Dynamic balancing of additively manufactured impellers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021001539-A1
Application number	US-202016866472-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 4, 2020
Priority date	Jul 2, 2019
Publication date	Jan 7, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an impeller for a thermal management device includes partially curing a curable liquid in a curable liquid bath to form a first stage rotor, removing the first stage rotor from the curable liquid bath, the first stage rotor having excess curable liquid on a surface thereof, rotating the first stage rotor to displace the excess curable liquid radially outward from a rotational axis to compensate for imbalances in the first stage rotor, and fully curing the first stage rotor and at least a portion of the excess curable liquid to produce a second stage rotor that is more rotationally balanced than the first stage rotor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for manufacturing an impeller for a thermal management device, the method comprising:
partially curing a curable liquid in a curable liquid bath to form a first stage rotor; removing the first stage rotor from the curable liquid bath, the first stage rotor having excess curable liquid on a surface thereof; rotating the first stage rotor to displace the excess curable liquid radially outward from a rotational axis to compensate for imbalances in the first stage rotor; and fully curing the first stage rotor and at least a portion of the excess curable liquid to produce a second stage rotor that is more rotationally balanced than the first stage rotor.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein partially curing the curable liquid comprises exposing the curable liquid to a particular wavelength of light.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein fully curing the first stage rotor and at least a portion of the excess curable liquid comprises fully curing the first stage rotor and at least a portion of the excess curable liquid while rotating the first stage rotor and at least a portion of the excess curable liquid.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein fully curing the curable liquid includes exposing the curable liquid to a thermal energy source.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein fully curing the curable liquid includes exposing the curable liquid to ultraviolet light.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first stage rotor includes a lattice structure.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the lattice structure is a stochastic lattice.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the curable liquid includes a cross-linking polymer.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein between removing the first stage rotor from the curable liquid bath and rotating the first stage rotor no solvent is applied to the first stage rotor.

10 . A method for manufacturing an impeller for a thermal management device, the method comprising:
obtaining a precursor rotor coated in a curable material; rotating the precursor rotor and curable material to displace at least a portion of the curable material radially outward from the rotational axis so as to compensate for radial imbalances in the precursor rotor; and curing the displaced portion of the curable material to the precursor rotor to form a second stage rotor, wherein the second stage rotor has better radial balance than the precursor rotor.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the precursor rotor includes a metal or thermoplastic.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein obtaining the precursor rotor coated in the curable material comprises submerging a frame composed of a metal or thermoplastic into a curable liquid bath.

13 . The method of claim 12 further comprising additively manufacturing the frame before submerging the frame.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein obtaining a precursor rotor coated a curable material includes submerging at least a portion of the precursor rotor in the curable liquid bath.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein obtaining a precursor rotor coated in a curable material includes applying the curable material to the precursor rotor while rotating the precursor rotor.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein obtaining a precursor rotor coated a curable material includes applying the additional curable material by vapor deposition.

17 . An impeller for use in a thermal management device, the impeller comprising:
a frame having a lattice structure and a rotational axis; and a balancing material positioned on an exterior surface of the frame, the balancing material being distributed unevenly relative to the rotational axis so as to compensate for radial imbalances in the lattice structure.

18 . The impeller of claim 17 , wherein the frame is radially imbalanced relative to the rotational axis.

19 . The impeller of claim 17 , wherein the balancing material is the same material as the frame.

20 . The impeller of claim 17 , wherein the balancing material covers all of the exterior surface of the frame, the balancing material varying in thickness on the exterior surface of the frame.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Ghioni Lincoln Matthew
• Myers Robert Ullman
• Dan Bo
• Delano Andrew Douglas

Classifications

• F04D29/281

  for fans or blowers · CPC title

• F04D29/023 Primary

  especially adapted for elastic fluid pumps · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B33Y40/20

  Post-treatment, e.g. curing, coating or polishing · CPC title

• B29D99/0025

  Producing blades or the like, e.g. blades for turbines, propellers, or wings · CPC title