阅读说明：本技术 一种用于激光熔覆的在线式粉末供应系统及粉末供应方法 (Online powder supply system and powder supply method for laser cladding ) 是由 惠军 金帅 关凯 于 2020-12-31 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种用于激光熔覆的在线式粉末供应系统及粉末供应方法,包括流量控制模块、送粉模块、粉末混合模块、粉末均分模块和供粉切换模块,流量控制模块和送粉模块均至少设置两个,且两者一一对应；流量控制模块输出端连接至送粉模块输入端,送粉模块输出端连接至粉末混合模块输入端,粉末混合模块输出端连接至粉末均分模块；流量控制模块用于提供载粉气；送粉模块用于粉末供应；供粉切换模块用于在各送粉模块之间进行供粉切换；粉末混合模块用于对各送粉模块输出的粉末流进行切换、混合；粉末均分模块用于将混合好的粉末流进行均匀分流并输送至熔覆头喷嘴末端,完成整个粉末供应。本发明实现了金属粉末的精准供应、无缝添料、在线混合、加工端均分。(The invention relates to an online powder supply system and a powder supply method for laser cladding, which comprises a flow control module, a powder feeding module, a powder mixing module, a powder equally dividing module and a powder supply switching module, wherein the flow control module and the powder feeding module are at least provided in two and are in one-to-one correspondence; the output end of the flow control module is connected to the input end of the powder feeding module, the output end of the powder feeding module is connected to the input end of the powder mixing module, and the output end of the powder mixing module is connected to the powder equalizing module; the flow control module is used for providing powder carrying gas; the powder feeding module is used for supplying powder; the powder supply switching module is used for switching powder supply among the powder feeding modules; the powder mixing module is used for switching and mixing the powder flow output by each powder feeding module; and the powder equally distributing module is used for evenly distributing the mixed powder flow and conveying the powder flow to the tail end of the nozzle of the cladding head to complete the whole powder supply. The invention realizes accurate supply of metal powder, seamless feeding, online mixing and uniform distribution of a processing end.)

1. An online powder supply system for laser cladding, characterized by: the powder feeding device comprises a flow control module, a powder feeding module, a powder mixing module, a powder equally dividing module and a powder supply switching module, wherein at least two flow control modules and at least two powder feeding modules are arranged, and the flow control modules correspond to the powder feeding modules one to one; the output end of the flow control module is connected to the input end of the powder feeding module through an air pipe, the output end of the powder feeding module is connected to the input end of the powder mixing module through an air pipe, and the output end of the powder mixing module is connected to the powder equally dividing module through an air pipe;

the flow control module is used for providing powder loading gas supply for the whole system;

the powder feeding module is used for supplying powder, and the powder is taken away by the powder carrying gas at the gas outlet of the powder feeding module to complete powder supply;

the powder supply switching module is used for switching powder supply among the powder feeding modules;

the powder mixing module is used for switching and mixing powder flows output by the powder feeding modules;

and the powder equally distributing module is used for evenly distributing the mixed powder flow and conveying the powder flow to the tail end of the nozzle of the cladding head to complete the supply of the whole powder.

2. The in-line powder supply system for laser cladding of claim 1, wherein the flow control module is comprised of a flow controller.

3. The online powder supply system for laser cladding as claimed in claim 1, wherein the powder feeding module is constituted by an intelligent single barrel powder feeder.

4. The online powder supply system for laser cladding as claimed in claim 3, wherein the intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder comprises a powder storage cylinder and a powder feeding disk, a powder outlet of the powder storage cylinder is connected with a powder inlet of the powder feeding disk, an air inlet of the powder feeding disk is connected with an output end of the flow control module, and an air outlet of the powder feeding disk is connected with an input end of the powder mixing module.

5. The online powder supply system for laser cladding as claimed in claim 1, wherein the powder mixing module is a multi-inlet and one-outlet structure with a spiral inner flow channel, and a plurality of inlets of the powder mixing module are respectively connected with the output end of each powder feeding module in a one-to-one correspondence manner.

6. The in-line powder supply system for laser cladding of claim 5, wherein the helical inner flow path near the input end of the powder mixing module is a structure in which respective individual tubes corresponding to respective inlets are helically twisted and wound together, and the helical inner flow path near the output end of the powder mixing module is a helical structure that merges into one tube.

7. The in-line powder supply system for laser cladding as claimed in claim 6, wherein the individual tubes, and the inner wall of the tube that merges into a tube, are each provided with a smooth spiral protrusion.

8. The online powder supply system for laser cladding as claimed in claim 1, wherein the powder sharing module is of a one-in-multiple-out structure with an internal flow channel, and the number of outlets of the powder sharing module corresponds to the number of powder spraying holes on the nozzle of the cladding head, so as to achieve uniform distribution of powder.

9. A method of powder feeding using the in-line powder feeding system for laser cladding of any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising at least one of seamless addition of powder, in-line mixing of powder, variable ratio mixing of powder;

the seamless addition of the powder: when an intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder works, if the powder amount in a working powder storage cylinder is less and powder adding is needed, an operator directly adds powder into any standby powder storage cylinder B when the powder in the working powder storage cylinder A is about to be exhausted, after the powder adding is finished, powder supply switching operation is executed, a powder supply switching module uniformly reduces the rotating speed Va and the supply flow La of the powder storage cylinder A within a time T, and simultaneously uniformly increases the rotating speed Vb and the supply flow Lb of the powder storage cylinder B within the time T by equal difference until the powder storage cylinder A completely stops working, the powder storage cylinder B completes powder supply connection, the whole switching process Va + Vb is always constant, the same La + Lb is also always constant, and seamless powder adding is realized;

the powder is mixed in an online manner: when powder mixing requirements exist, printing matrix powder is added into a main material cylinder A, adding powder is added into an auxiliary material cylinder B, the main material cylinder A and the auxiliary material cylinder B rotate to feed materials according to a mixing ratio required by the process after processing is started, metal powder sent out by the main material cylinder A and the auxiliary material cylinder B simultaneously enters a powder mixing module, two powder flows fully rotate and mix under the action of a spiral inner flow channel, and online mixing of powder in accurate proportion is achieved;

the powder is mixed according to a variable proportion: when powder mixing in variable proportion is required, online mixing of powder in any proportion is realized by adjusting the feeding rotating speed curves of the working powder storage cylinders.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of additive manufacturing, and particularly relates to an online powder supply system and a powder supply method for laser cladding.

Background

In order to realize better printing quality in the existing laser cladding process, the tail end of a nozzle is mostly 3-5 powder spraying holes, so that a powder supply system needs to equally divide powder flow output by a powder feeding module into a plurality of uniform powder flows with corresponding quantity, and the uniformity of the tail end powder flow directly influences the processing quality of laser cladding. However, most of the existing laser cladding powder supply systems are composed of a powder feeding module and a flow control module, and online mixing and separating functions of powder cannot be realized.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problems in the prior art, the invention provides an online powder supply system and a powder supply method for laser cladding, wherein the powder supply system can realize the basic functions of accurate supply of metal powder, seamless feeding of the metal powder, uniform distribution of a processing end of the metal powder and the like in the processing process, and can realize online mixing of gradient powder materials, so that the online powder supply system is accurate, reliable and adjustable in proportion, and the preparation time of a gradient material printing test is greatly shortened. The defects that an existing laser cladding powder supply system is poor in intelligent degree, single in function, small in reconstruction space and the like are overcome.

The invention is realized in such a way that an online powder supply system for laser cladding comprises a flow control module, a powder feeding module, a powder mixing module, a powder equally dividing module and a powder supply switching module, wherein the flow control module and the powder feeding module are at least provided in two, and the flow control module and the powder feeding module are in one-to-one correspondence; the output end of the flow control module is connected to the input end of the powder feeding module through an air pipe, the output end of the powder feeding module is connected to the input end of the powder mixing module through an air pipe, and the output end of the powder mixing module is connected to the powder equally dividing module through an air pipe;

the flow control module is used for providing powder loading gas supply for the whole system;

the powder feeding module is composed of an intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder and is used for supplying powder, and the powder is taken away by powder carrying gas at an air outlet of the powder feeding module to complete powder supply;

the powder supply switching module is used for switching powder supply among the powder feeding modules;

the powder mixing module is used for switching and mixing powder flows output by the intelligent single-cylinder powder feeders;

and the powder equally distributing module is used for evenly distributing the mixed powder flow and conveying the powder flow to the tail end of the nozzle of the cladding head to complete the supply of the whole powder.

In the above technical solution, preferably, the flow control module is constituted by a flow controller.

In the above technical solution, preferably, the intelligent single-tube powder feeder includes a powder storage tube and a powder feeding disk, a powder outlet of the powder storage tube is connected to a powder inlet of the powder feeding disk, an air inlet of the powder feeding disk is connected to an output end of the flow control module, and an air outlet of the powder feeding disk is connected to an input end of the powder mixing module.

In the above technical solution, preferably, the powder mixing module is a multi-inlet-outlet structure with a spiral inner flow channel, and a plurality of inlets of the powder mixing module are respectively connected with the output ends of the intelligent single-barrel powder feeders in a one-to-one correspondence manner.

In the above technical solution, it is further preferable that the spiral inner flow path close to the input end of the powder mixing module is a structure in which respective individual pipes corresponding to the respective inlets are spirally twisted and wound together, and the spiral inner flow path close to the output end of the powder mixing module is a spiral structure in which the pipes are combined into one pipe.

In the above technical solution, it is further preferable that the respective individual tubes and the inner wall of the tube combined into one tube are provided with smooth spiral protrusions.

In the above technical scheme, preferably, the powder equally dividing module is of a one-inlet-multiple-outlet structure with an internal flow channel, and the number of outlets of the powder equally dividing module corresponds to the number of powder spraying holes on the nozzle of the cladding head, so that uniform distribution of powder is realized.

The method for supplying the powder by adopting the online powder supply system for laser cladding comprises at least one of seamless powder addition, online powder mixing and powder proportion-variable mixing;

the seamless addition of the powder: when an intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder works, if the powder amount in a working powder storage cylinder is less and powder adding is needed, an operator directly adds powder into any standby powder storage cylinder B when the powder in the working powder storage cylinder A is about to be exhausted, after the powder adding is finished, powder supply switching operation is executed, a powder supply switching module uniformly reduces the rotating speed Va and the supply flow La of the powder storage cylinder A within a time T, and simultaneously uniformly increases the rotating speed Vb and the supply flow Lb of the powder storage cylinder B within the time T by equal difference until the powder storage cylinder A completely stops working, the powder storage cylinder B completes powder supply connection, the whole switching process Va + Vb is always constant, the same La + Lb is also always constant, and seamless powder adding is realized;

the powder is mixed in an online manner: when powder mixing requirements exist, printing matrix powder is added into a main material cylinder A, adding powder is added into an auxiliary material cylinder B, the main material cylinder A and the auxiliary material cylinder B rotate to feed materials according to a mixing ratio required by the process after processing is started, metal powder sent out by the main material cylinder A and the auxiliary material cylinder B simultaneously enters a powder mixing module, two powder flows fully rotate and mix under the action of a spiral inner flow channel, and online mixing of powder in accurate proportion is achieved;

the powder is mixed according to a variable proportion: when powder mixing in variable proportion is required, online mixing of powder in any proportion is realized by adjusting the feeding rotating speed curves of the working powder storage cylinders.

The invention has the advantages and positive effects that:

1. the invention provides an online powder supply system for laser cladding, which utilizes a flow control module, a powder feeding module, a powder mixing module, a powder dividing module and the like to realize intelligent and customized supply of powder and solves various problems which cannot be realized by the traditional scheme; the scheme of the invention has the advantages of simple structure, reasonable design, convenient use and good practical value.

2. The powder supply system can realize the basic functions of accurate supply of metal powder, seamless feeding of the metal powder, equal distribution of the processing end of the metal powder and the like in the processing process, can realize online mixing of gradient powder materials, is accurate, reliable and adjustable in proportion, and greatly shortens the preparation time of a gradient material printing test. The defects that an existing laser cladding powder supply system is poor in intelligent degree, single in function, small in reconstruction space and the like are overcome.

3. The powder supply system can better ensure that the test is not interfered by other variables, greatly shortens the time consumed by technologists for exploring a new process, and greatly improves the use efficiency of equipment.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an online powder management system for laser cladding according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an intelligent single-barrel powder feeder provided by the embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 is an exploded view of an intelligent single-barrel powder feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure: 1. a flow control module; 2. a powder feeding module; 21. a powder storage cylinder; 22. a powder feeding disc; 221. a powder inlet of the powder feeding disc; 222. an air inlet of the powder feeding disc; 223. an air outlet of the powder feeding disc; 224. spreading powder blocks; 225. powder feeding and scraping disc; 226. a groove; 227. absorbing the powder block; 3. a powder mixing module; 4. and a powder equipartition module.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the following specific examples or embodiments are illustrative of a series of preferred arrangements of the invention to further explain the principles of the invention, and that such arrangements may be used in conjunction or association with one another, unless it is explicitly stated that some or all of the specific examples or embodiments cannot be used in conjunction or association with other examples or embodiments in the invention. Meanwhile, the following specific examples or embodiments are only provided as an optimized arrangement mode and are not to be understood as limiting the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", and the like, indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, are merely for convenience in describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "connected" and "connected" are to be interpreted broadly, e.g., as being fixed or detachable or integrally connected; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, the present embodiment provides an online powder supply system for laser cladding, including a flow control module 1, a powder feeding module 2, a powder mixing module 3, a powder equally dividing module 4, and a powder supply switching module, where the flow control module 1 and the powder feeding module 2 are at least two, and the flow control module 1 and the powder feeding module 2 are in one-to-one correspondence; the output end of the flow control module 1 is connected to the input end of the powder feeding module 2 through an air pipe, the output end of the powder feeding module 2 is connected to the input end of the powder mixing module 3 through an air pipe, and the output end of the powder mixing module 3 is connected to the powder equally dividing module 4 through an air pipe;

the flow control module 1 is used for providing powder loading gas supply for the whole system;

the powder feeding module 2 consists of an intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder and is used for supplying powder, and the powder is taken away by powder carrying gas at an air outlet of the powder feeding module 2 to complete powder supply;

the powder supply switching module is used for switching powder supply among the powder feeding modules;

the powder mixing module 3 is used for switching and mixing powder flows output by the intelligent single-cylinder powder feeders;

and the powder equally-distributing module 4 is used for uniformly distributing and conveying the mixed powder flow to the tail end of a nozzle of the cladding head to complete the supply of the whole powder.

Preferably, the flow control module 1 is composed of a small-sized flow controller, has functions of real-time flow adjustment, real-time flow monitoring, abnormal flow alarming and the like, can realize accurate automatic control of powder feeding flow, and can trigger an alarm signal within a very short response time when abnormal conditions such as powder blockage occur, so as to provide hardware support for automatic full-closed loop control of the whole system.

Preferably, the intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder comprises a powder storage cylinder 21 and a powder feeding disc 22, a powder outlet of the powder storage cylinder 21 is connected with a powder inlet 221 of the powder feeding disc, an air inlet 222 of the powder feeding disc is connected with an output end of the flow control module 1, and an air outlet 223 of the powder feeding disc is connected with an input end of the powder mixing module 3. During operation, the powder storage cylinder 21 is filled with metal powder, the metal powder is uniformly paved in the groove 226 of the powder feeding scraping disc 225 through the powder paving block 224 of the powder feeding disc under the action of gravity, and the powder feeding scraping disc 225 rotates clockwise to convey the powder in the groove 226 to the powder sucking block 227; the powder carrying gas enters the powder feeding module 2 through the gas inlet 222 of the powder feeding disc, and when the gas flow flows out of the powder feeding module 2 from the gas outlet 223 of the powder feeding disc, the gas flow can take away the powder in the groove 226 below the powder sucking block 227 at the bottom of the gas outlet 223 of the powder feeding disc and send the powder to the powder mixing module 3, so that the whole powder feeding process is completed. The powder is connected to the powder sharing module 4 through the spiral inner flow channel of the powder mixing module 3, the inner flow channel passing through the powder sharing module 4 is divided into a plurality of powder flows, and finally the powder flows are connected to the tail end of a nozzle of a cladding head, so that the powder supply of the whole laser cladding processing is completed.

Preferably, the powder mixing module 3 is a multi-inlet-outlet structure with a spiral inner flow channel, and a plurality of inlets of the powder mixing module 3 are respectively connected with the output ends of the intelligent single-cylinder powder feeders in a one-to-one correspondence manner.

Further preferably, the upper middle part of the spiral inner flow channel close to the input end of the powder mixing module 3 is a structure formed by spirally twisting and winding separate pipes corresponding to the respective inlets, and the lower middle part of the spiral inner flow channel close to the output end of the powder mixing module 3 is a spiral structure combined into a pipe.

In this embodiment, the powder mixing module 3 includes two air inlets and one air outlet, the two pipes are twisted into one spiral inner flow channel at the middle upper part of the powder mixing module 3, two powder flows to be mixed enter the respective spiral inner flow channels from the respective air inlets, and the direct flow is changed into the flow with spin under the action of the respective spiral inner flow channels. The two respective spiral inner flow passages are combined into a pipe in a spiral structure at the middle lower part of the powder mixing module 3, so that the uniformity of powder mixing is fully ensured.

It is further preferred that the inner walls of the individual tubes, and of the tubes merged into one tube, are provided with smooth helical projections. So that the powder inside is spin-laden before and after merging, and the spin is larger after merging.

Preferably, the powder equally dividing module 4 is of a one-inlet-multiple-outlet structure with an internal flow channel, and the number of outlets of the powder equally dividing module 4 corresponds to the number of powder spraying holes on a nozzle of the cladding head, so that uniform distribution of powder is realized. In addition, the inner flow channel structure of the powder sharing module 4 can be adjusted to adapt to cladding heads of different specifications, and the universality is achieved.

In this embodiment, the flow control module 1 and the powder feeding module 2 are two groups, and any one intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder can be selected to work during actual work, and the other intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder is ready; or the two intelligent single-cylinder powder feeders work simultaneously. Based on the working mode, the powder supply system can easily complete the operations of seamless powder addition, online powder mixing, powder proportion-variable mixing and the like.

The method for supplying the powder by adopting the online powder supply system for laser cladding comprises at least one of seamless powder addition, online powder mixing and powder proportion-variable mixing;

the seamless addition of the powder: when an intelligent single-cylinder powder feeder works, if the powder amount in a working powder storage cylinder is less, the powder needs to be added, the traditional operation method is to pause the current printing work, an operator opens the powder storage cylinder for adding the powder, and the printing work is continued after the powder adding is finished. The improvement of the invention is that when the powder in the working powder storage cylinder (referred to as cylinder A) is about to be exhausted, an operator can directly add the powder into any standby powder storage cylinder (referred to as cylinder B) (if the system has three or more intelligent single-cylinder powder feeders, the operator can select one of the intelligent single-cylinder powder feeders), after the powder is added, the powder supply switching operation is executed, the powder supply switching module can uniformly reduce the rotating speed Va of the cylinder A and the supply flow La of the cylinder A within the time T, and simultaneously uniformly increase the rotating speed Vb of the cylinder B and the supply flow Lb of the cylinder B within the time T by equal difference, until the cylinder A completely stops working, the cylinder B completes the powder supply connection pipe, the whole switching process Va + Vb is always constant, and the same La + Lb is also always constant, thereby realizing the seamless powder addition.

The powder is mixed in an online manner: when powder mixing demands exist, printing matrix powder can be added into a main material cylinder (recorded as a cylinder A), adding powder is added into an auxiliary material cylinder (recorded as a cylinder B), the cylinder A, B rotates and supplies materials according to the mixing proportion required by the process after processing is started, metal powder sent out by the cylinder A, B enters the powder mixing module 3 at the same time, and two powder flows fully rotate and mix under the action of a spiral inner flow channel, so that online mixing of powder in accurate proportion is realized.

The powder is mixed according to a variable proportion: when powder with variable proportion is required to be mixed, online mixing of the powder with any proportion can be realized only by adjusting the feeding rotating speed curve of the working powder storage cylinder.

The original test group which needs to continuously premix powder and continuously change powder can be easily completed at one time, and meanwhile, the continuous supply mode can better ensure that the test is not interfered by other variables, thereby greatly shortening the time consumed by process personnel for exploring a new process and greatly improving the use efficiency of equipment.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, but not to limit it; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: it is to be understood that modifications may be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced, and the modifications or the replacements may not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.