RECOATER CLEANING SYSTEM

• Main Authors: DONOVAN, Matthew, TIBBS, Andy W, DOUSKEY, Danielle
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 23.02.2022
• Subjects: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY; ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OFTHREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVEAGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING,STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; CLEANING; CLEANING IN GENERAL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

A system (100) for cleaning an additive manufacturing machine recoater (101) includes a position module (103) for sensing and/or determining a position of a recoater (101) of the additive manufacturing machine (105) and a gas manifold (107) disposed in the additive manufacturing machine (105) and configured to spray a pressurized gas on the recoater (101) when the recoater (101) is in at least one cleaning position. The system (100) includes a valve (109) configured to allow the pressurized gas to flow from a gas source (111) to the gas manifold (107), and a valve control module (113) configured to control the valve (109) as a function of the position sensed and/or determined by the position module (103).