Patent ID: 11904534
Assignee: CONTINUOUS COMPOSITES INC.
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  C  Y | IPC B

Claim 15:
16. An additive manufacturing system for fabricating a three-dimensional composite structure, comprising:
a support;
a print head operatively connected to the support, wherein the support is capable of moving the printhead in multiple directions during the fabrication of the three-dimensional composite structure,
the print head is configured to wet a continuous reinforcement with a matrix and discharge the wetted continuous reinforcement, wherein the print head includes a housing;
a controller in communication with the support and the print head and configured to coordinate operations of the support and the print head to fabricate the three-dimensional composite structure by moving the print head in at least one of the multiple directions during the fabrication; and
a compacting module operatively mounted to the housing and/or a curing module operatively mounted to the housing, wherein the compacting module is configured to move relative to the housing and/or the curing module is configured to move relative to the housing; and
further including a cutting module configured to cut the continuous reinforcement, and wherein:
the cutting module is configured to move together with the compacting module relative to the housing, and/or
the cutting module and the compacting module are configured to move together with the curing module relative to the housing.