US 12,145,320 B2
Preemptive apparatus failure detection in additive manufacturing
Akruti M. Gupta, San Jose, CA (US); Devlin David Stewart, Los Altos Hills, CA (US); Gabriel Alfonso Navarro, Oakland, CA (US); and Hunter Alex van Adelsberg, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Assigned to Carbon, Inc., Redwood City, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/596,754
Filed by Carbon, Inc., Redwood City, CA (US)
PCT Filed May 27, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/034625
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 17, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/263482, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 30, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/865,451, filed on Jun. 24, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0297382 A1, Sep. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. B33Y 50/02 (2015.01); B29C 64/124 (2017.01); B29C 64/264 (2017.01); B29C 64/364 (2017.01); B29C 64/393 (2017.01); B33Y 30/00 (2015.01)
CPC B29C 64/393 (2017.08) [B29C 64/124 (2017.08); B29C 64/264 (2017.08); B29C 64/364 (2017.08); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); B33Y 50/02 (2014.12)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for preemptively detecting and remediating component failures in printers of three-dimensional objects, the system comprising:
(a) a plurality of printers each configured to produce three-dimensional objects, each printer including: (i) a plurality of subsystems; (ii) at least one sensor, and (iii) a unique identifier for the printer; and
(b) one or more processors and one or more memory resources storing an inventory of available replacement components for at least some of said subsystems, said one or more memory resources further storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
(i) identify a predetermined pattern in a signal comprising data sensed during a process of producing a three-dimensional object by the at least one sensor of a printer of the plurality of printers as an indicator of likely failure of a subsystem or component thereof in that printer comprising said at least one sensor; and
(ii) assign a component in inventory to said printer based on the unique identifier of the printer and the indicator of likely failure identified in the signal,
wherein:
said subsystem comprises a polymerization inhibitor source;
said component comprises an oxygen concentrator;
said at least one sensor comprises an oxygen concentration sensor operatively associated with said oxygen concentrator; and
said predetermined pattern comprises an increase in time required to reach a predetermined oxygen concentration or an inability to reach a predetermined oxygen concentration.