Chamber systems for additive manufacturing
AssigneeSeurat Technologies, Inc.
InventorsJames A. DeMuth, Erik Toomre, Francis L. Leard, Kourosh Kamshad, Heiner Fees, Eugene Berdichevsky
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of additive manufacture is disclosed. The method may include creating, by a 3D printer contained within an enclosure, a part having a weight greater than or equal to 2,000 kilograms. A gas management system may maintain gaseous oxygen within the enclosure atmospheric level. In some embodiments, a wheeled vehicle may transport the part from inside the enclosure, through an airlock, as the airlock operates to buffer between a gaseous environment within the enclosure and a gaseous environment outside the enclosure, and to a location exterior to both the enclosure and the airlock.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a first enclosure restricting an exchange of gaseous matter between an interior of the enclosure and an exterior of the first enclosure, wherein gaseous oxygen within the interior of the enclosure is maintained at or below a limiting oxygen concentration;
- an airlock providing an interface between the interior and the exterior of the first enclosure, the airlock operating as a buffer between a gaseous environment within the enclosure and a gaseous environment outside the first enclosure and to a location exterior to both the first enclosure and the airlock;
- one or more machines, each machine thereof executing, within the interior of the first enclosure, an independent process of additive manufacturing comprising powder-bed fusion to create one or more parts;
- first, second, and third work areas interconnected by a hub, wherein the first work area is in the interior of the first enclosure and comprises the one or more machines, wherein the hub, the second work area, and the third work area are in the exterior of the first enclosure;
- and
- a wheeled vehicle transporting the one or more parts manufactured by the one or more machines from the first work area through the airlock of the first enclosure and the hub to the second and third work areas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.