Additive manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11358222-B2
Application number	US-201816480697-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2018
Priority date	Mar 17, 2017
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

A method for producing a three-dimensional component having one or more cavities by powder-based additive manufacturing, such as selective laser melting or electron beam melting, using an additive manufacturing machine. The method includes creating 3D-CAD-data of the component to be produced using a computer-aided design method; b) identifying the cavities of the component in the 3D-CAD-data and verifying, that each cavity has at least one outlet passage connecting the cavity to the outer environment of the component, wherein, if there is no such outlet passage, it is created within the 3D-CAD-data; c) producing the component on a construction platform of the additive manufacturing machine on the basis of the 3D-CAD-data; d) removing powder present within the cavities and within the outlet passages through the outlet passages and e) heat-treating the construction platform and the component arranged thereon in a heat treatment oven.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for producing a three-dimensional component having one or more cavities by powder-based additive manufacturing, using an additive manufacturing machine, said method comprising the steps of:
a) creating 3D-CAD-data of the component to be produced using a computer-aided design method, wherein said 3D-CAD-data are suitable to be processed by the additive manufacturing machine;
b) identifying the cavities of the component in the 3D-CAD-data and verifying, that each cavity ( 14 ) has at least one outlet passage connecting the cavity to an outer environment of the component, wherein, if there is no such outlet passage, it is created within the 3D-CAD-data;
c) producing the component on a construction platform of the additive manufacturing machine on the basis of the 3D-CAD-data;
d) removing powder present within the cavities and within the outlet passages through said outlet passages while the component is arranged on the construction platform; and
e) heat-treating the construction platform and the component arranged thereon in a heat treatment oven,
wherein at least the sub-steps of step b) of identifying the cavities of the component within the 3D-CAD-data and of verifying that each cavity has at least one outlet passage connecting the cavity to the outer environment of the component, are performed automatically by applying an algorithm on the 3D-CAD-data, and, if a cavity without an outlet passage is detected, an alarm signal is output to alert the designer, and/or an outlet passage is automatically calculated and proposed to the designer, and/or an outlet passage is automatically calculated and automatically created in the 3D-CAD-data,
wherein the sub-step of verifying that each cavity has at least one outlet passage connecting the cavity to the outer environment of the component includes determining whether the at least one passage is blocked by the construction platform using an intended orientation of the component relative to the construction platform during step c).

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, if one or more cavities having outlet passages blocked by the construction platform are detected in step b), the method further comprising: outputting an alarm signal to alert the designer, and/or of automatically calculating new and/or modified outlet passages and proposing them to the designer, and/or of automatically calculating and automatically creating new and/or modified outlet passages in the 3D-CAD-data.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, if one or more cavities having outlet passages blocked by the construction platform are detected in step b), the method further comprising: automatically verifying whether or not alternative orientations of the component relative to the construction platform are possible, which lead to less or no missing outlet passages, and, if an alternative orientation is found, proposing said alternative orientation to the designer, or of automatically choosing said alternative orientation and automatically calculating and creating missing or modified outlet passages in the 3D-CAD-data.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in step b) it is verified that each cavity has at least two outlet passages connecting the cavity to the outer environment of the component, wherein, if there are no such two outlet passages, they are created in the 3D-CAD-data, wherein, if a cavity without two outlet passages is detected, an alarm signal is output to alert the designer, and/or the missing outlet passages are automatically calculated and proposed to the designer, and/or the missing outlet passages are automatically calculated and automatically created within the 3D-CAD-data.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the two outlet passages of each cavity have diameters of different size.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein pressurized air is introduced through the outlet passage of larger diameter in step d).

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the powder-based additive manufacturing comprises selective laser melting or electron beam melting.

Assignees

• Siemens Energy Global Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Lebed Yaroslav

Classifications

• B22F12/52

  Hoppers · CPC title

• B22F10/80

  Data acquisition or data processing · CPC title

• B22F10/68

  Cleaning or washing · CPC title

• B22F10/64

  by thermal means (control of energy beam parameters for post heating B22F10/364) · CPC title

• B22F10/28

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