| CPC B29C 64/25 (2017.08) [B29C 64/153 (2017.08); B29C 64/245 (2017.08); B29C 64/264 (2017.08); B29C 64/364 (2017.08); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); B33Y 40/20 (2020.01)] | 28 Claims |
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1. A process chamber housing for an additive manufacturing apparatus, the process chamber housing comprising a process chamber, wherein the process chamber housing has at least:
a bottom of the process chamber, a ceiling of the process chamber, and side walls of the process chamber that jointly enclose a volume of the process chamber,
a gas inlet in a front wall of the side walls, the gas inlet configured to provide a gas flow into the process chamber,
a gas outlet in a rear wall of the side walls, the gas outlet configured to release the gas flow out of the process chamber,
a first recoater garage confining a first storage volume of the first recoater garage that is dimensioned to house a recoater at a first recoater position,
wherein:
at least one of the side walls of the process chamber has at least one housing door enabling access to the process chamber or is the housing door enabling said access,
the housing door has a housing door opening and a housing door panel,
the first storage volume of the first recoater garage is enclosed by at least one first garage wall and/or a first garage ceiling and/or a first garage bottom,
the bottom of the process chamber has a support opening configured to receive a movable support for supporting a three-dimensional object,
the gas inlet and the gas outlet are positioned at opposite sides of the support opening and face towards each other, thereby being configured to provide the gas flow in a main flow direction from the gas inlet over the support opening to the gas outlet,
at least a portion of the at least one first garage wall and/or the first garage ceiling and/or the first garage bottom is formed by the housing door panel,
the process chamber housing further comprising:
at least one recoater that is movably supported and configured to move in a forward direction from the first recoater position over the support opening to a second recoater position and in a backward direction from the second recoater position to the first recoater position,
wherein said at least one recoater has a front side facing in the forward direction and a rear side facing in the backward direction,
and
a second recoater garage, separated from the process chamber at least by a first movable portion of a second side wall of the side walls
wherein:
the second recoater position is in the second recoater garage,
the first movable portion of said second side wall is movably supported to be moved between a first closed position and a first open position,
when in the first closed position, the first movable portion of the second side wall closes a garage opening in the second sidewall, and
when in the first open position, the first movable portion of the second side wall releases the garage opening in the second sidewall,
and
wherein the rear side of the at least one recoater forms at least a first part of the first movable portion of the second side wall and is configured to close the second garage opening when the at least one recoater is in the second recoater position.
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26. The process chamber housing of claim 23, wherein the housing door panel has a door panel closed position and/or orientation and a door panel open position and/or orientation, wherein the housing door panel closes the housing door opening when in the door panel closed position and/or orientation and releases the housing door opening when in the door panel open position and/or orientation.
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