Measurement of additively manufactured part dimensions using OpenCV for process monitoring

Dimensional accuracies are affected due to various factors which include warping, ambient temperature, material properties, etc. In-situ process monitoring and controlling in additive manufacturing is one of the ways to reduce defects in three-dimensional (3D) printed parts through continuous monitoring and correcting the process parameters. By considering the dimensions of a printed part, the part is usually inspected after completing the printing process. In this study, a new method for determining dimensional values of fused deposition modeling printed parts during the printing process is proposed using the Open-source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV). This method of determining the dimensions of a part would be useful for a user to verify the dimensions of the part being built at various stages. This could ensure the dimensional accuracy of the part is constant throughout the printing. By adopting this method to measure the dimensions, prevents wastage of material with poor dimensional accuracy and saves time by producing only accurate parts.