Patents by Inventor Shuji Okazaki

Shuji Okazaki has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230347417
    Abstract: A build region limitation unit for an additive manufacturing apparatus includes a movable unit fixed to a build table and a non-movable unit placed on a base frame. The movable unit includes a first anti-scattering frame provided to protrude upward. The non-movable unit includes a flat plate that covers a first build region with a portion other than an opening and forms a second build region, and a second anti-scattering frame that is provided to protrude downward at an outer periphery of the opening. The first anti-scattering frame surrounds the second anti-scattering frame with a gap therebetween.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Applicant: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuji OKAZAKI, Katsuhiro NAKANO
  • Patent number: 11759864
    Abstract: An additive manufacturing apparatus includes a chamber, a material layer former, and a guide member. The material layer former includes a base on which a molding region is present, a recoater head that moves on the base in a horizontal direction while discharging material, and a blade that levels the material to form a material layer. The guide member includes a feed chute that is configured to enable the material to be flowed, a shaft that is provided to shut a lower end portion of the feed chute and has a through hole, and a rotary actuator that rotates the shaft. The discharge of the material is switched to an on- or off-state by rotating the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Saito, Shuji Okazaki
  • Patent number: 11731200
    Abstract: The lamination molding apparatus includes an irradiator, a processing device, a cooling device, and an inert gas supply source. The irradiator irradiates a laser beam or an electron beam to a material layer to form a solidified layer. The processing device includes a processing head for holding a tool, and a processing head driver for moving the processing head in at least a horizontal direction. The cooling device is arranged in the processing head and cools a solidified body formed by laminating the solidified layers to a cooling temperature. The cooling device includes a cold gas discharger having a cold gas discharge port for discharging a cold gas being an inert gas having a temperature equal to or lower than the cooling temperature, and discharging the cold gas toward the solidified body. The inert gas supply source supplies the inert gas to the cold gas discharger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuji Okazaki, Naoto Nakamura, Shuichi Kawada
  • Patent number: 11471945
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus includes: a material layer forming device that forms a material layer in a molding region; an irradiator that sinters or melts the material layer to form a solidified layer; and a cooling device that cools, to a cooling temperature, at least a part including an upper surface of a solidified body. The material layer forming device includes: a base having the molding region, a recoater head disposed on the base, a recoater head driving device that reciprocates the recoater head in a horizontal direction, and a blade that is arranged on the recoater head and that levels material powder to form the material layer. The cooling device includes: a cooling body that is controlled to the cooling temperature and comes into contact with the upper surface of the solidified body, and a mounting member that mounts the cooling body to the recoater head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoto Nakamura, Shuji Okazaki
  • Patent number: 11413791
    Abstract: A three-dimensional modeled object made of metal including a gas flow path is provided. The gas flow path includes a first structure portion with a lattice structure including a plurality of linear vent holes with a maximum width of equal to or greater than 0.01 mm and equal to or less than 0.10 mm and a frame body portion with a width of equal to or greater than 0.08 mm and equal to or less than 0.25 mm and with a solidification density of equal to or greater than 90%, and has a thickness of equal to or greater than 1 mm and equal to or less than 10 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsushi Hirota, Shuji Okazaki
  • Patent number: 11389876
    Abstract: A laminating and shaping apparatus includes a laser radiation unit configured to radiate a laser to a powder layer and form sintered sections, an imaging unit configured to image the sintered sections, a calculation device configured to calculate actual laser radiation positions from positions of the sintered sections and calculate a positional deviation of the laser radiation position at each of the sintered sections, and a correction device configured to correct the actual laser radiation position of each of the sintered sections to a target laser radiation position. The laser radiation unit forms sintered sections to surround the irradiation region by performing laser radiation on places including outermost positions in the irradiation region, and as the recoater head is moved in the horizontal uniaxial direction after imaging of the plurality of sintered sections by the imaging unit, at least a plurality of sintered sections are removed from the irradiation region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Miyashita, Shuji Okazaki, Ichiro Araie
  • Publication number: 20220143707
    Abstract: An additive manufacturing apparatus of the disclosure includes: a data acquiring device which acquires at least one of first data showing an irradiation state of a laser beam, second data showing an inert gas state, and third data showing a formation state of a material layer and fourth data showing a manufacturing position state; and a determination device which determines whether or not there is an abnormality in a manufacturing state of a solidified layer based on the fourth data and identifies factors of abnormalities from the operating state of the additive manufacturing apparatus to the manufacturing state of the solidified layer based on at least one of the acquired first to third data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2021
    Publication date: May 12, 2022
    Applicant: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuyuki MIYASHITA, Shuji OKAZAKI, Ichiro ARAIE, Shuichi KAWADA, Katsutaka MURANAKA
  • Publication number: 20220118522
    Abstract: An additive manufacturing apparatus includes a chamber, a material layer former, and a guide member. The material layer former includes a base on which a molding region is present, a recoater head that moves on the base in a horizontal direction while discharging material, and a blade that levels the material to form a material layer. The guide member includes a feed chute that is configured to enable the material to be flowed, a shaft that is provided to shut a lower end portion of the feed chute and has a through hole, and a rotary actuator that rotates the shaft. The discharge of the material is switched to an on- or off-state by rotating the shaft.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Applicant: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi SAITO, Shuji OKAZAKI
  • Publication number: 20220118520
    Abstract: The present invention provides a system capable of estimating a molding state in a manufacturing process of the lamination molded object. According to the present invention, provided is a system for estimating a molding state in a manufacturing process of the lamination molded object including an image acquisition unit and an analysis unit. The lamination molded object is manufactured by repeating a material layer forming step of forming a material layer by supplying material powder onto a molding region and a solidified layer forming step of forming a solidified layer by irradiating the material layer with a laser beam. The image acquisition unit is configured to acquire image data of a spatter generated around a molten pool formed by irradiation with the laser beam. The analysis unit is configured to analyze the image data to estimate a parameter representing the molding state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2021
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Applicant: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro TAKANO, Yuta YOSHIDA, Hiroyasu MIYAKAWA, Shuji OKAZAKI, Ichiro ARAIE, Yasuyuki MIYASHITA
  • Patent number: 11014164
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus, includes a material layer former to form a material layer; a first emitter to form a solidified layer by irradiating the material layer with a first beam; and a thermal adjuster to adjust a temperature of at least a portion of the solidified layer to at least one of a predetermined first temperature and a predetermined second temperature. The temperature of at least the portion of the solidified layer is adjusted to the first temperature, and then to the second temperature. When the first temperature is referred to as T1, the second temperature is referred to as T2, a martensite start temperature of the solidified layer is referred to as Ms, and a martensite finish temperature of the solidified layer is referred to as Mf, all of the following relations of T1?Mf, T1>T2, and T2?Ms are satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ichiro Araie, Kazufumi Nambu, Atsushi Hirota, Hiroshi Amioka, Shuji Okazaki
  • Publication number: 20210121953
    Abstract: The lamination molding apparatus includes an irradiator, a processing device, a cooling device, and an inert gas supply source. The irradiator irradiates a laser beam or an electron beam to a material layer to form a solidified layer. The processing device includes a processing head for holding a tool, and a processing head driver for moving the processing head in at least a horizontal direction. The cooling device is arranged in the processing head and cools a solidified body formed by laminating the solidified layers to a cooling temperature. The cooling device includes a cold gas discharger having a cold gas discharge port for discharging a cold gas being an inert gas having a temperature equal to or lower than the cooling temperature, and discharging the cold gas toward the solidified body. The inert gas supply source supplies the inert gas to the cold gas discharger.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Publication date: April 29, 2021
    Applicant: SODICK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shuji OKAZAKI, Naoto NAKAMURA, Shuichi KAWADA
  • Publication number: 20210114096
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus includes: a material layer forming device that forms a material layer in a molding region; an irradiator that sinters or melts the material layer to form a solidified layer; and a cooling device that cools, to a cooling temperature, at least a part including an upper surface of a solidified body. The material layer forming device includes: a base having the molding region, a recoater head disposed on the base, a recoater head driving device that reciprocates the recoater head in a horizontal direction, and a blade that is arranged on the recoater head and that levels material powder to form the material layer. The cooling device includes: a cooling body that is controlled to the cooling temperature and comes into contact with the upper surface of the solidified body, and a mounting member that mounts the cooling body to the recoater head.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Applicant: SODICK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naoto NAKAMURA, Shuji OKAZAKI
  • Patent number: 10946558
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus including a chamber covering a molding region; a laser beam source to emit a laser beam for sintering a material powder supplied on the molding region to form a sintered layer; and a scan unit to scan the laser beam. The laser beam has one or more spot shapes including at least an elongated shape, and the scan unit is configured to scan the laser beam, of which the spot shape is an elongated shape, in a lateral direction of the elongated shape, is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ichiro Araie, Shuji Okazaki
  • Publication number: 20210060648
    Abstract: A work piece is damaged by a power failure or the like. Provided is a metal powder lamination apparatus, in which a control apparatus detects a load received by a blade while moving a recoater head along a B axis, stops the recoater head when the blade receives a load greater than or equal to a predetermined value, stores the position and height of an obstructive protrusion in a storage apparatus, repeatedly lowers a molding table by a predetermined height, and removes by planing only the largest obstructive protrusion among multiple obstructive protrusions after the recoater head moves to the end.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2020
    Publication date: March 4, 2021
    Applicant: SODICK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji ISHIBASHI, Shuji OKAZAKI
  • Patent number: 10800100
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus includes a molding table, a molding table driver, and a chuck. The molding table includes a molding region and a temperature adjusting unit. In the molding region, a desired three-dimensional molded object is formed. The temperature adjusting unit has a heating unit with a heater, and a cooling unit with a cooler. The heating unit and the cooling unit are arranged to be stacked in a vertical direction. The molding table driver moves the molding table in the vertical direction. The chuck detachably fixes the temperature adjusting unit to the molding table driver at one fixing point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuji Okazaki, Katsutaka Muranaka
  • Patent number: 10792864
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus includes a table, powder holding walls, a table driving device, a bucket, and a cover. The powder holding walls surround the table and hold material powder together with the table. The table driving device includes a linear actuator for outputting linear motion and a guide for transmitting the linear motion to the table and moving the table in a vertical direction. The bucket is disposed under the table and stores the material powder falling from between the table and the powder holding walls. The cover surrounds the table driving device between the table and the bucket. At least one portion of the linear actuator and the guide surrounded by the cover or the bucket is arranged along the vertical direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: SODICK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shuji Okazaki, Tsuyoshi Saito
  • Patent number: 10744565
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus with a molding table, including: a galvanometer scanner configured to irradiate a small irradiation region on the molding table with a laser beam; an inert gas supplying nozzle having an inert gas supplying opening for supplying an inert gas; a fume suction duct having a fume suction opening for suctioning the inert gas containing fumes generated with irradiation of the laser beam; an integration unit integrally including the galvanometer scanner, the inert gas supplying nozzle and the fume suction duct; and a moving device configured to move the integration unit so the galvanometer scanner scans and irradiates the laser beam on a large irradiation region larger than the small irradiation region on the molding table; wherein the inert gas supplying opening and the fume suction opening are opposed to each other so an irradiation path of the laser beam is placed therebetween.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shuji Okazaki
  • Publication number: 20200230880
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus includes a molding table, a molding table driver, and a chuck. The molding table includes a molding region and a temperature adjusting unit. In the molding region, a desired three-dimensional molded object is formed. The temperature adjusting unit has a heating unit with a heater, and a cooling unit with a cooler. The heating unit and the cooling unit are arranged to be stacked in a vertical direction. The molding table driver moves the molding table in the vertical direction. The chuck detachably fixes the temperature adjusting unit to the molding table driver at one fixing point.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Applicant: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuji OKAZAKI, Katsutaka MURANAKA
  • Patent number: 10688559
    Abstract: A lamination molding apparatus, including: a chamber covering a desired molding region and being filled with an inert gas of predetermined concentration; a molding table configured to be vertically controllable in the chamber; a laser beam emitter to irradiate a predetermined irradiation region with a laser beam to form a sintered layer and irradiate a predetermined target irradiation position with the laser beam to form a sintered trace, the irradiation region being disposed on a material powder layer formed on the molding table for each of a plurality of divided layers obtained by dividing a desired three-dimensional object at a predetermined thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuji Okazaki, Yasuyuki Miyashita
  • Patent number: 10610932
    Abstract: A lamination shaping apparatus that is able to reduce machining errors in subsequent cutting while suppressing upsizing and cost increase compared to a conventional lamination shaping apparatus. A lamination shaping apparatus includes a pair of first horizontal movement mechanisms, a gantry disposed on the pair of first horizontal movement mechanisms, a second horizontal movement mechanism mounted on the gantry, and a machining head disposed on the second horizontal movement mechanism. A shaping table is disposed between the pair of first horizontal movement mechanisms. The second horizontal movement mechanism is disposed above the shaping table. The machining head includes a tool bit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Sodick Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shuji Okazaki