Switchyard beam routing of patterned light for additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11014302-B2
Application number	US-201815977270-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2018
Priority date	May 11, 2017
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for additive manufacturing pertaining to high efficiency, energy beam patterning and beam steering to effectively and efficiently utilize the source energy. In one embodiment recycling and reuse of unwanted light includes a source of multiple light patterns produced by one or more light valves, with at least one of the multiple light patterns being formed from rejected patterned light. An image relay is used to direct the multiple light patterns, and a beam routing system receives the multiple light patterns and respectively directs them toward defined areas on a powder bed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A switchyard beam routing system for additive manufacturing, comprising:
an energy beam;
a beam patterning unit generating a two-dimensional patterned energy beam from the energy beam;
a plurality of energy switching units collectively forming a switchyard that receives the two-dimensional patterned energy beam, routes the two-dimensional patterned energy beam along a first route, and outputs the two-dimensional patterned energy beam;
a plurality of energy steering units, each energy steering unit thereof forming a destination for a different route through the switchyard, wherein a first energy steering unit of the plurality of energy steering units forms a destination for the first route and receives and directs the two-dimensional patterned energy beam; and
at least one powder bed receiving the two-dimensional patterned energy beam from the first energy steering unit.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional patterned energy beam as received by the at least one powder bed preserves greater than 50% of angular power density and 75% of spatial etendue content of the two-dimensional patterned energy beam as generated by the beam patterning unit.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of energy switching units form a switching hierarchy wherein at least one energy switching unit of the plurality of energy switching units selectively switches the two-dimensional patterned energy beam between at least two other energy switching units of the plurality of energy switching units.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the plurality of energy switching units form a switching hierarchy, and wherein first and second energy switching units of the plurality of energy switching units are arranged such that a second route through the switchyard passes from the first energy switching unit to the second energy switching unit and a third route through the switchyard passes from the second energy switching unit to the first energy switching unit.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein each energy steering unit of the plurality of energy steering units corresponds to a different portion of the at least one powder bed.

6. A switchyard beam routing system, comprising:
an energy beam;
a beam patterning unit generating a two-dimensional patterned energy beam from the energy beam; and
a plurality of energy switching units collectively forming a switchyard that (1) receives the two-dimensional patterned energy beam, (2) routes the two-dimensional patterned energy beam through a switching hierarchy wherein the two-dimensional patterned energy beam is passed from at least one energy switching unit of the plurality of switching units to at least one other energy switching unit of the plurality of switching units, and (3) outputs the two-dimensional patterned energy beam.

7. The switchyard beam routing system of claim 6 , wherein first and second energy switching units of the plurality of energy switching units are arranged such that a first route through the switchyard passes from the first energy switching unit to the second energy switching unit and a second route through the switchyard passes from the second energy switching unit to the first energy switching unit.

8. The switchyard beam routing system of claim 6 , further comprising:
a plurality of energy steering units, each energy steering unit thereof forming a destination for a different route through the switchyard, wherein a first energy steering unit of the plurality of energy steering units forms a destination for a first route through the switchyard and receives and directs the two-dimensional patterned energy beam; and
at least one powder bed receiving the two-dimensional patterned energy beam from the first energy steering unit.

9. The switchyard beam routing system of claim 6 , further comprising a plurality of energy steering units, each energy steering unit thereof forming a destination for a different route through the switchyard, wherein a first energy steering unit of the plurality of energy steering units forms a destination for a first route through the switchyard and receives and directs the two-dimensional patterned energy beam, wherein the first energy steering unit comprises a movable mirror.

10. The switchyard beam routing system of claim 6 , wherein:
the energy beam comprises a laser beam; and
the beam patterning unit contains at least one light valve configured to pass a first positive pattern of light and reject a second negative pattern of light.

11. A switchyard light recycling system, comprising:
at least one light source emitting at least one beam of light;
a first beam patterning unit receiving the at least one beam of light and comprising a light valve that divides the at least one beam of light into a first positive pattern of light and a second negative pattern of light;
a second beam patterning unit receiving the second negative pattern of light from the first beam patterning unit and outputting a third positive pattern of light and a fourth negative pattern of light; and
a plurality of beam switching units collectively forming a switchyard that (1) receives the first positive pattern and the third positive pattern, (2) routes the first positive pattern along a first route therethrough, (3) routes the third positive pattern along a second route therethrough that is different from the first route, and (4) outputs both the first positive pattern and the third positive pattern.

12. The switchyard light recycling system of claim 11 , further comprising a powder bed receiving both the first positive pattern and the third positive pattern.

13. The switchyard light recycling system of claim 11 , wherein the third positive pattern is different from the second negative pattern.

14. The switchyard light recycling system of claim 12 , wherein the powder bed simultaneously receives the first positive pattern and the third positive pattern.

15. The switchyard light recycling system of claim 14 , wherein:
a first beam steering unit receives the first positive pattern and directs the first positive pattern to the powder bed;
a second beam steering unit receives the third positive pattern and directs the third positive pattern to the powder bed; and
the first and second beam steering units each comprise a mirror or a solid-state beam steering device.

16. The switchyard light recycling system of claim 11 , wherein at least some of the plurality of beam switching units are arranged in a binary tree switching hierarchy.

17. The switchyard light recycling system of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of beam steering units, each beam steering unit thereof forming a destination for a different route through the switchyard, wherein:
a first beam steering unit of the plurality of beam steering units forms a destination for the first route; and
a second beam steering unit of the plurality of beam steering units forms a destination for the second route.

18. The switchyard light recycling system of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the plurality of beam steering units comprises a movable mirror or a solid-state beam steering device.

19. A method for distributing beam energy to a predetermined area, comprising the steps of:
computationally dividing a print object into a plurality of slices; and
repeating, for each slice of the plurality of slices, the steps of
dividing the each slice into a plurality of tiles,
determining all pixels to be printed in each tile of the plurality of tiles,
establishing a sequenc

Assignees

• Seurat Tech Inc

Inventors

• Demuth James A
• Leard Francis L
• Toomre Erik

Classifications

• B22F10/70

  Recycling · CPC title

• B22F12/49

  Scanners · CPC title

• B22F12/44

  characterised by the configuration of the radiation means · CPC title

• B22F10/30

  Process control · CPC title

• B22F12/41 Primary

  characterised by the type, e.g. laser or electron beam · CPC title