Automatisierung und Erweiterung der Steuerung und der Traversen eines elektrofotographischen Pulverauftragsmechansimus

The market for metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) is evolving rapidly, and it seems to be the next industrial revolution. Laser-based powder bed fusion processes (PBF-LB) are the most common techniques in AM. The increasing industrial demands of PBF-LB has led in recent years to new technological developments such as multi-material processing, and the possibility to prosses different inexpensive powders.The processing of low-cost powder, as well as multi-material powder in additive manufacturing, requires rethinking the powder coating mechanisms. The electrophotography offers the potential to ensure a locally defined deposition of different powder materials. The electrophotographic process has been applied in laser printers for years. The powder attraction and deposition are enabled by electrostatic field forces. Following the process of laser printers, it is subdivided into four steps:1) Charging - 2) Exposure - 3) Development (Attraction) - 4) Transfer (Deposition).In order to investigate the suitability of a photoconductor for use in PBF-LB, a prototype has been designed in a test setup. The current electrophotographic prototype is limited to a linear arrangement of the compo-nents with only a movement in a horizontal axis (x-axis). To investigate the influence of the ideal distance between the photoconductor and the process components (esp. for attraction and deposition), a vertical movement (z-axis) is to be implemented. The first task is to define the requirements of the axes and the drive system for the application module and the individual interfaces such as the hardware and software, as well as possible influences on the electrostatic field. The theoretical correlations, requirements, and influences are collected by scientific research.It is expected that the vertical distance of the photoconductor will have an immediate effect on the attraction of the field, and therefore, the z-axis requires, for example, a higher accuracy but less torque than the x-axis.It is also of great importance for the control of the process that the instantaneous position of the photocon-ductor is known at all times. In this context, it is necessary to provide a suitable concept, e.g., from end-value slaters or via motor control.To extend the application prototype by the vertical movement, the requirements have to be determined, and based on that; components will be selected, implemented, and put into operation.