A device and method for part zoning control of 3D printed parts using scan time

Abstract

The application relates to a 3D printing multi-mirror multi-laser control technical field, in particular to a 3D printing part partition control device and method using scanning time, the control device comprises an upper laser, a lower laser, an upper scanning galvanometer and a lower scanning galvanometer which are all connected with an upper computer, the upper scanning galvanometer is connected with the upper laser, the lower scanning galvanometer is connected with the lower laser, and the upper computer comprises a laser control module, a scanning galvanometer control module, an operation control module, a file analysis module, a partition control module and an execution module. The application can equally divide the printing tasks of the two lasers to the maximum extent, reduces the printing time of the same data, and improves the printing efficiency.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of 3D printing multi-mirror multi-laser control, and particularly relates to a 3D printing part partition control device and method using scanning time. BACKGROUND

[0002] 3D printing is a manufacturing method that uses the results of CAD three-dimensional design and layer-by-layer accumulation to manufacture parts, adopts a completely opposite way to traditional subtractive manufacturing technology, uses a laser, a hot melt nozzle and other ways to layer-by-layer accumulate and bond metal powder, photosensitive resin, plastic, wax and other special materials, and finally forms a three-dimensional physical entity model that is completely consistent with the corresponding digital model.

[0003] Multi-laser cooperative work has the characteristics of faster printing speed and shorter printing time than single laser work, and is widely used in large-size part processing or high-time requirement denture industry. Due to the limitation of the coverage range of the light path, when multiple lasers are used to print some parts, a complete part is divided into multiple parts, and two different lasers are used to process them. Due to the uncertainty of the placement position of the part, there is more data in some areas and less data in some areas, which results in more scanning tasks for one laser and less scanning tasks for the other laser. In this case, not only the printing time will be reduced, but also the working time of the two lasers will be inconsistent. After a certain period of time, the power of one laser has been greatly attenuated, while the other laser is still running normally, which causes a difference in service life. Using the traditional method of partitioning according to the part bounding box and the number of parts, it is still difficult to evenly distribute the work tasks of the two lasers. When printing the same data, one laser is always waiting for the other laser to complete the scanning, resulting in time waste.

[0004] To solve the above problems, solutions can be conceived from many aspects and angles. For example, adjusting the placement position of the part and evenly distributing the number of parts placed on the substrate, but none of them can solve the problem of evenly distributing the scanning work tasks from the root. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a 3D printing part partition control device and method using scanning time, which solves the problem of uneven task allocation when multiple lasers are used to print.

[0006] In order to achieve the purpose of the present application, the technical scheme adopted is: a 3D printing part partition control device using scanning time, the control device comprises an upper laser, a lower laser, an upper scanning galvanometer and a lower scanning galvanometer, which are all connected with an upper computer, the upper scanning galvanometer is connected with the upper laser, and the lower scanning galvanometer is connected with the lower laser,

[0007] The host computer comprises a laser control module, a scanning galvanometer control module, a motion control module, a file analysis module, a partition control module and an execution module.

[0008] The laser control module is used to control the energy size of the laser and the switching of the laser.

[0009] The scanning galvanometer control module is used to direct the laser beam energy to a specified position according to a two-dimensional image of a part to be printed.

[0010] The motion control module is used to realize the printing of a part finally by cooperating with mechanical movement according to the laser control module and the scanning galvanometer control module.

[0011] The file analysis module is used to analyze the data format of a part to be printed.

[0012] The partition control module is used to divide the region to which a part belongs, to determine whether each printed part belongs to an A region, a B region, an AB common region or a three-region by judging the position relationship of the Y minimum value, the Y maximum value and the two splicing region boundary lines in the Y direction in the bounding box information of each part to be printed.

[0013] The execution module controls the upper laser, the lower laser, the upper scanning galvanometer and the lower scanning galvanometer to work cooperatively according to the data obtained by the partition control module.

[0014] As an optimization scheme of the present application, the file analysis module is used to analyze the bounding box information of each part, which comprises the X minimum value Xmin and the X maximum value Xmax of the horizontal coordinate of the part, the Y minimum value Ymin and the Y maximum value Ymax of the vertical coordinate of the part, and the Z minimum value Zmin and the Z maximum value Zmax of the Z axis direction of the part.

[0015] As an optimization scheme of the present application, the two splicing region boundary lines have vertical coordinates of -Y and Y, the vertical coordinate Y and the upper region are the printing range of the upper laser and are the A region, the vertical coordinate -Y and the lower region are the printing range of the lower laser and are the B region, and the region containing the vertical coordinate -Y to the vertical coordinate Y is the overlapping printing range of the upper laser and the lower laser and is the AB overlapping region, and the region shared by A, B and AB is the three-region.

[0016] As an optimization scheme of the present application, the partition control module is used to divide the region of an imported part file, and a method of calculating the scanning time of each part is used to calculate the printing data corresponding to each region.

[0017] In order to achieve the object of the present application, the technical scheme adopted is: a method for partition control by using a 3D printing part partition control device of scanning time, which comprises the following steps:

[0018] Step 1: analyzing the part file data to be printed;

[0019] Step 2: dividing each printing part in the file into the region to which it belongs, i.e. judging the size relationship between the Ymin and Ymax values in the part bounding box information of each printing data and the transverse straight line of the two boundary lines-Y and Y, to determine whether each printing data belongs to the A region, the B region, the AB common region or the three-region-crossing region;

[0020] Step 3: if the part to be printed belongs to the A region, the part data is added to the A data array linked list controlled by the upper laser; if the part to be printed belongs to the B region, the part data is added to the B data array linked list controlled by the lower laser;

[0021] Step 4: if the printing part belongs to the AB common region, the part data is distributed to the corresponding region according to the scanning time in the A and B data array linked list, so that the workloads of the upper laser and the lower laser are balanced;

[0022] Step 5: if the printing part belongs to the three-region-crossing region, the part placement position needs to be adjusted, and the user performs corresponding rotation or movement operation processing;

[0023] Step 6: starting a thread to control the upper laser, the lower laser, the upper scanning galvanometer and the lower scanning galvanometer to work cooperatively according to the data obtained above.

[0024] As an optimization scheme of the present application, the step 2 specifically comprises:

[0025] Step 2-1: if the printing part bounding box position satisfies Ymax<-Y, the printing data belongs to the B region;

[0026] Step 2-2: if the printing part bounding box position satisfies Ymax<Y and Ymin<-Y, the printing data belongs to the B region;

[0027] Step 2-3: if the printing part bounding box position satisfies Ymax<Y and Ymin>Y, i.e. the part belongs to the middle region, the printing data belongs to the AB common region;

[0028] Step 2-4: if the printing part bounding box position satisfies Ymax>Y and Ymin>-Y, the printing data belongs to the A region;

[0029] Steps 2-5: If the position of the printed part bounding box satisfies Ymax>Y and Ymin<-Y, then the printed data belongs to the three zones and the user needs to be notified.

[0030] As an optimized solution of the present invention, step 4 specifically includes:

[0031] Step 4-1: If the data linked list of the common area of ​​AB is not empty, then perform data allocation in the common area;

[0032] Step 4-2: Calculate the total scan time required for each part in the linked lists of data arrays in regions A and B respectively;

[0033] Step 4-3: If the total scanning time of all parts in area A is greater than the total scanning time of all parts in area B, it means that the time required to scan the number of parts in area A is greater than the time required to scan the parts in area B. Take a piece of data from the common area of ​​A and B, calculate the total scanning time of this data and add it to area B.

[0034] Step 4-4: Based on the newly calculated total scan time in Step 4-3, compare the scan time of region A and region B. If the total scan time of region A is still greater than the total scan time of region B, store the data in the data linked list of region B; otherwise, store it in the data linked list of region A. At the same time, delete the corresponding data in the data linked list of the common area of ​​A and B.

[0035] Steps 4-5: If the total scan time for area A is less than the total scan time for area B, it means that the number of parts in area A is less than the number of parts in area B. Take a data set from the common area of ​​A and B and add it to the scan time of area A.

[0036] Steps 4-6: Based on the newly calculated scan time in Step 4-5, compare the total scan time of region A and region B again. If the total scan time of region A is still less than the total scan time of region B, store the data in the data linked list of region A; otherwise, store it in the data linked list of region B. At the same time, delete the corresponding data in the data linked list of the common area of ​​A and B.

[0037] Step 4-7: Determine if the data linked list in the common area of ​​AB is empty. If the data is not empty, return to step 4-2 to proceed with the next steps.

[0038] This invention has the following positive effects: 1) This invention makes full use of the existing printing area, without imposing any restrictions on the placement of parts within the printing area; parts can be placed arbitrarily. Furthermore, through this invention, the workload of the upper and lower lasers is effectively and evenly distributed, greatly improving printing efficiency and reducing printing time. Moreover, since the area is determined when printing the first layer of parts, subsequent layers also use this area division method, ensuring the integrity of the printed parts.

[0039] 2) The present application can maximize the printing task of two lasers, reduce the printing time of the same data, and improve the printing efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0040] The present application will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0041] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the principle of the device of the present application;

[0042] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the printing area covered by the dual laser of the present application;

[0043] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the common area of the present application;

[0044] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the upper laser coverage of the present application;

[0045] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the part area division of the present application;

[0046] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the part time calculation of the present application;

[0047] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the bounding box information of the present application;

[0048] Figure 8 is a part partition effect diagram after scanning time calculation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The present application will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0050] As shown in Figure 1 , the present application discloses a 3D printing part partition control device using scanning time, the control device includes an upper laser, a lower laser, an upper scanning galvanometer and a lower scanning galvanometer all connected with an upper computer, the upper scanning galvanometer is connected with the upper laser, and the lower scanning galvanometer is connected with the lower laser, as Figure 2 shown is a schematic diagram of the printing area covered by the dual laser, wherein the two outer large circles are the scanning coverage of the upper and lower scanning galvanometers, and the small circle in the middle is the actual printing area.

[0051] The upper computer includes a laser control module, a scanning galvanometer control module, an operation control module, a file analysis module, a partition control module and an execution module;

[0052] The laser control module is used to control the energy size of the laser, and control the switching of the laser;

[0053] The scanning galvanometer control module directs the laser beam energy to the designated position based on the two-dimensional image of the part to be printed.

[0054] The motion control module, based on the laser control module and the scanning galvanometer control module, works in conjunction with mechanical motion to ultimately achieve part printing;

[0055] The file parsing module is used to parse the data format of the parts to be printed.

[0056] The partition control module is used to divide the area to which a part belongs; such as... Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the common area of ​​the present invention, wherein the shaded area is the area jointly printed by the two lasers, referred to as the AB common area; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the upper laser coverage of the present invention, where the shaded area represents the area to be printed and covered by the upper laser on the substrate. Figure 5 The diagram illustrates the part area division of this invention. Based on the minimum and maximum Y values ​​in the part bounding box information and the positional relationship in the Y direction of the boundary lines of the two splicing areas, each printed part is determined to belong to area A, area B, the common area of ​​A and B, or all three areas. If the part to be printed belongs to area A, its part data is stored in the data array linked list of the upper laser. If the part to be printed belongs to area B, its part data is stored in the data array linked list of the lower laser. If the printed part belongs to the common area of ​​A and B, its data is assigned to the side of area A or area B with the shorter scanning time. If the printed part spans all three areas, a dialog box pops up to inform the user that the placement of a certain part needs to be adjusted, and the user performs the corresponding rotation or movement operation.

[0057] The upper laser prints data for area A, and the lower laser prints data for area B.

[0058] The execution module controls the upper laser, lower laser, upper scanning galvanometer, and lower scanning galvanometer to work together based on the data obtained from the partition control module.

[0059] The file parsing module is used to parse out the bounding box information of each part, such as... Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the bounding box information of the present invention. This information is used to determine the position of each part that needs to be printed. The bounding box information includes: the minimum X value and maximum X value of the horizontal coordinate X of the part, the minimum Y value and maximum Y value of the vertical coordinate Y of the part, and the minimum Z value and maximum Z value of the part in the Z-axis direction Zmin and Z-axis direction Zmax data.

[0060] Two splicing area boundary lines are two horizontal lines parallel to the X coordinate, with the vertical coordinate Y and the upper area being the upper laser printing range, being the B area, and the vertical coordinate -Y and the lower area being the lower laser printing range, being the A area; the area from the vertical coordinate -Y to the vertical coordinate Y being the upper laser and lower laser overlapping printing range, being the AB overlapping area, and the area shared by A, B and AB being the three-area crossing area.

[0061] The partition control module is used for partitioning the imported part file, Figure 6 The part time calculation schematic diagram is shown. Figure 8 The final partition effect diagram of the part after the scanning time calculation is shown.

[0062] The application discloses a method for partition control of a 3D printing part partition control device by using scanning time.

[0063] Step 1: analyzing part file data to be printed;

[0064] Step 2: dividing each printing part in the file into a belonging area, that is, judging the size relationship between Ymin and Ymax values in part bounding box information of each printing data and the two horizontal lines of the boundary lines -Y and Y, and determining whether the printing data belongs to the A area, the B area, the AB common area or the three-area crossing area;

[0065] Step 3: if the part to be printed belongs to the A area, the part data is added to the A data array linked list controlled by the upper laser; if the part to be printed belongs to the B area, the part data is added to the B data array linked list controlled by the lower laser;

[0066] Step 4: if the printing part belongs to the AB common area, the part data is distributed to the corresponding area according to the scanning time in the A and B data array linked list, so that the workloads of the upper laser and the lower laser are balanced;

[0067] Step 5: if the printing part belongs to the three-area crossing area, the part placement position needs to be adjusted, and the user performs corresponding rotation or movement operation processing;

[0068] Step 6: starting a thread to control the upper laser, the lower laser, the upper scanning galvanometer and the lower scanning galvanometer to work cooperatively according to the data obtained above.

[0069] Step 2 specifically includes:

[0070] Step 2-1: if the printing part bounding box position satisfies Ymax <-Y, the printing data belongs to the B area;

[0071] Step 2-2: If the print part bounding box position satisfies: Ymax < Y, and Ymin < -Y, the print data belongs to the B region;

[0072] Step 2-3: If the print part bounding box position satisfies: Ymax < Y, and Ymin > Y, i.e. the part belongs to the middle region, the print data belongs to the AB common region;

[0073] Step 2-4: If the print part bounding box position satisfies: Ymax > Y, and Ymin > -Y, the print data belongs to the A region;

[0074] Step 2-5: If the print part bounding box position satisfies: Ymax > Y, and Ymin < -Y, the print data belongs to the cross three regions, and the user needs to be reminded.

[0075] Step 4 specifically comprises:

[0076] Step 4-1: If the AB common region data linked list is not empty, common region data allocation is performed;

[0077] Step 4-2: The total scanning time of each part in the A region and B region data array linked list is calculated respectively; according to the data in the A array linked list, the scanning line segment of the current part is obtained, and the scanning time of the part scanning data under the current bounding box is obtained by traversing all layer data of the current part. Finally, the scanning times of all data in the A array linked list are added to obtain the total scanning time of all parts in the A array. The B data linked list is calculated in the same way to obtain the total scanning time of all parts in the B array.

[0078] Step 4-3: If the total scanning time of each part in the A region is greater than the total scanning time of each part in the B region, it means that the number of parts in the A region requires more scanning time than the number of parts in the B region. Take a piece of AB common region data, calculate the total scanning time of this data and add it to the B region;

[0079] Step 4-4: According to the newly calculated total scanning time in step 4-3, compare the scanning times of the A region and the B region. When the total scanning time of the A region is still greater than the total scanning time of the B region, the data is stored in the B region data linked list, otherwise it is stored in the A region data linked list, and the corresponding data in the AB common region data linked list is deleted;

[0080] Step 4-5: If the total scanning time of the A region is less than the total scanning time of the B region, it means that the number of parts in the A region is less than the number of parts in the B region. Take a piece of AB common region data and add it to the A region for scanning time.

[0081] Step 4-6: According to the newly calculated scan time in step 4-5, the total scan time of A area and B area is compared again, when the total scan time of A area is still less than that of B area, the data is stored in the data linked list of A area, otherwise it is stored in the data linked list of B area, and the corresponding data in the data linked list of AB common area is deleted at the same time;

[0082] Step 4-7: Judge whether the data linked list in AB common area is empty, if the data is not empty, return to step 4-2 for subsequent steps.

[0083] The above specific embodiments further illustrate the purpose, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present application. It should be understood that the above description is only a specific embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for partitioning 3D printed parts using scanning time, characterized in that: The method includes the following steps: Step 1: Parse the part file data to be printed; Step 2: Divide each printed part in the file into its own region, that is, determine the relationship between the Ymin and Ymax values ​​in the bounding box information of each print data and the horizontal lines of the two dividing lines -Y and Y, and determine whether each print data belongs to region A, region B, the common area of ​​AB, or a region spanning three regions. Step 3: If the part to be printed belongs to area A, add the part data to the A data array linked list controlled by the upper laser; if the part to be printed belongs to area B, add the part data to the B data array linked list controlled by the lower laser. Step 4: If the printed part belongs to the common area of ​​A and B, the part data is allocated to the corresponding area according to the scanning time in the linked lists of data arrays A and B, so that the workload of the upper laser and the lower laser is balanced. Step 5: If the printed part spans three zones, the part's placement needs to be adjusted, and the user needs to perform the corresponding rotation or movement operations. Step 6: Start the thread and control the upper laser, lower laser, upper scanning galvanometer, and lower scanning galvanometer to work together according to the acquired data; Step 4 specifically includes: Step 4-1: If the data linked list of the common area of ​​AB is not empty, then perform data allocation in the common area; Step 4-2: Calculate the total scan time required for each part in the linked lists of data arrays in regions A and B respectively; Step 4-3: If the total scanning time of all parts in area A is greater than the total scanning time of all parts in area B, it means that the time required to scan the number of parts in area A is greater than the time required to scan the parts in area B. Take a piece of data from the common area of ​​A and B, calculate the total scanning time of this data and add it to area B. Step 4-4: Based on the newly calculated total scan time in Step 4-3, compare the scan time of region A and region B. If the total scan time of region A is still greater than the total scan time of region B, store the data in the data linked list of region B; otherwise, store it in the data linked list of region A. At the same time, delete the corresponding data in the data linked list of the common area of ​​A and B. Steps 4-5: If the total scan time for area A is less than the total scan time for area B, it means that the number of parts in area A is less than the number of parts in area B. Take a data set from the common area of ​​A and B and add it to the scan time of area A. Steps 4-6: Based on the newly calculated scan time in Step 4-5, compare the total scan time of region A and region B again. If the total scan time of region A is still less than the total scan time of region B, store the data in the data linked list of region A; otherwise, store it in the data linked list of region B. At the same time, delete the corresponding data in the data linked list of the common area of ​​A and B. Step 4-7: Determine if the data linked list in the common area of ​​AB is empty. If the data is not empty, return to step 4-2 to proceed with the next steps.

2. The method for zoning control of 3D printed parts using scanning time according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step 2 specifically includes: Step 2-1: If the position of the bounding box of the printed part satisfies: Ymax < -Y, then the printed data belongs to region B; Step 2-2: If the position of the printed part bounding box satisfies: Ymax < Y and at the same time Ymin < -Y, then this printed data belongs to area B; Step 2-3: If the position of the printed part bounding box satisfies: Ymax < Y and at the same time Ymin > Y, that is, the part belongs to the middle area, then this printed data belongs to the AB common area; Step 2-4: If the position of the printed part bounding box satisfies: Ymax > Y and at the same time Ymin > -Y, then this printed data belongs to area A; Step 2-5: If the position of the printed part bounding box satisfies: Ymax > Y and at the same time Ymin < -Y, then this printed data belongs to the area spanning three zones and the user needs to be reminded.

3. The method for partitioning 3D printed parts using scanning time according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control device adopted by this control method includes an upper laser, a lower laser, an upper scanning galvanometer and a lower scanning galvanometer all connected to the host computer. The upper scanning galvanometer is connected to the upper laser, and the lower scanning galvanometer is connected to the lower laser; The host computer includes: a laser control module, a scanning galvanometer control module, a motion control module, a file parsing module, a zoning control module and an execution module; The laser control module is used to control the energy magnitude of the laser emitted by the laser and control the switch of the laser; The scanning galvanometer control module, according to the two-dimensional image of the part to be printed, hits the laser beam energy to the specified position; The motion control module, according to the laser control module and the scanning galvanometer control module, and then in cooperation with mechanical motion, finally realizes part printing; The file parsing module is used to parse the data format of the part to be printed; The zoning control module is used for the division of the area to which the part belongs; it judges the position relationship in the Y direction between the minimum value Ymin, the maximum value Ymax of the bounding box information of each part to be printed and the boundaries of the two splicing areas, and determines that each printed part belongs to area A, area B, the AB common area or the three zones; The execution module respectively controls the upper laser, the lower laser, the upper scanning galvanometer and the lower scanning galvanometer to work in coordination according to the data obtained by the zoning control module.

4. The method for zoning control of 3D printed parts using scanning time according to claim 3, characterized in that: The file parsing module is used to parse out the bounding box information of each part. The bounding box information includes: the minimum value Xmin and the maximum value Xmax of the abscissa X of the part, the minimum value Ymin and the maximum value Ymax of the ordinate Y of the part, and the minimum value Zmin in the Z-axis direction of the part and the maximum value Zmax data in the Z-axis direction of the part.

5. A method for zoning control of 3D printed parts using scanning time according to claim 4, characterized in that: The ordinate values of the two splicing area boundaries are -Y and Y respectively. The area above the ordinate Y and above is the printing range of the upper laser, which is area A; the area below the coordinate -Y and below is the printing range of the lower laser, which is area B; the area included from the ordinate -Y to the ordinate Y is the cross-overlapping printing range of the upper laser and the lower laser, which becomes the AB overlapping area, and the area where A, B, and AB all share is the area spanning three zones.

6. The method for partitioning 3D printed parts using scanning time according to claim 5, characterized in that: The zoning control module is used for area division of the imported part files and calculates the corresponding printed data for each area by using the method of calculating the scanning time of each part.

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