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AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsFabian Zeulner, Christian Dicken
Estimating the term…
Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to implement and operate an additive manufacturing machine with focal length error determination and correction. An example apparatus includes a main laser to create a main laser beam of the AM machine, the main laser beam used to fuse particle powder together in an AM process; a focus unit to focus the main laser beam at a specified distance, the focus unit also including a measurement beam; a semi-transparent mirror to split a backreflected signal, created from a reflection of the measurement beam from a powder surface, from the measurement beam; and a sensor element to measure a focal distance error from the backreflected signal. The example apparatus can also include a measurement laser to generate a measurement laser beam with the main laser beam.
An apparatus for measuring an error in focal length from a desired focal length in an additive manufacturing (AM) machine comprising:
A method for monitoring a focal distance of an additive manufacturing (AM) process, said method comprising of steps:
An optical system for measuring a focal distance error, to be used in conjunction with an additive manufacturing (AM) machine, the system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.