A method and an apparatus for collecting powder samples in real-time in powder bed fusion additive manufacturing may involves an ingester system for in-process collection and characterizations of powder samples. The collection may be performed periodically and uses the results of characterizations for adjustments in the powder bed fusion process. The ingester system of the present disclosure is capable of packaging powder samples collected in real-time into storage containers serving a multitude purposes of audit, process adjustments or actions.

A system and method for inspection maintenance and/or diagnosis of a variety of workpieces is provided. The system serves workers working on a workpiece, inspectors who are distal from the workers and/or can be used for remote training or for advanced diagnosis and/or repair. The system preferably includes a template of a set of one or more predefined required images of a workpiece required by an inspector to perform their inspection or diagnosis. The set of predefined required images is provided to the worker. The worker captures the images with an appropriate workpiece data capture device and provides them to the inspector for review. The inspector examines the provided images and either approves the workpiece based on their content, requests additional images for further examination and/or provides annotations and other information to the worker to address identified issues. The system maintains a database of all images and information.

A manipulator device such as a robot arm that is capable of increasing manufacturing throughput for additively manufactured parts, and allows for the manipulation of parts that would be difficult or impossible for a human to move is described. The manipulator can grasp various permanent or temporary additively manufactured manipulation points on a part to enable repositioning or maneuvering of the part.

A method of additive manufacture is disclosed. The method may include creating, by a 3D printer contained within an enclosure, a part having a weight greater than or equal to 2,000 kilograms. A gas management system may maintain gaseous oxygen within the enclosure atmospheric level. In some embodiments, a wheeled vehicle may transport the part from inside the enclosure, through an airlock, as the airlock operates to buffer between a gaseous environment within the enclosure and a gaseous environment outside the enclosure, and to a location exterior to both the enclosure and the airlock.

A method and an apparatus for collecting powder samples in real-time in powder bed fusion additive manufacturing may involves an ingester system for in-process collection and characterizations of powder samples. The collection may be performed periodically and uses the results of characterizations for adjustments in the powder bed fusion process. The ingester system of the present disclosure is capable of packaging powder samples collected in real-time into storage containers serving a multitude purposes of audit, process adjustments or actions.

A method and an apparatus of a powder bed fusion additive manufacturing system that enables a quick change in the optical beam delivery size and intensity across locations of a print surface for different powdered materials while ensuring high availability of the system. A dynamic optical assembly containing a set of lens assemblies of different magnification ratios and a mechanical assembly may change the magnification ratios as needed. The dynamic optical assembly may include a transitional and rotational position control of the optics to minimize variations of the optical beam sizes across the print surface.

An additive manufacturing system including a two-dimensional energy patterning system for imaging a powder bed is disclosed. Improved structure formation, part creation and manipulation, use of multiple additive manufacturing systems, and high throughput manufacturing methods suitable for automated or semi-automated factories are also disclosed.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer program stored in a computer readable storage medium is disclosed. The computer program performs operations for processing input data when the computer program is executed by one or more processors of a computer device, the operations including: obtaining input data based on sensor data obtained during manufacturing of an article by using one or more manufacturing recipes in one or more manufacturing equipment; inputting the input data to a neural network model loaded to the computer device; generating an output by processing the input data by using the neural network model; and detecting an anomaly for the input data based on the output of the neural network model.

A production line monitoring device that identifies a cause of a production defect, reduces the amount of analysis data and computation, and performs real-time processing, is provided. The production line monitoring device includes a defect indication detection unit that detects an indication of a production defect of a production line, and a defect cause identification unit that identifies a cause of the production defect. The defect indication detection unit collects measurement information measured by an inspection apparatus for each reference that identifies a position on products, and detects an indication of the production defect from the change with time of the measurement information at the references. The defect cause identification unit performs stratified analysis based on production information related to the reference when the defect indication detection unit detects an indication of a production defect, and identifies a cause of a production defect from a result of the analysis.

A method and system of objectively noise testing a plurality of vehicles at a vehicle production facility having a production control system is disclosed. The method includes selecting one of the plurality of vehicles at the vehicle production facility for noise testing, mounting a noise testing device to an interior of the selected vehicle, and testing the selected vehicle by operating the selected vehicle on a noise-inducing test track having a plurality of test track sections and recording the noise data on the noise testing device.