Wire-based additive manufacturing system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10478922-B2
Application number	US-201715483376-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2017
Priority date	Apr 10, 2017
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

A wire based additive manufacturing system includes a base movable in a feed direction. Multiple welding lasers are each spatially fixed as the base moves in the feed direction. Multiple cutting lasers are each spatially fixed as the base moves in the feed direction. Multiple wire feed members each feed an individual wire of a plurality of wires onto the base as the base moves in the feed direction. Each one the multiple welding lasers is energized to fuse parallel adjoining ones of the plurality of wires, and each one of the cutting lasers is energized to cut one of the fused wires to complete one of a plurality of wire layers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wire based additive manufacturing system, comprising:
a base movable in a feed direction;
at least one welding laser;
at least a first cutting laser and a second cutting laser;
at least a first wire feed member feeding a first wire onto the base as the base moves in the feed direction; and
at least a second wire feed member feeding a second wire onto the base and parallel to the first wire as the base moves in the feed direction;
wherein the at least one welding laser is energized to fuse the first wire to the second wire, the first cutting laser is energized to cut the first wire and the second cutting laser is energized to cut the second wire to complete a wire layer.

2. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one welding laser and the at least first and second cutting lasers are spatially fixed as the base moves in the feed direction.

3. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further including:
a first mirror redirecting a laser welding beam from the at least one welding laser to the first wire and the second wire; and
a second mirror redirecting a laser cutting beam from each of the at least first and second cutting lasers to one of the first wire or the second wire.

4. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further including a wire guide slidably receiving each of the first wire and the second wire and oriented to direct the first wire and the second wire toward the at least one welding laser.

5. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 4 , wherein the wire guide is spatially fixed as the base moves in the feed direction.

6. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 4 , further including a plurality of flexible depressor fingers extending from the wire guide acting to bias the first wire and the second wire toward the base.

7. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further including a next wire from the first wire feed member and a next wire from the second wire feed member added to create a next successive wire layer above the wire layer after completion of the wire layer.

8. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 7 , wherein the next wire from the first wire feed member and the next wire from the second wire feed member are oriented orthogonally to the first wire and the second wire.

9. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first wire and the second wire have opposed angular faces, one of the angular faces of the first wire and one of the angular faces of the second wire facing each other at an intersection between the first wire and the second wire, and further including a weld created at the intersection using the at least one welding laser joining the first wire to the second wire.

10. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 9 , further including a wire guide having multiple apertures each sized to slidably receive one of the first wire or the second wire, each of the multiple apertures communicating with a slot created in the wire guide oriented to direct the first wire and the second wire toward the at least one welding laser.

11. A wire based additive manufacturing system, comprising:
a base movable in a feed direction;
multiple welding lasers each spatially fixed as the base moves in the feed direction;
multiple cutting lasers each spatially fixed as the base moves in the feed direction; and
multiple wire feed members each feeding an individual wire of a plurality of wires onto the base as the base moves in the feed direction;
wherein each one the multiple welding lasers is energized to fuse parallel adjoining ones of the plurality of wires, and each one of the cutting lasers is energized to cut one of the fused wires to complete one of a plurality of wire layers.

12. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , wherein each of the multiple wire feed members include:
a stepper motor; and
a guide roller.

13. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 12 , wherein each stepper motor is operated at a feed rate less than a rate of displacement of the base in the feed direction to create a reverse tension force in the plurality of wires.

14. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 12 , wherein successive ones of the stepper motors are staggered in height above a surface of the base.

15. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , wherein the multiple welding lasers and the multiple cutting lasers are coupled to define a laser welding assembly.

16. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , further including:
first and second angular side faces of each of the plurality of wires; and
a longitudinal channel between successive wire layers positioned between the first angular side face of individual parallel adjoining ones of the plurality of wires.

17. The wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 11 , further including a gap created using one of the multiple cutting lasers operating for a time period as the wire additive member is displaced in a feed direction, a width of the gap dependent on a time of operation of the one of the multiple cutting lasers multiplied by a rate of displacement of the wire additive member with the base.

18. A method for operating a wire based additive manufacturing system, comprising:
moving a base in a feed direction;
spatially fixing multiple welding lasers and multiple cutting lasers as a welding assembly with respect to the base as the base moves in the feed direction;
operating multiple wire feed members to feed individual wires of a plurality of wires onto the base as the base moves in the feed direction;
energizing each one the multiple welding lasers to fuse parallel adjoining ones of the plurality of wires; and
energizing each one of the cutting lasers to cut one of the fused wires to complete one of a plurality of wire layers.

19. The method for operating a wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 18 , further including after each of the parallel adjoining ones of the plurality of wires are fused together and each of the plurality of wires is cut to complete one of the plurality of wire layers:
lowering the base; and
rotating the base approximately 90 degrees to position the base to receive a next wire from each of the multiple wire feed members to create a next wire layer above the one of the plurality of wire layers.

20. The method for operating a wire based additive manufacturing system of claim 18 , further including creating at least one vertical column connecting two of the plurality of wire layers.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Rudnicki Mark Francis

Classifications

• B23K2101/22

  Nets, wire fabrics or the like · CPC title

• B23K26/0604

  by a combination of beams · CPC title

• B23K26/38

  by boring or cutting · CPC title

• B23K26/342 Primary

  Build-up welding · CPC title

• B23K26/242

  Fillet welding, i.e. involving a weld of substantially triangular cross section joining two parts · CPC title