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US 10,589,508 B2Granted
Additive manufacturing systems and methods
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsKevin George Harding, Victor Petrovich Ostroverkhov, Jason Harris Karp
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of forming a build in a powder bed includes emitting a plurality of laser beams from selected vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) of at least one VCSEL array onto the powder bed, the selected VCSELs of the at least one VCSEL array corresponding to a pattern of a layer of the build; and simultaneously melting powder in the powder bed corresponding to the pattern of the layer of the build.
Claims20
A method of forming a build in a powder bed, comprising:
- emitting a plurality of first laser beams having a first wavelength from selected first vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) of a first VCSEL array onto the powder bed, the selected first VCSELs of the first VCSEL array corresponding to a pattern of a layer of the build;
- emitting a plurality of second laser beams having a second wavelength different than the first wavelength from selected second VCSELs of a second VCSEL array onto the powder bed, the selected second VCSELs of the second VCSEL array corresponding to the pattern of the layer of the build;
- combining the first laser beams and the second laser beams into an array of addressable laser spots via at least one dichroic beam splitter;
- and
- simultaneously melting powder in the powder bed corresponding to the pattern of the layer of the build.
2 more elements
An apparatus for forming a build in a powder bed, comprising:
- a first vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array comprising a plurality of first VCSELs, wherein the plurality of first VCSELs emit first laser beams having a first wavelength;
- a second VCSEL array comprising a plurality of second VCSELs, wherein the second VCSELs emit second laser beams having a second wavelength different than the first wavelength;
- a support configured to support a powder bed or a component configured to support the powder bed at a distance from the first VCSEL array and the second VCSEL array;
- a controller configured to control the first VCSEL array and the second VCSEL array to emit a plurality of first laser beams from selected first VCSELs of the first VCSEL array and a plurality of second laser beams from selected second VCSELs of the second VCSEL array onto the powder bed, the selected first VCSELs of the first VCSEL array and the selected second VCELs of the second VCSEL array corresponding to a pattern of a layer of the build and simultaneously melt the powder in the powder bed corresponding to the pattern of the layer of the build;
- and
- at least one dichroic beam splitter configured to combine the first laser beams and the second laser beams into an array of addressable laser spots.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.