CN118635535A - A powder supply bin and device for reducing powder consumption in laser powder bed melting process - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention belongs to the field of additive manufacturing technology, and in particular, relates to a powder supply bin and device for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process, including a powder supply bin shell; a plurality of powder supply components, the powder supply components move up and down in the powder supply bin shell, and the plurality of powder supply components are combined to match the shape of the inner wall of the powder supply bin shell; and a drive component fixedly connected to the bottom surface of the powder supply component. Under the layout of the present invention, the original powder supply bin is changed from a single bin and a single axis to powder feeding by a plurality of powder supply components, and with the coordination between different powder supply components, powder supply bins of several sizes can be formed. The smallest powder supply bin volume is one of several parts of the entire bin body, which means that the powder consumption is one of several parts of the original; in addition, with different layout coordination, a variety of powder supply bin volumes can be obtained, which can meet the alloy design and print small experimental blocks, and can also form larger specimens.

Description

A powder supply bin and device for reducing powder consumption in laser powder bed melting process

Technical Field

The present invention belongs to the technical field of additive manufacturing, and in particular relates to a powder supply bin and a device for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process.

Background Art

With the continuous development of additive manufacturing technology, laser powder bed fusion has become a widely used metal additive manufacturing process. This process has the characteristics of high precision, high material utilization and wide material adaptability. Therefore, it has been widely studied by scholars at home and abroad, and some of the research is aimed at the alloy design of this process. Alloy design is a long and high-risk process, which generally requires a lot of manpower, material resources and material costs. Due to the minimum limit of the powder input of industrial-grade equipment, a large amount of pre-alloyed powder needs to be produced; in addition, because the designed alloy generally contains many precious and rare elements, the corresponding powder is generally expensive. Once the designed alloy has poor performance after forming or cannot be formed at all, it will cause serious economic losses and greatly increase the initial cost of alloy design.

At present, various laser powder bed melting equipment manufacturers have also proposed some solutions to this problem. The most common one is the double-set configuration of the forming substrate, that is, installing a small-sized substrate above the forming chamber platform. This solves the problem of large powder consumption to a certain extent, but the design also has certain defects. First, for the equipment with powder feeding from the bottom, the forming chamber and the powder supply chamber are independent and arranged side by side in the horizontal direction. When this configuration is running, the forming chamber will drop a layer thickness, and the powder supply chamber will rise a layer thickness to use a scraper to supply powder to the forming chamber for subsequent printing. However, this makes the total amount of powder supply only related to the height of the printed part, and is not controlled by the format of the printed part, so the small-sized substrate will not save powder, so this strategy is not suitable for equipment with powder feeding from the bottom. Secondly, the small-sized substrate configuration generally includes multiple accessories such as sensors, small substrate columns, small substrates and sleeves. When using, they need to be replaced in a dusty environment, and the control end of the software may need to be changed. Therefore, the use steps are cumbersome and there is a certain risk of dust inhalation.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a powder supply bin and a device for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process, so as to solve the above-mentioned problem.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following solutions:

A powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed fusion process, comprising:

Powder supply bin housing;

A plurality of powder supply components, the powder supply components move up and down in the powder supply bin shell, and the plurality of powder supply components are combined to match the shape of the inner side wall of the powder supply bin shell;

The driving assembly is fixedly connected to the bottom surface of the powder supply assembly.

Preferably, the powder supply assembly includes a powder receiving slider, which moves up and down in the powder supply bin shell. The bottom surface of the powder receiving slider passes through the powder supply bin shell and is fixedly connected to a transmission shaft. The end of the transmission shaft away from the powder receiving slider is fixedly connected to the output end of the drive assembly.

Preferably, the driving assembly is one of a linear motor and a lead screw nut.

Preferably, the powder supply bin shell is a cubic structure with upper and lower openings.

Preferably, the powder receiving sliding block is a cubic structure.

Preferably, a plurality of the powder receiving sliding blocks are arranged in sequence, adjacent powder receiving sliding blocks are in contact with each other, and adjacent powder receiving sliding blocks slide relative to each other.

An additive manufacturing device, the additive manufacturing device having a powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages and technical effects:

Under the layout of the present invention, the original powder supply bin is changed from a single bin and a single axis to a plurality of powder supply components. With the coordination between different powder supply components, several sizes of powder supply bins can be formed. The volume of the smallest powder supply bin is one of the entire bin body, which means that the consumption of powder is one of the original; in addition, with different layout coordination, a variety of powder supply bin volumes can be obtained, which can meet the alloy design and print small experimental blocks, and can also form larger samples, which is of great significance to accelerate industrial production and alloy development.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments are briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative labor:

FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a 1/5 powder supply bin mode of the present invention;

FIG2 is a top view of a 1/5 powder supply bin mode of the present invention;

FIG3 is a top view of a forming bin after forming in a 1/5 powder supply bin mode of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the powder supply bin.

Among them, 1. Powder holding slider; 2. Transmission shaft; 3. Printing plane; 4. Powder material; 6. Forming sample; 7. Base plate; 8. Powder supply bin shell; 9. Forming bin.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

1 to 3, the present invention provides a powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process, comprising:

Powder supply bin housing 8;

A plurality of powder supply components, which move up and down in the powder supply bin housing 8, and after the plurality of powder supply components are combined, they match the shape of the inner side wall of the powder supply bin housing 8;

The driving assembly is fixedly connected to the bottom surface of the powder supply assembly.

The number of powder supply components of the present invention is 5 groups. Under the layout of the present invention, the original powder supply bin is changed from a single bin and a single axis to 5 groups of powder supply components. With the coordination between different powder supply components, powder supply bins of several sizes can be formed. The volume of the smallest powder supply bin is one-fifth of the entire bin body, which means that the consumption of powder is one-fifth of the original; in addition, with different layout coordination, a variety of powder supply bin volumes can be obtained, which can meet the alloy design and print small experimental blocks, and can also form larger sample volumes, which is of great significance to accelerate industrial production and alloy development.

To further optimize the solution, the powder supply component includes a powder receiving slider 1, which moves up and down in the powder supply bin shell 8. The bottom surface of the powder receiving slider 1 passes through the powder supply bin shell 8 and is fixedly connected to a transmission shaft 2. The end of the transmission shaft 2 away from the powder receiving slider 1 is fixedly connected to the output end of the drive component.

According to a further optimized solution, the driving component is one of a linear motor and a lead screw nut.

According to a further optimized solution, the powder supply bin housing 8 is a cubic structure with upper and lower openings.

According to a further optimized solution, the powder receiving slider 1 is a cubic structure.

According to a further optimized solution, a plurality of powder receiving sliders 1 are arranged in sequence, adjacent powder receiving sliders 1 are fitted to each other, and adjacent powder receiving sliders 1 slide relative to each other.

An additive manufacturing device has a powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process.

The linear motor drives the transmission shaft 2 and the powder holding slide 1 to move upward to push the powder material 4 to a certain position above the printing plane (generally one layer thickness), and then the scraper scrapes the pushed powder material 4 onto the base plate 7 of the forming bin 9 to realize powder supply.

The working process of the present invention is as follows:

Here we take the 1/5 warehouse mode as an example to describe the steps of using this layout.

First, a printing model is created before printing. Referring to Figure 1, for the 1/5 bin mode, since the powder only exists in 1/5 of the powder supply bin shell 8, the forming bin 9 will also only have 1/5 of the powder supply. Therefore, when creating a model, the model can only be created at 1/5 of the substrate.

Before printing, the amount of powder material is estimated based on the height of the printed part. Generally, the height of the printed part = the height of the formed substrate descending during the printing process = the height of the powder supply cylinder rising. If the maximum height of the printed part is z, the software system controls a transmission shaft 2 to drive the corresponding powder receiving slider 1 to move down to the height z, and then add powder material 4 until the height of the powder material 4 is flush with the printing plane 3.

After printing starts, the base plate 7 of the forming chamber 9 drops by a layer thickness, the other powder receiving sliders 1 remain flush with the printing plane 3, and another powder receiving slider 1 moves upward by a layer thickness to push the powder material 4 to be supplied to a height higher than the printing plane 3 by a layer thickness, and then the scraper scrapes this part of the powder material 4 to the base plate 7. Only the position of the base plate 7 of the forming chamber 9 corresponding to the powder receiving slider 1 has powder material supply, and the bare base plate 7 can also be seen at the position without powder material supply.

Since only this part has a model when modeling, the laser will only scan this part, and the formed sample 6 will only be formed in this part, and the cycle will be repeated until the model is completed. In this case, the overall powder supply volume is xyz, and the volume of powder material required to print a sample of the same height under the traditional layout is 5xyz. Therefore, the layout of the present invention reduces the initial amount of powder required for the equipment to be turned on. In addition, if the printing format is increased or a large-volume specimen needs to be printed, the control system can be used to enable several powder-receiving sliders 1 to operate simultaneously. For example, if three powder-receiving sliders 1 are kept stationary, and two powder-receiving sliders 1 are used to simultaneously operate the powder material 4, the printing format is expanded by 2 times, and the initial amount of powder required is also expanded by 2 times, and so on.

In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "longitudinal", "lateral", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside" and "outside" etc., indicating orientations or positional relationships, are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

The embodiments described above are only descriptions of the preferred modes of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Without departing from the design spirit of the present invention, various modifications and improvements made to the technical solutions of the present invention by ordinary technicians in this field should all fall within the protection scope determined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed fusion process, comprising:

A powder supply bin housing (8);

The powder supply components move up and down in the powder supply bin shell (8), and the powder supply components are matched with the shape of the inner side wall of the powder supply bin shell (8) after being combined;

The driving assembly is fixedly connected with the bottom surface of the powder supply assembly.

2. The powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process according to claim 1, wherein the powder supply assembly comprises a powder bearing slide block (1), the powder bearing slide block (1) moves up and down in a powder supply bin shell (8), the bottom surface of the powder bearing slide block (1) penetrates out of the powder supply bin shell (8) and is fixedly connected with a transmission shaft (2), and one end, far away from the powder bearing slide block (1), of the transmission shaft (2) is fixedly connected with the output end of the driving assembly.

3. The powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed fusion process according to claim 2, wherein the driving component is one of a linear motor and a screw nut.

4. A powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed fusion process according to claim 2, wherein the powder supply bin housing (8) has a cube structure with upper and lower openings.

5. The powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed fusion process according to claim 2, wherein the powder bearing slide block (1) is of a cube structure.

6. The powder supply bin for reducing powder consumption in a laser powder bed melting process according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of powder bearing sliding blocks (1) are sequentially arranged, adjacent powder bearing sliding blocks (1) are mutually attached, and adjacent powder bearing sliding blocks (1) slide relatively.

7. An additive manufacturing apparatus having a powder supply bin according to any one of claims 1 to 6 that reduces powder consumption in a laser powder bed fusion process.