Control of additive manufacturing systems including multiple laser energy sources

Abstract

Additive manufacturing systems and methods related to the selection and use of groups of laser pixels from an array of laser pixels including a plurality of laser pixels are disclosed. According to some embodiments a plurality of laser pixels may be divided into one or more groups of laser pixels based on one or more process parameters and/or based on the identification of failed laser pixels. The groups may be include fewer laser pixels than the overall array of laser pixels. In some embodiments, an additive manufacturing system may switch between laser pixel groups during a manufacturing process to provide redundancy and/or to enable continued operation of the system even when laser pixel failures occur.