Control method, control device, computer equipment and storage medium based on multi-laser scanning

Abstract

The present application relates to a control method, control device, computer equipment, and storage medium based on multi-laser scanning, wherein the method includes: arranging all lasers, and all lasers are not located in the same wind field direction; grouping all lasers according to the layout of all lasers to obtain at least two groups of scanning systems, wherein all lasers located in the same wind field direction are divided into a group, and each scanning system group includes at least one laser; and controlling the at least two groups of scanning systems to scan separately and independently of each other. The present invention can optimize the global waiting scan of multiple lasers into grouped waiting scans, thereby saving the laser scanning waiting time and improving scanning efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of scanning, and in particular to a control method, a control device, a computer device and a storage medium based on multi-laser scanning. Background Art

[0002] Additive manufacturing is a rapid manufacturing technique that creates three-dimensional workpieces by controlling laser scanning layer by layer, stacking them one by one. The process is as follows: First, the 3D model of the workpiece is sliced to obtain the contour information of each layer. Powdered material is evenly spread on the work surface, and the laser selectively melts the powder according to system instructions. After completing one section, a new layer of material is applied, and scanning continues selectively based on the cross-sectional information corresponding to the 3D object. This method is then repeated for the next section, and the powder is scanned again, ultimately resulting in the 3D workpiece.

[0003] In the forming process of additive manufacturing technology, as the size of the printed workpiece becomes larger and larger, the number of lasers used is also increasing. However, in printing equipment with multiple lasers, although the production efficiency of additive manufacturing is improved, the smoke generated when different lasers sinter at the same time may affect the sintering effect of other lasers. In order to avoid the influence of smoke, the scanning area covered by each laser is divided into two or more sub-areas. When multiple lasers work at the same time, they are generally controlled in the same wind direction. Only one laser is scanning the workpiece in one sub-area. When all lasers have scanned the corresponding sub-areas, the multiple lasers are switched to scan the next corresponding sub-area at the same time, and so on until all sub-areas are scanned. However, this scanning method has a lot of unnecessary waiting time, which leads to low scanning efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to solve the technical problem of long waiting time and low scanning efficiency in the prior art, the present invention provides a control method, control device, computer equipment and storage medium based on multi-laser scanning without affecting the laser scanning effect.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control method based on multi-laser scanning, the method comprising:

[0006] All lasers are arranged so that they are not located in the same wind direction;

[0007] Grouping all lasers according to their layout to obtain at least two groups of scanning systems, wherein all lasers located in the same wind field direction are divided into one group, and each group of scanning systems includes at least two lasers;

[0008] At least two scanning systems are controlled to perform scanning independently and without affecting each other.

[0009] As a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, all the lasers are arranged in an array above the working area.

[0010] As a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, each scanning system includes two lasers.

[0011] As a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the number of the lasers is 4, 6, 8, 9 or 12.

[0012] As a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, when there are two scanning systems including a first scanning system and a second scanning system, controlling the two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other specifically includes:

[0013] Dividing a scanning area covered by each laser of all lasers included in the first scanning system and the second scanning system into two or more sub-areas;

[0014] The first scanning system and the second scanning system are controlled to scan simultaneously; and each scanning system scans in the following manner:

[0015] Under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area. When all lasers in the scanning system have finished scanning the corresponding sub-area, multiple lasers in the scanning system are switched to scan their corresponding next sub-area at the same time. Moreover, under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area; and so on until all sub-areas are scanned.

[0016] As a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, when all lasers of each group of scanning systems scan simultaneously, all lasers select the sub-areas corresponding to their respective scans with the closest scanning times.

[0017] The present invention also provides a control device based on multi-laser scanning, the control device comprising:

[0018] Multi-laser layout module, used to layout all lasers, and all lasers are not located in the same wind field direction;

[0019] a multi-laser grouping module, configured to group all lasers according to their layout to obtain at least two groups of scanning systems, wherein all lasers located in the same wind field direction are grouped together, and each scanning system group includes at least two lasers; and

[0020] The scanning control module is used to control at least two groups of scanning systems to scan separately and independently of each other.

[0021] The present invention also provides a computer device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein a computer program is stored in the memory, and wherein the processor implements the steps of any of the above methods when executing the computer program.

[0022] The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program implements the steps of any of the above-mentioned methods when executed by a processor.

[0023] The above-mentioned control method, control device, computer equipment and storage medium based on multi-laser scanning group multiple lasers according to the direction of the wind field, that is, divide them into multiple groups of scanning systems, and then control the multiple groups of scanning systems to scan separately and independently of each other. In this way, the global waiting scanning of multiple lasers can be optimized into grouped waiting scanning, thereby saving the scanning waiting time of the lasers and improving the scanning efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 is a flow chart of a control method based on multi-laser scanning in one embodiment;

[0025] Figure 2 is a layout diagram of multiple lasers in one embodiment;

[0026] Figure 3 is a layout diagram of multiple lasers in another embodiment;

[0027] Figure 4 is a layout diagram of multiple lasers in yet another embodiment;

[0028] Figure 5 This is a working state diagram of a control method based on multi-laser scanning in one embodiment;

[0029] Figure 6 4 is a system block diagram of a control device based on multi-laser scanning in one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this application more clear, the following further describes this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain this application and are not intended to limit this application.

[0031] like Figure 1 As shown, the present invention provides a control method based on multi-laser scanning, which includes the following steps:

[0032] Step 11: Arrange all lasers, and all lasers are not located in the same wind direction; in a specific implementation, all lasers are arranged in an array above the working area; the total number of lasers in this application can be 4, 6, 8, 9 or 12, such as Figure 2-Figure 4 shown.

[0033] Step 12: Group all lasers according to their layout to obtain at least two scanning systems, wherein all lasers located in the same wind direction are grouped together, and each scanning system includes at least one laser; preferably, each scanning system includes two lasers, which is more conducive to laser control. Figure 2-Figure 5 The laser in the text refers to the laser, for example, laser 4 refers to the laser 4, and wind direction refers to the direction of the wind field. Figure 2 As shown in the four lasers, laser 4 and laser 3 are located in the same wind direction, while laser 2 and laser 1 are located in another wind direction; Figure 3 As shown in the six lasers, laser 5 and laser 6 are located in the first wind direction, laser 4 and laser 3 are located in the second wind direction, and laser 2 and laser 1 are located in the third wind direction; Figure 4 Of the eight lasers shown, lasers 8 and 7 are located in a first wind direction, lasers 6 and 5 are located in a second wind direction, lasers 4 and 3 are located in a third wind direction, and lasers 2 and 1 are located in a fourth wind direction. Of course, this is only a preferred layout. In actual applications, other layouts can be used as needed. For example, when the number of lasers is nine, the nine lasers can be distributed in three rows and three columns.

[0034] Step 13: Control at least two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other.

[0035] In this step, when there are two scanning systems including a first scanning system and a second scanning system, controlling the two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other specifically includes:

[0036] The scanning area covered by each laser in all the lasers included in the first scanning system and the second scanning system is divided into two or more sub-areas ( Figure 5 There are two sub-areas in it), it should be noted that, Figure 5 The area in the figure refers to the sub-area; of course, if there are nine lasers distributed in three rows and three columns, laser 9, laser 8 and laser 7 are located in the first wind direction, laser 6, laser 5 and laser 4 are located in the second wind direction, and laser 3, laser 2 and laser 1 are located in the third wind direction. At this time, the scanning area covered by each laser needs to be divided into three sub-areas, so that in the next step, under each wind field direction, only one laser in each group of scanning systems scans its corresponding sub-area.

[0037] The first scanning system and the second scanning system are controlled to scan simultaneously; and each scanning system scans in the following manner:

[0038] Under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area. When all lasers in the scanning system have finished scanning the corresponding sub-area (for example, laser 4 and laser 3 have finished scanning sub-area 1), the multiple lasers in the scanning system are simultaneously switched to scan the next sub-area (for example, sub-area 2) corresponding to each other. Moreover, under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area; and so on until all sub-areas are scanned.

[0039] Preferably, when all lasers of each scanning system are scanning simultaneously, all lasers select the sub-areas with the closest scanning time to those for their respective scans. For example, when each scanning system includes two lasers, each laser includes two sub-areas, wherein the scanning time of the first sub-area of laser 1 is 68s, and the scanning time of the second sub-area is 230s; the scanning time of the first sub-area of laser 2 is 300s, and the scanning time of the second sub-area is 100s. Figure 5 As shown, when laser 1 selects the first sub-area (68s) for scanning, laser 2 should select a sub-area (100s) with a similar scanning time. This can further reduce the waiting time within each group of scanning systems, that is, further improve the scanning efficiency.

[0040] like Figure 6 As shown, the present invention also provides a control device based on multi-laser scanning, the control device comprising:

[0041] A multi-laser layout module 61 is used to layout all lasers, and all lasers are not located in the same wind field direction;

[0042] a multi-laser grouping module 62, configured to group all lasers according to their layout to obtain at least two groups of scanning systems, wherein all lasers located in the same wind field direction are grouped together, and each scanning system group includes at least one laser; and

[0043] The scanning control module 63 is used to control at least two scanning systems to perform scanning independently without affecting each other.

[0044] In the scanning control module 63 , when there are two scanning systems including a first scanning system and a second scanning system, controlling the two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other specifically includes:

[0045] Dividing a scanning area covered by each laser of all lasers included in the first scanning system and the second scanning system into two or more sub-areas;

[0046] The first scanning system and the second scanning system are controlled to scan simultaneously; and each scanning system scans in the following manner:

[0047] Under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area. When all lasers in the scanning system have finished scanning the corresponding sub-area, multiple lasers in the scanning system are switched to scan their corresponding next sub-area at the same time. Moreover, under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area; and so on until all sub-areas are scanned.

[0048] It should be noted here that the control device based on multi-laser scanning of the present invention and the control method based on multi-laser scanning described above are derived from the same inventive concept.

[0049] The present invention also provides a computer device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein a computer program is stored in the memory, and wherein the processor implements the steps of the method described in any of the above embodiments when executing the computer program.

[0050] The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0051] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and implement the technical solution of the present invention, the technical solution of the present invention is described in detail below in the form of embodiments and in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0052] Example 1

[0053] like Figure 5 As shown, this embodiment includes four lasers, which are divided into two scanning systems. Lasers 3 and 4 belong to one scanning system, and lasers 1 and 2 belong to another scanning system. Each laser includes two sub-areas (or regions). The scanning time of each sub-area covered by each laser is shown in Table 1 below:

[0054] Table 1

[0055] Laser serial number area Scan time (seconds) 1 1 50 1 2 300 2 1 60 2 2 350 3 1 280 3 2 60 4 1 340 4 2 65

[0056] One implementation method of the prior art: If the four lasers wait globally, the time required to scan a layer of data is the sum of the longest time spent in each area, that is, 340 + 350 = 690 seconds;

[0057] According to the technical solution of the present invention (i.e., the implementation method used in this embodiment): Lasers 3 and 4 simultaneously scan area 1. When they are completely scanned, they switch to scanning area 2. When lasers 3 and 4 begin scanning, lasers 1 and 2 simultaneously scan area 2 in the same manner, first scanning area 1. When lasers 1 and 2 have completely scanned area 1, they switch to scanning area 2 simultaneously, and the scanning process ends. In this way, the time required to scan this layer of data is the time taken by the scanning system with the longest scanning time of the two scanning systems, that is, the total time spent by lasers 1 and 2 is 60 + 350 = 410 seconds.

[0058] As can be seen from the above, the implementation method used in the embodiment of the present application saves 280 seconds of waiting time compared to the method used in the prior art, which improves efficiency by about 40%. Therefore, this embodiment can effectively avoid the unnecessary waiting time that occurs when waiting globally in a multi-laser environment by grouping waiting in a multi-laser environment, thereby improving scanning efficiency in a multi-laser environment.

[0059] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiments can be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program. The computer program can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above-mentioned methods. Among them, any reference to memory, storage, database or other media used in the embodiments provided in this application can include non-volatile and / or volatile memory. Non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in various forms, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link (Synchlink) DRAM (SLDRAM), memory bus (Rambus) direct RAM (RDRAM), direct memory bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM).

[0060] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0061] The above-described embodiments merely represent several implementation methods of the present application. While the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that a person skilled in the art could make various modifications and improvements without departing from the spirit of the present application, all of which fall within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present patent application shall be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A control method based on multi-laser scanning, characterized in that: The method comprises: All lasers are arranged so that they are not located in the same wind direction and are arranged in an array above the working area; Grouping all lasers according to their layout to obtain at least two groups of scanning systems, wherein all lasers located in the same wind field direction are divided into one group, and each group of scanning systems includes at least two lasers; Control at least two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other; wherein, When there are two scanning systems, including a first scanning system and a second scanning system, controlling the two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other specifically includes: Dividing the scanning area covered by each laser of all lasers included in the first scanning system and the second scanning system into two or more sub-areas; The first scanning system and the second scanning system are controlled to scan simultaneously; and each scanning system scans in the following manner: Under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area. When all lasers in the scanning system have finished scanning the corresponding sub-area, multiple lasers in the scanning system are switched to scan their corresponding next sub-area at the same time. Moreover, under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area; and so on until all sub-areas are scanned.

2. The control method based on multi-laser scanning according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each scanning system includes two lasers.

3. The control method based on multi-laser scanning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The number of the lasers is 4, 6, 8, 9 or 12.

4. The control method based on multi-laser scanning according to claim 3, characterized in that: When all the lasers of each group of scanning systems scan simultaneously, all the lasers select the sub-areas corresponding to their respective scans with the closest scanning times.

5. A control device based on multi-laser scanning, characterized in that: The control device comprises: Multi-laser layout module, used to layout all lasers, and all lasers are not located in the same wind field direction, and are arranged in an array above the working area; a multi-laser grouping module, configured to group all lasers according to their layout to obtain at least two groups of scanning systems, wherein all lasers located in the same wind field direction are grouped together, and each scanning system group includes at least two lasers; and The scanning control module is used to control at least two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other; wherein, When there are two scanning systems, including a first scanning system and a second scanning system, controlling the two scanning systems to scan independently and without affecting each other specifically includes: Dividing the scanning area covered by each laser of all lasers included in the first scanning system and the second scanning system into two or more sub-areas; The first scanning system and the second scanning system are controlled to scan simultaneously; and each scanning system scans in the following manner: Under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area. When all lasers in the scanning system have finished scanning the corresponding sub-area, multiple lasers in the scanning system are switched to scan their corresponding next sub-area at the same time. Moreover, under each wind field direction, only one laser in each scanning system scans its corresponding sub-area; and so on until all sub-areas are scanned.

6. A computer device comprising a memory and a processor, wherein a computer program is stored in the memory, wherein: When the processor executes the computer program, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 are implemented.

7. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 are implemented.

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