US 12,275,192 B2
Additive manufacturing with adjusted cooling responsive to thermal characteristic of workpiece
Andrew H. Baker, St. Louis, MO (US); James B. Castle, Rolla, MO (US); Eric Erwin Thomas, Saint Charles, MO (US); and Samuel Joseph Easley, Saint Peters, MO (US)
Assigned to The Boeing Company, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed by The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed on May 23, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/421,303.
Prior Publication US 2020/0368815 A1, Nov. 26, 2020
Int. Cl. B22F 3/105 (2006.01); B22F 12/20 (2021.01); B22F 12/90 (2021.01); B29C 64/153 (2017.01); B29C 64/268 (2017.01); B29C 64/364 (2017.01); B29C 64/393 (2017.01); B33Y 40/00 (2020.01); B22F 10/25 (2021.01); B22F 10/80 (2021.01); B22F 12/53 (2021.01); B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B33Y 30/00 (2015.01); B33Y 50/02 (2015.01)
CPC B29C 64/364 (2017.08) [B22F 12/20 (2021.01); B22F 12/90 (2021.01); B29C 64/153 (2017.08); B29C 64/268 (2017.08); B29C 64/393 (2017.08); B33Y 40/00 (2014.12); B22F 10/25 (2021.01); B22F 10/80 (2021.01); B22F 12/53 (2021.01); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); B33Y 50/02 (2014.12)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for use in additive manufacturing of a current workpiece that is three dimensional using an additive manufacturing system including a controller including a processor, deposition subsystem, and cooling subsystem, the method comprising:
determining, via a control program executed by the processor, a first threshold associated with a first portion of the current workpiece and a second threshold associated with a second portion of the current workpiece;
depositing material onto a substrate to form a shape of the current workpiece in accordance with an additive manufacturing process, via the additive manufacturing subsystem in response to deposition commands from the control program;
continuously monitoring a thermal characteristic of the first portion and the second portion of the current workpiece during the additive manufacturing process by measuring a surface temperature of the first portion and the second portion via a thermal sensor of the additive manufacturing system;
continuously determining, via the control program executed by the processor, whether the thermal characteristic of the first portion exceeds the first threshold and whether the thermal characteristic of the second portion exceeds the second threshold;
adjusting a cooling parameter of a cooling flow to be applied to the current workpiece responsive to a determination that the thermal characteristic of the first portion exceeds the first threshold or the thermal characteristic of the second portion exceeds the second threshold, via the control program executed by the processor; and
intermittently or continuously applying the cooling flow with the adjusted cooling parameter to at least the first portion or second portion of the current workpiece that exceeds the first or second threshold, in response to cooling commands from the control program executed on the processor to the cooling subsystem, wherein
the thermal characteristic is selected from the group consisting of time at temperature, peak temperature, and average temperature.