CN111036903B - Atmosphere preparation system, additive manufacturing apparatus, and atmosphere preparation method - Google Patents

Atmosphere preparation system, additive manufacturing apparatus, and atmosphere preparation method Download PDF

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Publication number
CN111036903B
CN111036903B CN201911286295.2A CN201911286295A CN111036903B CN 111036903 B CN111036903 B CN 111036903B CN 201911286295 A CN201911286295 A CN 201911286295A CN 111036903 B CN111036903 B CN 111036903B
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protection chamber
atmosphere protection
air bag
elastic
gas
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CN111036903A (en
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郭学佳
黄声野
王越
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China Ordnance Equipment Research Institute
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China Ordnance Equipment Research Institute
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
    • B22F10/30—Process control
    • B22F10/32—Process control of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
    • B22F10/30—Process control
    • B22F10/32—Process control of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber
    • B22F10/322—Process control of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber of the gas flow, e.g. rate or direction
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F12/00—Apparatus or devices specially adapted for additive manufacturing; Auxiliary means for additive manufacturing; Combinations of additive manufacturing apparatus or devices with other processing apparatus or devices
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F3/00—Manufacture of workpieces or articles from metallic powder characterised by the manner of compacting or sintering; Apparatus specially adapted therefor ; Presses and furnaces
    • B22F3/003—Apparatus, e.g. furnaces
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
    • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
    • B33Y10/00—Processes of additive manufacturing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
    • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
    • B33Y30/00—Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
    • B22F10/20—Direct sintering or melting
    • B22F10/28—Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
    • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
    • B22F2999/00—Aspects linked to processes or compositions used in powder metallurgy
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
    • Y02P10/00—Technologies related to metal processing
    • Y02P10/25—Process efficiency

Abstract

The utility model provides an atmosphere preparation system, an additive manufacturing apparatus, and an atmosphere preparation method. The system comprises: the atmosphere protection chamber is provided with an air inlet, an air outlet and at least one inflation inlet; the at least one elastic air bag is arranged inside the atmosphere protection chamber, and each elastic air bag is provided with an air bag inflation port and an air bag deflation port; the air bag inflation port of each elastic air bag is connected with the inflation port of one atmosphere protection chamber and is used for filling inert gas into the elastic air bags through a gas supply device outside the atmosphere protection chambers; a valve is arranged at the air bag air release port of each elastic air bag and used for controlling whether the elastic air bag discharges inert gas in the elastic air bag to a space outside the elastic air bag in the atmosphere protection chamber or not; oxygen content sensor, pressure sensor, and gas washing device. The utility model can efficiently shorten the preparation time in the early stage of additive manufacturing and reduce the use cost of inert gas.

Description

Atmosphere preparation system, additive manufacturing apparatus, and atmosphere preparation method
Technical Field
The utility model relates to the field of additive manufacturing, in particular to an atmosphere preparation system, additive manufacturing equipment and an atmosphere preparation method.
Background
Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is a process of manufacturing components by adding and fusing materials according to a three-dimensional digital model, and is generally performed in a layer-by-layer manner, which is an emerging manufacturing technique opposite to conventional subtractive manufacturing. The metal laser 3D printing technology is one kind of 3D printing technology with metal powder as material. The method mainly comprises Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Laser Fused Deposition Modeling (LMD), Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Selective Electron Beam Melting (SEBM), and the like.
The laser melting deposition forming technology can be used for printing large metal components, and the specific process is as follows: the printing head focuses the laser beam to form a high-energy light spot, the light spot forms a molten pool on the processed part, meanwhile, metal powder enters the molten pool through a powder feeding pipe on the light powder coupling device and is melted into liquid, the melted metal is rapidly solidified along with the movement of the light spot at a certain speed according to a preset scanning path, meanwhile, the light powder coupling device moves synchronously along with the light spot, new metal powder is continuously added into the molten pool, and the part is gradually formed in the process. In order to avoid oxidation reactions which affect the quality of the formed part, the forming process needs to be carried out at a very low oxygen content, and in order to form a low oxygen content gas atmosphere, the forming movement mechanism and the work table are placed in an atmosphere protection chamber, and the atmosphere protection chamber is filled with inert gas. The additive manufacturing technology is characterized in that large complex blanks with the size of several meters can be manufactured, the metal structure of the parts is fine in crystal grain, uniform in components and fine in structure, and the comprehensive mechanical property reaches the level of a forge piece.
The existing atmosphere environment preparation method of the laser melting deposition forming equipment has two methods, one method is an exhaust method, an unsealed gas protection chamber is used, a large amount of inert gas is filled into the gas protection chamber, meanwhile, mixed gas in the atmosphere protection chamber is exhausted through a gap or an exhaust device, so that the oxygen content is diluted to be below a range allowed by a process specification, the method has low requirements on the rigidity and the air tightness of the atmosphere protection chamber, but the process of forming the atmosphere protection environment requires about one day and consumes more inert gas; the other method is a vacuum pumping method, a sealed and negative pressure resistant atmosphere protection chamber is used, and a gas protection environment is manufactured in a vacuum pumping mode, and the process specifically comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps of firstly closing a bin door of the atmosphere protection chamber, pumping out air of the atmosphere protection chamber by using a vacuum unit, then quickly filling a large amount of inert gas to balance the air pressure inside and outside the atmosphere protection chamber, and monitoring whether the air pressure inside the atmosphere protection chamber and the oxygen content reach the standard or not by using an air pressure sensor and an oxygen content sensor. Because a time difference exists between the vacuumizing and the inert gas filling, the pressure intensity in the atmosphere protection chamber is smaller than the atmospheric pressure of the external environment within a period of time, so that a small amount of air permeates into the atmosphere protection chamber to cause the oxygen content in the atmosphere protection chamber to rise, the inert gas filling is finished under the normal condition, and the inert gas in the atmosphere protection chamber needs to be further washed. To ensure that the dimensions of the form can reach several meters, the stroke of the forming table and the print head is large enough, which results in a large volume of the atmosphere protection chamber. The vacuumizing is about 20-30 min, the filling of inert gas is about 60-80 min, the gas washing is about 20-30 min, and the preparation time of the whole gas protection environment is about 2 hours. Compared with the first method, this method for preparing a gas atmosphere has a relatively shorter time and a smaller amount of inert gas, but has a lower popularity because the atmosphere protection chamber is required to have higher rigidity and sealing properties.
Patent application No. CN201811620857.8 discloses a multi-channel dual cycle atmosphere protection system, and also introduces a preparation method suitable for additive manufacturing atmosphere protection environment. The main method is that the atmosphere chamber is first vacuumized to 30-50% vacuum degree and then filled with inert gas for gas replacement. Although this method replaces the gas a little faster than the venting method and saves some inert gas than the vacuuming method, the waste of inert gas is still serious, the preparation time is too long, and the requirements for rigidity and sealing of the atmosphere protection chamber are not reduced. The problems that the atmosphere protection environment of the laser melting deposition forming equipment is too long in preparation time and inert gas is wasted seriously cannot be effectively solved.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above, embodiments of the present invention provide an atmosphere preparation system, an additive manufacturing apparatus, and an atmosphere preparation method, so as to obviate or ameliorate one or more of the disadvantages in the related art.
The technical scheme of the utility model is as follows:
according to an aspect of the present invention, an ambience preparing system is disclosed, the system comprising:
the atmosphere protection chamber is provided with an air inlet, an air outlet and at least one inflation inlet;
the at least one elastic air bag is arranged inside the atmosphere protection chamber, and each elastic air bag is provided with an air bag inflation port and an air bag deflation port; the air bag inflation port of each elastic air bag is connected with the inflation port of one atmosphere protection chamber and is used for filling inert gas into the elastic air bags through a gas supply device outside the atmosphere protection chambers; a valve is arranged at an air bag vent of each elastic air bag and used for controlling whether the elastic air bag discharges inert gas in the elastic air bag to the space outside the elastic air bag in the atmosphere protection chamber or not; the gas outlet of the atmosphere protection chamber is used for allowing gas in the atmosphere protection chamber outside the elastic airbag to be discharged out of the atmosphere protection chamber in the process that the elastic airbag is enlarged due to the filling of inert gas;
the oxygen content sensor and the pressure sensor are arranged in the atmosphere protection chamber and are respectively used for measuring the oxygen content and the air pressure in the atmosphere protection chamber;
and the air washing device is connected with the air inlet and used for washing air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic air bag after the elastic air bag is inflated.
In some embodiments, the atmosphere protection chamber is further provided with a vacuumizing port; the system also comprises a vacuum unit connected with the vacuumizing port and used for pumping away air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic air bag.
In some embodiments, the airbag deflation port and its valve are located within the atmosphere protection chamber; and a glove box structure is further arranged on the atmosphere protection chamber, so that the opening and closing of a valve of the air bag air release port can be manually controlled outside the atmosphere protection chamber.
In some embodiments, the atmosphere protection chamber has an inlet opening at a first side wall thereof and an outlet opening at a second side wall thereof opposite the first side wall; the number of the inflation ports of the atmosphere protection chamber is two, one inflation port is arranged on a third side wall of the atmosphere protection chamber, and the other inflation port is arranged on a fourth side wall of the atmosphere protection chamber, wherein the fourth side wall is opposite to the third side wall;
the number of the elastic air bags is two, one air bag inflation port of each elastic air bag is connected and opened at the inflation port of the third side wall, and the other air bag inflation port of each elastic air bag is connected and opened at the inflation port of the fourth side wall.
In some embodiments, the system further comprises a control computer; the air inlet and the vacuumizing port are respectively provided with an electric control valve for controlling opening and closing or adjusting flow, and each electric control valve, the oxygen content sensor and the pressure sensor are respectively connected with the control computer so that the control computer controls each electric control valve according to the oxygen content measured by the oxygen content sensor and/or the air pressure measured by the pressure sensor.
In some embodiments, the gas washing device in the atmospheric environment preparation system is a gas washing device in an additive manufacturing apparatus.
According to another aspect of the utility model, an additive manufacturing apparatus is also disclosed, comprising the atmospheric environment preparation system for providing a low oxygen gas environment required in additive manufacturing.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is also disclosed an atmosphere preparation method which is applied to the atmosphere preparation system, the method including:
opening an exhaust port of the atmosphere protection chamber, and filling inert gas into at least one elastic airbag in the atmosphere protection chamber by using a gas supply device, so that the elastic airbag expands to fill the whole atmosphere protection chamber as much as possible, and simultaneously, the air in the atmosphere protection chamber is driven out through the exhaust port along with the increase of the volume of the elastic airbag;
the air left in the space between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic air bag is washed by a washing device, so that the oxygen content in the space is below a set value;
and closing the exhaust port of the atmosphere protection chamber, and opening a valve at the exhaust port of the elastic air bag to enable the inert gas in the elastic air bag to enter the atmosphere protection chamber and enable the elastic air bag to contract into an uninflated state.
In some embodiments, after closing the atmosphere protection chamber, opening a valve at a discharge port of the elastic balloon to allow the inert gas in the elastic balloon to enter the atmosphere protection chamber and deflate the elastic balloon to an uninflated state, the method further comprises:
when the oxygen content monitored by the oxygen content sensor exceeds a set value, the gas washing device automatically operates to wash all the gas in the atmosphere protection chamber until the oxygen content is reduced below the set value.
In some embodiments, the step of purging the air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic airbag by a purging device comprises:
opening an air inlet of the atmosphere protection chamber, and controlling a gas washing device to perform gas replacement on air left in a space between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic airbag by using inert gas;
in the gas replacement process, monitoring the oxygen content of gas between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic airbag through an oxygen content sensor, and when the oxygen content is reduced to a set value, closing the air inlet of the atmosphere protection chamber and controlling the gas washing device to stop working.
According to the atmosphere environment preparation system, the additive manufacturing apparatus, and the atmosphere environment preparation method of the present invention, the technical effects that can be obtained at least include: the atmosphere environment preparation system, the additive manufacturing equipment and the atmosphere environment preparation method can discharge most of air in the atmosphere protection chamber by using the elastic air bag, and make the inert gas filled in the elastic air bag enter the atmosphere protection chamber after the air washing, and the elastic air bag can ensure that the filled inert gas is isolated from the atmosphere protection chamber during the air washing, so that confusion and waste can not occur, the environment preparation time is greatly reduced, and the use amount of the inert gas is also greatly reduced.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the utility model will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the utility model. The objectives and other advantages of the utility model will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the objects and advantages that can be achieved with the present invention are not limited to the specific details set forth above, and that these and other objects that can be achieved with the present invention will be more clearly understood from the detailed description that follows.
Drawings
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the utility model and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the utility model and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the utility model. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the utility model. For purposes of illustrating and describing some portions of the present invention, corresponding parts of the drawings may be exaggerated, i.e., may be larger, relative to other components in an exemplary apparatus actually manufactured according to the present invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an atmospheric environment preparation system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an inflated flexible bladder of an atmospheric preparation system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an atmosphere environment preparation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the following embodiments and accompanying drawings. The exemplary embodiments and descriptions of the present invention are provided to explain the present invention, but not to limit the present invention.
It should be noted that, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention with unnecessary details, only the structures and/or processing steps closely related to the scheme according to the present invention are shown in the drawings, and other details not so relevant to the present invention are omitted.
It should be emphasized that the term "comprises/comprising" when used herein, is taken to specify the presence of stated features, elements, steps or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, steps or components.
It is also noted herein that the term "coupled," if not specifically stated, may refer herein to not only a direct connection, but also an indirect connection in which an intermediate is present.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same or similar parts, or the same or similar steps.
The utility model provides an atmosphere environment preparation system, an additive manufacturing device and an atmosphere environment preparation method, aiming at the problems of overlong environment preparation time and serious inert gas waste in the atmosphere environment preparation system and the atmosphere environment preparation method used in the additive manufacturing process in the prior art, so as to relieve or solve the problems.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an atmospheric environment preparation system is disclosed, which may include an atmospheric protection chamber 10 and at least one flexible bladder, etc., as shown in FIG. 1.
In the present embodiment, the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 is provided with an air inlet 90, an air outlet 80 and at least one air charging opening.
In this embodiment, the system may include at least one elastic airbag, the elastic airbag is mainly used for filling the inert gas and exhausting most of the air in the atmosphere protection chamber 10, and making the inert gas enter the atmosphere protection chamber 10, and the elastic airbag can ensure the isolation between the filled inert gas and the atmosphere protection chamber, and can not generate confusion and waste in the gas washing process.
In this embodiment, the elastic airbags are disposed inside the atmosphere protection chamber 10, and each of the elastic airbags is provided with an airbag inflation port and an airbag deflation port. Wherein, the air bag inflation inlet of each elastic air bag is connected with the inflation inlet of one atmosphere protection chamber 10 and is used for filling inert gas into the elastic air bag through an air supply device outside the atmosphere protection chamber 10. The bag deflation port of each elastic air bag is provided with a valve for controlling whether the elastic air bag discharges the inert gas in the elastic air bag to the space outside the elastic air bag in the atmosphere protecting chamber 10. The gas outlet 80 of the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 is used to allow the gas of the space outside the elastic airbag inside the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 to be discharged outside the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 in the process that the elastic airbag is enlarged by the inert gas.
The elastic air bags in the embodiment refer to an inflating device with high elasticity and contractibility, and can be subjected to any physical deformation according to the inflating quantity, the deformation quantity of one or more elastic air bags is squeezed in the space of the whole atmosphere protection chamber as far as possible, and the smaller the remaining space is, the less inert gas is used in the air washing process. In other embodiments, in order to prevent the elastic airbag from being damaged by burn, the atmosphere protection chamber 10 may also have a receiving structure or a protection housing for the elastic airbag during the additive manufacturing process, such as laser melting deposition forming, and the influence on the additive manufacturing process is also avoided.
The main structure of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 may be an atmosphere chamber of an existing apparatus, and the oxygen content sensor 60 and the pressure sensor 70 may be installed in the atmosphere protection chamber 10. The oxygen content sensor 60 is used for determining the oxygen content of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 whether the oxygen content is within the additive manufacturing allowable content value, and the pressure sensor 70 is used for determining the gas pressure of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 so as to control the operation of the gas washing device and the vacuum unit.
The atmosphere protection chamber 10 may also be equipped with a gas washer connected to the gas inlet 90 for gas cleaning of air left over in the space between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 and the outer wall of the elastic airbag after the elastic airbag is inflated. The gas washing device can be a gas washing device in additive manufacturing equipment, such as a gas washing device carried by laser melting deposition forming equipment. The air washing device can also be connected with an air bag inflation port of the elastic air bag to provide inert gas for the elastic air bag.
According to the atmosphere environment preparation system of the embodiment, most of air in the atmosphere protection chamber can be discharged by using the elastic airbag, the inert gas filled in the elastic airbag enters the atmosphere protection chamber after the gas is washed, the elastic airbag can ensure that the filled inert gas is isolated from the atmosphere protection chamber during the gas washing, confusion and waste can not occur, the environment preparation time is greatly reduced, and the use amount of the inert gas is also greatly reduced.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the atmosphere protection chamber 10 may further be provided with a vacuum port 100, and the atmosphere environment preparation system further includes a vacuum unit, which is connected to the vacuum port 100 and is configured to pump away air left in a space between an inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 and an outer wall of the elastic airbag.
The air bag deflation port and the valve thereof of the embodiment of the utility model are further positioned in the atmosphere protection chamber 10; the atmosphere protection chamber 10 is further provided with a glove box structure so that the opening and closing of a valve of an air bag vent can be manually controlled outside the atmosphere protection chamber 10. The leakproofness of glove box structure should satisfy the system requirement, and in addition, the glove box structure also can be including accomodating structure or protection casing to prevent it by the burn damage, also avoided the influence to the vibration material disk manufacturing process.
As shown in fig. 1, in the present embodiment, the gas inlet 90 of the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 may be opened at a first side wall thereof, and the gas outlet 80 is opened at a second side wall thereof opposite to the first side wall. The gas inlet 90 and the gas outlet 80 may be formed in a top-in-bottom-out manner to allow sufficient gas replacement during the gas washing. If nitrogen is used as the inert gas, nitrogen generally has a lower density than air. If inert gas with density higher than that of air is used, the lower inlet and the upper outlet can be used.
As shown in fig. 1, the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be installed with two elastic air bags, an upper air bag 20 and a lower air bag 30, respectively. The number of the gas filling openings of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 is two, one gas filling opening is provided at a third side wall, such as a top wall, of the atmosphere protection chamber 10, and the other gas filling opening is provided at a fourth side wall, such as a bottom wall, of the atmosphere protection chamber 10, opposite to the third side wall. Wherein, the air bag charging port 40 of the upper air bag 20 is connected with the charging port arranged on the third side wall, and the air bag charging port 50 of the lower air bag 30 is connected with the charging port arranged on the fourth side wall.
In this embodiment, the two elastic airbags are installed on the upper and lower sides of the atmosphere protection chamber 10, respectively, and are spaced apart from each other, but of course, the two elastic airbags may be installed on the left and right sides of the atmosphere protection chamber 10, and the number of the elastic airbags is not limited thereto, and may be flexibly set according to the specifications of the elastic airbags and the size of the atmosphere protection chamber.
Air extraction, air washing and air charging of the embodiment of the utility model can be controlled by a control computer. For example, electrically controlled valves for controlling opening and closing or adjusting the flow rate are provided at the air inlet 90, the air outlet 80, and the vacuum port 100, respectively. The electrically controlled valves, the oxygen content sensor 60 and the pressure sensor 70 are respectively connected to the control computer, so that the control computer controls the electrically controlled valves according to the oxygen content measured by the oxygen content sensor 60 and/or the air pressure measured by the pressure sensor 70.
According to another aspect of the utility model, an additive manufacturing apparatus is also disclosed, comprising the described atmospheric environment preparation system for providing a low oxygen gas environment required in additive manufacturing. The additive manufacturing equipment is particularly suitable for laser melting deposition forming equipment of large metal components.
According to yet another aspect of the utility model, an atmospheric environment preparation method for additive manufacturing is also disclosed, which is applicable to the above atmospheric environment preparation system and the above additive manufacturing apparatus.
In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the method includes:
opening the exhaust port 80 of the atmosphere protection chamber 10, and filling inert gas into at least one elastic airbag in the atmosphere protection chamber 10 by using a gas supply device, so that the elastic airbag expands to fill the whole atmosphere protection chamber 10 as much as possible, and simultaneously, the air in the atmosphere protection chamber 10 is driven out through the exhaust port 80 as the volume of the elastic airbag becomes larger;
the air washing device is used for washing the air left in the space between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 and the outer wall of the elastic air bag, so that the oxygen content in the space is below a set value;
the vent 80 of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 is closed and the valve at the vent of the elastic bladder is opened so that the inert gas in the elastic bladder enters the atmosphere protection chamber 10 and the elastic bladder contracts to an uninflated state.
The method has the advantages that most of air in the atmosphere protection chamber is exhausted by virtue of the elastic air bag filled with the inert gas, so that the gas washing process of the rest small amount of air in the atmosphere protection chamber is simple, in addition, the inert gas isolated by utilizing the elastic air bag enters the atmosphere protection chamber, the mixture of the inert gas and the air in the atmosphere protection chamber can be avoided, and the gas environment preparation time and the use amount of the inert gas are greatly reduced.
In addition, after the inert gas of the elastic airbag is exhausted to the atmosphere protection chamber, the method of the embodiment may further include a gas washing step, which includes: when the oxygen content of the oxygen content sensing monitoring 60 exceeds a set value, the gas washing device automatically operates to wash all the gas in the atmosphere protection chamber 10 until the oxygen content is reduced below the set value.
The oxygen content set value of the embodiment of the utility model can be specifically set according to the process conditions, and generally meets the requirement of low oxygen content so as to avoid the oxidation reaction from affecting the quality of a formed part.
The gas washing step of the embodiment of the utility model can comprise two methods, namely a gas exhaust method and a vacuum pumping method, namely, the vacuum pumping and the inert gas refilling are carried out. The exhaust method has low requirements on the rigidity and the sealing property of the atmosphere protection chamber.
For example, the gas inlet 90 and the gas outlet 80 of the atmosphere protection chamber are opened, and the gas purging device is controlled to perform gas replacement of the air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 and the outer wall of the elastic airbag with inert gas.
During the gas replacement process, the oxygen content of the air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 and the outer wall of the elastic airbag is monitored by the oxygen content sensor 60, and when the oxygen content is reduced to a set value, the air inlet 90 and the air outlet 80 of the atmosphere protection chamber are closed, and the operation of the gas washing device is controlled to stop.
Of course, the vacuum unit and the vacuum-pumping port 100 may also be used to pump away or partially pump away the air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber 10 and the outer wall of the elastic airbag before the gas-washing step is performed, which is faster than the direct gas replacement speed, and saves inert gas, but has certain requirements on the rigidity and the sealing performance of the atmosphere protection chamber 10, the installation part of the elastic airbag, the installation part of the glove box structure, and the like.
Two elastic airbags, namely an upper airbag 20 and a lower airbag 30, can be installed in the atmosphere protection chamber 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The method and steps of one embodiment are described in detail below with reference to fig. 1 and 2. Wherein the upper air bag 20 is fixed on the top of the atmosphere protecting chamber 10, and the lower air bag 30 is fixed on the bottom of the atmosphere protecting chamber 10. The atmosphere preparation system is applied to a laser melting deposition forming device as an example.
In the initial state, the atmosphere in the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 is air, the upper air bag 20 and the lower air bag 30 are in the contracted state, and the valves arranged on the respective ports are in the closed state.
In order to replace all the air in the atmosphere protection chamber 10 with inert gas, the first step is performed: the valves of the exhaust port 80 and the valves of the upper air bag 20 and the lower air bag 30 are opened, a large amount of inert gas is filled into the upper air bag 20 through the inflation port 40, the air bags have high elasticity and can generate random physical deformation, the volume of the upper air bag 20 gradually increases along with the increasing inflation amount, the air in the atmosphere protection chamber 10 is expanded by the upper air bag 20 and is extruded into the external environment through the exhaust port 80, a large amount of inert gas is filled into the lower air bag 30 through the inflation port 50, and similarly, the residual air is extruded into the external environment through the exhaust port 80, and the state is shown in fig. 2 at the moment;
and then, carrying out the second step: the valves of the gas charging port 40 and the gas charging port 50 outside the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 and the valves of the gas exhaust port 80 are closed, and the remaining small amount of air in the atmosphere protecting chamber 10 is subjected to gas replacement by using a gas washing device provided in the laser melting deposition forming apparatus. In the process of gas washing, the valve of the gas inlet 90 is opened firstly, then the operation of the gas washing device is controlled by the computer, the signals given by the air pressure sensor 70 and the oxygen content sensor 60 are observed, and when the oxygen content is reduced to a set value, the valves of the gas washing device and the gas inlet 90 are automatically closed;
and step three, manually opening the upper air bag air release opening 110 and the lower air bag air release opening 120 through the glove box structure, completely releasing the inert gas in the air bags into the atmosphere protection chamber 10, and contracting the upper air bag 20 and the lower air bag 30 into an uninflated state.
Finally, the signals given by the air pressure sensor 70 and the oxygen content sensor 60 are observed, and if the oxygen content value exceeds the set upper limit, the gas washing device automatically operates until the oxygen content is reduced to be within the allowable range of the process.
Generally, after the steps of inflation-gas washing-deflation-gas washing are completed, the oxygen content can be reduced to the process requirement of metal material additive manufacturing.
The atmosphere environment preparation system, the additive manufacturing equipment and the atmosphere environment preparation provided by the embodiment of the utility model are suitable for preparing the rapid atmosphere environment for laser additive manufacturing of the metal material, and are particularly suitable for preparing the rapid atmosphere environment for laser melting deposition forming of large metal components.
The atmosphere environment preparation system, the additive manufacturing equipment and the atmosphere environment preparation method according to the embodiment of the utility model have the following beneficial effects:
the atmosphere environment preparation system provided by the embodiment of the utility model has a simple structure, can install the air bag by means of the existing atmosphere protection chamber, realizes the effects of reducing the gas protection environment preparation time, quickly forming a low-oxygen atmosphere environment, improving the utilization rate of inert gas and greatly reducing the time cost and the inert gas cost with lower cost.
Compared with the existing exhaust method and vacuum pumping method, the atmosphere environment preparation method provided by the embodiment of the utility model has the advantages that the requirements on the rigidity and the sealing property of the atmosphere protection chamber are lower, the preparation time in the early stage of additive manufacturing can be efficiently shortened, the use cost of inert gas is reduced, and the utilization rate of additive manufacturing equipment is also improved.
Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments in the present invention.
The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made to the embodiment of the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. An atmospheric environment preparation system, comprising:
the atmosphere protection chamber is provided with an air inlet, an air outlet and at least one inflation inlet;
the at least one elastic air bag is arranged inside the atmosphere protection chamber, and each elastic air bag is provided with an air bag inflation port and an air bag deflation port; the air bag inflation port of each elastic air bag is connected with the inflation port of one atmosphere protection chamber and is used for filling inert gas into the elastic air bags through a gas supply device outside the atmosphere protection chambers; each air bag air release port of the elastic air bag is provided with a valve, and the air bag air release port and the valve thereof are positioned in the atmosphere protection chamber; the elastic air bag is used for controlling whether the elastic air bag discharges inert gas in the elastic air bag to a space outside the elastic air bag in the atmosphere protection chamber; the gas outlet of the atmosphere protection chamber is used for allowing gas in the atmosphere protection chamber outside the elastic airbag to be discharged out of the atmosphere protection chamber in the process that the elastic airbag is enlarged due to the filling of inert gas;
the oxygen content sensor and the pressure sensor are arranged in the atmosphere protection chamber and are respectively used for measuring the oxygen content and the air pressure in the atmosphere protection chamber;
and the air washing device is connected with the air inlet and used for washing air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic air bag after the elastic air bag is inflated.
2. The atmospheric-environment-preparation system of claim 1,
the atmosphere protection chamber is also provided with a vacuumizing port;
the system also comprises a vacuum unit connected with the vacuumizing port and used for pumping away air left between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic air bag.
3. The atmospheric-environment-preparation system of claim 1,
and a glove box structure is further arranged on the atmosphere protection chamber, so that the opening and closing of a valve of the air bag air release port can be manually controlled outside the atmosphere protection chamber.
4. The atmospheric-environment-preparation system of claim 1, wherein the atmospheric protection chamber has an inlet opening in a first side wall thereof and an outlet opening in a second side wall thereof opposite the first side wall; the number of the inflation ports of the atmosphere protection chamber is two, one inflation port is arranged on a third side wall of the atmosphere protection chamber, and the other inflation port is arranged on a fourth side wall of the atmosphere protection chamber, wherein the fourth side wall is opposite to the third side wall;
the number of the elastic air bags is two, one air bag inflation port of each elastic air bag is connected and opened at the inflation port of the third side wall, and the other air bag inflation port of each elastic air bag is connected and opened at the inflation port of the fourth side wall.
5. The atmospheric-environment-preparation system of claim 2, further comprising a control computer;
the air inlet and the vacuumizing port are respectively provided with an electric control valve for controlling opening and closing or adjusting flow, and each electric control valve, the oxygen content sensor and the pressure sensor are respectively connected with the control computer so that the control computer controls each electric control valve according to the oxygen content measured by the oxygen content sensor and/or the air pressure measured by the pressure sensor.
6. The atmospheric-environment-preparation system of claim 1, wherein the gas-washing device in the atmospheric-environment-preparation system is a gas-washing device in an additive manufacturing apparatus.
7. An additive manufacturing apparatus comprising an atmospheric environment preparation system of any one of claims 1 to 6 for providing a low oxygen gas environment required in additive manufacturing.
8. An atmosphere preparation method, adapted to the atmosphere preparation system of any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising:
opening an exhaust port of the atmosphere protection chamber, and filling inert gas into at least one elastic airbag in the atmosphere protection chamber by using a gas supply device, so that the elastic airbag expands to fill the whole atmosphere protection chamber as much as possible, and simultaneously, the air in the atmosphere protection chamber is driven out through the exhaust port along with the increase of the volume of the elastic airbag;
the air left in the space between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic air bag is washed by a washing device, so that the oxygen content in the space is below a set value;
and closing the exhaust port of the atmosphere protection chamber, and opening a valve at the exhaust port of the elastic air bag to enable the inert gas in the elastic air bag to enter the atmosphere protection chamber and enable the elastic air bag to contract into an uninflated state.
9. The atmospheric-environment preparation method of claim 8, wherein, after closing the atmospheric protection chamber and opening the valve at the discharge port of the elastic bladder to allow the inert gas in the elastic bladder to enter the atmospheric protection chamber and to contract the elastic bladder to an uninflated state, the method further comprises:
when the oxygen content monitored by the oxygen content sensor exceeds a set value, the gas washing device automatically operates to wash all the gas in the atmosphere protection chamber until the oxygen content is reduced below the set value.
10. An atmospheric environmental preparation method as defined in claim 8 or 9, wherein the step of purging the air remaining in the space between the inner wall of the atmospheric protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic bag by a purging device comprises:
opening an air inlet of the atmosphere protection chamber, and controlling a gas washing device to perform gas replacement on air left in a space between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic airbag by using inert gas;
in the gas replacement process, monitoring the oxygen content of gas between the inner wall of the atmosphere protection chamber and the outer wall of the elastic airbag through an oxygen content sensor, and when the oxygen content is reduced to a set value, closing the air inlet of the atmosphere protection chamber and controlling the gas washing device to stop working.
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