Powder supply control system and use method thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses a powder supply control system and a using method thereof, and relates to the technical field of metal additive manufacturing, and the control system comprises a feeding and powder screening system, a material supply pipeline system, a material return pipeline system, a micro powder pipeline system and an equipment pipeline system. Through combination of mechanical hardware, a detection technology and intelligent regulation and control, automation of powder feeding, screening, supplying, recycling and micro powder collecting is achieved. Powder overflowing and water vapor mixing are avoided by adopting a pipeline closed conveying and protective gas adding mode; on the basis of intelligent logic control of sensing signals, new powder feeding is responded preferentially, powder returning circulation is standardized, the problems that manual processing is high in cost, powder quality is affected, operation is not standard and health risks exist are solved, and production efficiency and safety are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of metal additive manufacturing, and in particular to a powder supply control system and a method for using the same. Background Art

[0002] Metal powder screening, powder supply, powder recovery, and waste powder collection are four types of powders that require timely processing during the operation of metal additive manufacturing equipment (metal 3D printing). In actual production, the transfer and connection of the four types of powders usually require manual intervention. During powder screening, new powder is manually transported to the sifter for screening and collection. After screening, the sieved powder is passed through a powder tank and manually transferred to the equipment silo. The powder tank and the equipment silo are manually connected to complete the powder supply. Excess powder generated during the operation of the equipment is recovered and sent to the powder collection tank. Once the powder tank is full, the recovered powder is manually transferred to the sifting equipment for sifting and reuse. Waste powder generated during the operation of the equipment is also manually collected and processed.

[0003] There are many problems in this process: 1) Manual transfer and docking are required, which increases labor costs and labor intensity; 2) During manual handling and transportation, the powder is more likely to come into contact with air, which increases the humidity of the powder and affects the printing effect; 3) The manual process is relatively autonomous and cannot handle powder issues in a timely manner according to production processes / regulations, such as delayed powder collection and powder mixing; 4) Health issues: Metal powder is harmful to health. Although operators wear protective tools during the production process, they will inevitably inhale trace amounts of powder. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to solve the technical problems existing in the background technology, the present invention provides a powder supply control system and a use method thereof.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present invention proposes a powder supply control system, comprising a feeding and powder screening system, a feeding pipeline system, a return pipeline system, a micro powder pipeline system and an equipment pipeline system; The feeding and screening system is used to filter and store new powder and recycled old powder; The feed pipe system is used to transport the filtered new powder to the metal additive equipment; The return pipe system is used to transport the circulating powder generated by the metal additive equipment back to the feeding and screening system; The micro powder pipeline system is used to collect micro powder in the powder material; The equipment piping system is used to realize the passage of powder into and out of the metal additive equipment.

[0006] Furthermore, the feeding and powder screening system includes a feeding cyclone dust collector, a vibrating screen and a buffer tank; the feeding cyclone dust collector is used to temporarily buffer new powder and recycled old powder; the vibrating screen is used to screen out large particles of powder in the new powder and recycled old powder; the buffer tank is used to buffer the powder screened by the vibrating screen; the new powder and recycled old powder are transported to the feeding cyclone dust collector through a pneumatic pipeline, and then enter the buffer tank after being screened by the vibrating screen.

[0007] Furthermore, the feed pipe system includes a conveying fan, a pipeline control valve, a conveying pipe and a cyclone separator control valve above the equipment; When the conveying fan is started, the pipeline control valve and the cyclone separator control valve above the metal additive device that needs to be replenished with new powder are opened to supply material to the metal additive device through the conveying pipeline.

[0008] Furthermore, the return material pipeline system includes a buffer tank control valve and a return material pipeline below the equipment; when the buffer tank of the metal additive equipment is full, the buffer tank control valve below the equipment and the fan front-end control valve are opened, and the fan is started to transport the return material powder in the buffer tank to the feeding cyclone dust collector through the return material pipeline.

[0009] Furthermore, the micropowder pipeline system includes a micropowder control valve of the cyclone dust collector above the equipment, a micropowder conveying pipeline and a micropowder recovery tank; when the metal additive equipment supplies powder, the micropowder control valve of the cyclone dust collector above the equipment and the control valve in front of the fan are opened to send the micropowder in the cyclone dust collector above the equipment into the micropowder recovery tank through the micropowder conveying pipeline.

[0010] Furthermore, the equipment piping system includes a cyclone dust collector, a metal additive main device and a powder recovery cache tank; the cyclone dust collector is arranged above the metal additive main device and is connected to the feed port of the metal additive main device through a pipeline, and the powder recovery cache tank is used to collect excess powder generated during the operation of the metal additive main device.

[0011] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for using a powder supply control system, which is applied to the control system and includes a new powder feeding process and a powder return circulation process, wherein the new powder feeding signal has a higher priority than the powder return circulation signal; The new powder loading process is started based on the material shortage signal of the metal additive equipment silo, and the powder return circulation process is started based on the full material signal of the metal additive equipment buffer tank, and the powder return circulation process needs to be executed after the new powder loading process is completed.

[0012] Furthermore, the new powder loading process includes the following steps: S1. The material shortage sensor of the metal additive equipment silo detects material shortage and sends a signal for new powder to be added; S2. After the control system determines that there is no powder return circulation signal or terminates the powder return circulation process, it starts the conveying fan, pipeline control valve, feeding station control valve, feeding cyclone dust collector, feeding cyclone dust collector control valve, vibrating screen, vibrating screen buffer tank control valve and equipment cyclone control valve to fill the equipment silo; S3. The full material sensor of the equipment silo detects the material level in real time. If it is not full, the material is continued to be fed. If it is full, the vibration screen buffer tank control valve, feeding station control valve, feeding cyclone dust collector control valve, vibration screen, pipeline control valve and conveying fan are closed in sequence to end the new powder feeding process.

[0013] Furthermore, the powder recycling process includes the following steps: T1. The material level sensor on the upper part of the buffer tank of the metal additive equipment detects that the material is full and sends a powder return circulation signal; T2. If the new powder feeding process is not executed, the powder return action is started directly; if the new powder feeding process is being executed, the powder return action is started after it is completed; T3. Start the conveying fan, pipeline control valve, buffer tank control valve below the vibrating screen, feeding cyclone dust collector and feeding cyclone dust collector control valve to convey the return powder in the buffer tank to the feeding cyclone dust collector; T4. The material level sensor at the bottom of the equipment buffer tank detects that the tank is empty, and closes the feeding cyclone dust collector control valve, vibrating screen, pipeline control valve and conveying fan in sequence, ending the powder return circulation process.

[0014] Furthermore, the method of use also includes a micro powder collection process, specifically: When the new powder feeding process is executed, the powder recovery pipeline of the powder return system is closed, and the new powder feeding pipeline, the powder pipeline of the new powder feeding system and the fan form a gas circulation system to collect the powder in the new powder into the powder recovery tank; When the powder return circulation process is executed, the powder recovery pipeline of the new powder feeding system is closed, and the powder return pipeline, the powder recovery system's powder recovery pipeline and the fan form a gas circulation system to collect the powder in the return powder into the powder recovery tank.

[0015] Beneficial effects of the present invention: 1. Realize unmanned operation and significantly reduce labor costs and labor intensity: Through the combination of mechanical hardware, detection technology and intelligent control, the entire process of powder loading, screening, supply, recycling and micro powder collection can be completed without human intervention, reducing manual operation links and dependence on the number of operators. At the same time, it avoids the high-intensity labor caused by manual powder transportation and improves production efficiency. 2. Effectively control powder overflow and humidity to ensure powder quality: The use of a fully enclosed pipeline transportation method, combined with the introduction of protective gas (such as nitrogen), completely avoids powder overflow that is prone to occur during manual transportation, reducing powder waste and environmental pollution. At the same time, the enclosed pipeline environment and nitrogen protection can effectively block the intrusion of external moisture, preventing the powder from getting damp and deteriorating, ensuring that the powder always meets the quality requirements of high-precision processing scenarios such as metal additive manufacturing. 3. Intelligent control improves process standardization and avoids operational errors and powder mixing: Based on various sensor signals (such as material level, full material, and material shortage signals), the control system uses preset scientific logic to accurately control the powder screening, powder supply, powder recovery, and fine powder collection links. Each process is strictly executed according to process requirements, completely eliminating the problems of illegal operations caused by subjective judgment deviations and non-standard operations during manual processing. At the same time, it prevents the mixing of different batches or types of powders during processing, ensuring product quality stability. 4. Realize powder recycling and refined processing to improve resource utilization: The system transports the recycled powder generated by the metal additive equipment back to the feeding and screening system through the return pipe system for re-screening and utilization, reducing powder waste. At the same time, the micro-powder pipeline system specifically collects micro-powder that cannot be used for processing, realizing graded processing and classified recycling of powder, thereby improving the comprehensive utilization rate of resources. 5. Improve production safety and work environment friendliness: Reduce direct contact between operators and powder, reduce the potential risk of metal powder to human health; at the same time, avoid dust pollution in the working environment caused by powder overflow, and improve the working environment at the production site. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 It is a structural block diagram of the system of the present invention; Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the powder material movement path between devices in the present invention; Figure 3 This is a logic block diagram of the method of using the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] Reference Figure 1-2 A powder supply control system aims to achieve intelligent, unmanned, and automated powder processing in metal additive equipment (metal 3D printing), solving the problems of high costs, powder contamination, and irregular operations caused by manual intervention in existing technologies. This system integrates the feeding and powder screening system, the feed pipeline system, the return pipeline system, the micro-powder pipeline system, and the equipment piping system to form a closed-loop powder processing chain. These systems work together to realize the full process automation of new powder supply, return powder circulation, micro-powder recovery, and equipment powder supply. The specific technical solution is as follows: The feeding and screening system consists of a feeding cyclone dust collector, a vibrating screen, and a buffer tank. The new powder feeding port is connected to the feeding port of the feeding cyclone dust collector through a first pneumatic conveying pipe. The discharge port of the feeding cyclone dust collector is connected to the feeding end of the vibrating screen through a first rigid pipe. The discharge end of the vibrating screen is connected to the top feeding port of the buffer tank through a second rigid pipe. A discharge valve is provided at the bottom of the buffer tank for connecting to the downstream feeding pipeline system. Through the above structure, new powder and recycled old powder are filtered (the vibrating screen removes large particles) and buffered in this system, providing qualified powder for feeding. The feed pipeline system consists of a conveying fan, a pipeline control valve, a conveying pipeline, and a cyclone separator control valve above the equipment. The discharge valve at the bottom of the buffer tank is connected to the input end of the pipeline control valve via a third rigid pipe, the output end of the pipeline control valve is connected to the air inlet of the conveying fan via a fourth rigid pipe, the air outlet of the conveying fan is connected to the cyclone separator control valve above each metal additive equipment via a fifth flexible conveying pipe, and the output end of the cyclone separator control valve above the equipment is connected to the feed inlet of the cyclone separator above the equipment via a sixth rigid pipe. Through the above structure, the qualified powder in the buffer tank is transported to the metal additive equipment through the pipeline under the drive of the conveying fan. The return material pipeline system consists of a buffer tank control valve and a return material pipeline below the equipment, wherein the bottom discharge port of the buffer tank below the equipment of the metal additive equipment is connected to the buffer tank control valve below the equipment through the seventh rigid pipe, and the output end of the buffer tank control valve below the equipment is connected to the return material main pipeline through the eighth flexible return material pipe, and the return material main pipeline is connected to the return material feed port of the feeding cyclone dust collector (which is independently set from the new powder feed port) through the ninth rigid pipe. The middle section of the return material main pipeline is connected in series with a fan front-end control valve, which is connected to the air inlet bypass of the conveying fan. Through the above structure, the recycled powder generated by the equipment is transported back to the feeding powder screening system for secondary utilization; The micro-powder piping system consists of a micro-powder control valve for the cyclone dust collector above the equipment, a micro-powder conveying pipeline, and a micro-powder recovery tank. The micro-powder outlet of the cyclone separator above the equipment is connected to the micro-powder control valve of the cyclone dust collector above the equipment via a tenth rigid pipe. The output end of the micro-powder control valve is connected to the top feed port of the micro-powder recovery tank via an eleventh flexible micro-powder pipe. The air outlet of the micro-powder recovery tank is connected to the air inlet of the conveying fan via a twelfth rigid pipe, forming a micro-powder collection airflow loop. This structure achieves the separation and collection of micro-powder in the powder material, thereby avoiding affecting the printing accuracy of the metal additive equipment. The equipment piping system consists of a cyclone dust collector, a metal additive main equipment, and a powder recovery buffer tank. The discharge port of the cyclone dust collector (i.e., the cyclone separator above the equipment) is connected to the top feed port of the metal additive main equipment through the thirteenth rigid pipe, and the bottom powder return port of the metal additive main equipment is connected to the top feed port of the powder recovery buffer tank (i.e., the buffer tank below the equipment) through the fourteenth rigid pipe. The side overflow port of the powder recovery buffer tank is connected to the buffer tank control valve below the equipment of the return pipe system through the fifteenth rigid pipe. Through the above structure, the passage of powder in and out of the metal additive main equipment is realized, and excess return powder is temporarily stored.

[0018] Reference Figure 2 The method of using the powder supply control system includes the following steps: 1. The material level shortage sensor of the equipment silo detects that the silo needs to be refilled with powder and sends a signal that the silo needs new powder to be added; 2. The control system determines the signal priority. If there is no powder return circulation signal, the equipment starts to execute the new powder loading process. If there is a powder return circulation signal, the powder return circulation process is terminated and the equipment starts to execute the new powder loading process. 3. After the new powder feeding process starts, the conveying fan, pipeline control valve, feeding station control valve, cyclone dust collector, cyclone dust collector control valve, vibrating screen, vibrating screen buffer tank, vibrating screen buffer tank control valve, equipment cyclone control valve start working in sequence, and the equipment silo starts filling; 4. During the filling process, the equipment silo material level sensor detects the silo material level in real time. If the sensor does not detect that the silo is full, the feeding system continues to add powder to the equipment silo; 5. When the sensor detects that the silo is full, the buffer tank control valve, feeding station control valve, cyclone dust collector controller, vibrating screen, feeding station control valve, pipeline control valve, and conveying fan are closed in sequence, ending the new powder feeding instruction.

[0019] The above description is only a preferred specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field, within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, who makes equivalent replacements or changes based on the technical solution and inventive concept of the present invention, should be covered by the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A powder supply control system, characterized in that: Including feeding and screening system, feeding pipeline system, return pipeline system, micro powder pipeline system and equipment pipeline system; The feeding and screening system is used to filter and store new powder and recycled old powder; The feed pipe system is used to transport the filtered new powder to the metal additive equipment; The return pipe system is used to transport the circulating powder generated by the metal additive equipment back to the feeding and screening system; The micro powder pipeline system is used to collect micro powder in the powder material; The equipment piping system is used to realize the passage of powder into and out of the metal additive equipment.

2. The powder supply control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The feeding and screening system includes a feeding cyclone dust collector, a vibrating screen and a buffer tank; the feeding cyclone dust collector is used to temporarily buffer new powder and recycle old powder; the vibrating screen is used to screen out large particles of powder from the new powder and recycle old powder; the buffer tank is used to buffer the powder after being screened by the vibrating screen; The new powder and the recycled old powder are transported to the feeding cyclone dust collector through the pneumatic pipeline, and then enter the buffer tank after being screened by the vibrating screen.

3. The powder supply control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The feed pipeline system includes a conveying fan, a pipeline control valve, a conveying pipeline and a cyclone separator control valve above the equipment; When the conveying fan is started, the pipeline control valve and the cyclone separator control valve above the metal additive device that needs to be replenished with new powder are opened to supply material to the metal additive device through the conveying pipeline.

4. The powder supply control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The return material pipeline system includes a buffer tank control valve and a return material pipeline below the equipment; when the buffer tank of the metal additive equipment is full, the buffer tank control valve below the equipment and the fan front-end control valve are opened, and the fan is started to transport the return material powder in the buffer tank to the feeding cyclone dust collector through the return material pipeline.

5. The powder supply control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The micro-powder pipeline system includes a micro-powder control valve of the cyclone dust collector above the equipment, a micro-powder conveying pipeline and a micro-powder recovery tank; when the metal additive equipment supplies powder, the micro-powder control valve of the cyclone dust collector above the equipment and the control valve in front of the fan are opened to send the micro-powder in the cyclone dust collector above the equipment into the micro-powder recovery tank through the micro-powder conveying pipeline.

6. The powder supply control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The equipment piping system includes a cyclone dust collector, a metal additive main device and a powder recovery buffer tank; the cyclone dust collector is arranged above the metal additive main device and is connected to the feed port of the metal additive main device through a pipeline; the powder recovery buffer tank is used to collect excess powder generated during the operation of the metal additive main device.

7. A method for using a powder supply control system, applied to the control system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: It includes new powder loading process and powder return circulation process, and the new powder loading signal has higher priority than the powder return circulation signal; The new powder loading process is started based on the material shortage signal of the metal additive equipment silo, and the powder return circulation process is started based on the full material signal of the metal additive equipment buffer tank, and the powder return circulation process needs to be executed after the new powder loading process is completed.

8. The method of use according to claim 7, characterized in that: The new powder loading process includes the following steps: S1. The material shortage sensor of the metal additive equipment silo detects material shortage and sends a signal for new powder to be added; S2. After the control system determines that there is no powder return circulation signal or terminates the powder return circulation process, it starts the conveying fan, pipeline control valve, feeding station control valve, feeding cyclone dust collector, feeding cyclone dust collector control valve, vibrating screen, vibrating screen buffer tank control valve and equipment cyclone control valve to fill the equipment silo; S3. The full material sensor of the equipment silo detects the material level in real time. If it is not full, the material is continued to be fed. If it is full, the vibration screen buffer tank control valve, feeding station control valve, feeding cyclone dust collector control valve, vibration screen, pipeline control valve and conveying fan are closed in sequence to end the new powder feeding process.

9. The method of use according to claim 7, characterized in that: The powder recycling process includes the following steps: T1. The material level sensor on the upper part of the buffer tank of the metal additive equipment detects that the material is full and sends a powder return circulation signal; T2. If the new powder feeding process is not executed, the powder return action is started directly; if the new powder feeding process is being executed, the powder return action is started after it is completed; T3. Start the conveying fan, pipeline control valve, buffer tank control valve below the vibrating screen, feeding cyclone dust collector and feeding cyclone dust collector control valve to convey the return powder in the buffer tank to the feeding cyclone dust collector; T4. The material level sensor at the bottom of the equipment buffer tank detects that the tank is empty, and closes the feeding cyclone dust collector control valve, vibrating screen, pipeline control valve and conveying fan in sequence, ending the powder return circulation process.

10. The method of use according to claim 7, characterized in that: It also includes the micro powder collection process, specifically: When the new powder feeding process is executed, the powder recovery pipeline of the powder return system is closed, and the new powder feeding pipeline, the powder pipeline of the new powder feeding system and the fan form a gas circulation system to collect the powder in the new powder into the powder recovery tank; When the powder return circulation process is executed, the powder recovery pipeline of the new powder feeding system is closed, and the powder return pipeline, the powder recovery system's powder recovery pipeline and the fan form a gas circulation system to collect the powder in the return powder into the powder recovery tank.

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