Interface Node Structures for High-Volume Precision Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current additive manufacturing (AM) technologies face limitations in producing high-volume complex structures with sophisticated features and precise material properties, as they often require slower printing speeds and higher layer counts, leading to increased production time and costs, while conventional methods are inefficient for large, complex components with internal features.
Innovation Solution
The use of Interface Nodes, which are additively manufactured at a reduced size to achieve high precision and connect to lower precision or cast components, incorporating features like geometric complexity, thermal management, and multi-material compositions, allowing for segregation of high-precision functions into compact nodes and manufacturing the remainder of the structure using higher-throughput methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If additive manufacturing is used to produce complex structures with sophisticated features, then manufacturing precision and design flexibility are improved, but production volume and throughput decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides a complex structure into multiple segments: high-precision Interface Nodes produced by additive manufacturing and lower-precision bulk components produced by conventional methods. This segmentation allows each part to be manufactured by the most suitable process, resolving the contradiction between precision and production volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the high-precision functional features into separate Interface Nodes that are additively manufactured, while the remaining bulk structure is produced by conventional high-volume methods. This extraction enables the complex precision features to be produced separately at reduced size, improving both precision and overall production efficiency.
2Adaptability or versatility
If additive manufacturing is used to produce large structures, then design flexibility is improved, but production time increases due to more layers and slower printing speeds
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the large structure into small Interface Nodes and large bulk components. The Interface Nodes contain the complex design features and are produced quickly due to their small size, while the bulk components are produced by conventional high-speed methods, resolving the time-flexibility contradiction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent shifts the complexity from the dimensional scale of the entire large structure to the functional concentration in small Interface Nodes. This dimensional transformation allows complex features to be embedded in compact forms that print rapidly, while the bulk volume is handled by efficient conventional processes.
3Productivity
If conventional manufacturing techniques are used to produce complex structures, then production throughput is improved, but manufacturing cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex geometric and functional features into additively manufactured Interface Nodes, leaving the bulk structure suitable for conventional manufacturing. This reduces the complexity of conventional manufacturing operations while maintaining high throughput for the majority of the structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies additive manufacturing only locally where complex features are required (in the Interface Nodes), while using conventional methods for the remaining portions. This localized application of advanced manufacturing reduces overall complexity and cost while maintaining high throughput.
Data Source
AI summary
A high precision Interface Node is disclosed. The Interface Node includes an integrated structure including one or more complex or sophisticated features and functions. The Interface Node may connect with another component or a Linking Node. The Interface Node is manufactured to achieve high precision functionality while enabling volume production. Current additive manufacturing technologies allow for the printing of high precision features to be manufactured, but generally this is performed at a slower rate. Consequently, in one aspect, the size of the Interface Nodes is reduced in order to overcome at least part of the slower production volume caused by creating the high precision Interface Nodes. The components and Linking Nodes to which the Interface Node is connected may only have basic features and functions. Accordingly, this latter category of components may use a high print rate and thus high production volume. In other embodiments, these low precision components may also be produced using a non-print manufacturing technology, such as casting, forging, etc., that may provide the requisite high throughput, or to high precision machined parts that lack the geometric flexibility of the Interface Node. In an embodiment, the Interface Nodes may be connected to other components via a Linking Node.