Systems and methods for depositing charged metal droplets onto a workpiece
Assignee3DAM Technologies, LLC/3DAM Holdings, LLC
InventorsWayne L. Johnson, Lawrence Murr, Mike Halpin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus and methods are described for performing additive manufacturing. The apparatus includes a vacuum chamber for fabricating a workpiece composed of deposited metal, a table positioned within the vacuum chamber, and configured to support fabrication of the workpiece on a substrate, and one or more multiple droplet emitters coupled to the vacuum chamber, and arranged to irradiate the workpiece with a stream of molten metal droplets during fabrication.
Claims19
An apparatus for depositing metal onto a workpiece during additive manufacturing, the apparatus comprising:
- a crucible having a top portion configured to receive a continuous supply of wire material, and a bottom portion including an orifice;
- a droplet generator configured to convert the wire material into a stream of metal droplets emitted from the orifice in the presence of an electromagnetic field;
- a droplet sensor configured to measure respective indicia of the charge and velocity of each droplet;
- a droplet scanner configured to direct each droplet to a predetermined location on the workpiece;
- and
- a processor configured to dynamically modulate the scanner for each droplet based on the measured charge and measured velocity of that droplet;
- wherein:
- the droplet sensor is further configured to measure indicia of the trajectory of each droplet;
- and
- the processor is further configured to dynamically modulate the scanner based on the trajectory of each droplet.
An apparatus for depositing metal onto a workpiece during additive manufacturing, the apparatus comprising:
- a crucible having a top portion configured to receive a continuous su of wire material, and a bottom portion including an orifice;
- a droplet generator configured to convert the wire material into a stream of metal droplets emitted from the orifice in the presence of an electromagnetic field;
- a droplet sensor configured to measure respective indicia of the charge and velocity of each droplet;
- a droplet scanner configured to direct each droplet to a predetermined location on the workpiece;
- and
- a processor configured to dynamically modulate the Scanner for each droplet based on the measured charge and measured velocity of that droplet;
- wherein the droplet sensor comprises a ring electrode including four arcuate segments.
A method of depositing metal onto a workpiece in an additive manufacturing process, the method comprising:
- melting a wire in a crucible having an orifice disposed in a generally semi-spherical bottom region;
- emitting a stream of metal droplets from the orifice in the presence of an electromagnetic field;
- determining the charge, velocity, mass, and trajectory of each droplet;
- directing each droplet to a specific location on the workpiece if the charge, velocity, mass, and trajectory of the droplet are within predetermined ranges;
- and
- directing the droplet away from the workpiece if the charge, velocity, mass, or trajectory of the droplet are outside the predetermined ranges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.