阅读说明：本技术 一种用于金属增材制造设备的闭环粉末供应系统 (Closed-loop powder supply system for metal additive manufacturing equipment ) 是由 李能 杨凯 于妍 刘超 靳杨 陈秋安 于 2021-06-30 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供的一种用于金属增材制造设备的闭环粉末供应系统,包括第一旋风分离器,储粉罐,气泵,振动筛,落粉罐和第二旋风分离器,第一旋风分离器的进料口与金属增材制造设备的工作腔连通、出料口与储粉罐的进料口连通、出气口与气泵的进气口连通,储粉罐的出料口与振动筛的进料口连通,振动筛的出料口与落粉罐的进料口连通,落粉罐的出料口与第二旋风分离器的进料口连通,第二旋风分离器的出料口与金属增材制造设备的落粉缸连通、出气口与气泵的进气口连通,本发明所提供的一种用于金属增材制造设备的闭环粉末供应系统,可以实现打印前、打印中和打印后的粉末全自动输送和回收。(The invention provides a closed-loop powder supply system for metal additive manufacturing equipment, which comprises a first cyclone separator, a powder storage tank, an air pump, a vibrating screen, a powder dropping tank and a second cyclone separator, wherein a feed inlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a working cavity of the metal additive manufacturing equipment, a discharge outlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a feed inlet of the powder storage tank, an air outlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with an air inlet of the air pump, a discharge outlet of the powder storage tank is communicated with a feed inlet of the vibrating screen, a discharge outlet of the vibrating screen is communicated with a feed inlet of the powder dropping tank, a discharge outlet of the powder dropping tank is communicated with a feed inlet of the second cyclone separator, a discharge outlet of the second cyclone separator is communicated with a powder dropping cylinder of the metal additive manufacturing equipment, the air outlet is communicated with the air inlet of the air pump, and the closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment can realize full-automatic conveying and recovery of powder before, during and after printing.)

1. The closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment is characterized by comprising a first cyclone separator, a powder storage tank, an air pump, a vibrating screen, a powder dropping tank and a second cyclone separator, wherein a feed inlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a working cavity of the metal additive manufacturing equipment, a discharge outlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a feed inlet of the powder storage tank, a gas outlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a gas inlet of the air pump, a discharge outlet of the powder storage tank is communicated with a feed inlet of the vibrating screen, a discharge outlet of the vibrating screen is communicated with a feed inlet of the powder dropping tank, a discharge outlet of the powder dropping tank is communicated with a feed inlet of the second cyclone separator, and a discharge outlet of the second cyclone separator is communicated with a powder dropping cylinder of the metal additive manufacturing equipment, a gas outlet of the second cyclone separator and a gas inlet of the air pump.

2. The closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein a feed port of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a working chamber of the metal additive manufacturing equipment through a sealing pipeline, a gas outlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a gas inlet of the gas pump through a sealing pipeline, a discharge port of the powder storage tank is communicated with a feed port of the vibrating screen through a sealing pipeline, a discharge port of the vibrating screen is communicated with a feed port of the powder dropping tank through a sealing pipeline, a discharge port of the powder dropping tank is communicated with a feed port of the second cyclone separator through a sealing pipeline, a discharge port of the second cyclone separator is communicated with a powder dropping cylinder of the metal additive manufacturing equipment through a sealing pipeline, a gas outlet of the second cyclone separator is communicated with a gas inlet of the gas pump through a sealing pipeline, the first cyclone separator is disposed on the powder storage tank, and the discharge hole of the powder storage tank is communicated with the feed inlet of the powder storage tank.

3. The closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 2, wherein air valves are respectively arranged on pipelines for communicating the feed inlet of the first cyclone separator with the working chamber of the metal additive manufacturing equipment, the air outlet of the first cyclone separator with the air inlet of the air pump, the air outlet of the second cyclone separator with the air inlet of the air pump, and the discharge outlet of the powder storage tank with the feed inlet of the vibrating screen.

4. The closed loop powder supply system for a metal additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the gas valve is an electric butterfly valve or a pneumatic butterfly valve.

5. The closed-loop powder supply system for a metal additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 4, wherein a differential pressure sensor and a pressure sensor are disposed on the air pump.

6. The closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 5, wherein an oxygen content sensor is respectively arranged on the air pump, the powder storage tank and the vibrating screen.

7. The closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 6, wherein a powder adding port is arranged on a side wall of the powder storage tank, the powder adding port is communicated with an external powder source through a pipeline, the pipeline communicated with the powder adding port is provided with the air valve, and a weighing sensor is arranged below the inside of the powder storage tank.

8. The closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 7, wherein a high level switch and a low level switch are sequentially arranged on the side wall of the powder storage tank from top to bottom.

9. The closed loop powder supply system for a metal additive manufacturing apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the gas pump is a vortex gas pump and the vibrating screen is an ultrasonic vibrating screen.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of additive manufacturing, in particular to a closed-loop powder supply system for metal additive manufacturing equipment.

Background

The Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is one of the materials-increasing manufacturing technologies developed rapidly in recent years, and the working principle thereof is to design the path of a Laser beam by using the existing CAD/CAM software, and to scan the powdery molding material layer by using the Laser beam in a closed molding cavity filled with inert protective gas, and after each layer is sintered by scanning, the molding cylinder is controlled to descend by a distance of one layer thickness, and the powder spreading roller spreads powder again and repeats the molding process, so that the metal parts with specific geometric shapes are molded repeatedly and finally.

At present, powder addition before metal additive manufacturing molding, powder recovery in the molding process and powder screening after molding are operated independently, the production efficiency of additive manufacturing is severely restricted, and meanwhile, the operations of transferring, feeding, recovering and screening the powder for additive manufacturing can cause metal dust to be exposed and fly, the safety is poor, the environment is polluted, and meanwhile, certain waste can be generated on the powder.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problems in the prior art, the closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment can realize full-automatic conveying and recovery of powder before, during and after printing, does not need to fill powder in a separate powder tank, can meet the printing and forming operation of parts with the maximum height, realizes the printing continuity of large-scale metal equipment, and simultaneously provides inert gas protection in the whole system to ensure the safety in the powder supply process.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

the utility model provides a closed loop powder supply system for metal vibration material disk equipment, includes first cyclone, powder storage tank, air pump, shale shaker, whitewashed jar and second cyclone, first cyclone's feed inlet and metal vibration material disk equipment's working chamber intercommunication, discharge gate with the feed inlet intercommunication of powder storage tank, gas outlet with the air inlet intercommunication of air pump, the discharge gate of powder storage tank with the feed inlet intercommunication of shale shaker, the discharge gate of shale shaker with the feed inlet intercommunication of whitewashed jar falls, the discharge gate of whitewashed jar with the feed inlet intercommunication of second cyclone, the discharge gate of second cyclone and metal vibration material disk equipment's whitewashed jar intercommunication, gas outlet with the air inlet intercommunication of air pump.

In one embodiment, a feed inlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a working cavity of the metal additive manufacturing equipment through a sealing pipeline, a gas outlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with a gas inlet of the gas pump through a sealing pipeline, a discharge outlet of the powder storage tank is communicated with a feed inlet of the vibrating screen through a sealing pipeline, a discharge outlet of the vibrating screen is communicated with a feed inlet of the powder dropping tank through a sealing pipeline, a discharge outlet of the powder dropping tank is communicated with a feed inlet of the second cyclone separator through a sealing pipeline, a discharge outlet of the second cyclone separator is communicated with a powder dropping cylinder of the metal additive manufacturing equipment through a sealing pipeline, a gas outlet of the second cyclone separator is communicated with a gas inlet of the gas pump through a sealing pipeline, and the first cyclone separator is arranged on the powder storage tank and a discharge outlet of the first cyclone separator is communicated with the feed inlet of the powder storage tank.

In one embodiment, air valves are respectively arranged on pipelines for communicating a feeding hole of the first cyclone separator with a working cavity of metal additive manufacturing equipment, an air outlet of the first cyclone separator with an air inlet of the air pump, an air outlet of the second cyclone separator with an air inlet of the air pump, and a discharging hole of the powder storage tank with a feeding hole of the vibrating screen.

In one embodiment, the gas valve is an electric butterfly valve or a pneumatic butterfly valve.

In one embodiment, a differential pressure sensor and a pressure sensor are arranged on the air pump.

In one embodiment, the air pump, the powder storage tank and the vibrating screen are respectively provided with an oxygen content sensor.

In one embodiment, a powder adding port is arranged on the side wall of the powder storage tank, the powder adding port is communicated with an external powder source through a pipeline, the pipeline communicated with the powder adding port is provided with the air valve, and a weighing sensor is arranged below the inside of the powder storage tank.

In one embodiment, a high material level switch and a low material level switch are sequentially arranged on the side wall of the powder storage tank from top to bottom.

In one embodiment, the air pump is a vortex air pump, and the vibrating screen is an ultrasonic vibrating screen.

Compared with the prior art, the closed-loop powder supply system for the metal additive manufacturing equipment, provided by the invention, has the advantages that the closed-loop system capable of circularly conveying and recovering powder is formed between the first cyclone separator, the powder storage tank, the air pump, the vibrating screen, the powder dropping tank and the second cyclone separator and between the working chamber and the powder dropping cylinder of the metal additive manufacturing equipment, the full-automatic conveying and recovering operation of the powder used in the steps before printing, during printing and after printing of additive manufacturing is realized, the powder does not need to be filled in an independent powder tank, the printing and forming operation of parts with the maximum height can be met, the printing continuity of large-scale metal equipment is realized, meanwhile, the protection of inert gas is provided in the whole system, and the safety in the powder supply process is ensured.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "central," "longitudinal," "lateral," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "axial," "radial," and the like are used in the indicated orientations and positional relationships based on the orientation shown in the drawings for convenience in describing the invention and simplicity in description, and do not indicate or imply that the referenced devices or elements must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus are not to be considered as limiting.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically defined otherwise.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and can, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may be directly contacting the first and second features or indirectly contacting the first and second features through an intermediate. Also, a first feature "on," "over," and "above" a second feature may be directly or diagonally above the second feature, or may simply indicate that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature may be directly under or obliquely under the first feature, or may simply mean that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.

As shown in FIG. 1, for convenience of description, the "up", "down", "left", "right", "front" and "back" orientation references in the present invention are based on the orientation shown in FIG. 1;

the utility model provides a closed loop powder supply system for metal vibration material disk equipment, including first cyclone 4, powder storage tank 5, air pump 6, shale shaker 7, powder falling tank 8 and second cyclone 9, the feed inlet of first cyclone 4 and the working chamber 3 intercommunication of metal vibration material disk equipment 1, the discharge gate communicates with the feed inlet of powder storage tank 5, the gas outlet communicates with the air inlet of air pump 6, the discharge gate of powder storage tank 5 and the feed inlet of shale shaker 7 communicate, the discharge gate of shale shaker 7 and the feed inlet of powder falling tank 8 communicate, the discharge gate of powder falling tank 8 and the feed inlet of second cyclone 9 communicate, the discharge gate of second cyclone 9 and the powder falling cylinder 2 intercommunication of metal vibration material disk equipment 1, the gas outlet communicates with the air inlet of air pump 6.

The feeding port of the first cyclone separator 4 is connected with the discharging port of the working chamber 3 through a pipeline, the discharging port of the first cyclone separator 4 is communicated with the feeding port of the powder storage tank 5, the air inlet of the vortex air pump 6 is connected with the air outlet of the first cyclone separator 4 through a pipeline, under the action of the air pump 6, powder discharged from the discharging port of the working chamber 3 is conveyed to the first cyclone separator 4 under the action of negative pressure, and falls into the powder storage tank 5 under the action of self gravity after the separation action of the first cyclone separator 4, so that the residual powder in the working chamber 3 is recovered;

the discharge port of the powder storage tank 5 is connected with the feed port of the vibrating screen 7, the discharge port of the vibrating screen 7 is connected with the feed port of the powder dropping tank 8, the vibrating screen 7 is used for screening the powder discharged from the discharge port of the powder storage tank 5 and discharging the powder into the powder dropping tank 8, the discharge port of the powder dropping tank 8 is connected with the feed port of the second cyclone separator 9 through a pipeline, the discharge port of the second cyclone separator 9 is communicated with the powder dropping cylinder 2 of the metal additive manufacturing equipment 1, the second cyclone separator 9 can uniformly drop the powder from the powder dropping tank 8 into the powder dropping cylinder 2, in order to more uniformly drop the powder from the powder dropping tank 8 into the powder dropping cylinder 2, the number of the second cyclone separators 9 can be adjusted adaptively according to the size of the powder dropping cylinder 2, one or more than two can be adopted, but the embodiment is preferred two, the air inlets of the air pump 6 are connected with the air outlets of the second cyclone separators 9 through pipelines, under the effect of air pump 6, the powder in the powder falling tank 8 is carried to second cyclone 9 under the negative pressure, and in the powder falling jar 2 falls under the separation effect of second cyclone 9 and self action of gravity, full-automatic transport and the recovery operation of the powder before, during and after the printing of the printing that whole process can realize the vibration material disk.

In the embodiment, in order to improve the air tightness among the components in the system and improve the powder conveying efficiency, the feed inlet of the first cyclone separator 4 is communicated with the working chamber 3 of the metal additive manufacturing equipment 1 through a sealing pipeline, the air outlet is communicated with the air inlet of the air pump 6 through a sealing pipeline, the discharge outlet of the powder storage tank 5 is communicated with the feed inlet of the vibrating screen 7 through a sealing pipeline, the discharge outlet of the vibrating screen 7 is communicated with the feed inlet of the powder dropping tank 8 through a sealing pipeline, the discharge outlet of the powder dropping tank 8 is communicated with the feed inlet of the second cyclone separator 9 through a sealing pipeline, the discharge outlet of the second cyclone separator 9 is communicated with the powder dropping cylinder 2 of the metal additive manufacturing equipment 1 through a sealing pipeline, the gas outlet is communicated with the gas inlet of the gas pump 6 through a sealing pipeline, the first cyclone separator 4 is directly arranged on the powder storage tank 5, and the discharge hole of the first cyclone separator is communicated with the feed inlet of the powder storage tank 5.

In this embodiment, air valves 10 are respectively arranged on pipelines for communicating a feed inlet of the first cyclone separator 4 with the working chamber 3 of the metal additive manufacturing equipment 1, an air outlet of the first cyclone separator 4 with an air inlet of the air pump 6, and an air outlet of the second cyclone separator 9 with an air inlet of the air pump 6, so that the conveying speed and the conveying amount of powder can be controlled according to the size and the speed of a product to be manufactured and matching requirements, and the conveying and recovery of powder on one or more pipelines can be realized by controlling the opening or closing of all or part of the air valves 10; an air valve 10 is also arranged on a pipeline for communicating the discharge hole of the powder storage tank 5 with the feed hole of the vibrating screen 7, the discharge amount of the powder storage tank 5 can be adjusted by controlling the switching state and the switching angle of the air valve 10 on the pipeline for controlling the discharge hole of the powder storage tank 5 and the feed hole of the vibrating screen 7, and the occurrence of faults such as powder accumulation on the vibrating screen 7 due to the fact that the discharge amount of the powder storage tank 5 is greater than the required amount is prevented.

Preferably, in order to improve the intelligence and automation of the system, the gas valve 10 may adopt an electric butterfly valve or a pneumatic butterfly valve, and the matching controller is matched to realize the automatic control of the opening or closing of the gas valve 10.

In this embodiment, the air pump 6 is provided with a differential pressure sensor 11 and a pressure sensor 12, the pressure sensor 12 is used for monitoring the pressure inside the air pump 6, and meanwhile, the differential pressure sensor 11 is used for detecting the difference between the upper pressure and the lower pressure of the filter element inside the air pump 6, if the difference between the upper pressure and the lower pressure of the filter element is too high, the filter element inside the air pump 6 needs to be cleaned. Note here that: the number of times of cleaning the filter element is limited, and when the filter element is cleaned for N times, the pressure difference between the upper part and the lower part of the filter element is still high frequently, and the filter element of the air pump 6 needs to be replaced at the moment.

In this embodiment, the air pump 6, the powder storage tank 5 and the vibrating screen 7 are respectively provided with an oxygen content sensor 13, and the oxygen content sensor 13 is used for monitoring the oxygen content inside each component in the system, so as to prevent the oxygen content from exceeding the standard and causing the safety problem in the powder supply process.

In this embodiment, a powder adding port 14 is provided on a side wall of the powder storage tank 5, the powder adding port 14 is communicated with an external powder source through a pipeline, an air valve 10 is provided on the pipeline communicated with the powder adding port 14, and a weighing sensor 15 is provided below the inside of the powder storage tank 5;

the powder storage tank 5 is internally provided with a weighing sensor 15 which is mainly used for detecting the weight of the powder in the powder storage tank 5, so that the system can judge the weight of the powder in the powder storage tank 5 according to the weight of the powder and prompt an operator whether to add the powder into the powder storage tank 5; when the powder content of the powder storage tank 5 is insufficient, new powder can be conveyed to the powder storage tank 5 through a pipeline communicated with the powder adding port 14, the powder does not need to be filled into the powder storage tank independently, the new powder is added into the powder storage tank 5, and therefore the purpose of continuous powder supply of the printing and forming operation of parts with the maximum height can be met.

In this embodiment, a high material level switch 16 and a low material level switch 17 are further sequentially arranged on the side wall of the powder storage tank 5 from top to bottom, and when the low material level switch 17 is detected and turned on, a certain amount of powder is in the powder storage tank 5; when the high material level switch 16 is lighted, it indicates that the powder storage tank 5 is full of powder, and the powder adding should be stopped, and the gas valve 10 on the pipeline communicated with the powder adding port 14 needs to be closed.

In this embodiment, the air pump 6 is a vortex pump, and the impeller of the vortex pump is composed of tens of blades, which is similar to the impeller of a large gas turbine. The air in the middle of the impeller blades is subjected to centrifugal forces and moves towards the edge of the impeller where it enters the annular cavity of the pump body and is recirculated in the same manner from the beginning of the blades. The circulating air flow generated by the rotation of the impeller leaves the air pump with extremely high energy for use. The fan adopts a special motor, has compact structure, small volume, light weight and low noise, can send out a water-free and oil-free air source, is favorable for protecting the quality of the air in the system provided by the invention, and further avoids the safety problem possibly occurring in the powder supply process;

the vibrating screen 7 is an ultrasonic vibrating screen which converts 220v, 50HZ or 110v, 60HZ electric energy into 38KHZ high-frequency electric energy, inputs the high-frequency electric energy into an ultrasonic transducer, and converts the high-frequency electric energy into 38KHZ mechanical vibration, thereby achieving the purposes of high-efficiency screening and net cleaning. On the basis of a traditional vibrating screen, a low-amplitude and high-frequency ultrasonic vibration wave (mechanical wave) is introduced into the screen, a high-frequency and low-amplitude ultrasonic vibrator is superposed on the screen, and ultrafine powder receives huge ultrasonic acceleration to enable materials on the screen surface to be kept in a suspended state all the time, so that adhesion, friction, leveling, and other net blocking factors are inhibited. The screening problems of strong adsorbability, easy agglomeration, high static electricity, high fineness, high density, light specific gravity and the like are solved, the screening of the superfine micro powder is not difficult, and the screening system is particularly suitable for users of high-quality and fine powder, so that the screening system is favorable for effectively screening the powder in the system, the quality of the powder required by additive manufacturing is ensured, and the product quality of the whole additive manufacturing operation is effectively improved.

The technical features of the embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.