Seurat Technologies, Inc.

Tiveni Mergeco, Inc.

Audi Ag

Inevit LLC

American Battery Solutions, Inc.

Robert Bosch

Volkswagen Ag

Grammer Ag

Brose Fahrzeugteile Se & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Bamberg

Mapal Fabrik Fur Prazisionswerkzeuge Dr. Kress Kg

Tiveni Mergedco, Inc.

The Viking Corporation

Geze Gmbh

Heiner Fees

Alexander Eichhorn

Ralf Maisch

James A DeMuth

Erik Toomre

Kourosh Kamshad

Eugene Michael Berdichevsky

Francis Lawrence Leard

Andreas Track

Jörg Damaske

Martin F Eberhard

Heinz-Willi Vassen

Valentin Brokop

Christoph Kreutzer

Ulrich Hohl

Hans-Joachim Pflüger

Claus Gerald Pflüger

Michael John Miskovsky

Robert Schwarzbauer

Jaime Camhi

Brian Ng

Reiner Schweinfurth

Maximilian Kotz

Harald Krueger

Armin Pöppel

Rob Sweney

Thomas Lettner

David Vergossen

Michael Roemer

Torsten Kärcher

Joerg Damaske

Ricky Hudi

Dominik Hahne

Andreas Ryf

Bardo Lang

Karsten Büttner

Manfred Goetz

A method of additive manufacture is disclosed. The method may include creating, by a 3D printer contained within an enclosure, a part having a weight greater than or equal to 2,000 kilograms. A gas management system may maintain gaseous oxygen within the enclosure atmospheric level. In some embodiments, a wheeled vehicle may transport the part from inside the enclosure, through an airlock, as the airlock operates to buffer between a gaseous environment within the enclosure and a gaseous environment outside the enclosure, and to a location exterior to both the enclosure and the airlock.

Chamber systems for additive manufacturing

A method of additive manufacture is disclosed. The method may include restricting, by an enclosure, an exchange of gaseous matter between an interior of the enclosure and an exterior of the enclosure. The method may further include running multiple machines within the enclosure. Each of the machines may execute its own process of additive manufacture. While the machines are running, a gas management system may maintain gaseous oxygen within the enclosure at or below a limiting oxygen concentration for the interior.

Enclosed additive manufacturing system

A manipulator device such as a robot arm that is capable of increasing manufacturing throughput for additively manufactured parts, and allows for the manipulation of parts that would be difficult or impossible for a human to move is described. The manipulator can grasp various permanent or temporary additively manufactured manipulation points on a part to enable repositioning or maneuvering of the part.

Part manipulation using printed manipulation points

A method and an apparatus of a powder bed fusion additive manufacturing system that enables a quick change in the optical beam delivery size and intensity across locations of a print surface for different powdered materials while ensuring high availability of the system. A dynamic optical assembly containing a set of lens assemblies of different magnification ratios and a mechanical assembly may change the magnification ratios as needed. The dynamic optical assembly may include a transitional and rotational position control of the optics to minimize variations of the optical beam sizes across the print surface.

Dynamic optical assembly for laser-based additive manufacturing

An additive manufacturing system including a two-dimensional energy patterning system for imaging a powder bed is disclosed. Improved structure formation, part creation and manipulation, use of multiple additive manufacturing systems, and high throughput manufacturing methods suitable for automated or semi-automated factories are also disclosed.

Additive manufacturing system and method

An apparatus for additive printing is provided. The apparatus includes a print head, an optical-mechanical assembly, and a rejected energy handling device. The print head includes an energy source and one or more energy patterning devices configured to provide one or more two-dimensional patterned incident beams to process a powdered material. The optical-mechanical assembly includes optical components arranged to receive and direct the one or more incident beams into a location. The rejected energy handling device is configured to reuse beam energy rejected by the one or more energy patterning devices by relaying the rejected beam energy to either or both of an electricity generator and a thermal management system.

A method and an apparatus involve applying a pattern on an addressable patternable cathode unit. The cathode unit is stimulated to emit an electron beam pattern. A patterned image in the electron beam pattern is positioned to a desired position such directly to as a powder bed for additive manufacturing or to an electron beam addressed light valve for controlling spatial patterns on an optical signal for powder bed manufacturing.

Electron beam patterning system in additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing can involve dispensing a powdered material to form a layer of a powder bed on a support surface of a build platform. A portion of the layer of the powder bed may be selectively melted or fused to form one or more temporary walls out of the fused portion of the layer of the powder bed to contain another portion of the layer of the powder bed on the build platform.

Variable print chamber walls for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

A method of additive manufacture suitable for large and high resolution structures is disclosed. The method may include sequentially advancing each portion of a continuous part in the longitudinal direction from a first zone to a second zone. In the first zone, selected granules of a granular material may be amalgamated. In the second zone, unamalgamated granules of the granular material may be removed. The method may further include advancing a first portion of the continuous part from the second zone to a third zone while (1) a last portion of the continuous part is formed within the first zone and (2) the first portion is maintained in the same position in the lateral and transverse directions that the first portion occupied within the first zone and the second zone.

Long and high resolution structures formed by additive manufacturing techniques

An embodiment is directed to a hybrid contact plate arrangement in a battery module that includes a plurality of contact plates configured to be arranged on a given side of a set of battery cells in the battery module, at least one insulation layer configured to provide insulation between each of the plurality of contact plates, wherein the set of battery cells includes a plurality of groups of battery cells, and wherein the plurality of contact plates each include a set of bonding connectors, the sets of bonding connectors being configured to connect to the positive and negative terminals of the plurality of groups of battery cells so as to connect battery cells in each of the plurality of groups of battery cells in parallel with each other, and to connect the plurality of groups of battery cells in series with each other.

Multi-layer contact plate configured to establish electrical bonds to battery cells in a battery module

A method and an apparatus pertaining to recycling and reuse of unwanted light in additive manufacturing can multiplex multiple beams of light including at least one or more beams of light from one or more light sources. The multiple beams of light may be reshaped and blended to provide a first beam of light. A spatial polarization pattern may be applied on the first beam of light to provide a second beam of light. Polarization states of the second beam of light may be split to reflect a third beam of light, which may be reshaped into a fourth beam of light. The fourth beam of light may be introduced as one of the multiple beams of light to result in a fifth beam of light.

Light recycling for additive manufacturing optimization

A method and an apparatus for collecting a powdered material after a print job in powder bed fusion additive manufacturing may involve a build platform supporting a powder bed capable of tilting, inverting, and shaking to separate the powder bed substantially from the build platform in a hopper. The powdered material may be collected in a hopper for reuse in later print jobs. The powder collecting process may be automated to increase efficiency of powder bed fusion additive manufacturing.

Recycling powdered material for additive manufacturing

Embodiments are directed to establishing a direct electrical bond between a bonding connector of a contact plate and a battery cell in a battery module. In a first embodiment, an oscillating laser is used to weld the bonding connector to a battery cell terminal over a target area over which the bonding connector makes non-flush contact. In a second embodiment, the bonding connector is flattened to reduce a gap between the bonding connector and the target area on the battery cell terminal, and then laser-welded (e.g., using an oscillating or non-oscillating laser). In a third embodiment, at least one hold-down mechanism is applied over the bonding connector to secure the bonding connector to the battery cell terminal, after which the bonding connector is laser-welded to the battery cell terminal.

Methods of welding a bonding connector of a contact plate to a battery cell terminal

In an embodiment, a battery module is configured for insertion into a battery module compartment of an energy storage system. The battery module includes a first exterior plate configured with a male joining section, a second exterior plate that is adjacent to the first exterior plate and configured with a female joining section, wherein the first and second exterior plates are joined together via the male and female joining sections without welding. In an example, by joining the first and second exterior plates (e.g., and optionally, other exterior plates of the battery module as well) without welding, problems associated with heat from a welding process as well as spatters and dirt accumulation at battery cells of the battery module can be reduced or avoided.

Non-welding joinder of exterior plates of a battery module

A method and an apparatus for collecting powder samples in real-time in powder bed fusion additive manufacturing may involves an ingester system for in-process collection and characterizations of powder samples. The collection may be performed periodically and uses the results of characterizations for adjustments in the powder bed fusion process. The ingester system of the present disclosure is capable of packaging powder samples collected in real-time into storage containers serving a multitude purposes of audit, process adjustments or actions.

Multi-functional ingester system for additive manufacturing

Growing community of inventors

Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany

Heiner Fees