Printing method and system for additive manufacturing, including in-situ powder regeneration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023226756-A1
Application number	US-202318154775-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2023
Priority date	Jan 14, 2022
Publication date	Jul 20, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and system for 3D printing for creating at least two discrete sections of powder on a substrate, segmenting the substrate to isolate the at least two discrete sections of powder, compacting the powder on a segment of the substrate, removing loose/non-compacted powder from the segment of the substrate, create a printed/processed layer by performing one or more of a printing process or a processing operation on the segment of substrate, and transferring the printed/processed layers from the segment of substrate to a build platform.

First claim

1 . A method, comprising:
depositing powder on a substrate at a powder deposition station; removing first portions of the powder to create clean portions of the substrate between portions of deposited powder; moving the portions of deposited powder remaining on the substrate to a wetting station and wetting the powder with a wetting agent at the wetting station; passing the wetted portions of deposited powder through a compacting station to compact the powder; cutting the substrate at the clean portions to create substrate segments each respectively including one of the portions of the deposited powder; transferring the substrate segments having deposited powder mounted thereon to respective carrier frames; moving the substrate segments to a binder jetting station and depositing a binder to the powder at the binder jetting station; and moving the carrier frames, with the substrate segments having the layers mounted thereon, to a stacking station, to stack the layers individually on one another to form a multilayer product.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing the removed first portions of the powder in a clean powder collection container.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising inverting the carrier frames to separate the layers from the substrate segments.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising inverting the carrier frames to influence loose/non-compacted powder away from the substrate.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising removing the loose/non-compacted powder by a laser powder removal station following inverting the carrier frames.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the compacting station includes calendering rollers.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining one or more parameters of a thickness of the deposited powder, a level of the deposited powder, a surface profile, or a topography of the deposited powder with a monitoring system coupled to the powder deposition station.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the monitoring system is a vision system.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining if powder removal between the portions of the deposited powder is sufficient to enable a cutting operation to segment the portions of deposited powder into two adjacent powder sections using a clean strip/powder area determination sensor.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sensing a degree of wetting of the deposited powder by the wetting station using a wetting sensor and providing feedback to control operations of the wetting station based on the measured degree of wetting of the deposited powder by the wetting station.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a location of at least one edge of a powder section as it leaves the compacting station using an edge sensor.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the edge sensor further includes a profilometer configured to determine a surface profile of the deposited powder by quantifying at least one of roughness, flatness, and/or quality of the surface profile of the deposited powder.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising checking quality of the powder using a profilometer after cutting the substrate at the clean portions to create substrate segments and prior to transferring the portions of deposited powder to the carrier frames.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing one or more of a printing process or a processing operation on the segments of substrate and drying the deposited powder on the segments of the substrate after the printing process or processing operation using a material jetting and drying station.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising controlling lubrication/wetting of the deposited powder layer by the wetting station, the binder applying station, and the material jetting station and drying station using wetting/drying sensors.

16 . A method for 3D printing, the method comprising:
creating at least two discrete sections of powder on a substrate; segmenting the substrate to isolate the at least two discrete sections of powder; compacting powder on a segment of the substrate; removing loose/non-compacted powder from the segment of the substrate; creating a printed/processed layer by performing one or more of a printing process or a processing operation on the segment of substrate; and transferring the printed/processed layers from the segment of substrate to a build platform.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the discrete section of powder is lubricated/wet prior to compacting.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the segmented substrate is transferred to a carrier frame prior to binder being applied.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the carrier frame is inverted to influence the loose/non-compacted powder away from the substrate.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising depositing the removed loose/non-compacted powder in a contaminated powder collection container and regenerating the powder from the contaminated powder collection container for reuse.

21 . A 3D printing system, the system comprising:
a powder deposition station configured to deposit powder on a continuous substrate; a powder removal station configured to create at least two adjacent discrete sections of powder on the continuous substrate, separated by a powder-free clean strip of the continuous substrate; a cutting station configured to cut the continuous substrate at the clean strip of the continuous substrate to segment the continuous substrate into individual substrate segments to isolate the at least two discrete sections of powder respectively formed on adjacent ones of the individual substrate segments; a transfer station configured to transfer the individual substrate segments respectively onto corresponding individual carrier frames; an inverting station configured to invert the carrier frames so that the two discrete sections of powder are suspended from the respective individual substrate segments that they are deposited on; and a stacking station configured to receive and stack discrete sections of the powder from respective carrier frames.

22 . The system of claim 21 , further comprising:
a compacting station configured to compact the discrete sections of powder; and a laser powder removal station configured to remove loose/non-compacted powder from the segments of the substrate following transferring of the substrate segments to the carrier frames.

23 . The system of claim 22 , further comprising:
depositing powder from the powder removal station in a first collection container; depositing the loose/non-compacted powder from the laser powder removal station in a second collection container, different from the first collection container; and regenerating the powder from each of the first and second collection containers for reuse.

Assignees

• Sakuu Corp

Inventors

• Vatani Morteza
• Sajadi Seyed Mohammad
• Shi Steven Zhichao
• Wanamaker David Paul
• Azizi Siamak
• Littau Karl

Classifications

• B29C64/165 Primary

  using a combination of solid and fluid materials, e.g. a powder selectively bound by a liquid binder, catalyst, inhibitor or energy absorber · CPC title

• B29C64/357 Primary

  Recycling · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B33Y40/00 Primary

  Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling · CPC title

• B22F10/73

  of powder · CPC title