Powder Contamination Prevention in 3D Printing

Powder screening system for metal additive manufacturing equipment that improves efficiency, safety, and automation compared to existing systems. The system has modules for pumping, collecting, filtering, and screening the powder. It uses common pressure feeding to avoid high altitude issues. The filtering module vibrates the screen with ultrasonics and a motor. It has a waste tank for unqualified powder. The collecting module filters exhaust and has sensors for material and pressure levels. The system is controlled by a PLC.

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Closed-loop powder circulation system for additive manufacturing that improves efficiency and reliability compared to existing systems. The closed-loop system has features like filters, cyclones, and observation windows to prevent blocking, improve powder quality, and allow monitoring. The system uses high-pressure fan, vibrating screen, cyclone separators, overflow bucket, and feeding bucket to circulate and filter the powder. This allows continuous powder recirculation between the parts build area, recovery bucket, and feed bucket without manual intervention. The filters prevent blocking, cyclones separate fine powder, and the feed bucket has a window to monitor powder levels.

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3D printer to print implantable bone scaffolds in an aseptic environment. The printer uses a sterile cartridge of biodegradable printing material. A movable sterile receiving plate catches the printed scaffold. A cover with UV light maintains the aseptic environment inside. The cover has a filter and positive airflow to keep out contaminants. The printer also has a heater to melt the printing material for extrusion. The sterile cartridge and receiving plate can be replaced for each print to ensure sterility.

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Device and method to improve cleaning of 3D printer heads to avoid clogs and material deposition issues when changing materials. After printing a layer, the printer head flushes the nozzle by discharging a higher voltage and/or longer duration of fluid to a position outside the printed area. This higher voltage flush reduces clogging and removes powder particles from the nozzle tip.

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A container for storing powders, such as those used in additive manufacturing (AM) processes, that includes sensors to monitor and log parameters like oxygen level, humidity, temperature, pressure, weight, location, etc. The container has a pressure vessel with an outlet valve and contains powder and pressurized gas. The sensors track conditions inside the container to maintain powder quality. A control unit records and communicates the sensor data to a remote station.

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A filament feed system for 3D printers to enable sealed filament pathways to prevent moisture absorption. The system uses detachable filament supplies with connector keys that plug into printer receptacles. The keys have different shapes to fit specific receptacles. They also have guide tubes to enclose the filament path from the supply to the printer. The keys seal the receptacles to prevent air/moisture ingress.

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Depowdering additively manufactured parts containing bound metal powder by immersing the parts in a liquid-filled container, agitating the liquid to dislodge unbound powder from the parts, and filtering the liquid to recover the powder. The agitation may be mechanical vibration, gas jets, or heating to create currents that carry away the loose powder. The filtering separates the powder from the liquid for reuse or disposal.

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Cleaning liquid for post-processing additive-manufactured parts. The cleaning liquid is used to remove excess powder from 3D-printed metal parts without dissolving the binder resin used in the printing process. The cleaning liquid contains a hydrocarbon solvent with a high octanol/water partition coefficient of 4.5 or more. This solvent property allows selective removal of powder while leaving the binder intact.

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Automated fixture for removing loose powder from additively manufactured components like 3D printed parts. The fixture holds the build plate with the printed component and inverts it. Pneumatic knockers strike the inverted plate to shake the loose powder out of the component via gravity and resonance.

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Three-dimensional shaping apparatus and method for 3D printing that allows cleaning the nozzle during printing to prevent material leaks. It has a cleaning mechanism separate from the print area that can be activated mid-print to clean the nozzle. The cleaning process is triggered when pressure in the nozzle exceeds a threshold. The nozzle moves to the cleaning area, is cleaned, and then returns to printing once pressure is normal. This prevents material leaks during printing that can mar the object being printed.

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3D manufacturing technique using reactive powder beds to print objects with cross-linked regions. The method involves depositing layers of powder containing a first component. Then dispense a liquid containing a solvent and a second component that reacts with the first component when cross-linking occurs when the solvent evaporates. The process iterates to form subsequent layers until the object is complete. Unwanted particles are removed. The powder bed holds the particles and print heads dispense the reactive liquid.

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A container that can determine if the powder inside has acclimated to ambient conditions before opening compares the inside temperature/humidity to outside readings and provides an indication if the powder is ready to use. The container has sensors inside and outside and a lock that prevents flow until acclimated, preventing moisture issues from temperature changes.

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Compact vibratory feeding mechanism for cleaning powders from contamination in a compact dust removal mechanism. The mechanism uses vibration and airflow to clean powders without adding dust. It has a housing with a vibrating infeed mechanism, a venturi chamber for airflow, and a replaceable carryover deflector. The deflector aligns with the infeed structure to control powder flow into the venturi and deflects entrained powder back towards the discharge opening. The venturi removes contaminants with airflow as the powder exits. The deflector prevents carryover of cleaned powder into the discharge.

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Automatic powder feeding system for SLM additive manufacturing that ensures powder quality and operator safety by enclosing the powder handling process in a sealed loop. The system recovers, sifts, dries, and feeds the powder without exposing it to air. It has mechanisms like powder supply, recovery, feeding, sieving, and drying that are connected by pipelines and valves to form a closed loop. This allows fully automated powder handling without manual intervention or open exposure to the environment.

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Automated system for processing metal powder used in 3D printers. The system encloses the powder feeding, spreading, and recovery steps in a sealed container with integrated gas filtration. It uses cyclones and filters to clean and recirculate the inert gas used during printing. Powder is also recovered, screened, and returned to the printer. The enclosed system prevents dust escape and allows reuse of powder and gas.

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Air escape chamber for positive pressure conveying with integrated dust removal to prevent dust escaping during powder transportation. It uses a sequence of stations like bag opening, winnowing, cyclones, screw conveyors, and dust collectors. The chambers are sealed and connected by pipes with flanges. The seals prevent dust leakage. The cyclones have sealed bearings and flanges. The screw conveyors have sealed bearings and sealing flanges on the pulse tube feeding. This prevents dust escaping during conveyance. The sealed flanges on the pulse tube also allow customizing tube lengths.

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Three-dimensional additive manufacturing apparatus with a powder capture device to prevent powder from entering the vacuum pump and affecting its operation. The device has multiple flow path sections that connect the vacuum chamber to the pump. These sections have capturing sections to collide and trap powder sucked from the pump. This prevents powder from entering the pump and fouling the components. The capturing sections are spaced apart to allow continuous gas flow through the device without significant pressure drop. This avoids the issues of mesh filters blocking flow or powder clogging the pump.

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A polyolefin powder feeding system to prevent large lumps from blocking feeders and causing issues in downstream equipment like extrusion devices. The system uses a multi-stage screening, crushing, and degassing process to break down and remove lumps. The polyolefin powder enters an expansion bag filter to separate large lumps. The filtered powder goes to a vibrating screen with two outputs. Powder that passes the screen goes directly to the degassing chamber, while powder that doesn't pass goes to a pulverizer to break up lumps before degassing. This multi-stage screening and crushing process breaks down lumps before feeding downstream equipment.

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Atmosphere protection device for additive manufacturing that allows complete dust recovery and prevents gas from reclaiming with the dust. The device has a sealing box connected to an operating platform. The box has a filter with a sliding body inside. The sliding body has an exhaust channel and powder discharge channel. An exhaust fan and powder pump are in the discharge channel. The sliding body moves up and down to suck dust off the filter. The gas is exhausted separately. This allows full dust recovery without gas mixed in. The cold air inlet pumps inert gas to cool the chamber and product. The gas is then reclaimed by the pump and cooled before reintroduction. This prevents oxidation and cools the product.

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Powder feeding system with integrated dust collection to prevent workplace dust and improve operator health. It uses negative pressure to draw dust from the feeding ports into a central dust collector. Air volume control valves around the silos and feed ports adjust the suction to capture the raised dust. The collector has pulse cleaning and electric discharge to prevent clogs. An external fan provides the negative pressure.

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Clean powder feeding system for reducing dust contamination during powder transportation between storage bins. The system has a dust collector connected between the feeding pipe and storage bin. The dust collector has a box body with a dust removal part and outlet. It captures dust particles that may enter the feeding pipe from the environment or escape from the bin during transportation. This prevents dust from being transferred between bins and contaminating the powder. The negative pressure fan pulls air through the collector to assist in dust capture.

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Powder removal system from enclosed additive manufacturing systems like powder bed fusion 3D printers. The system captures powder in a separate wetted collection volume to reduce dust and explosion risk compared to dry transfer. It uses a valve to control powder flow and wetting agent to capture the powder. A moisture trap prevents collected moisture from reaching the printer volume.

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Powder packaging system with dust removal to prevent pollution and waste during powder packaging processes. The system has components like a blanking box, mixing chamber, packaging box, dust collection system, and air extraction pipes. Powder is fed into the blanking box, mixed, and conveyed to the packaging box. Dust generated during transfer is collected by the dust collection system and returned to the mixing chamber. This prevents dust from escaping into the plant and reduces powder waste.

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Cleaning metal powders used in additive manufacturing to remove adsorbed species like oxygen, moisture, and other contaminants. The cleaning process involves fluidizing the powder in a reactor using gases like argon, ammonia, hydrogen, or nitrogen. The upward gas flow through the powder displaces and removes the unwanted surface species.

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Reducing dust scattering in powder storage tanks and weighing tanks to prevent contamination and improve discharge efficiency. The system has an air intake at the top, multiple long filters inside the tank, and an air outlet at the bottom. This captures and removes coarse dust particles as the air flows through the tank. The filters purify the air before discharge, preventing scattering dust from the tank outlets.

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Automatic batching device for material handling with integrated dust removal system. The device has multiple storage hoppers connected by lowering pipes. A transport vehicle moves between hoppers to load and unload material. When the vehicle reaches the bottom of a hopper, the lowering pipe opens to discharge the material. A dust suction hood above the pipe sucks discharged material into an exhaust pipe. An air filtering collection assembly captures the dust. A fan draws air through the assembly to move dust out. This prevents fine material from escaping during discharge. The transport vehicle weighing system coordinates batch sizes.

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A powder bed additive manufacturing machine that is able to seal the powder compartment without any additional sealing elements. This is achieved by using a container design where the inner walls can move up and down while still preventing powder from flowing out. The inner walls overlap with the outer walls so when the inner walls move upwards, the powder above is pushed up but cannot flow out due to the overlapping walls. This allows the machine to seal the powder compartment without any additional seals that can degrade or fail. The inner walls move up to reduce the volume and expose the powder for layer distribution.

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An environmentally controlled powder processing system for 3D printing and other applications that allows processing of powders like metal 3D printing feedstock in a controlled oxygen environment to prevent contamination and improve quality. The system has a closed loop with a powder separation device, storage tank, conveying component, and protective gas system. The loop allows powder intake, sieving, storage, and output while maintaining a low oxygen environment. An oxygen sensor monitors the storage tank and gas supply can be used to adjust oxygen levels. This provides a self-contained system for controlled powder processing without external equipment or environments.

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Dry powder mixing device with dust collection to prevent powder leakage and avoid dust generation during mixing. The device has a powder barrel, powder transfer barrel, mixing tank, and dust collection vacuum machine. The transfer barrel connects to the mixing tank and vacuum machine. The vacuum machine has a dust chamber, filter, and clean room. The powder transfer barrel and mixing tank connect to the dust chamber. A vacuum pump in the vacuum machine creates negative pressure to draw powder into the chamber. The filter separates powder from the air. The clean room prevents contamination. The powder is transferred between barrels and tank without exposing it to the atmosphere.

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Dust-free powder supply system that prevents pollution of the air environment by using vacuum technology to transport powder without generating airborne dust. The system has a powder injection device with a vacuum fan, a vacuum powder supply device with a storage tank and receiving tank, and a vacuum pipe connecting them. A filter screen between the vacuum pipe and storage tank prevents dust escape. The vacuum fan removes powder from the injection device through the vacuum pipe into the storage tank. The powder is then transferred to the receiving tank via gravity without any airborne powder.

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Automated powder feeding device with integrated dust collection to prevent pollution when transferring powder between containers. The device consists of a powder storage tank, a feeding screw to transfer powder to a stirring tank, and a dust collector on the storage tank lid. The closed system with automated transfer eliminates dust generation during manual loading and unloading.

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A modular and interchangeable forming device for 3D printing objects from metal or ceramic powders. The device has interchangeable modules that contain the powder supply, powder recovery, gas purging, suction, and data processing components. The modules can be swapped out for different powder materials to avoid contamination. The modules connect to the process chamber for powder circulation during printing. After printing, the modules containing the powder, filters, pumps, and storage can be easily exchanged for cleaning and switching powder materials.

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Recovery device for SLM powder used in additive manufacturing to efficiently and cleanly collect and reuse unused powder after selective laser melting (SLM) 3D printing. The device has a base, support columns, powder chamber, channel, sieve chamber, scraper, mesh, beam channel, collection box, drawer, heating chamber, controller, wheels, vacuum studio, and tubes for moving and suctioning the powder. It encloses the powder area to prevent dust and moisture, guides the powder into a sieve chamber for screening, scrapes off agglomerated powder, heats it to prevent moisture absorption, vacuums the fine powder, and collects the larger particles for reuse.

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A powder handling system for selective laser melting (SLM) 3D printing machines that automates powder recycling and feeding to improve efficiency, reduce operator exposure, and minimize waste compared to manual methods. The system uses a negative pressure source to vacuum powder from the SLM build chamber, screen and separate it into usable and waste fractions, and feed the good powder back into the SLM machine. This allows closed-loop powder recycling without manual intervention, preventing operator exposure to fine particles.

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Dust collection and recovery system for powder feeding that reduces waste and enables efficient powder feeding without leaving residual material inside the feeding device. The system has a dust removal chamber connected to the feeding port below the powder mixing device. The chamber has filter bags, a blower, and a mixer. Powder is mixed and fed through the chamber to the feeding port, where it's drawn into the equipment. The chamber extracts and recovers any remaining dust before it enters the feeding device, preventing waste and reducing contamination.

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A dust filtration and recovery system for high performance, environmentally friendly instant sol powders that allows reuse of the powder dust instead of waste. The system uses a dust suction pipe above the powder production area with a bag filter to capture the dust. A vacuum pump provides negative pressure in a storage tank to attract the dust from the filter. This recovers the powder dust for reuse instead of losing it in the air. The dust is then exhausted from the storage tank after filtration.

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A closed powder recovery system for 3D printers that eliminates dust and allows recycling of powder without open valves. The system has multiple stages of filtration to recover both coarse and fine powder. It uses a closed circulation pipe between components like feeders, cyclone collectors, and microfilters. The cycle starts with a negative pressure airflow generated to move powder from the build chamber. Large particles fall in a tray for recovery. Fine particles enter a cyclone for separation. The cyclone airflow carries coarse particles back. Fine particles enter microfilters for capture. The airflow exits through an electrostatic dust collector. This closed loop prevents dust escape. It also allows powder recovery without valves or switching.

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Powder filtration device with automatic material return for efficient and continuous powder filtration. The device has a feed inlet, filter bins, powder buffer hopper, collecting bin, and fans connected to a control system. The fans can be selectively turned on to move material between bins and back to the feed inlet for recirculation. The device has sensors to monitor particle sizes in each bin and return material if over a threshold. This allows selective re-crushing and filtering of large particles without losing small ones.

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Additive manufacturing machine that prevents clogging and contamination during powder-based 3D printing. The machine uses a removable powder cartridge with a small discharge port. The cartridge has rotary blades near the port that prevent powder from solidifying and clogging. This stable powder dispensing prevents clogs during printing. The cartridge can be easily exchanged to switch materials.

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Close-loop powder recycling system for 3D printers that recycles powder from the printer chamber to reduce waste and cost. The system uses a cyclone separator, particulate filter, and electrostatic precipitator to separate and filter remaining powder for reuse. The recycled powder is fed back into the printer. This allows multiple filtering steps to adjust particle size distribution. The system also includes components like a collector and breaker to efficiently collect and transfer the recycled powder.

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Close-loop powder recycling system for 3D printers that enables efficient and clean recovery of unused powder from the build chamber. The system has components like a powder feeder, collector, cyclone separator, filter cleaner, air generator, and electrostatic precipitator. The components are connected by ducts to create a sealed loop. Powder falls from the build chamber into the collector. The cyclone separates large and small particles. The large particles go back to the feeder. The small particles are filtered and then electrostatically precipitated to remove fine particles. This closed loop allows recycling powder without external valves while capturing fine particles to prevent airborne dust.

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A powder rapid prototyping method and apparatus that allows the use of metal powders without oxidation or nitride contamination. The method involves removing oxygen, nitrogen, and water from the metal powder prior to modeling by exposing the powder to a vacuum. The powder is housed in separate containers inside a vacuum chamber. This prevents oxidation and preserves the purity of the metal during the modeling process. The vacuum-exposed powder is then layered and sintered using energy beams to build 3D models.

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A powder handling system for 3D printers that allows powder to be transferred between multiple receptacles using a vacuum source and valve. This enables efficient automated powder management for 3D printing with minimal dust and waste. The system includes multiple powder holding receptacles (dispensing hopper, build chamber, overflow container), a vacuum source, and a valve to selectively connect the vacuum to each receptacle. Powder can be transferred between receptacles without manual handling. The valve prevents dust escaping.

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