US 12,391,000 B2
System and method for creating lattice structures
Gregory John Vernon, Kansas City, MO (US); and John Porter, Kansas City, MO (US)
Assigned to Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC, Kansas City, MO (US)
Filed by HONEYWELL FEDERAL MANUFACTURING & TECHNOLOGIES, LLC, Kansas City, MO (US)
Filed on Oct. 17, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/655,310.
Prior Publication US 2021/0114305 A1, Apr. 22, 2021
Int. Cl. B29C 64/386 (2017.01); B22F 10/80 (2021.01); B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B33Y 50/00 (2015.01); B33Y 50/02 (2015.01); B33Y 80/00 (2015.01); G06F 30/00 (2020.01)
CPC B29C 64/386 (2017.08) [B22F 10/80 (2021.01); B33Y 50/00 (2014.12); G06F 30/00 (2020.01); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B33Y 50/02 (2014.12); B33Y 80/00 (2014.12)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of creating a lattice structure for a part formed via additive manufacturing, the method comprising the steps of:
generating, via a processor, a finite element mesh having a plurality of finite elements including a first finite element;
generating, via the processor, a first natural space data structure such that the first finite element includes the first natural space data structure, the first natural space data structure being configured for back-end manipulation, deformation, linking, mating, unlinking, and demating;
generating, via the processor, a first unit cell corresponding to the first finite element;
generating, via the processor, a first design space data structure such that the first unit cell includes the first design space data structure and the first natural space data structure, the first design space data structure being configured for front-end manipulation, deformation, linking, mating, unlinking, and demating, the first design space data structure being a different data structure than the first natural space data structure;
generating, via the processor, a geometric map between the first natural space data structure, the first design space data structure, and the finite element mesh, the geometric map including a first shape function mapping the first natural space data structure to the first design space data structure and a second shape function mapping the first natural space data structure to the finite element mesh;
modifying, via the processor, the first unit cell via the first design space data structure according to user inputs; and
modifying, via the processor, the first unit cell via the first natural space data structure to correspond to the modifications of the first unit cell in the first design space data structure according to an inverse of the first shape function.