US 11,097,487 B2Granted

Apparatus and method for controlling tolerance of compositions during additive manufacturing

AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation

InventorsTahany Ibrahim El-Wardany, Joseph V. Mantese, Abhijit Chakraborty, Paul Attridge

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Abstract

An additive manufacturing system includes an additive manufacturing (AM) device, a first sensor device, and a compute device. The AM device is configured to form a bulk component in a layer-by-layer manner, by at least iteratively depositing a first layer of raw material onto a working surface in a deposition chamber, consolidating the initial layer into an initial additive portion of the bulk component, then forming subsequent additive portions of the bulk component by depositing and consolidating a subsequent plurality of layers of the raw material onto the first additive portion. The first sensor device is configured to measure an actual composition of at least one first byproduct portion formed upon consolidation of one of the first or subsequent layers of raw material in the deposition chamber. The compute device includes a processor and a memory, and is communicatively coupled to the additive manufacturing device and first sensor device. The additive manufacturing device and compute device provide an in situ sensor analysis of the component while in a formation state during a build process by comparing an actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion to an expected composition range stored in the memory.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An additive manufacturing system comprising:

an additive manufacturing device configured to perform a build process to form a bulk component in a layer-by-layer manner, by at least iteratively depositing a first layer of raw material, having a first raw material composition, onto a working surface in a deposition chamber, consolidating the first layer into a first additive portion of the bulk component, then forming subsequent additive portions of the bulk component by depositing and consolidating a subsequent plurality of layers of the raw material onto the first additive portion;
a first sensor device configured to measure an actual composition of at least one first byproduct portion formed upon consolidation of one of the first layer or one of the subsequent layers of raw material in the deposition chamber;
a compute device comprising a processor and a memory, the compute device being communicatively coupled to the additive manufacturing device and the first sensor device;
a second sensor device configured to provide a signal to the compute device for adjusting a composition of raw material in the form of a feed forward method or a feed backward method;
an extended powder control system to control elements of the raw material during the build process, based on an in situ sensor analysis;
and
a material delivery system configured to provide supplemental amounts of at least one raw material component as needed during the build process;
wherein the additive manufacturing device and the compute device are configured to provide the in situ sensor analysis of the bulk component while in a formation state during the build process by:
comparing an actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion to an expected composition range of the at least one first byproduct portion stored in the memory, the expected composition range of the at least one first byproduct portion determined based on at least a first approximation of byproducts expected to remain after consolidating initial or subsequent raw material, thereby determining if the actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion falls within the expected composition range or outside of the expected composition range of the at least one first byproduct portion;
wherein
if the actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion falls outside of the expected composition range of the at least one byproduct portion, the compute device is configured to perform at least one corrective action, the at least one corrective action including directing the additive manufacturing device to deposit at least one subsequent layer of raw material having a modified composition different from at least one of the first raw material composition or a previously deposited raw material composition.

8 more elements

A method for operating an additive manufacturing apparatus including in situ analysis of a component being formed by the apparatus, the method comprising:

(a) depositing an initial layer of raw material, the initial layer of raw material having a first raw material composition corresponding to an initial approximation of a desired bulk composition of the component being formed;
(b) consolidating the deposited initial layer of raw material to form at least:
a first additive portion of the component;
and
at least one first byproduct portion;
(c) by at least one sensor device, measuring an actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion, during or immediately after the consolidating step (b);
(d) analyzing the actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion measured in step (c), including comparing the actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion to an expected composition range of the at least one first byproduct portion, the expected composition range of the at least one byproduct determined based on at least the initial approximation of the desired bulk composition, thereby determining if the actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion falls within the expected composition range of the at least one first byproduct portion or outside of the expected composition range of the at least one first byproduct portion;
wherein
if the actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion falls within the expected composition range, immediately repeat steps (a)-(d) to form a subsequent additive portion of the bulk component and a subsequent at least one byproduct portion;
or
if the actual composition of the at least one first byproduct portion falls outside of the expected composition range:
prior to repeating steps (a)-(d), performing at least one corrective action which includes depositing at least one subsequent layer of raw material relative to the composition of the initial layer of raw material having a modified composition different from at least one of the first raw material composition and a previously deposited raw material composition;
and
continuing the method by repeating steps (a)-(d) until the component is substantially complete, wherein for each iteration the initial approximation of a desired alloy composition in the raw material in step (a) is updated based on a variance between actual and expected byproduct composition;
(e) providing, by the at least one sensor device, a signal to a compute device to adjust a composition of raw material in the form of a feed forward method or a feed backward method;
(f) controlling, using an extended powder control system, elements of the raw material during the build process, based on the in situ sensor analysis;
and
(g) providing, using a material delivery system, supplemental amounts of at least one raw material component as needed during the build process.

15 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/230,354Filed 21 Dec 2018
Published: US 2020/0198246 A125 Jun 2020
Granted: 24 Aug 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification28 codes

G05B 19/4099
Characterised by using design data to control NC machines, e.g. CAD/CAM: surface or curve machining, making three-dimensional [3D] objects, e.g.…
B22F 10/25
Direct sintering or melting: direct deposition of metal particles, e.g. direct metal deposition [DMD] or laser engineered net shaping [LENS]
B22F 10/28
Direct sintering or melting: powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
B22F 10/32
Process control: of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber