Branching support for metals that minimizes material usage

A system for manufacturing a three-dimensional (3D) article from metal powder comprising:

• a print engine including a coater and a beam system;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• receive control signals defining a metallic structure including:
• a 3D article having a generally downward facing surface;
• a support structure including:
• a lower support beam including at least a crossed pair of elongate sheets defined by a vertical sequence of contour scan patterns, the lower support beam having a lower end and an upper end, the lower end coupled to a support surface;
• a node body with a solid interior defined by a vertical sequence of area fill hatch patterns, the node body coupled to the upper end of the lower support beam, the node body having a contiguous and generally convex upper surface, the node body is wider than the lower support beam and tapers in a downward direction to where it couples to the lower support beam;
• and
• a plurality of at least three branches defined by a vertical sequence of contour scan patterns and extending with a diverging geometry away from the upper surface of the node body and to the generally downward facing surface, the plurality of at least three branches define at least three spaced apart crossed pairs of contour segments where they intersect with the upper surface of the node body to prevent overheating;
• and
• operate coater and beam system to dispense and selectively fuse a sequence of layers of metal powder to concurrently form the 3D article and the support structure.

A non-transient information storage system storing software instructions for a system, the system including a print engine and a controller, when executed by a processor the software instructions perform the following steps:

• receive control signals defining a metallic structure including:
• a 3D article having a generally downward facing surface;
• a support structure including:
• a lower support beam having a lower end and an upper end, the lower end coupled to a support surface, the lower support beam including a crossed pair of elongate sheets;
• a node body with a solid interior coupled to the upper end of the lower support beam, the node body having an upper surface that is generally in facing relation with the generally downward facing surface, the node body is wider than the lower support beam and tapers in a downward direction to where it couples to the lower support beam;
• and
• a plurality of at least three branches extending with a diverging geometry away from the upper surface of the node body and to the generally downward facing surface, the plurality of at least three branches define at least three spaced apart crossed pairs of contour segments where they intersect with the upper surface of the node body to prevent overheating;
• and
• operate the print engine to fabricate the metallic structure according to the control signals.