发明人：
HOUBEN, RENÉ JOS | RIJFERS, ANDRIES | BROUWERS, LEONARDUS ANTONIUS MARIA
摘要：
The invention relates to a method and a production line (10) for making tangible products by layerwise manufacturing. Layers of a uniform thickness are deposited on top of each other and solidified in a pattern that corresponds to a cross section of the product. The method and production line are in particular suited for making mutually different products out of powders of construction material. The construction material is deposited on the different building platforms (11,12) individually by a deposition head (13). A surplus of material is removed by a remover (14), preferably before the layer is solidified (15). This allows that the quantity of material can be adapted to the specific product on each building platform. The production line further comprises a platform conveyor (16) for conveying the towards and away from the deposition head repeatedly.
权利要求：
Claims
1. Method for making tangible products by layerwise manufacturing comprising the steps of
- creating a layer of construction material with a uniform thickness alternately on a first building platform (2) and a second building platform (3) wherein such a layer is created by depositing construction material (4,5) and removing a surplus of such material (6,7) to obtain the uniform thickness, and
- solidifying (8,9) at least a part of the layer of construction material,
characterised in that the construction material is deposited on the first building platform and the second building platform provided with material directly from a deposition head, wherein the layer is levelled by removing the surplus of material.
2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the construction material is a powder.
3. Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the removal of the surplus of material on a building platform starts while material is being deposited on the same building platform.
4. Production line (10) for layerwise manufacturing of tangible products comprising
- a first (21) carrier comprising a first building platform (11) for supporting a first tangible product,
- a second (22) carrier comprising a second building platform (12) for supporting a second tangible product,
- a deposition head (13) for depositing construction material onto the building platforms,
- a material remover (14) for removing a surplus of the deposited construction material from the building platforms,
- a solidification device (15) for solidifying at least a part of the deposited
construction material,
characterised by a platform conveyor (16) for conveying the carriers towards and away from the deposition head repeatedly, which deposition head is suitable for depositing construction material directly on the first building platform and the second building platform.
5. Production line according to claim 4, wherein each of the building platforms (33) is enclosed in a trough (31) for keeping construction material.
6. Production line according to any of the claims 5, further comprising height adjustment means (32) for moving the building platforms relative to the sidewalls of the trough in a direction (34) parallel to the building direction.
7. Production line according to any of the claims 4 to 6, wherein the material remover comprises a rotatable roller for removing material from the building platform.
8. Production line according to claim 7, wherein the rotatable roller is a conical roller (61) that is rotatable about and axis (67) inclined at an angle relative to the direction (68) in which the platforms move during the manufacturing of the products in order to remove the surplus of material sideways from the platform.
9. Production line according to claim 7, wherein the remover comprises a conveyor belt for conveying material from the building platforms.
10. Production line according to any of the claims 4 to 9, wherein the platform conveyor is an endless conveyor.
11. Production line according to any of the claims 4 to 10, wherein the building platforms are movable along the platform conveyor individually. 12. Production line according to any of the claims 4 to 11, wherein each of the carriers comprises a bin for receiving surplus of construction material.
13. Production line according to any of the claims 4 to 12, wherein each remover comprises a bin at a fixed position relative to the remover for receiving surplus of construction material.
14. Production line according to claim 13, wherein the bin is at a fixed position relative to the remover below the platform conveyor in such a way that the surplus of material falls in the bin when a platform comprising the material passes the bin and in the meantime the remover pushes the surplus of material off the platform.
15. Production line according to claim 12, wherein the bin is at a fixed position relative to the carrier in such a way that the surplus of material falls in the bin when a platform comprising the material passes the remover and in the meantime the remover pushes the surplus of material off the platform.