Alignment of energy beams in additive manufacturing systems and machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12552105-B2
Application number	US-202117361782-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2021
Priority date	Jun 29, 2021
Publication date	Feb 17, 2026
Grant date	Feb 17, 2026

Abstract

An additive manufacturing system may include an irradiation device configured to emit an energy beam having a manufacturing power level selected to additively manufacturing a three-dimensional object by irradiating a powder material, and a controller configured to perform one or more beam alignment operations when irradiating the powder material. The irradiation device may include a beam source, one or more beam positioning elements, a beam splitter configured to split a measurement beam from the energy beam, and one or more beam sensors configured to determine one or more parameters of the measurement beam. The one or more beam alignment operations may include determining position information of the energy beam based on the one or more parameters of the measurement beam, and aligning the energy beam with an optical axis of the irradiation device by adjusting a position of the one or more beam positioning elements based on the position information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for additively manufacturing a three-dimensional object, the system comprising:
a build plane configured to support one or more layers of a powder material; an irradiation device configured to emit an energy beam having a manufacturing power level selected to additively manufacture a three-dimensional object by irradiating the powder material, the irradiation device comprising a beam source, a beam collimator, one or more beam positioning elements disposed downstream from the beam source, wherein the beam collimator includes at least one beam positioning element of the one or more beam positioning elements configured to adjust a position of the collimator, a beam splitter disposed downstream from the one or more beam positioning elements, the beam splitter configured to split a measurement beam from the energy beam, and one or more beam sensors configured to determine one or more parameters of the measurement beam, the measurement beam propagating along a measurement path to the one or more beam sensors, and the energy beam propagating along an irradiation path to the powder material; and a controller configured to perform one or more beam alignment operations when irradiating the powder material with the energy beam to additively manufacture the three-dimensional object, the one or more beam alignment operations determined based at least in part on the one or more parameters of the measurement beam; wherein the one or more beam alignment operations comprises:
determining with the one or more beam sensors, position information of the energy beam based at least in part on the one or more parameters of the measurement beam; and
aligning the energy beam with an optical axis of the irradiation device by adjusting a position of the one or more beam positioning elements, including the at least one beam positioning element of the beam collimator, based at least in part on the position information determined with the one or more beam sensors, wherein adjustment of the position of the at least one beam positioning element of the beam collimator is in a direction transverse to the irradiation path.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the beam collimator comprises one or more optical elements configured to collimate the energy beam.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam alignment operations comprises:
aligning the energy beam at least partially with the optical axis of the irradiation device at least in part by adjusting a position of the beam collimator based at least in part on the position information from the one or more beam sensors.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the beam source comprises a laser fiber or a laser fiber array, or wherein the beam source comprises a laser diode or a laser diode array.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam alignment operations comprises:
adjusting one or more beam quality parameters of the energy beam at least in part by adjusting a position of the beam collimator based at least in part on the position information from the one or more beam sensors, the one or more beam quality parameters comprising: beam profile, waist position, intensity, caustic, spot size, and/or focal length.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the irradiation device comprises:
a first beam positioning element configured to adjust an axial orientation of the energy beam; and a second beam positioning element configured to adjust an angular orientation of the energy beam.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam positioning elements, including the at least one beam positioning element of the beam collimator, respectively comprise a kinematic optical element.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam sensors are configured to determine an axial orientation of the energy beam and/or an angular orientation of the energy beam.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam sensors comprises an interferometer-type configuration.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam sensors comprises a lateral displacement sensor or a quadrant sensor.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam sensors comprises one or more targets configured to obstruct at least a portion of the measurement beam.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more targets comprises an axial orientation target and/or an angular orientation target.

13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam sensors respectively comprises a variable gain amplifier, the variable gain amplifier configured to adjust a gain value of the one or more beam sensors based at least in part on a power level of the energy beam.

14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam alignment operations comprises:
performing a calibrating alignment prior to additively manufacturing at least a portion of the three-dimensional object, the calibrating alignment performed with the energy beam exhibiting a calibration power level; and performing a manufacturing alignment during additively manufacturing at least the portion of the three-dimensional object, the manufacturing alignment performed with the energy beam exhibiting the manufacturing power level, the manufacturing power level exceeding the calibration power level by at least one order of magnitude.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more beam alignment operations further comprises:
determining with the one or more beam sensors at a first time, initial position information of the energy beam based on the one or more parameters of the measurement beam; and determining that the energy beam is aligned with the optical axis of the irradiation device based on the initial position information, wherein the position information of the energy beam is determined at a second time and is different than the initial position information due to a change in an operating condition of a component of the irradiation device between the first time and the second time.

Assignees

• Gen Electric
• Concept Laser Gmbh

Inventors

• Zeulner Fabian
• Simmermon David Scott
• Banks Laura L

Classifications

• B29C64/153 Primary

  using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting · CPC title

• B29C64/282

  of the same type, e.g. using different energy levels · CPC title

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B33Y30/00

  Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title