chamber will drop a certain height. In order to subsequently lay a layer of powder of a specified thickness, the same horizontal height can be maintained when each layer is printed. The dropped height is equal to the thickness of the slice. In other words, the thickness of the powder laid in the forming chamber each time is equal to the thickness of the slice.

[0059] Therefore, by multiplying the first bottom surface area and the slice thickness, the required amount of planar powder in the forming chamber when printing the current slice can be determined.

[0060] For example, when the slice thickness of all slices is 0.05 mm, the height of the bottom plate of the forming chamber descending each time is also 0.05 mm.

[0061] Since the slice thickness can be different for each layer, the powder thickness can be dynamically adjusted, and the powder dosage can be calculated more accurately, which can not only ensure the needs of the parts production process, but also take into account the economic benefits of procurement, logistics, warehousing and other aspects.

[0062] In one embodiment, the area of ​​the first bottom surface of the forming bin is determined by a first length and a first width of the bottom surface of the forming bin, wherein the first length is the length of the side of the bottom surface of the forming bin parallel to the powder spreading direction, and the first width is the length of the side of the bottom surface of the forming bin perpendicular to the powder spreading direction, and the powder spreading direction is the direction of movement of powder from the powder bin to the forming bin;

[0063] Determine the amount of fourth powder required to fill the space created by the difference between the first density and the second density when printing the previous slice, including:

[0064] determining a first product of a first width, an effective length, and a slice thickness;

[0065] determining a ratio of the second density to the first density, and determining a second product of the first width, the effective length, the slice thickness, and the ratio;

[0066] The difference between the first product and the second product is the volume of the fourth powder requirement;

[0067] A fourth powder requirement is determined based on the volume of the fourth powder requirement.

[0068] refer to Figure 3 Arrow A indicates the powder spreading direction, while arrow B indicates a direction perpendicular to the powder spreading direction. When spreading powder, scraper A pushes powder from the powder bin into the build bin, ensuring that the upper surface of the build bin is completely filled with powder. Due to the depth of the recessed area, scraper A must push more powder into the build bin to fully fill the space. The amount of powder pushed is related to the effective length of the slice. The greater the effective length, the greater the amount of powder required. The effective length is related to the size of the slice and the placement angle of the part.

[0069] The thickness of the powder spread by scraper a is the same at the same time. Within the area composed of the effective length of the object to be printed and the first width, when the recessed space needs to be filled at a certain moment, there will be extra powder for the position where the scraper is located but there is no recess. The extra powder will be pushed out of the forming chamber.

[0070] The first product obtained by multiplying the first width, the effective length and the slice thickness can be regarded as the space in the forming chamber with the first width as the width, the effective length as the length and the slice thickness, that is, the volume occupied by the powder in the space.

[0071] After determining the ratio of the second density to the first density, a second product of the first width, the effective length, the slice thickness and the ratio is determined. The obtained second product is actually the volume of the space to be filled after the slice is printed.

[0072] Therefore, the specific calculation formula for the powder volume corresponding to the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice can be as follows:

[0073]

[0074] Among them, △V 成 The volume of powder corresponding to the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice; L A is the first length; L B is the first width; L i is the effective length of the current slice; d i is the current slice thickness; ρ 松 is the second density; ρ 实 It is the first density.

[0075] In one embodiment, when printing the first layer of slices, the required amount of planar powder is used as the first powder usage.

[0076] For the first layer of slicing, there is no space to be filled due to printing the previous layer. Therefore, the planar powder requirement of this layer can be directly used as the first powder usage of this layer.

[0077] S130: Determine the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the first powder usage.

[0078] After determining the first powder dosage required for the forming chamber to print the current slice, the height of the powder in the powder chamber can be calculated based on the specific dimensions of the forming chamber and the powder chamber. In practice, determining the first powder dosage for the forming chamber is to determine the amount of powder in the powder chamber to print the corresponding slice. Only by determining the amount of powder required in the powder chamber can we determine the total amount of powder required to print the slice.

[0079] In one embodiment, the powder bin is a rectangular parallelepiped bin body, and the length of the side of the bottom surface of the powder bin parallel to the powder spreading direction is the second length;

[0080] Determining the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the first powder usage includes:

[0081] The product of the second length and the first width is used as the effective area of ​​the powder bin;

[0082] The height of the first amount of powder within the effective area is determined as the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice.

[0083] The size of the powder bin can be different from that of the forming bin. Generally, in order to be able to print at any angle of the object to be printed in the forming bin, the second width of the powder bin is generally larger than the first width of the forming bin. Figure 4 A schematic top view of a powder bin and a forming bin, Figure 4 In the figure, the left rectangular box is the powder bin, and the right rectangular box is the forming bin. b Than the first width L B Large, so that when the powder is pushed from the powder bin to the forming bin, it can be ensured that the powder can be evenly spread over the entire bottom surface of the forming bin.

[0084] Before the scraper pushes the powder into the forming chamber, the powder in the powder hopper rises to a certain height. This height is determined by the amount of first powder used. Because the amount of first powder required to print each layer of slices may vary, the height of the powder hopper rises to a different level each time. Each time the powder hopper rises to a certain height, the entire bottom surface of the powder hopper is filled. Therefore, the higher the powder level in the powder hopper, the more powder will be pushed into the forming chamber.

[0085] refer to Figure 4 , in the powder bin, in L b Only within the range of L B The powder in the area of ​​corresponding width can be used to spread into the forming chamber, and the powder outside the area will not be spread onto the bottom surface of the forming chamber, but will be pushed out of the forming chamber. Figure 4 The area framed by the dotted line in the powder bin is the effective area determined by the product of the second length and the first width.

[0086] Effective area of ​​powder bin S 有 The calculation formula is:

[0087] s 有 =L B L a

[0088] Among them, L B is the first width, L a The second length.

[0089] Therefore, the total amount of powder within the effective area must be equal to or greater than the first powder amount. In order to ensure that the predicted powder amount is more accurate, the first powder amount can be used as the powder amount within the effective area.

[0090] The volume of the first powder amount is divided by the effective area, and the quotient obtained is the height within the effective area. For the entire powder bin, the height is consistent each time. Therefore, the height within the effective area can be used as the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice.

[0091] The powder volume corresponding to the effective area is: △V 粉 =L B L a D 2i .

[0092] Therefore, according to △V 成 =△V 粉， The formula for calculating the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice is:

[0093]

[0094] Among them, D 2i is the height of the powder in the powder bin; L A is the first length; L a is the second length; L i is the effective length of the current slice; d i is the current slice thickness; ρ 松 is the second density; ρ 实 It is the first density.

[0095] S140, determining a second amount of powder required to be provided by the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the height, and determining a third amount of powder required to print the object to be printed based on the second amount of powder.

[0096] After determining the height, the second amount of powder that the powder bin needs to provide when printing the current slice can be determined in combination with the size of the powder bin. After determining the powder that the powder bin needs to provide when printing each layer of slice, the third amount of powder required for printing the object to be printed can be determined by accumulation, which is the final amount of powder that needs to be predicted.

[0097] In one embodiment, the length of the bottom surface of the powder bin perpendicular to the powder spreading direction is the second width, and the amount of second powder required to be provided by the powder bin when printing the current slice is determined based on the height, including:

[0098] determining a second bottom area of ​​the powder bin based on the second length and the second width;

[0099] The product of the second bottom surface area and the height is used as the powder volume required to be provided by the powder bin;

[0100] The second amount of powder to be provided by the powder bin is determined based on the volume of the powder.

[0101] To determine the second amount of powder required, the second bottom surface area of ​​the powder bin can be first determined. The product of the second bottom surface area and the height can be calculated to obtain the volume of the powder bin within the height range, which serves as the powder volume required to be provided by the powder bin. Once the powder volume and powder density are determined, the second amount of powder required can be calculated.

[0102] In one embodiment, determining the amount of third powder required for printing the object to be printed based on the amount of second powder includes:

[0103] Sum up all the amounts of the second powder to obtain a sum result;

[0104] The summed result is multiplied by a preset weight coefficient, and the obtained product is used as the amount of the third powder required for printing the object to be printed.

[0105] Since the second powder dosage is the amount of powder that the corresponding powder bin needs to provide when printing each layer of slices, the second powder dosage corresponding to all layers of slices can be accumulated. In addition, each time the powder is spread, there will be a small amount of powder loss when it enters the forming bin from the powder bin. To compensate for this loss, a weight coefficient can be pre-set. Preferably, the weight coefficient has a preferred value of 1.02-1.05.

[0106] When all the second powder amounts m2 are summed, the calculation process is as follows:

[0107]

[0108] Among them, L A is the first length; L a is the second length; L b is the second width; L i is the effective length of the current slice; d i is the slice thickness of the i-th layer; ρ 松 is the second density; ρ 实 is the first density; n is the total number of layers.

[0109] In addition, when printing, you must ensure that the base of the forming chamber is level. Therefore, you need to adjust the "leveling knob" to ensure that the base is level. Figure 2 The leveling knob is located in the gap between the bottom plate d of the forming bin and the bottom wall e of the forming bin. The gap also needs to be filled with powder. Therefore, when predicting the third powder dosage, the powder to fill the gap can also be added. The volume of the gap can be directly determined according to the equipment characteristics.

[0110] The formula for calculating the mass m1 of powder filling the gap is:

[0111] m1=ΔV k ρ 松

[0112] Among them, △V k is the volume of the gap between the forming bin bottom plate d and the forming bin bottom wall e, ρ 松 It is the second density.

[0113] When the printing of the object to be printed is completed, the total amount of powder that needs to be prepared is m=m1+m2.

[0114] An embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for predicting powder usage of a powder bed, the method comprising: obtaining three-dimensional model information of an object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information comprising slice thickness and effective length of multiple slices obtained after layered cutting of the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is the projected length of each slice projected in the horizontal direction, determining a first powder usage required for a forming bin when printing the current slice based on the slice thickness and the effective length, determining a height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the first powder usage, determining a second powder usage required to be provided by the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the height, and determining a third powder usage required when printing the object to be printed based on the second powder usage, the embodiment of the present invention takes into account the size changes of each layer of slices when predicting the powder usage, thereby determining the powder usage when printing each layer of slices, and can more accurately predict the powder usage for printing the object to be printed.

[0115] Example 2

[0116] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a device for predicting powder usage in a powder bed according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The powder bed includes a powder bin for containing powder and a forming bin for printing an object after obtaining powder from the powder bin. The device includes:

[0117] A three-dimensional model information acquisition module 510 is configured to acquire three-dimensional model information of the object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information including slice thickness and effective length of multiple slices obtained by layering the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is the projected length of each slice projected in the horizontal direction;

[0118] A first powder dosage determination module 520 is configured to determine the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber for printing the current slice based on the slice thickness and the effective length;

[0119] A height determination module 530 is configured to determine the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the first powder usage;

[0120] A second powder amount determination module 540 is configured to determine, based on the height, the amount of second powder that the powder bin needs to provide when printing the current slice;

[0121] The third powder amount determining module 550 is configured to determine a third powder amount required for printing the object to be printed according to the second powder amount.

[0122] In one embodiment, the forming chamber is a rectangular parallelepiped chamber, and the first powder dosage determination module 520 includes the following submodules:

[0123] a first bottom surface area determination submodule, configured to obtain a first density of the object to be printed and a second density of the powder in the powder bed, and to determine a first bottom surface area of ​​the forming chamber;

[0124] a plane powder requirement determination submodule, configured to determine the plane powder requirement of the forming chamber when printing the current slice according to the first bottom surface area and the slice thickness;

[0125] a fourth powder requirement determination submodule, configured to determine a fourth powder requirement corresponding to a space to be filled due to a difference between the first density and the second density when printing a previous slice;

[0126] The first powder dosage determination submodule is configured to use the sum of the planar powder requirement and the fourth powder requirement as the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice.

[0127] In one embodiment, the area of ​​the first bottom surface of the forming bin is determined by a first length and a first width of the bottom surface of the forming bin, wherein the first length is the length of a side of the bottom surface of the forming bin parallel to a powder spreading direction, and the first width is the length of a side of the bottom surface of the forming bin perpendicular to the powder spreading direction, and the powder spreading direction is a direction in which powder moves from the powder bin to the forming bin;

[0128] The fourth powder demand determination submodule is specifically used to:

[0129] determining a first product of the first width, the effective length, and the slice thickness;

[0130] determining a ratio of the second density to the first density, and determining a second product of the first width, the effective length, the slice thickness, and the ratio;

[0131] The difference between the first product and the second product is the volume of the fourth powder requirement;

[0132] The fourth powder requirement is determined based on a volume of the fourth powder requirement.

[0133] In one embodiment, the device is further configured to:

[0134] When printing the first layer of slices, the required amount of planar powder is used as the first powder usage.

[0135] In one embodiment, the powder bin is a rectangular parallelepiped bin body, and the length of the side of the bottom surface of the powder bin parallel to the powder spreading direction is the second length;

[0136] The height determination module 530 includes the following submodules:

[0137] an effective area determination submodule, configured to take the product of the second length and the first width as the effective area of ​​the powder bin;

[0138] The height determination submodule is used to determine the height of the first powder amount within the effective area as the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice.

[0139] In one embodiment, the length of the bottom surface of the powder bin perpendicular to the powder spreading direction is the second width, and the second powder amount determination module 540 includes the following submodules:

[0140] a second bottom surface area determination submodule, configured to determine a second bottom surface area of ​​the powder bin according to the second length and the second width;

[0141] a powder volume determination submodule, configured to use the product of the second bottom surface area and the height as the powder volume required to be provided by the powder bin;

[0142] The second powder dosage determination submodule is configured to determine a second powder dosage to be provided by the powder bin based on the powder volume.

[0143] In one embodiment, the third powder amount determination module 550 includes the following submodules:

[0144] a summing submodule, configured to sum all amounts of the second powder to obtain a summing result;

[0145] The third powder dosage determination submodule is configured to multiply the summation result by a preset weight coefficient and use the obtained product as the third powder dosage required for printing the object to be printed.

[0146] The device for predicting the amount of powder in a powder bed provided by an embodiment of the present invention can implement the method for predicting the amount of powder in a powder bed provided by the first embodiment of the present invention, and has the corresponding functional modules and beneficial effects of the execution method.

[0147] Example 3

[0148] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device 10 that can be used to implement an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The electronic device is intended to represent various forms of digital computers, such as laptop computers, desktop computers, workstations, personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframe computers, and other suitable computers. The electronic device can also represent various forms of mobile devices, such as personal digital processing, cellular phones, smart phones, wearable devices (such as helmets, glasses, watches, etc.) and other similar computing devices. The components shown herein, their connections and relationships, and their functions are merely examples and are not intended to limit the implementation of the present invention described and / or claimed herein.

[0149] like Figure 6 As shown, the electronic device 10 includes at least one processor 11, and a memory connected to the at least one processor 11, such as a read-only memory (ROM) 12, a random access memory (RAM) 13, etc., wherein the memory stores a computer program that can be executed by the at least one processor, and the processor 11 can perform various appropriate actions and processes according to the computer program stored in the read-only memory (ROM) 12 or the computer program loaded from the storage unit 18 to the random access memory (RAM) 13. Various programs and data required for the operation of the electronic device 10 can also be stored in the RAM 13. The processor 11, ROM 12 and RAM 13 are connected to each other via a bus 14. An input / output (I / O) interface 15 is also connected to the bus 14.

[0150] Multiple components in the electronic device 10 are connected to the I / O interface 15, including an input unit 16, such as a keyboard, a mouse, etc.; an output unit 17, such as various types of displays, speakers, etc.; a storage unit 18, such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.; and a communication unit 19, such as a network card, a modem, a wireless communication transceiver, etc. The communication unit 19 allows the electronic device 10 to exchange information / data with other devices via a computer network such as the Internet and / or various telecommunication networks.

[0151] The processor 11 can be any general-purpose and / or specialized processing component with processing and computing capabilities. Some examples of the processor 11 include, but are not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), various specialized artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips, various processors running machine learning model algorithms, a digital signal processor (DSP), and any other suitable processor, controller, microcontroller, etc. The processor 11 executes the various methods and processes described above, such as a method for predicting powder bed powder usage.

[0152] In some embodiments, a method for predicting powder bed powder usage can be implemented as a computer program, which is tangibly contained in a computer-readable storage medium, such as a storage unit 18. In some embodiments, part or all of the computer program can be loaded and / or installed on the electronic device 10 via the ROM 12 and / or the communication unit 19. When the computer program is loaded into the RAM 13 and executed by the processor 11, one or more steps of the method for predicting powder bed powder usage described above can be performed. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the processor 11 can be configured to perform a method for predicting powder bed powder usage in any other appropriate manner (for example, by means of firmware).

[0153] Various embodiments of the systems and techniques described herein can be implemented in digital electronic circuit systems, integrated circuit systems, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific standard products (ASSPs), system-on-chip systems (SOCs), programmable logic devices (CPLDs), computer hardware, firmware, software, and / or combinations thereof. These various embodiments can include being implemented in one or more computer programs that are executable and / or interpreted on a programmable system that includes at least one programmable processor, which can be a special purpose or general purpose programmable processor that can receive data and instructions from a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device, and transmit data and instructions to the storage system, the at least one input device, and the at least one output device.

[0154] Computer programs for implementing the methods of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These computer programs may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, such that when the computer program is executed by the processor, the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams are implemented. The computer program may be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0155] In the context of the present invention, computer-readable storage media can be tangible media that can contain or store a computer program for use with an instruction execution system, device or equipment or used in combination with an instruction execution system, device or equipment. Computer-readable storage media can include but are not limited to electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor systems, devices or equipment, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Alternatively, computer-readable storage media can be machine-readable signal media. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media can include electrical connections based on one or more lines, portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memories (RAM), read-only memories (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROM or flash memory), optical fibers, portable compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0156] To provide interaction with a user, the systems and techniques described herein can be implemented on an electronic device having: a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user; and a keyboard and pointing device (e.g., a mouse or trackball) through which the user can provide input to the electronic device. Other types of devices can also be used to provide interaction with the user; for example, the feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can be received in any form (including acoustic input, voice input, or tactile input).

[0157] The systems and techniques described herein can be implemented in a computing system that includes back-end components (e.g., as a data server), or a computing system that includes middleware components (e.g., an application server), or a computing system that includes front-end components (e.g., a user computer with a graphical user interface or web browser through which a user can interact with implementations of the systems and techniques described herein), or a computing system that includes any combination of such back-end components, middleware components, or front-end components. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include: a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a blockchain network, and the Internet.

[0158] A computing system may include clients and servers. The clients and servers are typically remote from each other and typically interact via a communication network. This client-server relationship arises through computer programs running on the respective computers, creating a client-server relationship. The server may be a cloud server, also known as a cloud computing server or cloud host. This server is a hosting product within the cloud computing service ecosystem that addresses the management difficulties and limited scalability of traditional physical hosting and VPS services.

[0159] It should be understood that the various forms of the processes shown above can be used to reorder, add, or delete steps. For example, the steps described in the present invention can be performed in parallel, sequentially, or in a different order, as long as the desired results of the technical solution of the present invention can be achieved. This is not limited herein.

[0160] The above specific embodiments do not limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations, and substitutions may be made based on design requirements and other factors. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for predicting powder bed powder usage, characterized in that: The powder bed includes a powder bin for containing powder, and a forming bin for printing an object to be printed after obtaining powder from the powder bin. The method includes: Acquiring three-dimensional model information of the object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information including slice thicknesses and effective lengths of multiple slices obtained by layering the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is a projected length obtained by projecting each slice in a horizontal direction; Determining, based on the slice thickness and the effective length, an amount of first powder required by the forming chamber for printing the current slice; determining, based on the first powder usage, a height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice; determining, based on the height, a second amount of powder required by the powder bin for printing the current slice, and determining, based on the second amount of powder, a third amount of powder required for printing the object to be printed; The forming chamber is a rectangular parallelepiped chamber, and determining the amount of first powder required by the forming chamber for printing the current slice based on the slice thickness and the effective length includes: Obtaining a first density of the object to be printed and a second density of powder in the powder bed, and determining a first bottom area of ​​the forming chamber; wherein the first density is greater than the second density; determining, based on the first bottom surface area and the slice thickness, a required amount of planar powder for the forming chamber when printing the current slice; determining a required amount of fourth powder corresponding to a space to be filled due to a difference between the first density and the second density when printing a previous slice; The sum of the plane powder requirement and the fourth powder requirement is used as the first powder amount required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice; The first bottom surface area of ​​the forming bin is determined by a first length and a first width of the bottom surface of the forming bin, wherein the first length is the length of a side of the bottom surface of the forming bin parallel to a powder spreading direction, and the first width is the length of a side of the bottom surface of the forming bin perpendicular to the powder spreading direction, and the powder spreading direction is the direction in which powder moves from the powder bin to the forming bin; The determining of a fourth powder requirement corresponding to a space to be filled due to a difference between the first density and the second density when printing a previous slice includes: determining a first product of the first width, the effective length, and the slice thickness; determining a ratio of the second density to the first density, and determining a second product of the first width, the effective length, the slice thickness, and the ratio; The difference between the first product and the second product is the volume of the fourth powder requirement; The fourth powder requirement is determined based on a volume of the fourth powder requirement.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Also includes: When printing the first layer of slices, the required amount of planar powder is used as the first powder usage.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The powder bin is a rectangular parallelepiped bin body, and the length of the side of the bottom surface of the powder bin parallel to the powder spreading direction is the second length; The step of determining the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice based on the first powder usage includes: The product of the second length and the first width is used as the effective area of ​​the powder bin; The height of the first amount of powder within the effective area is determined as the height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The length of the bottom surface of the powder silo perpendicular to the powder spreading direction is a second width, and determining the amount of second powder required to be provided by the powder silo when printing the current slice based on the height includes: determining a second bottom area of ​​the powder bin according to the second length and the second width; The product of the second bottom surface area and the height is used as the volume of powder required to be provided by the powder bin; A second amount of powder to be provided by the powder bin is determined based on the powder volume.

5. The method according to claim 1, 3 or 4, characterized in that: The determining, based on the second powder amount, the amount of the third powder required for printing the object to be printed includes: summing up all the amounts of the second powder to obtain a summation result; The summation result is multiplied by a preset weight coefficient, and the obtained product is used as the amount of the third powder required for printing the object to be printed.

6. A device for predicting powder bed powder usage, characterized in that: The powder bed includes a powder bin for containing powder, and a forming bin for printing an object to be printed after obtaining powder from the powder bin. The device includes: a three-dimensional model information acquisition module, configured to acquire three-dimensional model information of the object to be printed, the three-dimensional model information including slice thicknesses and effective lengths of a plurality of slices obtained by layer-cutting the three-dimensional model of the object to be printed, wherein the effective length is a projected length obtained by projecting each slice in a horizontal direction; a first powder dosage determination module, configured to determine the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice based on the slice thickness and the effective length; a height determination module, configured to determine, based on the first powder usage, a height of the powder in the powder bin when printing the current slice; a second powder amount determination module, configured to determine, based on the height, the amount of second powder that the powder bin needs to provide when printing the current slice; a third powder amount determining module, configured to determine a third powder amount required for printing the object to be printed according to the second powder amount; The forming chamber is a rectangular parallelepiped chamber, and the first powder dosage determination module includes: a first bottom surface area determination submodule, configured to obtain a first density of the object to be printed and a second density of the powder in the powder bed, and to determine a first bottom surface area of ​​the forming chamber; wherein the first density is greater than the second density; a plane powder requirement determination submodule, configured to determine the plane powder requirement of the forming chamber when printing the current slice according to the first bottom surface area and the slice thickness; a fourth powder requirement determination submodule, configured to determine a fourth powder requirement corresponding to a space to be filled due to a difference between the first density and the second density when printing a previous slice; A first powder dosage determination submodule is configured to use the sum of the plane powder requirement and the fourth powder requirement as the first powder dosage required by the forming chamber when printing the current slice; The first bottom surface area of ​​the forming bin is determined by a first length and a first width of the bottom surface of the forming bin, wherein the first length is the length of a side of the bottom surface of the forming bin parallel to a powder spreading direction, and the first width is the length of a side of the bottom surface of the forming bin perpendicular to the powder spreading direction, and the powder spreading direction is the direction in which powder moves from the powder bin to the forming bin; The fourth powder demand determination submodule is specifically configured to: determining a first product of the first width, the effective length, and the slice thickness; determining a ratio of the second density to the first density, and determining a second product of the first width, the effective length, the slice thickness, and the ratio; The difference between the first product and the second product is the volume of the fourth powder requirement; The fourth powder requirement is determined based on a volume of the fourth powder requirement.

7. An electronic device, characterized in that: The electronic device comprises: At least one processor; and a memory communicatively connected to the at least one processor; wherein the memory stores a computer program executable by the at least one processor, and the computer program is executed by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to execute a method for predicting powder usage in a powder bed according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

8. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and the computer instructions are used to enable a processor to implement a method for predicting powder bed powder usage according to any one of claims 1 to 5 when executed.

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