The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 24, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 02, 2001
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V., München, DE;
Abstract
The invention relates to a process chamber for the selective laser fusion of material powder for the production of moulded parts. The process chamber consists of a closed chamber ( ) having a bottom area, side walls and a cover area ( ), a reservoir volume ( ) and a production volume ( ) in said bottom area, and first inlet and outlet openings ( ) for a protective gas. In the cover area ( ), above the production volume ( ), a raised region is provided with side areas, in which a beam injection window ( ) is disposed that is transparent to laser radiation to be coupled in. Second inlet openings ( ) are provided for a further gas in the side areas of the raised region. With the inventive design of the process chamber it is possible to protect the beam injection window ( ) efficiently from being soiled by gaseous components rising from the zone of interaction, without impairment of the efficiency in guiding the protective gas.