Patent ID: 11904526
Assignee: nan
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  Y | IPC B

Claim 17:
18. An additive manufacturing system comprising:
a deposition material feeder;
a nozzle having a nozzle sidewall defining a channel for allowing a deposition material to be dispensed through the channel on a workpiece;
a displacement mechanism for providing relative movement between the nozzle and a workpiece including movement in a movement plane;
a heat source operatively coupled to the nozzle for melting the deposition material dispensed through the nozzle to form an additive material layer on a top surface of the workpiece with an oxide layer thereby forming around the melted deposition material; and
a wave generator for providing acoustic waves into the melted deposition material to cause cavitation within the melted deposition material in order to wet and form bonds between the melted deposition material and the workpiece and to break up the oxide layer around the melted deposition material to further promote bonding of the additive material layer to the workpiece;
a workpiece heater for heating the workpiece to delay hardening of the melted deposition material and thereby prevent the deposited material from clogging the nozzle, the workpiece heater comprising an insulated heated chamber having a thermally-insulated sidewall extending generally vertically around a workpiece supporting platform and a thermally-insulated roof panel extending generally horizontally with respect to the thermally-insulated sidewall, the roof panel including a nozzle opening adapted to allow the nozzle to access the interior of the insulated heated chamber;
wherein the nozzle is movable relative to the workpiece along a movement plane,
wherein the wave generator is positioned so as to provide the acoustic waves into the melted deposition material in a direction substantially perpendicular to the movement plane; and
a controller operative to control the deposition material feeder, the nozzle displacement mechanism, the heat source and the wave generator to cause a melt pool of the deposition material to form on a surface of the workpiece and to cause cavitation within the melt pool in order to wet and form bonds between the melted deposition material and the workpiece and to move the nozzle while dispensing the deposition material to manufacture the workpiece.