General Electric Company
VIBRATION ISOLATION DEVICE FOR AN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING MACHINE

Abstract:

An additive manufacturing machine (900) includes a build unit (904) that is supported by an overhead gantry (918). The build unit (904) includes a powder dispenser (906) including a vibration mechanism (922) and a scan unit (908) including a powder fusing device (910) for fusing or binding portions of a layer of additive powder. A vibration isolation device (932), such as a passive rubber damper (940) or an active vibration canceling mechanism (960), is positioned between the powder dispenser (906) and the scan unit (908) to prevent vibrations in the powder dispenser (906) from causing operational issues with the scan unit (908) and inaccuracies in the additive manufacturing process.