Additive Manufacturing Plate Stiffener Hollowed Panel Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Significant deformations of the additive manufacturing plate during the manufacturing process lead to dimensional inaccuracies and potential damage to components, causing stoppages in the manufacturing machine due to interactions with the roller and scraper in powder-bed deposition systems.
Innovation Solution
An additive manufacturing plate equipped with a stiffener that is independent of the main body and secured to its lower face, featuring a hollowed-out panel structure to enhance rigidity while minimizing weight and preventing powder entrapment, allowing for improved tolerance maintenance and reduced machine stoppages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the additive manufacturing plate uses a solid panel structure, then the rigidity is improved, but the weight increases excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffener panel incorporates hollows or voids within its structure, transforming it from a solid to a porous configuration. This allows the panel to maintain rigidity and structural support functions while significantly reducing the amount of material required, thereby decreasing weight. The hollows are strategically positioned to preserve structural integrity while achieving weight reduction.
2Weight of stationary object
If the panel is hollowed out completely through its thickness, then the weight is reduced, but powder can enter the hollows and cause manufacturing defects
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful effect of powder entrapment is eliminated by extracting or removing the hollows from the upper face of the stiffener panel, leaving only the lower face hollowed out. This modification maintains the weight reduction benefits of the hollowed structure while preventing powder from entering and becoming trapped during the additive manufacturing process.
3Strength
If a stiffener is added to the plate, then the rigidity is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffener panel is designed to be secured to the lower face of the additive manufacturing plate, merging the plate and stiffener into a unified structural assembly. This combination approach allows the stiffener to enhance rigidity while maintaining ease of installation and removal, avoiding the need for complex integrated designs.
4Weight of stationary object
If the hollows open onto both upper and lower faces, then the weight is reduced maximally, but powder can enter and cause stoppages
Solution Approach 1:
The hollows in the stiffener panel are configured with asymmetric opening characteristics: they open onto the lower face to maximize weight reduction, but remain closed or blocked on the upper face to prevent powder entry. This local differentiation in hollow configuration allows simultaneous achievement of weight reduction and powder contamination prevention.
Data Source
AI summary
An additive manufacturing plate (10) comprises a main body (32), this main body (32) taking the form of a panel, and the main body (32) comprising an upper face on which the components are manufactured directly. The additive manufacturing plate comprises a stiffener (12) that is independent of the main body (32) and secured to the lower face (34) of the main body, this stiffener (12) taking the form of a panel (36) and the panel (36) being hollowed out but only through a part of its thickness (E36). The stiffener (12) makes it possible to avoid excessive deformations of the additive manufacturing plate during the manufacturing process and is reusable.