Light Recycling For Additive Manufacturing Optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024239046-A1
Application number	US-202418620164-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 28, 2024
Priority date	Oct 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 18, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and an apparatus pertaining to recycling and reuse of unwanted light in additive manufacturing can multiplex multiple beams of light including at least one or more beams of light from one or more light sources. The multiple beams of light may be reshaped and blended to provide a first beam of light. A spatial polarization pattern may be applied on the first beam of light to provide a second beam of light. Polarization states of the second beam of light may be split to reflect a third beam of light, which may be reshaped into a fourth beam of light. The fourth beam of light may be introduced as one of the multiple beams of light to result in a fifth beam of light.

First claim

1 . A method, comprising:
operating one or more light sources to emit one or more beams of light; operating optics comprising an optical device, a spatial polarization valve, and a polarizer such that:
the optical device reshapes and blends multiple beams of light, including the one or more beams of light from the one or more light sources, to provide a first beam of light;
the spatial polarization valve applies a spatial polarization pattern on the first beam of light to provide a second beam of light; and
the polarizer splits polarization states of the second beam of light to reflect a third beam of light; and
operating an optical assembly to:
reshape the third beam of light into a fourth beam of light;
introduce the fourth beam of light, in a direction along a direction of the one or more beams of light emitted by the one or more light sources, as one of the multiple beams of light; and
multiplex the multiple beams of light to result in a fifth beam of light that is transmitted through and not reflected by the polarizer.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources comprise at least a solid state laser.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources comprise at least a semiconductor laser.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial polarization valve comprises an optically addressed light valve.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial polarization valve comprises a liquid crystal display device.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial polarization valve is configured to rotate a polarization state of one or more pixels.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the polarizer is configured to reflect an s-polarization state of the second beam of light as the third beam of light.

Assignees

• Seurat Tech Inc

Inventors

• Demuth James A
• Toomre Erik
• Leard Francis L
• Kamshad Kourosh
• Fees Heiner
• Berdichevsky Eugene

Classifications

• B22F10/39

  Traceability, e.g. incorporating identifier into a workpiece or article · CPC title

• Y02P80/40

  Minimising material used in manufacturing processes · CPC title

• G02B27/108

  for sampling a portion of a beam or combining a small beam in a larger one, e.g. wherein the area ratio or power ratio of the divided beams significantly differs from unity, without spectral selectivity · CPC title

• B29C64/286

  Optical filters, e.g. masks · CPC title

• Y02P10/25

  Process efficiency · CPC title