Additive Manufacturing Of Marine Mooring Chains
AssigneeChevron U.S.A. Inc.
InventorsWei Ma, Robert Kwan Meng Seah, Xiaoyan Yan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Additive manufacturing techniques can be used to form marine mooring chains. In one example method, individual chain links are printed using additive manufacturing and then joined together to form a section of a marine mooring chain. In another example method, multiple chain links are printed together simultaneously to form a section of a marine mooring chain. The links of the marine mooring chain formed using additive manufacturing are advantageous in that selected materials and sensors can be embedded in the chain links and the links can be formed to have a functional gradient.
Claims26
A method of forming a marine mooring chain using an additive manufacturing process, the method comprising:
- forming, by the additive manufacturing process, a portion of a base of a first chain link;
- turning over the portion of the base and placing one or more supports about the portion of the base;
- forming, by the additive manufacturing process, a remainder of the base and a pair of arms of the first chain link, thereby producing a partial first chain link;
- forming, by the additive manufacturing process, a portion of a crown;
- turning over the portion of the crown and placing one or more supports about the portion of the crown;
- forming, by the additive manufacturing process, a remainder of the crown and a pair of crown shoulders, thereby producing a crown assembly;
- placing a previously completed chain link onto the partial first chain link;
- and
- fusing the crown assembly onto the partial first chain link, thereby producing a pair of interlocked chain links of the marine mooring chain.
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A method of forming a marine mooring chain using an additive manufacturing process, the method comprising:
- printing, with a robotic printer system, a base layer of a chain segment comprising multiple chain links, wherein the multiple chain links of the chain segment are interlocked and laying lengthwise on a platform, and wherein the base layer comprises a first material;
- printing, with the robotic printer system, a second layer of the chain segment comprising multiple chain links, wherein the second layer comprises a second material;
- and
- printing, with the robotic printer system, a third layer of the chain segment comprising multiple chain links, wherein the third layer comprises the first material.
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A method of forming a marine mooring chain using an additive manufacturing process, the method comprising:
- forming, by the additive manufacturing process, a first portion of a chain link by depositing and fusing chain link material using a welding robot comprising a printing head;
- and
- fusing a casting portion to the first portion of the chain link, the casting portion comprising at least one of a sensor and a sensor mounting point,
- wherein the first portion and the casting portion form the chain link.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.