Adjustable build envelope for powder bed fusion machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10065242-B1
Application number	US-201815909933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 1, 2018
Priority date	Mar 1, 2018
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

The adjustable build envelope for powder bed fusion machines includes a frame in the build chamber having four movable sides, a base and two motors with lead screws. The motors are placed at an angle of 45° with respect to the side of the frame, so that as the motors rotate the lead screws, the two sides of the frame slide in opposite directions. The sides move inward with the help of guide pins and dovetail grooves, thereby reducing the build envelope volume. For large builds, both motors rotate in the reverse direction to increase the build envelope volume. By changing the build envelope volume according to the given build size, powder waste is reduced.

First claim

We claim:

1. A powder bed fusion machine comprising:
a build chamber; and
an adjustable build envelope, comprising:
a frame adapted for mounting in the build chamber, the frame having four side walls, each of the side walls having an inner face, and outer face, a top edge, a bottom edge, two opposing side edges, and upper and lower dovetail tongues projecting from one or the side edges, the inner face of each of the side walls having upper and lower dovetail grooves defined therein, the dovetail tongues of each of the sidewalls being slidably disposed in the dovetail groove of an adjacent one of the sidewalls defining dovetail joints interlocking the four sidewalls in a rectangular parallelepiped configuration defining the build envelope;
a guide post bracket extending from the outer face of each of the sidewalls adjacent the bottom edge of the respective side wall, each of the brackets being adapted for receiving a guide post extending through the respective bracket and a corresponding guide slot defined in a floor of the build chamber;
a bushing extending from the outer face of two of the side walls disposed parallel to each other, the bushings being mounted adjacent the bottom edge of the respective side walls;
a pair of motor mounts adapted for mounting on the floor of the build chamber;
a motor mounted on each of the motor mounts;
a lead screw extending from each of the motors, each of the lead screw having a first end attached to the motor and a second end extending into a corresponding one of the bushings, the motors and the motor mounts being configured at an angle of 45° relative to the sidewall on which the corresponding bushing is mounted; the lead screws being extendable and retractable when the motors are operated in forward and reverse, respectively, whereby the dovetail tongues slide in the dovetail grooves so that the rectangular parallelepiped expands and contracts to adjust the build envelope, the side walls being constrained to maintain a rectangular parallelepiped configuration by the dovetail joints and sliding action of the guide posts in the guide slots in the floor of the build chamber.

2. The powder bed fusion machine according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a bottom support post disposed within the rectangular parallelepiped frame, the post being adapted for extending through the floor of the build chamber and being raised and lowered; and
a bottom plate mounted on the post, the bottom plate defining a build platform for raising the powder bed.

Assignees

• Univ King Saud

Inventors

• Al-Ahmari Abdulrahman M
• Alfaify Abdullah Yahia M
• Hamid Mohamed Hamid

Classifications

• B01J8/1872 Primary

  Details of the fluidised bed reactor (B01J8/1836 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B22F12/38

  Housings, e.g. machine housings · CPC title

• B22F12/22

  Driving means · CPC title

• B22F10/28

  Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] · CPC title

• B22F3/1121

  by using decomposable, meltable or sublimatable fillers · CPC title