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US 2018/0009158 A1Published application
Free-Form Spatial 3-D Printing Using Part Levitation
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsWilliam A. Harkness, Josh H. Goldschmid
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A part is fabricated by an additive manufacturing process while levitating in space. Constituent features of the part are formed by 3-D printing. A part levitation system allows the spatial orientation of the part to be manipulated relative to one or more print heads.
Claims20
An additive fabrication method, comprising:
- forming a feature of a part by printing material into a space;
- levitating the part by acoustic levitation;
- changing a spatial orientation of the part while the part is levitating;
- forming another feature of the part by printing material into the space;
- and
- repeating the steps of changing the spatial orientation of the part and printing material into the space until an entire part is formed.
3 more elements
An additive fabrication method, comprising:
- forming differing constituent features of a part by depositing a material into a space;
- levitating the constituent features of the part while the material is being deposited into the space;
- spatially manipulating the constituent features of the part;
- wherein the constituent features of the part are levitated by acoustic levitation.
1 more element
An apparatus for additive fabrication of a part, comprising:
- a plurality of print heads located around a space, each of the heads being capable of depositing material into the space to form features of the part;
- a displacement system coupled with each of the print heads for displacing each of the print heads relative to the part;
- and
- an acoustic levitation system for levitating the part in the space as the features are being formed by the plurality of print heads comprising:
- at least one acoustic radiator for radiating a sound wave of alternating frequency, and
- at least one acoustic reflector positioned to reflect the sound wave,
- wherein the at least one acoustic radiator and the at least one acoustic reflector are arranged to form a standing wave pattern having a node in which the part is trapped and levitated.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.