TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to industrial manufacturing, and, more specifically, to additive, subtractive, and hybrid manufacturing control systems.

BACKGROUND

Modern manufacturing processes that involve machining of stock material or deposition of material to form finished products, or components of larger assembled products, often employ programmable manufacturing tools in order to achieve automation, product consistency, and precision. For example, in the case of subtractive manufacturing, numerically controlled (NC) systems—which include computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines—are typically used to control one or more machining tools that perform subtractive machining on a unit of stock material to yield a final workpiece or part that conforms to design specifications. In the case of additive manufacturing, a three-dimensional (3D) printer may control an additive disposition head that deposits material in a controlled manner to form a finished part having a defined shape or topology. Hybrid manufacturing systems may employ both additive and subtractive manufacturing processes to yield a finished part.

After performing pre-cycle initialization (which may involve taking measurements of machine stock prior to beginning the manufacturing cycle to initialize coordinates), an additive and/or subtractive manufacturing cycle is performed. Upon completion of the manufacturing cycle, which may involve one or more passes of the tool over the workpiece to remove and/or add stock material, the finished part is typically inspected for defects or deviations from the part design specifications in excess of defined tolerances. If it is found that the part does not conform to design specifications in one or more respects, the part may be rejected or, if further machining or deposition can bring the part into tolerance, placed back into the workstation for further processing. The operator may also perform checks on the machine to determine if adjustments should be made. However, feedback from the inspection process back to the manufacturing process is largely manual and subject to human error.

The above-described is merely intended to provide an overview of some of the challenges facing conventional manufacturing systems. Other challenges with conventional systems and contrasting benefits of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review of the following description.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

One or more embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a morphic manufacturing approach that utilizes data capture technology, processing software, and instructions for both additive and subtractive manufacturing. This morphic manufacturing process is designed to perform in situ inspection measurements on the part after an additive (e.g., machining) and/or subtractive (e.g., 3D printing) manufacturing pass has been completed, compare the as-designed part with the as-manufactured part as represented by the measured inspection data, and adjust a subsequent manufacturing pass if necessary to bring the as-manufactured part into alignment with design specifications. This measure-and-adjust process is performed while the part is in situ without removing the part from the manufacturing tool's work envelop.

The following description and the annexed drawings set forth herein detail certain illustrative aspects of the one or more embodiments. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various embodiments can be employed, and the described embodiments are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

