Additive manufacture system using light valve device

Abstract

An object build area is exposed to a radiation beam, such as a laser light source, which has been processed and controlled through a grating light valve or valves, or planar light valve, to thereby melt, sinter, fuse or cure predetermined portions of the build area corresponding to the equivalent of individually controlled pixels, with rapid movement and positioning of the resulting LV application output array on the build area. The LV arrangement is adapted to also generally heat an entire powder bed, or targeted areas of the bed, to just below melting temperature.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE[0001]The present invention relates to additive manufacture wherein successive layers of an object or workpiece are built up from a powder, fluid or other fluent medium according to previously determined successive so-called 2 dimensional “slices” of the object or workpiece, and more particularly to a system and method using an improved grating light valve and an energy beam (e.g., laser) which can be rapidly scanned across the build area for significantly increased build speed.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Additive prototyping or manufacture techniques using a laser or other energy beam to melt, fuse, cure, sinter or otherwise solidify material to build an object or workpiece (hereafter simply referred to as an object) in a layerwise manner are well known. It is a continuing effort in the field to speed up the build process, to thereby shorten the time required to build an object. In one standard approach, an energy beam, such as a laser beam, is focused t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a method for building objects using laser light controlled by a grating light valve (GLV). By exposing the object build area to the GLV, predetermined portions of the area can be melted, sintered, fused, or cured, allowing for fast and precise construction. Additionally, the GLV can be used to heat the entire powder bed or specific areas of the bed, which can improve the manufacturing process. This is made possible because the GLV changes the laser light into an array of individually controllable spots or pixels, which can be moved across the surface of the object. The technical effects of this invention include faster build speeds and improved surface fine detail.

Problems solved by technology

The speed of scanning of a laser beam is of course limited by a single focus point (when one laser is used), and the inertial forces affecting movement of the scanner.

It can therefore take many hours to make an object.

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