US 12,220,862 B2
Sheet lamination additive manufacturing for hollow sealed geometries without internal support
Raffaello Ardanese, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US); James Joseph Deininger, Sterling Heights, MI (US); Andrew Thomas Cunningham, Cambridge, MA (US); and Mark Allen Leavitt, Oxford, MI (US)
Assigned to GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed by GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed on Jan. 19, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/156,803.
Prior Publication US 2024/0246287 A1, Jul. 25, 2024
Int. Cl. B29C 64/147 (2017.01); B29C 64/153 (2017.01); B29C 64/314 (2017.01); B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B33Y 30/00 (2015.01); B33Y 40/10 (2020.01)
CPC B29C 64/147 (2017.08) [B29C 64/153 (2017.08); B29C 64/314 (2017.08); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); B33Y 40/10 (2020.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of building a product from sheets, the method comprising:
feeding, by at least one actuator, one of the sheets into an additive manufacturing cell;
printing, by a printer, a printing material onto the one of the sheets;
applying, over the printing material, a powder for securing the sheets together;
building the product by repeating the feeding, the printing, and the applying for remaining of the sheets except for a last one of the sheets where only the feeding is repeated;
forming, by the building, a hollow volume within the product, without build supports extending through the hollow volume;
determining, by a controller and during the building, when insertion of a substance or an object into the hollow volume is specified at a layer of the building and prior to closing the hollow volume;
closing, by the building and with one of the sheets, the hollow volume, including after the insertion when specified;
completing the building by feeding the one last sheet without the printing and without the applying; and
consolidating, by securing via an energy source and the powder, the sheets together to define the product as a contiguous structure.