US 11,886,759 B2
Method and system for operating a metal drop ejecting three-dimensional (3D) object printer to compensate for drop size variations
David A. Mantell, Rochester, NY (US); Christopher T. Chungbin, Webster, NY (US); Daniel R. Cormier, Pittsford, NY (US); Scott J. Vader, Pittsford, NY (US); Zachary S. Vader, Pittsford, NY (US); Viktor Sukhotskiy, Amherst, NY (US); Raja Bala, Pittsford, NY (US); and Walter Hsiao, San Mateo, CA (US)
Assigned to Xerox Corporation, Norwalk, CT (US)
Filed by Xerox Corporation, Norwalk, CT (US); and Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 1, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/589,969.
Prior Publication US 2021/0096537 A1, Apr. 1, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/12 (2006.01); B33Y 50/00 (2015.01); G06N 20/00 (2019.01); B22D 23/00 (2006.01); G05B 19/19 (2006.01); G05B 19/4099 (2006.01); B22F 10/22 (2021.01); B22F 12/90 (2021.01); B22F 10/31 (2021.01); B22F 10/85 (2021.01); B33Y 30/00 (2015.01); G06F 119/18 (2020.01); G06F 30/00 (2020.01); B22F 12/00 (2021.01); B22F 12/33 (2021.01); B22F 10/32 (2021.01)
CPC G06F 3/1208 (2013.01) [B22D 23/003 (2013.01); B22F 10/22 (2021.01); B22F 10/31 (2021.01); B22F 10/85 (2021.01); B22F 12/90 (2021.01); B33Y 50/00 (2014.12); G05B 19/19 (2013.01); G05B 19/4099 (2013.01); G06N 20/00 (2019.01); B22F 10/32 (2021.01); B22F 12/222 (2021.01); B22F 12/224 (2021.01); B22F 12/33 (2021.01); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); G05B 2219/35134 (2013.01); G05B 2219/49007 (2013.01); G06F 30/00 (2020.01); G06F 2119/18 (2020.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for operating a three-dimensional (3D) metal object manufacturing system configured to eject melted metal drops comprising:
generating image data of a metal object being formed by the melted metal drops ejected by the 3D metal object manufacturing system prior to completion of the metal object;
comparing the generated image data of the metal object to original 3D object design data to identify a difference;
identifying a displacement error as the identified difference when the identified difference is outside a predetermined difference range;
modifying machine-ready instructions by changing drop spacing parameters identified in the machine-ready instructions for forming metal object layers not yet formed to compensate for the identified displacement error the drop spacing parameters being changed by using a linear function; and
operating the 3D metal object manufacturing system using the modified machine-ready instructions.