Three dimensional printer having platen sections with compressible vertical interfacial engagement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11413818-B2
Application number	US-202017126216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2020
Priority date	Dec 19, 2019
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

A three-dimensional printing system includes an array of platen sections, a plurality of compressive sheets, a chassis, a plurality of actuators, a powder dispenser, and an energy beam source. The array of platen sections individually have a top surface and a plurality of vertical side surfaces intersecting the top surface. The plurality of platen sections are positioned with adjacent pairs of platen sections having a pair of the vertical side surfaces in facing relation with each other and defining a vertical gap therebetween. Thus they define a plurality of vertical gaps over the array of platen sections. The plurality of compressible sheets fill the plurality of vertical gaps. The chassis supports the array of platen sections. The plurality of actuators is for individually and vertically positioning the platen sections.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A three-dimensional printing system configured to produce a 3D article through a layer-by-layer selective fusion of powder along a build plane comprising:
an array of platen sections individually having a horizontal top surface and a plurality of vertical side surfaces intersecting the top surface, the platen sections in the array of platen sections are positioned adjacent to each other such that they form adjacent pairs of platen sections, each adjacent pair of platen sections forming a vertical gap between them, each vertical gap defined by a pair of adjacent and facing vertical side surfaces of the corresponding adjacent pair of platen sections, the adjacent pairs of platen sections defining a plurality of vertical gaps over the array of platen sections;
a plurality of compressible sheets that fill the plurality of vertical gaps, for each pair of adjacent and facing vertical side surfaces, one of the compressible sheets is coupled to one vertical side surface of the pair of adjacent and facing vertical side surfaces and slidingly engages another vertical side surface of the pair of adjacent and facing vertical side surfaces; a chassis for supporting the array of platen sections, the chassis defining a plurality of upward extending slots;
a plurality of vertically oriented rails mounted in each upward extending slot of the plurality of upward extending slots, each platen section is slidingly coupled to the plurality of vertically oriented rails in each upward extending, slot;
a plurality of actuators for individually and vertically positioning the platen sections; and
an energy beam source for selectively fusing a layer of the powder at the build plane.

2. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 1 wherein the top surface of each platen section is hexagonal and each platen section has six vertical side surfaces.

3. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 2 wherein three vertical side surfaces of the six vertical side surfaces individually have one compressible sheet of the plurality of compressible sheets coupled thereto.

4. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 1 wherein the compressible sheets are made of a fibrous material.

5. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 4 wherein the fibrous material is at least partially formed from aramid fibers.

6. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 4 wherein the fibrous material is at least partially formed from ceramic fibers.

7. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 1 wherein the compressible sheets are formed at least partially from aramid fibers.

8. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 1 further comprising:
a platform housing that laterally surrounds the array of platen sections, the platform housing includes a perimeter of inward facing surfaces that face toward the array of platen sections, a plurality of peripheral vertical gaps are defined between the inward facing surfaces of the platform housing and vertical side surfaces of the platen sections, a peripheral arrangement of compressible sheets fill the peripheral vertical gaps.

9. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 8 wherein for a pair of vertical surfaces including one of the inward facing surfaces of the platform housing and one of the vertical side surfaces of the platen sections, one compressible sheet of the peripheral arrangement of compressible sheets is attached to one vertical surface of the pair of vertical surfaces and is in vertical sliding engagement with another vertical surface of the pair of vertical surfaces.

10. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 8 wherein the platform housing has a lower end that is vertically supported by the chassis.

11. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 1 further comprising an array of vertical shanks that couple the array of platen sections to the plurality of actuators.

12. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 11 wherein the array of vertical shanks individually include a lead screw that is coupled to one platen section of the array of platen sections and an adapter that is coupled to one actuator of the plurality of actuators.

13. A three-dimensional printing system configured to manufacture a 3D article through a layer-by-layer fusion of powder along a build plane comprising:
a printer housing enclosing a build chamber having an array of motors mounted above a lower portion of the build chamber;
a build platform assembly including:
an array of platen sections corresponding to the array of motors, the platen sections individually including a horizontal top surface and a plurality of vertical side surfaces extending downward from the horizontal top surface;
a platform housing that laterally surrounds the array of platen sections and having inward facing vertical surfaces that face toward the array of platen sections;

a chassis defining an array of upward extending slots;
a plurality of vertically oriented rails mounted in each upward extending slot of the array of upward extending slots, each platen section of the array of platen sections is slidingly coupled to one or more vertically oriented rails of the plurality of the vertically oriented rails in each upward extending slot;
a plurality of gaps are defined between some of the plurality of vertical side surfaces and the inward facing vertical surfaces, each gap in the plurality of gaps is defined by a pair of vertically facing surfaces including one vertical side surface and one inward facing vertical surface;
a plurality of compressible sheets filling the plurality of gaps, for each pair of vertically facing surfaces, a compressible sheet of the plurality of compressible sheets is attached to one vertical facing surface of the pair of vertically facing surfaces and slidingly engages the other vertically facing surface of the pair of vertically facing surfaces; and
an array of shanks corresponding to the array of motors and the array of platen sections, the array of shanks individually including an upper portion coupled to one platen section of the array of platen sections and a lower portion coupled to one motor of the array of motors;

an energy beam source for selectively fusing a layer of the powder at the build plane;
an actuator driver coupled to the array of motors; and
a controller controllably coupled to the energy beam source and the actuator driver, the controller including a processor coupled to a non-transient storage device storing software instructions, when executed by the processor the software instructions operate the energy beam source and the actuator driver to manufacture the 3D article and to selectively position the platen sections vertically during the manufacture to reduce a use of powder.

14. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 13 wherein the top surface of each platen section in the array of platen sections is hexagonal and each platen section has six vertical side surfaces.

15. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 14 wherein a compressible sheet is mounted to each of three vertical side surfaces of the six vertical side surfaces.

16. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 13 wherein the compressible sheets are made of a fibrous material.

17. The three-dimensional printing system of claim 13 wherein the compressible sheets are formed at least partially from an aramid material.

18. A three-dimensional printing system configured to produce a 3D article through a layer by layer selective fusion of powder along a build plane comprising:
a printer housing enclosing a

Assignees

• 3D Systems Inc

Inventors

• Smith Iii James Francis

Classifications

• B22F12/80

  Plants, production lines or modules · CPC title

• B22F10/37

  of powder bed aspects, e.g. density · CPC title

• B22F12/38

  Housings, e.g. machine housings · CPC title

• B22F12/30

  Platforms or substrates · CPC title

• B22F12/222

  for motion along a direction orthogonal to the plane of a layer · CPC title