General Electric Company

Brian Scott McCarthy

Michael Evans Graham

William Thomas Carter

Subhrajit Roychowdhury

David Charles Bogdan, Jr

Thomas Charles Adcock

Joshua Tyler Mook

Victor Petrovich Ostroverkhov

Arvind Rangarajan

Donnell Eugene Crear

Anthony Joseph Vinciquerra

Vipul Kumar Gupta

Christina Margaret Vasil

Dean Andrew Snelling, Jr

Todd Jay Rockstroh

Younkoo Jeong

Justin John Gambone, Jr

Mark Samuel Bailey

Mohammed Mounir Shalaby

John Joseph Madelone, Jr

Rachel Wyn Levine

Andrea Marie Schmitz

Eric Edward Halla

Tyler Nathaniel Nelson

Rajesh Kartik Bollapragada

Aymeric Moinet

A system for additive manufacturing machine energy beam alignment error compensation includes, a calibration table having x-y planar offsets to correct laser alignment errors representing energy beam positional offsets between beam-steering commanded energy beam locations and fiducial marks generated on a burn-paper, a recoater mechanism that distributes successive layers of powder, one or more sensors monitoring the powderbed surface proximal to the beam scan unit, and a processor unit configured to perform a method. The method including collecting sensor data representing height variations across at least a portion of the powderbed surface, deriving dimensional data from the collected data, analyzing the dimensional data to determine a distribution of differences between the powderbed surface and a calibration plane used for a first spatial calibration, and calculating z-axis calibration offset points for inclusion in the calibration table x-y planar offsets. A method and a non-transitory medium are also disclosed.

Compensating laser alignment for irregularities in an additive manufacturing machine powderbed

A method of aligning at least one laser beam of an additive manufacturing arrangement. The method includes measuring a surface of the calibration plate at a plurality of measurement points using the coordinate measuring machine. The method further includes generating a correction field based on the plurality of measurement points using the coordinate measuring machine. The method further includes writing at least one fiducial mark on the surface of the calibration plate using the at least one laser beam. The method further includes generating calibration data for the surface of the calibration plate using the calibration system. The method also includes aligning the laser beam within the additive manufacturing system based on the calibration data and the correction field using the computing device by comparing a position of the fiducial mark from the calibration data with the correction field to determine a corrected position of the laser beam.

System and methods for compensating for calibration plate irregularities in additive manufacturing systems

An additive manufacturing system includes a control system communicatively coupled to a consolidation device and configured to control operation of the consolidation device. The control system is configured to generate a model of a component including a plurality of elements and at least one region of interest. The control system is also configured to apply at least one strain load to at least one element of the plurality of elements and generate a build characteristic contribution profile based on the at least one strain load. The control system is further configured to determine a build parameter based at least partly on the build characteristic contribution profile.

Additive manufacturing systems and methods including build characteristic contribution profiles

A method, medium, and system including determining a material property value to assign to each of the plurality of 3D volume elements, wherein the material property values assigned to the plurality of 3D volume elements are classified into a predetermined number of bins that correspond to a plurality of different additive manufacturing (AM) print parameter sets, generating a plurality of transfer functions to determine relationships between the material property values assigned to the plurality of 3D volume elements and a plurality of desired AM print parameter sets, automatically determining, based on the plurality of transfer functions, an assignment of one of the plurality of different AM print parameter sets to each of the plurality of 3D volume elements, and validating the determined assignments of the plurality of different AM print parameter sets for the plurality of 3D volume elements based on the plurality of transfer functions.

Autozoning of additive manufacturing print parameters

A system for additive manufacturing machine energy beam alignment error compensation includes, a calibration table having x-y planar offsets to correct laser alignment errors representing energy beam positional offsets between beam-steering commanded energy beam locations and fiducial marks generated on a burn-paper, a recoater mechanism that distributes successive layers of powder, one or more sensors monitoring the powderbed surface proximal to the beam scan unit, and a processor unit configured to perform a method. The method including collecting sensor data representing height variations across at least a portion of the powderbed surface, deriving dimensional data from the collected data, analyzing the dimensional data to determine a distribution of differences between the powderbed surface and a reference plane containing the burn-paper when the fiducial marks were generated, and calculating z-axis calibration offset points for inclusion in the calibration table x-y planar offsets. A method and a non-transitory medium are also disclosed.

An additive manufacturing system includes a first laser device configured to generate a first laser beam and a second laser device configured to generate a second laser beam. The laser scanning devices include a first laser scanning device and a second laser scanning device. The first laser scanning device is configured to selectively direct the first laser beam from the first laser devices across a powder bed along a plurality of first hatching paths and a first contour path along a contour of the solid component. The second laser scanning device is configured to selectively direct the second laser beam from the second laser devices across the powder bed along a plurality of second hatching paths and a second contour path along the contour of the solid component. The first contour path includes a first hook extending into the plurality of second hatching paths.

System and methods for contour stitching in additive manufacturing systems

A method, medium, and system to automatically determine parameter sets for an additive manufacturing (AM) of a part, the method including executing a load analysis on a model of a part to emulate a load on each of a plurality of regions of the part; determining a representation of the model of the part as a plurality of discrete three-dimensional (3D) volume elements; determining, based on an output of the load analysis, a life or material property value to assign to each of the plurality of 3D volume elements; automatically determining an assignment of one of a plurality of additive manufacturing (AM) print parameter sets to each of the plurality of 3D volume elements; and saving a record of the determined assignments of the AM print parameter sets to each of the plurality of 3D volume elements.

A direct metal laser melting (DMLM) system includes a rotatable base, and a build plate mounted on and supported by the rotatable base, where the build plate includes a build surface. The DMLM system also includes a first actuator assembly, a first powder dispenser disposed proximate the build plate and configured to deposit a weldable powder on the build surface of the build plate. In addition, the DMLM system includes a first powder spreader disposed proximate the build plate and configured to spread the weldable powder deposited on the build surface of the build plate, and a first laser scanner supported by the first actuator assembly in a position relative to the build plate, such that at least a portion of the build surface is within a field of view of the first laser scanner. The first laser scanner is configured to selectively weld the weldable powder. The first laser scanner is further configured to translate axially relative to the build surface on the first actuator assembly.

Rotating direct metal laser melting systems and methods of operation

Some embodiments facilitate creation of an industrial asset item via an additive manufacturing process wherein motion is provided between a build plate and a print arm. A correction engine may receive, from an industrial asset item definition data store containing at least one electronic record defining the industrial asset item, the data defining the industrial asset item. A correction engine computer processor may then correct the motion provided between the build plate and the print arm such that the motion deviates from a path indicated by the data defining the industrial asset item. The three-dimension printer may be a rotary printer such that the build plate rotates about a vertical axis and moves along the vertical axis during printing. In these cases, a pre-compensation algorithm may be applied to correct the motion provided between the build plate and the print arm before transmitting data to the three-dimensional additive manufacturing printer.

Scan path correction for movements associated with an additive manufacturing machine

Some embodiments facilitate creation of an industrial asset item via a rotary additive manufacturing process. For example, a build plate may rotate about a vertical axis and move, relative to a print arm, along the vertical axis during printing. An industrial asset item definition data store may contain at least one electronic record defining the industrial asset item. A frame creation computer processor may slice the data defining the industrial asset item to create a series of two-dimensional, locally linear frames helically arranged as a spiral staircase of steps (and each step may be oriented normal to the vertical axis. Indications of the series of two-dimensional frames may then be output to be provided to a rotary three-dimensional printer.

Scan path generation for a rotary additive manufacturing machine

An additive manufacturing system including a consolidation device, a build platform, an optical detector, and a controller is provided. The consolidation device is configured to form a build layer of a component. The build platform is configured to rotate about a build platform rotation axis extending along a first direction. The optical detector is configured to detect locations of at least two alignment marks. The controller is configured to receive locations of the at least two alignment marks from the optical detector. The controller is also configured to determine the locations of the build platform rotation axis and a build platform rotation center point based on a comparison between the at least two alignment marks, wherein the build platform rotation center point lies along the build platform rotation axis. The controller is further configured to control the consolidation device to consolidate a plurality of particles on the build platform.

Growing community of inventors

Schenectady, NY, United States of America

Brian Scott McCarthy