Method of connecting an additive communication cable to an electrical harness

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9837191-B2
Application number	US-201414146356-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 2, 2014
Priority date	Jan 2, 2014
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments are directed to a method for manufacturing a product comprising: establishing, by a computing device comprising a processor, at least one parameter of a particular instance of a component to be used in the product, adapting, by the computing device, a baseline model of the component based on the at least one parameter to accommodate use of the particular instance of the component, growing a structure based on the adapted model to accommodate the particular instance of the component using an additive manufacturing technique, coupling the structure to the particular instance of the component, growing an electrical harness by using additive printing to establish an electrical cable, and assembling the product by coupling the electrical harness to the particular instance of the component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a product, comprising:
inspecting a component formed on a product structure using an electronic inspection device to identify at least one parameters of the component, the at least one parameter including a three-dimension (3D) geometry of the component, a weight of the component, and a center-of-gravity (COG) of the component;
establishing, by a computing device comprising a processor, at least one parameter of a particular instance of the component to be used in the product structure in response to receiving, from the inspection device, data indicative of at least one of the 3D geometry of the component, the weight of the component, and the center-of-gravity (COG) of the component;
storing, by the computing device, a baseline model of the component;
comparing inspected dimensions of the component to stored dimensions of the baseline model of the component, and determining a target structure to be grown on the component based on the comparison, the target structure including at least one of a 3D part, and an electrical connection;
sequentially depositing a plurality of layers of additive material on top of one another so as to grow the target structure directly from the product structure based on the stored model to modify the component using an additive manufacturing technique, the additive manufacturing technique including performing a 3D printing process to grow the target structure;
coupling the grown target structure to the component;
performing an additive printing process that sequentially deposits a second plurality of layers of additive material on top of one another so as to grow an electrical harness directly from the product structure to establish an electrical cable, the additive manufacturing technique including performing a 3D printing process to grow the electrical harness; and
assembling the product by coupling the electrical harness to the particular instance of the component having the grown target structure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical cable is configured to support a conveyance of data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the electrical cable is configured to support the conveyance of data in accordance with at least one of the following: USB, Ethernet, Firewire, HDMI, Coax, RS-232, RS-485, and RS-422.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical cable comprises a twisted pair of wires created in a three-dimensional (3D) fashion.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical harness is grown so as to wrap around at least one curved surface associated with the structure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter comprises at least one of: a mechanical dimension, weight, center-of-gravity, and an electrical interface.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical harness comprises a connector configured to couple the electrical cable and the component.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical cable comprises a plurality of dielectric layers overlaid on top of a plurality of layers of leads.

Assignees

• Raytheon Co

Inventors

• Woida-O'Brien Rigel Q

Classifications

• H05K1/147

  at least one of the printed circuits being bent or folded, e.g. by using a flexible printed circuit (H05K1/148 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29L2031/707

  Cables, i.e. two or more filaments combined together, e.g. ropes, cords, strings, yarns (filamentary material B29L2031/731, electric cables B29L2031/3462, optical cables B29L2011/0075) · CPC title

• B29C64/386

  Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing · CPC title

• H05K2201/10189

  Non-printed connector · CPC title

• B29C64/112 Primary

  using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads · CPC title