This invention relates to a 3D additive manufacturing system's Array. The Print Array architecture is devised to support and manage scalable part production by deploying modular and interchangeable Print Unit modules.
Over the decades, additive manufacturing (AM) has matured into a reliable technology with a great variety of equipment and advanced software options. Faster machines, better materials, and smarter software are helping to make AM a realistic solution for many real-world production applications. As processes have matured and materials science has accelerated, additive manufacturing is now used throughout the full production cycle complementing traditional manufacturing processes.
AM technology is now proven, well-understood and established as a manufacturing method across many industry sectors. The key standards have been developed, enabling repeatable quality at scale. AM systems offer several benefits, including increased flexibility, independence, as well as time and cost savings.
Industrial 3D printing systems have been developed as complex technical equipment, which requires technical training to develop practical operation and maintenance skills. Taking into consideration the organization's need for early-stage adoption and scalability, the present invention aims at making more efficient operation, maintenance, technical services to 3D printing systems so to reduce downtime, and thus maintenance and training costs.
The main obstacle preventing the adoption of 3D printers into an industrial manufacturing process is the lack of a workflow from prototyping to scalable production. In fact, companies use 3D printers as stand-alone equipment in which they prototype and also manufacture the final parts they need in low volume batches. A target company may purchase a few units to cover the production needs by operating each unit individually.
On one side, the R&D team requires the agility to iterate prototypes and finalize the design for each component. On the other side, the procurement team has to develop the supply chain, and thus determine whether to convert the designs onto another manufacturing process (with great cost and lead time) or, if manufacturing with 3D printers is possible for that application, to purchase more 3D printers to meet the production needs. No 3D printer product line offers a real solution to solve both the needs of the R&D team and those of procurement.
Providing a path to an additive manufacturing Production Network requires hardware, electronics, control protocols and software. This patent covers the hardware.
Process development is based on the system architecture of the 3D printer being used. The critical machine elements are the XY motion system, hotend, nozzle geometry, filament drive system, chamber heating, and filament drying. Related variables such as material type and size are determined by the machine requirements.
The current state-of-the-art Stratasys FDM systems are typical. For example, the F370 prototyping system is based on MakerBot technology, has limited materials, and is priced for departmental use at less than $50,000. Their industrial model Fortus 450MC is based on older Stratasys technology, has a more extensive range of materials and is priced $160,000-$220,000 depending on options.
The issue with the use of these machines is that they share very little in architecture, almost like different companies created them. An engineer creating functional prototypes on the F370 has to redo that development effort on the production machine to scale. These are all impediments to the creation of a true digital workflow.
The node-based 3D printing is a structural difference that requires a new control protocol and results in a network-based production: the Production Network.
Interoperability at this level enables not just distributed control of printers but distributed production.
The design of the motion module is used in both the Print Array (
Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures showing illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which:
The systems of the present invention were designed for different users, spaces and applications for additive manufacturing. The Single Print Unit (
These users and setups have different needs. While a designer at an office may see material drying, print queuing, on-screen slicing, automatic material backup and others as “nice-to-have” features, for a production engineer running a batch of hundreds or thousands of parts at a factory they significantly lower labor, downtime, and risk of failure.
For prototyping and first adoption, Single Print Unit (
The novelty of the present patent is the modular structure of the Print Unit (1) and Print Array (
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is the 3D printing technology deployed. In another embodiment, interchangeable modules can include all types of additive manufacturing equipment, as well as traditional manufacturing, inspection and scanning technologies.
Production Machines (
The design of the motion module is used both in the Single Print Unit (
Each Print Unit (1) has an Electronics Module (2) associated with it, both in prototyping Single Print Units (
The Print Unit (
Each Print Unit (
For instance, insulation (16) is a part of the module, not the Print Array Host, so that modules with high temperature capabilities can be mixed in arrayed systems. It can also include, among others, direct or Bowden (6) extrusion system, any relevant sensor, and fiber, liquid or gas, or any other kind of material application system.
Single Print Units (
Single Print Units (
Single Print Units (
The Print Unit (
Each Print Unit module is equipped with a sliding mounting system with blocking clamps on the Print Array Host (
The Print Units' sliding mounting systems allow PUs to be easily swapped within minutes. This reduces production downtime by rapidly replacing a unit needing maintenance with another one ready for service.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each Print Unit operates in conjunction with a dedicated material Feeding System (
Each Feeding and Drying System (8) pushes the material up to a dedicated Buffer (9) in the Print Array Host. The Buffer system handles the material feeding distance between the spools in each Feeding and Drying System and the print head in each Print Unit (6). In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the Buffer is mechanical.
The present invention has a constant, defined quick-change interface at the Electronics Module to the Production Machine and a separate quick-change defined interface from the Print Array to the Print Unit.
The Print Unit module connects to an Electronics Module thanks to a keying element. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the keying element is an industrial 108-pin heavy duty connector for plug sockets (5). Each Print Unit, Electronics Module, and Feeding and Drying System are interchangeable and can be easily removed individually. This modular architecture allows fast removal with almost no production downtime.
For industrial production environments, multiple systems have a modular architecture arranged in 2×2 (
In an embodiment of the present invention, each Print Unit can be manually operated directly from the Electronics Module's display (22). Print Units may also be connected to a tower light and an acoustic indicator to alert the operator upon security or operation warnings.
In another embodiment, each Production Machine comes with a dedicated computer (CPU) (25) that executes control commands. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the CPU (25) can control all modules in the Print Array in one interface. Through the CPU (25), the operator can access the Print Units, Feeding and Drying Modules' command console to execute G-code commands. The CPU (25) is also capable of processing slicing for all its 2×2 printing chambers, in addition to multiple monitoring and control features.
The CPU (25) can be equipped with a display, a keyboard, and a mouse or touchpad. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the CPU (25) connects via Ethernet to both Electronics Modules and Drying and Feeding Systems to show their status in one centralized interface. In another embodiment, CPU (25) may include a touch display or a removable tablet with a connection feature to the Production Machine (
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the Production Machine has a built-in Router (24). The Internal Router (24) connects to Electronics Modules (2), and material Feeding and Drying Systems board (7) in the Print Array.
The Internal Router (24) can be configured to connect to an external NAT server, router, or switch. The Production Machine Router (24) supports either static or dynamic IP address configurations for each module.
Each Electronics Module (2) comprises a Single Board Computer (SBC) with a dedicated SD card in which it stores all the Print Unit's offset and calibration values. Machine performance offsets are interpreted in the Electronics Module (2) to provide consistent printing performance for each Print Unit (1). The Production Machine (
Once connected, all modules in the Print Array Host (
The Electronics Module sets global address and type for network, and reads nozzle size for the Print Unit (
Close matching of module performance also allows remote process development for material parameters, printing, and optimization. This feature enables the module's performance for required materials and applications to be optimized outside the production floor, either by the company's R&D teams or by external process engineers on the Single Print Unit (
Once the process has been optimized, no transition is required from the prototype build with the Single Print Unit (
The foregoing describes the preferred embodiment of the invention and sets forth the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention in such terms as to facilitate the practice of the invention by a person of ordinary skill in the art. However, it is to be understood that the invention has many aspects, is not limited to the structure, processes, methods, and embodiment disclosed and/or claimed, and that equivalents to the disclosed structure, processes, methods, embodiment, and claims are within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto or added subsequently.
Although the present invention has been described herein with reference to the foregoing exemplary embodiment, this embodiment does not serve to limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will appreciate that various modifications and equivalents are possible, without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63328560 | Apr 2022 | US |