# US 11,027,492 B2 · Control system and method for additive manufacturing

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- Number: US 11,027,492 B2
- Document ID: US11027492B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/077,544
- Filed: 2017-02-09
- Published: 2019-02-21
- Granted: 2021-06-08
- Earliest claimed: 2016-04-05
- Assignees: Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co. KG
- Applicants: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
- Inventors: Carl Hockley; Yaroslav Lebed
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11027492B2

## CPC

- B29C 64/35: Cleaning
- B22F 10/00: Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder (apparatus or devices therefor B22F12/00)
- B22F 10/73: of powder
- B28B 1/001: {Rapid manufacturing of 3D objects by additive depositing, agglomerating or laminating of material (selective deposition modelling of metallic powder B22F10/00; rapid manufacturing of 3D objects in general and in particular of plastics B29C64/00)}
- B28B 17/0081: {Process control}
- B29C 64/153: using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting
- B29C 64/20: Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
- B29C 64/259: Interchangeable
- B29C 64/357: Recycling
- B29C 64/386: Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
- B29C 64/393: for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
- B33Y 10/00: Processes of additive manufacturing
- B33Y 30/00: Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
- B33Y 40/00: Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling
- B33Y 50/02: for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
- B22F 10/28: Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
- Y02P 10/25: Process efficiency
- B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00)
- B22F: WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER (making alloys by powder metallurgy C22C); APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
- B28B: SHAPING CLAY OR OTHER CERAMIC COMPOSITIONS; SHAPING SLAG; SHAPING MIXTURES CONTAINING CEMENTITIOUS MATERIAL, e.g. PLASTER (foundry moulding B22C; working stone or stone-like material B28D; shaping of substances in a plastic state, in general B29C; making layered products not composed wholly of these substances B32B)
- B33Y: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS

## Abstract

Quality control method and control system for a stock of a base material for the additive manufacture of components includes selecting a batch of a base material out of a plurality of indexed batches of the stock, wherein base material assigned to the same batch index is indicative to the quality of the respective base material, loading a quantity of base material of the selected batch into a manufacturing system, additively manufacturing the component from the base material, wherein the base material of the selected batch is exposed to manufacturing conditions in a build area and updating the batch index of the base material remaining from the additive manufacture in the build area according to the exposure.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A quality control method of a stock of a base material for additive manufacture of components, comprising:
selecting a batch of a base material out of a plurality of indexed batches of the stock, wherein base material assigned to the same batch index is indicative of a quality of the respective base material,
loading a quantity of base material of the selected batch into a manufacturing system,
additively manufacturing a component from the base material, wherein the base material of the selected batch is exposed to manufacturing conditions in a build area, and
increasing the batch index of the base material remaining after the additive manufacture in the build area, wherein a magnitude of the increase reflects an extent of an exposure of the base material remaining to the manufacturing conditions in the build area during the additive manufacturing of the component,
wherein a control system tracks the base material and its quality by means of the batch index of the base material, during a plurality of manufacturing jobs,
wherein the quantity of base material loaded into the manufacturing system is entered manually into the control system and a quantity of the base material remaining after the additive manufacture is automatically calculated by the control system, and
wherein the base material and its quality are tracked in that the stock of the base material is retained in a plurality of containers which are numbered and assigned to a batch index each.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein a date a respective container of the plurality of containers was filled and a current amount of base material in the respective container are registered.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein prior to the loading, a filling status of the manufacturing system is checked by the control system.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the control system informs an operator when a filling status of a container of the plurality of containers is below an alarm level or a false or non-disposable batch has been selected.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the base material remaining from the additive manufacture in the build area is sieved.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method according claim 1, wherein the base material remaining from the additive manufacture is either removed from the manufacturing system and recycled or left inside the build area for a subsequent manufacturing job.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein, when the base material remaining from the additive manufacture shall be removed, said base material is conveyed to a container of the plurality of containers corresponding to the increased batch index of that said material.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

A control system for a stock of a base material for an additive manufacture of a component, the control system comprising:
a plurality of containers for retaining the base material,
wherein the control system is configured to track the base material and its quality during the plurality of manufacturing jobs according to the method of claim 1, in that the stock is subdivided into a plurality of batches of base material, wherein each batch comprises base material of the same quality, and
a processing system being connected to an operator interface for receiving and processing instruction from an operator of the control system and to display information to the operator.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

A facility for additively manufacturing of a component, comprising: the control system according to claim 8, the manufacturing system for the additive manufacture of the component out of the base material, and a conveyor system configured to convey base material in and out of the build area.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The facility according to claim 9, further comprising:
a plurality of build areas.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the batch index is increased by one or more units, wherein each unit represents an equivalent amount of deterioration of the base material.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising assigning a same batch index number to at least two batches of the plurality of indexed batches when the at least two batches comprise base material of comparable quality.