Additive manufacturing system and additive manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016114531-A1
Application number	US-201514609447-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 30, 2015
Priority date	Oct 27, 2014
Publication date	Apr 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An additive manufacturing system is provided. The system includes: a stage, a powder supplying device, an energy beam generating device and an atmosphere controlling module. The powder supplying device provides powder to the stage. The energy beam-generating device generates an energy beam and directs the energy beam to the stage. The atmosphere controlling module includes at least one pair of gas inlet-outlet devices coupled around the stage, and a dynamic gas flow controlling device connected with the gas inlet-outlet devices. The dynamic gas flow controlling device dynamically controls an angle between a flow direction of the gas and a moving direction of the energy beam. The angle is predetermined by a scanning strategy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An additive manufacturing system, comprising:
a stage; a powder supplying device, providing a powder to a surface of the stage; an energy beam generating device, generating an energy beam and directing the energy beam to the stage; and an atmosphere controlling module, comprising:
at least a pair of gas inlet-outlet devices, coupled around the stage; and
a dynamic gas flow controlling device, connected to the gas inlet-outlet devices, wherein the dynamic gas flow controlling device dynamically controls an angle between a flow direction of the gas and a moving direction of the energy beam by a predetermined scanning strategy.

2 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dynamic gas flow controlling device comprises:
a gas inlet-outlet switch device, dynamically controlling to turn on or off the gas inlet-outlet devices.

3 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dynamic gas flow controlling device comprises:
a gas flow direction adjustment device, dynamically controlling a flow direction of the gas.

4 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dynamic gas flow controlling device comprises:
a gas flow speed adjustment device, dynamically controlling a flow speed of the gas.

5 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a first rotating mechanism, connected to the dynamic gas flow controlling device and making the gas inlet-outlet devices rotate around the stage.

6 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a second rotating mechanism, connected to the dynamic gas flow controlling device and making the stage rotate around a normal line of the surface of the stage.

7 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gas inlet-outlet devices are arranged to be separate or adjacent with respect to each other and in a circular, square, or polygonal arrangement.

8 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gas inlet-outlet devices are configured as honeycombs, grids, voids, vanes, fan blades, or a combination thereof.

9 . The additive manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the energy beam generating device performs a selective melt forming process to the powder, and the selective melt forming process comprises performing a selective laser sintering process, a selective laser melting process, a direct metal laser sintering process, an electron beam melting process, or a combination thereof.

10 . An additive manufacturing method, comprising:
providing a powder onto a target surface; irradiating the powder with an energy beam and directing the energy beam on the powder to form a solidified layer; providing a gas to the surface of the stage; dynamically controlling an angle between a flow direction of the gas and a moving direction of the energy beam, wherein the angle is predetermined by a scanning strategy; and repetitively performing the above-mentioned steps until a plurality of the solidified layers formed accordingly accumulate into a three-dimensional product.

11 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the step of providing the gas to the surface of the stage comprises:
providing the gas to the surface of the stage from at least one pair of gas inlet-outlet devices coupled around the stage.

12 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the step of dynamically controlling the angle between the flow direction of the gas and the moving direction of the energy beam comprises: dynamically controlling to turn on or off some of the gas inlet-outlet devices.

13 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the step of dynamically controlling the angle between the flow direction of the gas and the moving direction of the energy beam comprises: making the gas inlet-outlet devices rotate around the stage.

14 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the step of dynamically controlling the angle between the flow direction of the gas and the moving direction of the energy beam comprises: dynamically controlling the flow direction of the gas, a flow speed of the gas, or a combination thereof.

15 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the step of dynamically controlling the angle between the flow direction of the gas and the moving direction of the energy beam comprises: making the stage rotate around a normal line of the surface of the stage.

16 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the angle between the flow direction of the gas and the moving direction is greater than 135 degrees and less than 225 degrees.

17 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the step of irradiating the powder with the energy beam and directing the energy beam on the powder comprises:
performing a selective melt forming process to the powder, wherein the selective melt forming process comprises performing a selective laser sintering process, a selective laser melting process, a direct metal laser sintering process, an electron beam melting process, or a combination thereof.

18 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein an energy density of the energy beam is in a range of 0.1 J/mm 2 to 100 J/mm 2 .

19 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein a scanning speed of the energy beam is in a range of 50 mm/sec to 2,000 mm/sec.

20 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the gas comprises argon, nitrogen, helium, or a combination thereof.

21 . The additive manufacturing method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein a focus light spot of the energy beam is in a range of 1 μm to 10,000 μm

Assignees

• Ind Tech Res Inst

Inventors

• Chuang Chuan-Sheng
• Lin Ching-Chih
• Huang Wei-Chin
• Lin De-Yau

Classifications

• B29C64/153 Primary

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

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B29C64/364

  Conditioning of environment · CPC title

• B29C64/393

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title