Control system based on electron beam equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a control system based on electron beam equipment, and relates to the technical field of 3D printing additive manufacturing. Comprising an upper computer and a lower computer. According to the control system based on the electron beam equipment, an upper computer serves as a master control center and is used for controlling coordination work of all modules, the upper computer establishes communication in a wireless network mode with a lower computer and controls the electron beam equipment through the lower computer, the lower computer receives a command, the height corresponding to a substrate can be automatically reduced firstly, and then the electronic beam equipment is controlled to work. Then the scraper is controlled to lay a layer of powder on the forming cylinder base plate, then the scraper returns to one end of the material cylinder, the lower machine continues to control the material steel base plate to move upwards by the corresponding height, the scraper moves again, the powder on the material cylinder base plate is scraped to the middle position to stop, and the next powder laying action is waited; the problems that in the prior art, an electron beam equipment control system is poor in control precision, the quality of printed products can be affected in the using process, and the system is prone to faults in the using process are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of 3D printing additive manufacturing technology, specifically to an electron beam-based equipment control system. Background Technology

[0002] China's additive manufacturing industry is booming, with each manufacturer possessing its own unique additive manufacturing processes and customized additive manufacturing equipment. Consequently, a wide variety of additive manufacturing control software has emerged on the market, each vendor's software featuring different implementation mechanisms and customized operation control steps.

[0003] The invention patent with announcement number CN106313530A discloses a 3D printer control system, including a main controller, a motor drive circuit, a negative pressure module, a heater, a heat dissipation device, a power supply module, a host computer, and a print head control circuit. The main controller is connected to the motor drive circuit, the negative pressure module, the heater, the heat dissipation device, the power supply module, the host computer, and the print head control circuit.

[0004] Existing printer control systems overcome the problem of single-color printed products and can perform color printing without replacing the print head. However, these control systems have poor control precision, which can affect the quality of printed products during use, and the system is prone to malfunctions during use. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides an electron beam-based device control system, which solves the existing problems.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: an electron beam device control system, comprising a host computer and a slave computer;

[0007] The host computer receives touch commands input by the user, converts the touch commands into corresponding operation codes, generates control commands based on the operation codes, and sends the control commands to the slave computer via a wireless network. The control commands are used to control the operation of the slave computer.

[0008] The lower-level machine is used to receive control commands sent by the upper-level machine control terminal, parse the control commands, generate corresponding control codes, and control the device to perform printing work according to the control codes.

[0009] Preferably, the wireless network includes one or more of the following: GPRS wireless communication network, 3G wireless communication network, 4G wireless communication network and WiFi network.

[0010] Preferably, the lower-level machine is a PLC controller, and the control code is used to control the following: stepper motor movement, temperature control, and the output and reading of I / O signals.

[0011] Preferably, the system further includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) electrically connected to a host computer, used to display the working menu of the electron beam device and receive selection instructions from the user, and send the selection instructions to the host computer. The selection instructions are used to select a task to be executed from the working menu.

[0012] Preferably, the system further includes an image acquisition module, which is electrically connected to a host computer and is used to monitor the working status of the electron beam device and send the working status to the host computer.

[0013] The host computer is also used to receive the working status and transmit the working status to the LCD display for users to view.

[0014] Preferably, the system further includes a gas circulation unit, which includes an inhalable particulate matter detection module, a gas composition detection module, and a controller;

[0015] The inhalable particulate matter detection module is used to detect the content of inhalable particulate matter in the air inside the electron beam device, the gas content detection module is used to detect the gas composition of the air inside the electron beam device, and the controller is used to control the opening and closing of the circulating fan.

[0016] Preferably, the system further includes a power supply, which is connected to the host computer and the slave computer respectively, and is used to provide the operating voltage required by the host computer and the slave computer.

[0017] Preferably, the host computer includes an engineering information display module, an engineering preparation module, a process control module, and an equipment information display module;

[0018] The project information display module is used to display the imported project file information and the actual printing progress information;

[0019] The engineering preparation module allows manual adjustment of the scraper, material cylinder base plate, and forming cylinder base plate via a lower-level computer.

[0020] The process control module includes four sub-modules: base plate heating, preheating, scanning process, and part processing. The lower-level computer controls the base plate heating, preheating, scanning, and part processing processes.

[0021] The equipment information display module is used to display the current equipment status information, which includes the vacuum chamber magnetic levitation pump frequency, electron gun molecular pump frequency, vacuum chamber low vacuum degree, vacuum chamber high vacuum degree, gun chamber vacuum degree, base plate temperature, high voltage, grid voltage, bombardment voltage, filament current, and beam feedback.

[0022] The system setup unit includes five sub-modules: preheating process, processing process, basic equipment, electron beam calibration, and debugging, which are used to debug the electron beam equipment through a lower-level computer.

[0023] This invention provides an electron beam-based device control system. Compared with the prior art, it has the following advantages:

[0024] 1. This electron beam equipment control system uses a host computer as the central control unit to coordinate the operation of various modules. The host computer establishes wireless network communication with the slave computer and controls the electron beam equipment through the slave computer. Upon receiving a command, the slave computer first automatically lowers the substrate to the corresponding height, then controls the scraper to spread a layer of powder onto the substrate of the forming cylinder. Next, the scraper returns to one end of the material cylinder, and the slave computer continues to control the material substrate to move upward to the corresponding height. The scraper moves again, scraping the powder on the substrate of the material cylinder to the middle position and stopping to wait for the next powder spreading action. This overcomes the problems of poor control accuracy in existing electron beam equipment control systems, which affect the quality of printed products during use, and the system is prone to failure during use.

[0025] 2. This electron beam equipment control system, through the setting of a gas circulation unit, uses an inhalable particulate matter detection module to detect the content of inhalable particulate matter in the air inside the electron beam equipment, and a gas content detection module to detect the gas composition of the air inside the electron beam equipment. The controller controls the opening and closing of the circulation fan, thereby timely introducing protective gas to prevent it from affecting the quality of the printed products. Attached Figure Description

[0026] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the system connection of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the gas circulation unit control according to the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0028] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0029] See Figure 1-2 The present invention provides an electron beam-based device control system, including a host computer and a slave computer;

[0030] The host computer receives touch commands input by the user, converts the touch commands into corresponding operation codes, generates control commands based on the operation codes, and sends the control commands to the slave computer via a wireless network. The control commands are used to control the operation of the slave computer.

[0031] The host computer includes an engineering information display module, an engineering preparation module, a process control module, and an equipment information display module;

[0032] The project information display module is used to display imported project file information and actual printing progress information;

[0033] The engineering preparation module allows manual debugging of the scraper, material cylinder base plate, and forming cylinder base plate via a lower-level computer.

[0034] The process control module includes four sub-modules: base plate heating, preheating, scanning process, and part processing. It controls the base plate heating, preheating, scanning, and part processing processes through a lower-level computer.

[0035] The equipment information display module is used to display the current equipment status information, including the frequency of the vacuum chamber magnetic levitation pump, the frequency of the electron gun molecular pump, the low vacuum level of the vacuum chamber, the high vacuum level of the vacuum chamber, the vacuum level of the gun chamber, the base plate temperature, the high voltage, the grid voltage, the bombardment voltage, the filament current, and the beam current feedback. It will also display the curve of each status information within 20 minutes and the current printing process. Users will refer to this status information to judge the operation of the equipment and adjust the process parameters during printing at any time (e.g., when the current part material is copper powder, the base plate temperature is 200 degrees Celsius, which is lower than the target base plate setting temperature. It is necessary to appropriately increase the number of preheating times before the process to extend the preheating time, thus achieving the purpose of increasing the base plate heating temperature).

[0036] The system setup unit comprises five sub-modules: preheating process, processing process, basic equipment, electron beam calibration, and debugging. These modules are used to debug the electron beam equipment via a lower-level computer. The preheating process primarily involves separate debugging of the substrate heating, preheating, and post-heating stages. The processing process is a single-point debugging of the melting step; this process only involves beam placement and does not move the substrate. Electron beam calibration is performed on this page. There are 121 calibration points, each requiring individual calibration. After each calibration, the save button below must be clicked to save the calibration value to a configuration file for use during preheating and melting. Debugging allows users to perform vacuum debugging and high-voltage power supply debugging on this page.

[0037] The lower-level machine, which is a PLC controller, is used to receive control commands sent by the upper-level control terminal, parse the control commands, generate corresponding control codes, and control the equipment to perform printing work according to the control codes. The control codes are used to control stepper motor movement, temperature control, and the output and reading of I / O signals.

[0038] The LCD monitor, electrically connected to the host computer, displays the electron beam device's operating menu and receives user selection commands, sending these commands to the host computer. These commands are used to select tasks from the operating menu. The LCD monitor can use a 4.3-inch LCD14 screen with an SPI interface, packaged as a framebuffer device (using a video output device to drive a video display device from a memory buffer containing complete frame data), based on the open-source project Fbtft; specifically, it uses the RA8875 driver board. The LCD14, with its SPI interface for electrical connection to the host computer, is preferably a 480*272 resolution TFT color LCD screen.

[0039] The image acquisition module, electrically connected to the host computer, monitors the operating status of the electron beam device and transmits the status data to the host computer. The image acquisition module can be a network camera, camcorder, SLR camera, etc. It is positioned near the electron beam device to monitor and acquire its operating status in real time, transmitting the data to the host computer. The host computer then displays the monitoring status on its screen and transmits the data wirelessly to the host computer for user viewing, allowing users to monitor the printer's status in real time.

[0040] The control system of electron beam equipment in related technologies requires staff to monitor the operation of the electron beam equipment at all times in front of a computer and set the working tasks of the electron beam equipment, which consumes a lot of labor. This invention can collect the working status of the electron beam equipment in real time by adding an image acquisition module, and send the working status of the electron beam equipment to the host computer through a wireless network. This allows users to know its working status at all times and to deal with it in a timely manner when abnormal conditions of the electron beam equipment are detected.

[0041] The gas circulation unit includes an inhalable particulate matter detection module, a gas composition detection module, and a controller.

[0042] The inhalable particulate matter detection module detects the content of inhalable particulate matter in the air inside the electron beam equipment, the gas content detection module detects the gas composition of the air inside the electron beam equipment, and the controller controls the opening and closing of the circulating fan. When the detected inhalable particulate matter content is higher than a preset value or the detected protective gas content is lower than a preset value, the controller controls the circulating fan to start, thereby replacing the air inside the electron beam equipment cavity. Because the printing raw material powder of the electron beam equipment is a metal powder, it is easily oxidized and damaged. During use, a protective gas (such as helium) needs to be introduced. However, as printing progresses, the internal protective gas may be lost, thus leaving the raw material powder unprotected. In this invention, the protective gas content detection module monitors the protective gas content inside the electron beam equipment cavity, thereby timely introducing protective gas to prevent affecting the quality of the printed product.

[0043] The power supply is connected to both the host computer and the slave computer to provide the operating voltage required by both.

[0044] Wireless networks include one or more of the following: GPRS wireless communication network, 3G wireless communication network, 4G wireless communication network, and WiFi network.

[0045] Before controlling the system, users select a file with the extension ".xk" and confirm the import. The system will automatically recognize the information in the file (including: project file name, total number of parts, total number of layers, layer thickness, and total height of the parts) and display it in the left display bar. A dialog box will pop up to prompt the user whether to save the project file. If the user clicks to save, the project file information will be saved to the background for use when printing parts.

[0046] The system automatically records the current zero-point position of the forming cylinder base plate. Users cannot further adjust the forming cylinder base plate to avoid printing abnormalities caused by the scraper hitting the base plate during operation. Simultaneously, the system automatically calculates whether the current powder level in the cylinder is sufficient for printing the current part (i.e., the powder level should meet the following requirement: total powder feeding height in the cylinder ≥ total number of part layers * powder feeding thickness in the cylinder). If not, a dialog box will pop up prompting the user to confirm the leveling process, ensuring the user fully understands the actual powder level in the cylinder.

[0047] Before each print, the user heats the base plate here, then imports the pre-set process parameters from the configuration file, makes slight modifications, and saves the settings. The indicator light for saving process parameters in the upper right corner will turn green.

[0048] This invention also has expansion capabilities, such as camera and sensor detection, allowing operators to monitor the printing status of the electron beam equipment anytime and anywhere through smart terminals, making it easier to promptly identify problems encountered by the electron beam equipment during the printing process and reduce losses.

[0049] The host computer of this invention can be a PC, which is a personal PC that supports HTML5 browsers, and the PC is equipped with 3D modeling software, such as AutoCAD 3DsMax; slicing software, such as Cura Slic3r; and control software, such as Octoprint (browser front-end).

[0050] This invention can also pre-set a network camera to monitor the 3D printer. Users can control the electron beam device to pause and resume printing at any time through the host computer. In addition, the "host" program also includes a setting module, which is used to set a fixed time so that the electron beam device can capture photos of the electron beam device when it is working at a specific frequency.

[0051] In this invention, the host computer establishes wireless network communication with the slave computer. The system sends a powder-spreading command via a communication protocol to the slave computer. Upon receiving the command, the slave computer first automatically lowers the substrate to the corresponding height (the height of the printed layer of the part). Then, it controls the scraper to spread a layer of powder onto the substrate of the forming cylinder. The scraper then returns to one end of the cylinder, and the slave computer continues to control the substrate to move upwards by the corresponding height. The scraper moves again, scraping the powder on the substrate to the middle position and stopping, awaiting the next powder-spreading action. The system can also control and monitor the operation of the equipment's air conditioning system, high-voltage power supply, helium, vacuum, and other systems. The host computer communicates with the DA board to control the lower beam of the electron gun, performing preheating and melting operations. The slave computer then adjusts the substrate position to ultimately achieve the goal of printing the part.

[0052] Furthermore, all content not described in detail in this specification is existing technology known to those skilled in the art, and the model parameters of each electrical appliance are not specifically limited; conventional equipment can be used.

[0053] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

[0054] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A control system for an electron beam device, characterized in that, Includes host computer and slave computer; The host computer is used to receive touch commands input by the user, convert the touch commands into corresponding operation codes, generate control commands based on the operation codes, and send the control commands to the slave computer via a wireless network. The control commands are used to control the operation of the slave computer. The lower-level machine is used to receive control commands sent by the upper-level machine control terminal, parse the control commands, generate corresponding control codes, and control the device to perform printing work according to the control codes.

2. The electron beam-based device control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wireless network includes one or more of the following: GPRS wireless communication network, 3G wireless communication network, 4G wireless communication network, and WiFi network.

3. The electron beam-based device control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The lower-level machine is a PLC controller, and the control code is used to control the following: stepper motor movement, temperature control, and the output and reading of I / O signals.

4. The electron beam-based device control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system also includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) electrically connected to a host computer. The LCD is used to display the working menu of the electron beam device and receive selection instructions from the user, and send the selection instructions to the host computer. The selection instructions are used to select a task to be executed from the working menu.

5. The electron beam-based device control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system also includes an image acquisition module, which is electrically connected to the host computer and is used to monitor the working status of the electron beam device and send the working status to the host computer. The host computer is also used to receive the working status and transmit the working status to the LCD display for users to view.

6. The electron beam-based device control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system also includes a gas circulation unit, which includes an inhalable particulate matter detection module, a gas composition detection module, and a controller. The inhalable particulate matter detection module is used to detect the content of inhalable particulate matter in the air inside the electron beam device, the gas content detection module is used to detect the gas composition of the air inside the electron beam device, and the controller is used to control the opening and closing of the circulating fan.

7. The electron beam-based device control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system also includes a power supply, which is connected to the host computer and the slave computer respectively, and is used to provide the operating voltage required by the host computer and the slave computer.

8. The electron beam-based device control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The host computer includes an engineering information display module, an engineering preparation module, a process control module, and an equipment information display module; The project information display module is used to display the imported project file information and the actual printing progress information; The engineering preparation module allows manual adjustment of the scraper, material cylinder base plate, and forming cylinder base plate via a lower-level computer. The process control module includes four sub-modules: base plate heating, preheating, scanning process, and part processing. The lower-level computer controls the base plate heating, preheating, scanning, and part processing processes. The equipment information display module is used to display the current equipment status information, which includes the vacuum chamber magnetic levitation pump frequency, electron gun molecular pump frequency, vacuum chamber low vacuum degree, vacuum chamber high vacuum degree, gun chamber vacuum degree, base plate temperature, high voltage, grid voltage, bombardment voltage, filament current, and beam feedback. The system setup unit includes five sub-modules: preheating process, processing process, basic equipment, electron beam calibration, and debugging, which are used to debug the electron beam equipment through a lower-level computer.

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