Digital Material Collaboration Platform for Additive Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Complex manufacturing processes like additive manufacturing and composite layup face challenges in achieving optimized process parameters, leading to manufacturing defects and inefficiencies due to the lack of readily available information on material and machine-specific settings, requiring time-consuming trial-and-error experiments.
Innovation Solution
The development of digital material collaboration platforms that enable entities to collaborate and exchange information on material, process, and machine parameters through digital representations, allowing for the determination of optimized process parameters without extensive experimentation, and facilitating the use of finite element method simulations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If trial-and-error experiments are performed to determine optimized process parameters, then manufacturing precision is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by creating digital materials that pre-establish optimized process parameters before physical manufacturing occurs. The digital material includes pre-determined process parameters derived from virtual experimentation and simulation, allowing manufacturers to directly use optimized settings without time-consuming trial-and-error physical testing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a digital representation (digital material) of the physical manufacturing process. This digital copy includes virtual models, simulation data, and pre-optimized parameters that replicate the physical manufacturing process, allowing parameter optimization to be performed virtually rather than through repeated physical experimentation.
2Manufacturing precision
If extensive experimentation is conducted to find optimized process parameters, then manufacturing precision is improved, but loss of substance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy of the manufacturing process that eliminates the need for physical trial-and-error experimentation. The digital material contains virtual models and simulation results that allow parameter optimization without consuming physical materials, thereby preventing material waste while achieving optimized process parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
By performing parameter optimization in advance through digital means rather than physical experimentation, the patent prevents material consumption that would occur during trial-and-error manufacturing tests. The preliminary digital determination of optimized parameters eliminates the need for extensive physical experimentation and associated material waste.
3Productivity
If digital material collaboration platforms are implemented, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a digital material collaboration platform that serves multiple functions: storing digital materials, facilitating collaboration between entities, enabling parameter optimization, and supporting manufacturing processes. This multi-functional approach consolidates several needs into a single platform, improving productivity while managing complexity through integration rather than multiple separate systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing system may include a digital material collaboration engine configured to construct a digital material that is partially-defined based on input from a requestor entity of a digital material collaboration platform. The digital material may be for the manufacture of a physical product and may be partially-defined to include a physical material or product requirements for the physical product, but does not define process parameters of a manufacturing process to manufacture the physical product. The digital material collaboration engine may further be configured to receive, from provider entities of the digital material collaboration platform, proposed versions for the digital material that specify process parameters for the manufacturing process, and connect the requestor entity with a selected provider entity of the provider entities of the digital material collaboration platform based on a particular proposed version for the digital material provided by the selected provider entity.