Thermal compensation for laser energy supply for additive manufacturing

Abstract

The manufacturing system includes a printer chamber having a printer floor supporting manufacturing material, an internal heating system supported by the printer chamber, the internal heating system configured to direct patterned thermal energy onto the printer floor and any supported manufacturing material, and an external heating system supported by or positioned near the printer chamber, and configured to direct patterned thermal energy onto the printer floor and any supported manufacturing material.

Claims

1. A printer chamber having a printer floor that supports the manufacturing material, A patterning laser, which can be directed towards a sub-part of the printable material layer on the printer floor, for printing a part pattern according to the print pattern, An internal heating system is constructed within the printer chamber and configured to direct a first patterned thermal energy onto the printer floor and the supported manufacturing material. An external heating system configured to direct a second patterned thermal energy from the top of the printer chamber onto the printer floor and any supported manufacturing material, A controller that provides feedforward control of the internal heating system and the external heating system based on the shape of the part and the print heat load history. A manufacturing system that includes this.

2. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the printer chamber is located inside the cartridge.

3. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the internal heating system includes at least one of a heating element and a cooling element.

4. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the external heating system includes an infrared heating element.

5. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the external heating system includes a heating gas flow.

6. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the external heating system includes at least one directional laser for providing unpatterned heating in addition to the second patterned thermal energy.

7. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the external heating system includes at least one directional laser for providing patterned heating.

8. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the external heating system includes at least one directional laser that uses recycled light.

9. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, further comprising a secondary heating system including the internal heating system and the external heating system.

10. The manufacturing system according to claim 9, wherein the first patterned thermal energy or the second patterned thermal energy is determined at least partially by the print pattern.

11. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the first patterned thermal energy or the second patterned thermal energy is adjusted to provide thermal uniformity based on the print pattern.

12. The manufacturing system according to claim 9, wherein the first patterned thermal energy or the second patterned thermal energy is used to compensate for spatial thermal non-uniformity in the printer chamber.

13. The manufacturing system according to claim 9, wherein the first patterned thermal energy or the second patterned thermal energy is adjusted multiple times during printing to provide thermal uniformity based on the print pattern.

14. The manufacturing system according to claim 9, wherein the secondary heating system includes a light-emitting heating element.

15. The manufacturing system according to claim 14, wherein the light-emitting heating element further comprises at least one of an arc lamp, an infrared lamp, an LED heating system, or a laser heating system.

16. The manufacturing system according to claim 9, further comprising a printer chamber support patterned heating element in the secondary heating system.

17. The manufacturing system according to claim 16, wherein the printer chamber supporting patterned heating element further comprises at least one of an array of resistance heat cartridges, a heating fluid in a path, an electrically controlled plasma source, an arc heater, an induction heater, or a microwave heater.

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