Additive Manufacturing System And Method
An additive manufacturing system including a two-dimensional energy patterning system for imaging a powder bed is disclosed. Improved structure formation, part creation and manipulation, use of multiple additive manufacturing systems, and high throughput manufacturing methods suitable for automated or semi-automated factories are also disclosed.
1 . An additive manufacturing system, comprising:
a high energy photon source to produce a beam;
a reflective patterning unit to receive the beam and reflect a two-dimensional patterned beam; and
an image relay to receive the two-dimensional patterned beam and focus it as a two-dimensional image on a powder bed.
2 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the reflective patterning unit is optically addressed.
3 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the high energy photon source further comprises multiple semiconductor lasers.
4 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the reflective light patterning unit further comprises a highly transmissive layer, a twisted nematic (TN) liquid crystal layer, and a photoconductor layer.
5 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 4 , wherein the highly transmissive layer is optically transparent for 1000 nm and 700 nm light.
6 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 5 , wherein the highly transmissive layer is made from glass substrate having anti-reflective coatings on both sides.
7 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 6 , wherein the reflective patterning unit is cooled.
8 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 7 , wherein the reflective patterning unit is cooled on an opposing side to where a write beam and a read beam are incident, wherein the write beam is patterned and the read beam is polarized according to the write beam.
9 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 8 , wherein the read beam and the write beam are incident on a same side.
10 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 8 , wherein the read beam and the write beam are incident on different sides.