Bead-type additive manufacturing system and method

A method of manufacturing an in-work article, comprising:

• extruding, using a nozzle of a printhead of an additive manufacturing system, a material onto a substrate to form a new bead during manufacturing of the in-work article;
• measuring, using two profilometers, each movable with the printhead, an in-work cross-sectional profile at least of one or more existing beads of the in-work article during forming of the new bead, the two profilometers are comprised of one of the following:
• the two profilometers comprise an upstream profilometer located upstream of the nozzle, and a downstream profilometer located downstream of the nozzle;
• or
• the two profilometers comprise a first downstream profilometer located between the nozzle and a compression device of the printhead, and a second downstream profilometer located downstream of the compression device;
• generating, using a control system, in-work profile data including the in-work cross-sectional profile respectively generated by each of the two profilometers at a plurality of in-work profile locations in the in-work article;
• comparing, using the control system, the in-work profile data to reference profile data of a reference article, the reference profile data including a reference cross-sectional profile at a plurality of reference profile locations corresponding to the plurality of in-work profile locations;
• and
• adjusting, based on comparing the in-work profile data to the reference profile data, one or more bead forming parameters causing a reduction in a size of a nonconformity associated with forming the new bead relative to the size of the nonconformity otherwise occurring without adjusting the bead forming parameters.

A method of manufacturing an in-work article, comprising:

• evaluating a physical example of a nominal article representative of at least a portion of the in-work article;
• generating nominal profile data containing a nominal cross-sectional profile and associated voids at one or more of a plurality of nominal profile locations in the nominal article;
• extruding, using a nozzle of a printhead of an additive manufacturing system, a polymeric material onto a substrate to form a new bead during manufacturing of the in-work article;
• measuring, using two profilometers, each movable with the printhead, an in-work cross-sectional profile at least of one or more existing beads of the in-work article during forming of the new bead, the two profilometers are comprised of one of the following:
• the two profilometers comprise an upstream profilometer located upstream of the nozzle, and a downstream profilometer located downstream of the nozzle;
• or
• the two profilometers comprise a first downstream profilometer located between the nozzle and a compression device of the printhead, and a second downstream profilometer located downstream of the compression device;
• generating, using a control system, in-work profile data including the in-work cross-sectional profile respectively generated by each of the two profilometers at a plurality of in-work profile locations in the in-work article;
• comparing, using the control system, the in-work profile data to the nominal profile data;
• and
• adjusting, based on comparing the in-work profile data to the nominal profile data, one or more bead forming parameters causing a reduction in a size of a nonconformity associated with forming the new bead relative to the size of the nonconformity otherwise occurring without adjusting the bead forming parameters.