POWDER MODULE DEVICE FOR AN APPARATUS FOR ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURING THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS

• Main Authors: Diller, Christian, Hofmann, Alexander, Stammberger, Jens, Gagel, Tobias
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 10.04.2019
• 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; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; 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

Powder module device (1) for an apparatus for additively manufacturing three-dimensional objects by means of successive layerwise selective irradiation and consolidation of layers of a powdered build material (2) which can be consolidated by means of an energy beam, comprising a powder module (3), comprising a powder module base body (6) configured to receive a powdered build material (2), comprising a number of wall elements, particularly a bottom wall element (7) and at least one side wall element (8), delimiting a build material receiving volume (9) for receiving a powdered build material (2) and an opening (10) for introducing powdered build material (2) into the build material receiving volume (9); a lid (4), comprising a lid base body (11) configured to be connected to the powder module base body (6) so as to close the opening (10) of the powder module base body (6) in a closed state of the powder module device (1); and a sealing device (5) configured to seal, particularly fluid-proof, between the powder module (3) and the lid (4) in the closed state of the powder module device (1), the sealing device (5) comprising at least one expandable sealing element (12), the expandable sealing element (12) comprising at least one expandable volume (13) which is at least partly fillable with a, particularly pressurized, expansion medium so as to expand the expandable sealing element (12) from a first expansion state to a second expansion state.