IP Library › Granted Patent US 12697774

Granted Patent B2

US 12697774 · App. 17/294,679 · Granted Aug 4, 2026

Additive manufacturing systems

Inventors: Cristian Ferris Roig (Sant Cugat del Valles, ES); Marius Valles Gonzalez (Sant Cugat del Valles, ES); Gerard Mosquera Donate (Sant Cugart del Valles, ES)

Assignee: Peridot Print LLC

B29C64/295 B29C64/25 B29C64/386 B33Y30/00 B33Y50/00 B29K2101/12

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12697774
App. No.: 17/294,679
Granted: Aug 4, 2026
Kind: B2

External Links

USPTO Patent Center↗ Full Patent PDF↗

Abstract

Example implementations provide an additive manufacturing system for manufacturing a 3D object from a build material; the system comprising a build chamber having a build platform for supporting a build material bed; the build chamber having a number of walls, at least one wall of the plurality of walls bearing, or being associated with, two or more thermal elements, responsive to respective control signals, to influence the temperature of the build chamber; the two or more thermal elements being disposed in a direction of an axis of movement of the build platform.

Claims (70)

1 . An additive manufacturing system comprising:

a build platform to support a build material bed and that is to vertically descend as an object is additively manufactured on a layer-by-layer basis from build material of the build material bed;

a plurality of vertical walls defining a build chamber that includes the build platform and that is divided by the build platform into an upper portion including the build material bed and a lower portion below the upper portion;

an unfused supply of the build material stored in the lower portion of the build chamber;

at least one channel to deliver the build material from the unfused supply from the lower portion of the build chamber to the upper portion of the build chamber to additively manufacture a next layer of the object after a current layer of the object has been additively manufactured;

a plurality of thermal elements associated with at least one of the vertical walls, vertically disposed within the build chamber, and dividing the build chamber into a plurality of vertical zones from a top zone to a bottom zone;

a plurality of temperature sensors respectively associated with the vertical zones, each temperature sensor to detect a temperature of the build material in the vertical zone with which the temperature sensor is associated;

a processor; and

a memory storing program code that is configured such that when executed by the processor, the program code causes the processor to perform processing comprising, as the object is additively manufactured on the layer-by-layer basis from the build material:

as the build platform enters each vertical zone as the build platform descends, activating the thermal elements within the vertical zone and controlling the thermal elements to control the temperature of the build material in the upper portion of the build chamber relative to at least one threshold associated with the temperature of the build material in the lower portion of the build chamber.

2 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the thermal elements are associated with at least two of the vertical walls.

3 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one of the vertical walls with which the thermal elements are associated bears the thermal elements.

4 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one threshold comprises at least a first threshold temperature below which the build material in the lower portion is not adversely affected, such that the temperature of the build material in the upper portion is maintained below the first threshold temperature.

5 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one threshold comprises at least a second threshold temperature above which the build material in the lower portion is not adversely affected for at least a duration of time, such that the temperature of the build material in the upper portion is maintained above the second threshold temperature for no more than the duration of time.

6 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one threshold comprises both:

a first threshold temperature below which the build material in the lower portion is not adversely affected, such that the temperature of the build material in the upper portion is maintained below the first threshold temperature; and

a second threshold temperature above which the build material in the lower portion is not adversely affected for at least a duration of time, such that the temperature of the build material in the upper portion is maintained above the second threshold temperature for no more than the duration of time.

7 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a first reservoir of fusing agent; and

a first inkjet pen to selectively dispense the fusing agent on the build material bed in accordance with the current layer of the object being additively manufactured.

8 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 7 , further comprising:

a second reservoir of detailing agent; and

a second inkjet pen to selectively dispense the detailing agent on the build material bed in accordance with the current layer of the object being additively manufactured.

9 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 7 , further comprising:

a printhead carriage on which the first inkjet pen is disposed to scan over the build material bed such that the first inkjet pen is to selectively dispense the fusing agent as the printhead carriage scans over the build material bed.

10 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 9 , further comprising:

an energy source disposed over the build material bed to apply energy to the build material bed after the fusing agent has been selectively dispensed on the build material bed, to selectively fuse the build material to solidify the current layer of the object.

11 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 10 , further comprising:

a recoater in the upper portion of the build chamber to deposit a layer of the build material on the build material bed delivered by the at least one channel from the unfused supply.

12 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , wherein the processing further comprises causing the object to be additively manufactured on the layer-by-layer basis by, for each of a plurality of layers of the object:

controlling the recoater to deposit the layer of the build material on the build material bed;

controlling the printhead carriage to scan over the build material bed;

controlling the first inkjet pen to selectively dispense the fusing agent on the build material bed in accordance with the current layer of the object being formed, as the printhead carriage scans over the build material bed; and

controlling the energy source to apply the energy to the build material bed to selectively fuse the build material to solidify the current layer of the object.

13 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 12 , further comprising:

at least one Archimedes screw to which the build platform is attached to cause the build platform to vertically descend.

14 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 13 , wherein the processing further comprises causing the object to be additively manufactured on the layer-by-layer basis by further, for each of the plurality of layers of the object:

controlling the at least one Archimedes screw to cause the build platform to vertically descent by a build material layer height.

15 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing program code that is configured such that when executed a processor of an additive manufacturing system, causes the processor to perform processing,

wherein the additive manufacturing system includes:

a build platform to support a build material bed and that is to vertically descend as an object is additively manufactured on a layer-by-layer basis from build material;

an unfused supply of the build material stored in the lower portion of the build chamber;

and wherein the processing comprises, as the object is additively manufactured on the layer-by-layer basis from the build material:

16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the at least one threshold comprises at least a first threshold temperature below which the build material in the lower portion is not adversely affected, such that the temperature of the build material in the upper portion is maintained below the first threshold temperature.

17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the at least one threshold comprises at least a second threshold temperature above which the build material in the lower portion is not adversely affected for at least a duration of time, such that the temperature of the build material in the upper portion is maintained above the second threshold temperature for no more than the duration of time.

18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the at least one threshold comprises both:

19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 ,

wherein the additive manufacturing system further includes:

a first reservoir of fusing agent;

a first inkjet pen to selectively dispense the fusing agent on the build material bed in accordance with the current layer of the object being additively manufactured;

a recoater in the upper portion of the build chamber to deposit a layer of the build material on the build material bed delivered by the at least one channel from the unfused supply,

and wherein the processing further comprises causing the object to be additively manufactured on the layer-by-layer basis by, for each of a plurality of layers of the object:

controlling the recoater to deposit the layer of the build material on the build material bed;

controlling the printhead carriage to scan over the build material bed;

controlling the energy source to apply the energy to the build material bed to selectively fuse the build material to solidify the current layer of the object.

20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19 ,

wherein the additive manufacturing system further includes:

at least one Archimedes screw to which the build platform is attached to cause the build platform to vertically descend,

and wherein the processing further comprises causing the object to be additively manufactured on the layer-by-layer basis by further, for each of the plurality of layers of the object:

controlling the at least one Archimedes screw to cause the build platform to vertically descent by a build material layer height.