Warp compensation for additive manufacturing
An additive manufacturing method includes receiving a design model indicative of a part that may be fabricated using the additive manufacturing method, and generating expected-warping information based on the design model, the expected-warping information being indicative of an expected change in a shape of the part resulting from the additive manufacturing method. The method also includes modifying the design model based on the expected-warping information and fabricating the part using the modified design model.
1 . An additive manufacturing system, comprising:
an additive manufacturing apparatus comprising an extruder and a nozzle; and
at least one processor operative to:
receive a design model representative of a three-dimensional part;
determine a predicted amount of warping that the part will experience during cooling;
based on the predicted amount of warping, generate a warp-offset model by shifting at least a portion of the design model in a horizontal direction away from an expected warping of the portion; and
cause the additive manufacturing apparatus to form the part according to the warp-offset model by heating material within the extruder and depositing the heated material with the nozzle.
2 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the design model includes a plurality of layers and the at least one processor is further operative to determine the predicted amount of warping based on an orientation or a size of adjacent layers of the plurality of layers.
3 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to modify the design model to shift the at least a portion of the design model in a horizontal direction by curving a side surface of a layer of the plurality of layers.
4 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to divide the design model into the plurality of layers.
5 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to determine the predicted amount of warping by performing a point-by-point analysis of the design model to generate point-by-point predictive data.
6 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 5 , wherein the point-by-point predictive data determines how a plurality of points of the design model included in the point-by-point analysis will warp during cooling.
7 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is included in a control system of the additive manufacturing system.
8 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to receive the design model from a controller remote from the additive manufacturing system.
9 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is included in a controller apart from the additive manufacturing system.
10 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to transmit the warp-offset model to the additive manufacturing system.
11 . An additive manufacturing system, comprising at least one processor operative to:
receive a design model of a part;
determine a predicted amount of warping that the part will experience during cooling;
based on the predicted amount of warping, generate a warp-offset model by shifting at least a portion of the design model in a horizontal direction away from an expected warping of the portion; and
cause an additive manufacturing apparatus to form the part according to the warp-offset model.
12 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine an original print path for the design model and generate a second print path for the warp-offset model using the original print path and the predicted amount of warping.
13 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured divide the design model into a plurality of layers and generate the warp-offset model in a layer-by-layer manner.
14 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , further including a display configured to display the design model.
15 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , wherein the additive manufacturing apparatus is a CNC machine.
16 . An additive manufacturing system, comprising:
an additive manufacturing apparatus comprising an extruder and a nozzle; and
at least one processor included in a controller apart from the additive manufacturing apparatus and operative to:
receive a design model of a part;
determine a predicted amount of warping that the part will experience during cooling;
based on the predicted amount of warping, generate a warp-offset model by shifting at least a portion of the design model in a horizontal direction away from an expected warping of the portion;
transmit the warp-offset model to the additive manufacturing apparatus; and
cause the additive manufacturing apparatus to form the part according to the warp-offset model by heating material within the extruder and depositing the heated material with the nozzle.
17 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 16 , wherein the controller remote from the additive manufacturing apparatus includes a computer aided design (CAD) software program configured to cause the at least one processor to determine the predicted amount of warping.
18 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to determine the predicted amount of warping by performing a point-by-point analysis of the design model to generate point-by-point predictive data.
19 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 18 , wherein the point-predictive data determines how a plurality of points of the design model included in the point-by-point analysis will warp during cooling.
20 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 19 , wherein the warp-offset model includes a plurality of unmodified points from the design model and a plurality of modified points.