Three-Dimensional Printing System with Robust Chamber Locking Mechanism

A three-dimensional printing system for manufacturing a three-dimensional article comprising:

• a housing enclosing a process chamber and having a vertical front surface defining a vertical opening coupled to the process chamber;
• a pair of locking plates including a first locking plate and a second locking plate slidingly coupled to the housing at opposed positions with respect to a first lateral axis, the pair of locking plates individually having a long axis aligned with a vertical axis and individually defining a plurality of holes, the plurality of holes individually including a wider section and a narrower section along a latching axis, the latching axis aligned with the vertical axis;
• a door moveably coupled to the vertical front surface and having an open position providing access to the opening and a closed position with an inside surface of the door covering the opening;
• a plurality of pins coupled to the door including a pair of pin arrays including a first pin array and a second pin array corresponding to the first and second pair of locking plates, the pair of locking plates are spaced apart with respect to the first lateral axis, the plurality of pins extend from the inside surface and individually have shank coupled to a distal head to define a slot along the shank between the inside surface and the distal head, closing the door causes the plurality of pins to be individually received into the wider section of one of the plurality of holes,
• at least one lock actuator coupled to the pair of locking plates and configured to translate the pair of locking plates along the locking axis between an unlocked position at which the wider section aligns with the distal head and a locked position at which the narrower section is positioned under the distal head;
• and
• a perimeter seal that seals the process chamber to the door when the door is in the closed position.