Patent Application
20210031443
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of additive manufacturing, and more specifically to additively manufacturing connectors and/or fasteners.
Additive manufacturing refers to processes of joining material(s) to make members and/or assemblies from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer. In recent years, additive technologies have been adopted in a variety of manufacturing sectors, including aerospace, automotive, medical, and consumer products. Additive manufacturing of various members and/or assemblies may provide numerous benefits for an industry sector. As one example, additive manufacturing may allow for a plurality of different members separately manufactured according to a different manufacturing process to be consolidated into a single additive manufacturing process. As another example, additive manufacturing may allow for members to be manufactured on-demand, which may alleviate the need for large inventories of mass-produced members. As yet another example, additive manufacturing may allow for a member to be redesigned subsequent to the initial design process without having to retool manufacturing equipment to accommodate the redesign.
To address the above issues, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, an additive manufacturing method is disclosed. A parent member is additively manufactured. The parent member includes a first end and a retention portion proximate to the first end. A support member is additively manufactured onto the parent member. A connector is additively manufactured onto the support member such that the support member is connected between the parent member and the connector. The support member is fracturable to allow movement of the connector with respect to the parent member. The retention portion is configured to prevent the connector from being removed from the first end upon fracturing of the at least one support member. The connector is operable to engage an external member to hold the parent member in a position with respect to the external member.
The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed can be achieved independently in various embodiments or may be combined in yet other embodiments further details of which can be seen with reference to the following description and drawings.
Improved methods for additive manufacturing of an assembly comprising a parent member and a connector or fastener that is prevented from being removed from a first end of the parent member are provided. The improved additive manufacturing methods allow for the parent member and the connector or fastener to be additively manufactured together in the same additive manufacturing process. Additionally, the improved additive manufacturing methods allow for the connector or fastener to be retained on the parent member without the need for additional steps to modify the parent member after the parent member has been formed. According to such improved additive manufacturing methods, the number of steps to produce the additively manufactured assembly may be reduced. Also, the resulting additively manufactured assembly may be more robust, since the parent member does not need to be modified subsequent to being formed. Moreover, since the parent member does not need to be modified subsequent to being formed, the parent member is less likely to become degraded during the manufacturing process, which may increase the overall manufacturing yield of the additively manufactured assembly.
At 102, the method 100 includes additively manufacturing a parent member including a first end and a retention portion proximate to the first end. In the scope of this disclosure, the parent member is generally referred to as having a tube shape, though it will be appreciated that the parent member may have any suitable geometry. At 104, the method 100 includes additively manufacturing at least one support member onto the parent member. At 106, the method 100 includes additively manufacturing a connector or fastener onto the at least one support member such that the at least one support member is connected between the parent member and the connector or fastener. The support member(s) are configured to be fracturable (or otherwise removable) to allow movement of the connector or fastener with respect to the parent member. The support member(s) may act as spacer(s) between the parent member and the connector or fastener to allow for at least a portion of the connector or fastener to be spaced apart from the parent member. Furthermore, the retention portion is configured to prevent the connector from being removed from the first end upon fracturing of the support member(s). In some embodiments, the parent member may include two or more retention portions that prevent the connector or fastener from being removed from the parent member. In such embodiments, the connector or fastener may be captively retained on the parent member upon fracturing the support member(s).
As used herein, the term “connector” is defined as a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more members together. A connector may be configured to engage with a matching hardware device to form a pair of connectors. In other words, the connector may be operable to engage an external member to hold the parent member in a position with respect to the external member. In some examples, the connector may be configured as a “male” connector that is inserted into a “female” receptacle that holds the “male” connector. In other examples, the connector may be a “female” connector that is a receptacle that receives and holds a “male” connector. Non-limiting examples of connectors include nuts, fittings, couplers, clasps, clamps, latches and adapters, though it will be appreciated that a connector may take any suitable form.
As used herein, the term “fastener” is defined as a hardware device that is inserted into two or more members to mechanically join or affix the two or more members together. Non-limiting examples of fasteners include screws, bolts, and pins, though it will be appreciated that a fastener may take any suitable form.
The above-described additive manufacturing method steps or processes may be used to create a three-dimensional (3D) member or assembly where layers of material are formed, typically under computer control. An additively manufactured assembly can be of almost any shape or geometry and is produced using digital model data from a 3D model or another electronic data source. For example, an additively manufactured assembly may be formed based on a computer-aided design (CAD) model or an additive manufacturing file (AMF), or stereolithography (STL) file format by successively adding material layer-by-layer to accurately produce a member or assembly having a desired and/or predetermined dimension and/or geometry.
Any suitable type of additive manufacturing process or technology may be used to perform the additive manufacturing method steps described herein. Non-limiting examples of such additive manufacturing processes include 3D printing; direct energy deposition; direct metal laser sintering; direct metal printing; electron beam additive manufacturing; electron beam melting; electron beam powder bed manufacturing; fused deposition modeling; indirect powder bed manufacturing; laser cladding; laser deposition manufacturing; laser deposition welding; laser deposition welding/integrated milling; laser engineering net shaping; laser freeform manufacturing; laser metal deposition with powder; laser metal deposition with wire; laser powder bed manufacturing; laser puddle deposition; laser repair manufacturing; powder directed energy deposition; stereolithography; selective laser melting; selective laser sintering; small puddle deposition; or combinations thereof.
Laser sintering techniques may include selective laser sintering with both metals and polymers, and direct metal laser sintering. Selective laser melting does not use sintering for the fusion of powder granules but will completely melt the powder using a high-energy laser to create fully dense materials in a layer-wise deposition method that has mechanical properties similar to those of conventional manufactured metals. Electron beam melting (EBM) is a similar type of additive manufacturing technology for metal parts (e.g. titanium, titanium alloys). EBM manufactures parts by melting metal powder layer by layer with an electron beam in a high vacuum. Another method consists of an inkjet 3D printing system that creates the member one layer at a time by spreading a layer of powder (plaster or resins) and printing a binder in the cross-section of the member using an inkjet-like process. With laminated object manufacturing, thin layers are cut to shape and joined together.
Continuing with the method 100, in some embodiments a plurality of connectors, fasteners, or other members may be retained on the parent member. In some such embodiments, at 108, the method 100 optionally may include additively manufacturing at least one additional support member onto the parent member. At 110, the method 100 optionally may include additively manufacturing an additional member onto the at least one additional support member, such that the at least one additional support member is connected between the parent member and the additional member. In some embodiments, the additional member may include an engagement sleeve that is operable to interface with the retention portion, the connector, and the external member to form a seal between the parent member and the external member. In other embodiments, the additional member may include a second connector that is configured to engage a second external member to hold the parent member in a position with respect to the second external member. The at least one additional support member may be fracturable to allow movement of the additional member with respect to the parent member. The retention portion of the parent member may be configured to prevent the additional member from being removed from the first end upon fracturing of the at least one additional support member. In some embodiments, the additional member may be captively retained on the parent member upon fracturing the one or more additional support members, such that the additional member cannot be removed from the parent member.
At 112, the method 100 includes removing the at least one support member to allow movement of the connector or fastener with respect to the parent member. The at least one support member may be removed in any suitable manner. As one example, the support member(s) may be machined to allow separation of the connector or fastener from the parent member. In some examples, the support member(s) may be fractured and then subsequently removed. In other examples, the support member(s) may be fractured and removed in the same step or process. Upon fracturing and/or removal the support member(s), the connector or fastener may be configured to move with respect to the parent member in any suitable manner. In one example, a connector may be configured to move laterally with respect to a parent member (e.g., a tube). In another example, a fastener may be configured to move orthogonally with respect to a parent member.
In embodiments where at least one additional member is additively manufactured onto the parent member, at 114, the method 100 optionally may include removing the at least one additional support member to allow for movement of the additional member with respect to the parent member. As discussed above, the additional member may be an engagement sleeve or an additional connector or fastener, for example.
In some embodiments, the external member may include a threaded portion. In some such embodiments, at 116, the method 100 optionally may include forming threads on the connector that match the threaded portion of the external member such that the connector is operable to rotatably engage the threaded portion with the matching threads to hold the parent member in a position relative to the external member. As one example, forming the threads on the connector may include positioning the connector against the retention portion such that a portion of the connector extends beyond the retention portion, and machining threads into an interior sidewall of the connector. In another example, the threads may be formed in an exterior sidewall of the connector. Such external threads may be formed during additive manufacturing of the connector, via subsequent machining, or using some other manufacturing approach.
The above-described method may be performed to provide an additively manufactured assembly including a parent member and a connector or fastener that may be retained on the parent member without requiring additional modification of the parent member subsequent to the initial additive manufacturing process. Accordingly, the number of steps or processes required to additively manufacture the assembly may be reduced. Moreover, the assembly may be more robust based on not having to modify the parent member.
A first retention portion 208 is formed proximate to the first end 204 of the tube 202. The first retention portion 208 surrounds an exterior perimeter of the tube 202 to form a collar. The first retention portion 208 has a diameter that is greater than an exterior diameter of the tube 202. In the illustrated embodiment, the first retention portion 208 has sidewalls 210 that are orthogonal to the exterior wall of the tube 202. The first retention portion 208 is flush with the first end 204 of the tube 202. In other embodiments, the retention portion 208 may be recessed from the first end 204. For example, the retention portion 208 may be recessed from the first end 204 to allow for the first end 204 to be inserted into an external member in order to aid in holding the parent member in a position with respect to the external member.
A plurality of additively manufactured support members 212 (e.g., 212A, 212B, 212C, 212D) are disposed on the tube 202. An additively manufactured connector 214 is disposed on the plurality of support members 212 such that the plurality of support members 212 are connected between the tube 202 and the connector 214. The plurality of support members 212 may act as spacers that allow for non-connected portions of the connector 214 to be spaced apart from the tube 202. It will be appreciated that the connector 214 may be supported by any suitable number of support members. For example, in other embodiments, the connector 214 may be supported by more or less than four support members.
The plurality of support members 212 may be fracturable to allow movement of the connector 214 with respect to the tube 202.
Upon fracturing the plurality support members 212, the connector 214 may slide laterally along the tube 202, as shown in
Returning to
The plurality of additional support members 218 may be fracturable to allow movement of the engagement sleeve 220 with respect to the tube 202.
Upon fracturing the plurality additional support members 218, the engagement sleeve 220 may slide laterally along the tube 202 such that the engagement sleeve 220 is positioned within the internal cavity of the connector 214, as shown in
Returning to
In other embodiments, the engagement sleeve may be additively manufactured as part of the tube without fracturable support members such that the engagement sleeve is fixed relative to the tube. In such embodiments, the engagement sleeve may be incorporated into the retention portion and positioned at the first end of the tube. In such embodiments, the connector may be movable to slide over the engagement sleeve to engage the external member. In still other embodiments, the engagement sleeve may be omitted from the assembly, and the connector may engage with the external member directly.
In
In
In the illustrated embodiment, the retention portion 208 of the tube 202 takes the form of a collar having sidewalls that are orthogonal to the exterior surface of the tube 202. In other embodiments, the retention portion may take other shapes.
In some embodiments, a connector may be captively retained on a parent member based on a geometry of the parent member.
The additively manufactured assembly 800 is provided as anon-limiting example. It will be appreciated that myriad variations may be contemplated. For example, the support member(s) may be connected between the fastener and the parent member at other locations depending on the relative positions of the fastener and the parent member.
In
The systems and processes described herein have the potential benefit of significantly reducing manufacturing cycle times for additively manufactured assemblies by eliminating steps required to modify various members of the assemblies subsequent to the initial additive manufacturing formation process. For example, by using the disclosed additive manufacturing methods and processes a parent member of an assembly need not be modified to form a retention portion for a connector or a fastener, because the connector or fastener may be formed on the parent member during the additive manufacturing process instead of being formed separately and added during a subsequent manufacturing step. Moreover, systems, assemblies, and apparatuses described herein may be made more robust by not having to be modified after the additive manufacturing formation process to form such retention portions.
The present disclosure includes all novel and non-obvious combinations and subcombinations of the various features and techniques disclosed herein. The various features and techniques disclosed herein are not necessarily required of all examples of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the various features and techniques disclosed herein may define patentable subject matter apart from the disclosed examples and may find utility in other implementations not expressly disclosed herein.
