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US 11,897,030 B2Granted
Method and system for improved temperature control for additive manufacturing
AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsLiang He, Ranajit Ghosh, Mark Kurt Weise
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for providing cooling to a part formed using high-temperature additive manufacturing process. Infrared sensors or cameras are used to measure sidewall temperatures and, optionally, top layer temperature. Coolant nozzles provide cooling to the sidewalls of the finished layers and, optionally, to the top layer. The coolant intensity of the coolant nozzles is controlled in order to reduce temperature gradients between layers and/or to maintain temperatures in each layer below preferred maximum temperature.
Claims12
A method comprising:
- a. forming a metal part comprising a plurality of layers using a direct energy deposition additive manufacturing process, the plurality of layers comprising a top layer and a plurality of finished layers that collectively form left and right sidewalls;
- b. providing a plurality of coolant nozzles in fluid flow communication with a cryogenic fluid, the plurality of coolant nozzles comprising a plurality of sidewall coolant nozzles that are capable of providing cooling to at least a portion of at least one of the left and right sidewalls;
- c. measuring a plurality of sidewall temperatures, each of the plurality of sidewall temperatures corresponding to a different one of the plurality of layers;
- and
- d. controlling a cooling intensity of each of the plurality of coolant nozzles in order to maintain a temperature gradient between each of the plurality of sidewall temperatures measured in step (c) below a first predetermined maximum temperature gradient and below a first predetermined maximum temperature, wherein the temperature gradient is the difference between the sidewall temperatures of two adjacent layers of the plurality of layers.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- a. forming a metal part comprising a plurality of layers using a direct energy deposition additive manufacturing process, the plurality of layers comprising a top layer and a plurality of finished layers that collectively form left and right sidewalls;
- b. providing at least one coolant nozzle in fluid flow communication with a cryogenic fluid, a first nozzle of the at least one coolant nozzle being positioned to provide cooling to one of the left and right sidewalls;
- c. measuring a temperature difference between a first pair of adjacent layers of the plurality of layers;
- and
- d. controlling a cooling intensity of the least one coolant nozzle in order to maintain the temperature difference between the first pair of adjacent layers below a first predetermined maximum.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.