Powder processing apparatus for classifying and degassing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016228918-A1
Application number	US-201514615733-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 6, 2015
Priority date	Feb 6, 2015
Publication date	Aug 11, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A powder processing apparatus includes a vessel. The vessel has an interior chamber that includes top and bottom regions, and a gas outlet to the exterior of the vessel. A wall divides the bottom region into first and second sub-regions, with the top region extending above the wall. First and second porous plates divide the first and second sub-regions such that there are first and second manifold regions below the first and second porous plates. The first and second gas manifold regions include first and second gas inlets from the exterior of the vessel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A powder processing apparatus comprising:
a vessel including,
an interior chamber having top and bottom regions, and a gas outlet to the exterior of the vessel,
a wall dividing the bottom region into first and second sub-regions, with the top region extending above the wall, and
first and second porous plates dividing the first and second sub-regions such that there are first and second manifold regions below the first and second porous plates, the first and second gas manifold regions including first and second gas inlets from the exterior of the vessel.

2 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the interior chamber diverges from the bottom region to the top region.

3 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the top region has a larger diameter than the bottom region.

4 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the vessel includes a bottom cylindrical section that has a first diameter, a top cylindrical section that has a second diameter that is greater than the first diameter, and a frustoconical intermediate section joining the bottom cylindrical section and the top cylindrical section.

5 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , further comprising at least one pressurized gas source and a flow network connecting the at least one pressurized gas source with the first and second gas inlets.

6 . The apparatus as recited in claim 5 , wherein the flow network includes a first metering valve operable to control flow into the first gas inlet, and a second metering valve operable to control flow into the second gas inlet.

7 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first and second sub-regions are equal in size.

8 . A method of treating a powder material, the method comprising:
classifying a powder material within a vessel by using a fluidized bed of the powder material to separate smaller particles of the powder material from larger particles of the powder material; and degassing the separated smaller particles and the larger particles within the vessel by heating and fluidizing the larger particles and the separated smaller particles.

9 . The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the classifying of the powder material includes increasing a gas flow to the fluidized bed of the powder material such that the gas flow entrains the smaller particles and carries the smaller particles upwards out of the fluidized bed of the powder material.

10 . The method as recited in claim 9 , including carrying the smaller particles upwards into a diffusion zone that slows the velocity of the smaller particles such that the smaller particles dis-entrain and fall into a collection area separate from the fluidized bed having the larger particles.

11 . The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the vessel includes:
an interior chamber having top and bottom regions, and a gas outlet to the exterior of the vessel, a wall dividing the bottom region into first and second sub-regions, with the top region extending above the wall, and first and second porous plates dividing the first and second sub-regions such that there are first and second manifold regions below the first and second porous plates, the first and second gas manifold regions including first and second gas inlets from the exterior of the vessel.

12 . The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein the classifying of the powder material includes increasing a gas flow through the first porous plate to the fluidized bed of the powder material in the first sub-region such that the gas flow entrains the smaller particles and carries the smaller particles upwards from the first sub-region into the top region.

13 . The method as recited in claim 12 , including slowing the velocity of the smaller particles in the top region such that the smaller particles dis-entrain and fall into the second sub-region.

14 . The method as recited in claim 13 , including heating and fluidizing the smaller particles in the second sub-region, and heating and fluidizing the larger particles in the first sub-region.

15 . The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising heating the powder material within the vessel during said step (a).

16 . The method as recited in claim 8 , including repeating said step (a) using either the smaller particles or the larger particles as the powder material that is classified.

17 . A method of treating a powder material, the method comprising:
(a) first and second powder consolidation processes that utilize, respectively, first and second feed powders that have different powder size distributions; (b) classifying a starting powder material within a vessel with respect to the different powder size distributions by using a fluidized bed of the powder material to separate smaller particles of the powder material from larger particles of the powder material; (c) degassing the separated smaller particles and the larger particles within the vessel by using a first heated fluidized bed of the separated smaller particles and a second heated fluidized bed of the larger particles; and (d) using the degassed smaller particles from said step (c) as the first feed powder in said step (a) to form a first consolidated article and using the degassed larger particles from said step (c) as the second feed powder in said step (a) to form a second consolidated article.

18 . The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the first and second powder consolidation processes are additive fabrication processes.

19 . The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the classifying of the powder material includes increasing a gas flow to the fluidized bed of the powder material such that the smaller particles entrain in the gas flow and are carried upwards out of the fluidized bed of the powder material, and carrying the smaller particles upwards into a diffusion zone that slows the velocity of the smaller particles such that the smaller particles dis-entrain and fall into a collection area separate from the fluidized bed having the larger particles.

20 . The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the vessel includes:
an interior chamber having top and bottom regions, and a gas outlet to the exterior of the vessel, a wall dividing the bottom region into first and second sub-regions, with the top region extending above the wall, and first and second porous plates dividing the first and second sub-regions such that there are first and second manifold regions below the first and second porous plates, the first and second gas manifold regions including first and second gas inlets from the exterior of the vessel.

Assignees

• United Technologies Corp

Inventors

• She Ying
• Dardas Zissis A

Classifications

• B29C64/314

  Preparation · CPC title

• B22F1/052

  characterised by a mixture of particles of different sizes or by the particle size distribution · CPC title

• B22F10/28

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

• B22F10/34

  of powder characteristics, e.g. density, oxidation or flowability · CPC title

• B07B9/02

  Combinations of similar or different apparatus for separating solids from solids using gas currents · CPC title