A set of multi-mode elastic wave generating and detecting devices and field sensors are utilized in a real-time in-situ monitoring system based on the quality assessment of a specially designed article made by an additive manufacturing machine. The original invention disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/731,366 involves the transmission and reception of waves into a periodic test artifact while it is being built. The current invention involves the transmission and reception of multi-mode waves into a test artifact, the processing of data from narrow and wide field-of-view sensors, and correlating and relating the waveforms and sensor data while it is being built using physics-based and machine learning models. The disclosed system may initiate control and real-time corrective actions based on the properties and characteristics of the obtained waveforms and sensor data and their correlations and functional relationships.

Parameters of a set of tools are stored on a storage device. The tools are part of a manufacturing assembly usable for removing one or more support structures from a part. The support structures are formed with the part to facilitate additive manufacturing of the part. A near-net shape is modeled which includes the part combined with the support structures. A process plan is developed that includes subtractive manufacturing operations by the manufacturing assembly that remove the support structures. The process plan repeatedly updates the near-net shape as each one of the support structures is incrementally removed.

Methods and apparatus for two-dimensional and three-dimensional scanning path visualization are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a parameter determiner to determine at least one of a laser beam parameter setting or an electron beam parameter setting, a melt pool geometry determiner to identify melt pool dimensions using the parameter setting, the melt pool geometry determiner to vary the parameter setting to obtain multiple melt pool dimensions, and a visualization path generator to generate a three-dimensional view of a scanning path for an additive manufacturing process using the identified melt pool dimensions. The visualization path generator adjusts the laser beam parameters based on the generated three-dimensional view.

A method for creating a virtual three-dimensional structural model of a body includes ascertaining a shell geometry and a basic volume from a geometric model of the body; creating a numerical model of the body from the shell geometry and/or the basic volume; acting upon the numerical model with a variable and establishing a target property of the body from the numerical model acted upon by the variable; creating a structural model that defines an actual property of the body; and iteratively optimizing the structural model to align the actual property with the target property. During the optimization, adapting a mechanical, thermal, and/or aerodynamic actual property of the body to a mechanical, thermal, and/or aerodynamic target property of the body by modifying at least one parameter of the structural model. A manufacturing method and a device perform this method.

Processes are disclosed for producing 3D-appearing self-illuminating high definition photoluminescent lithophane of a digitized picture in which the photoluminescent lithophane provides a glow-in-the-dark quality of the digitized picture, and an authenticity chip lithophane is produced. The processes for producing 3D-appearing self-illuminating high definition photoluminescent lithophane of a digitized picture include a monochrome process for producing 3D-appearing self-illuminating high definition photoluminescent lithophane that results in 3D-appearing high definition monochrome glow in the dark prints of digitized pictures and a full color process for producing 3D-appearing self-illuminating high definition photoluminescent lithophane that results in 3D-appearing high definition full color glow in the dark prints of digitized pictures. A luminance pump is employed in the full color process for producing 3D-appearing self-illuminating high definition photoluminescent lithophane to pump light through the rest of the plates and bring the overall brightness up.

In an example, a method includes receiving object model data describing at least a portion of an object to be generated by additive manufacturing. Object generation instructions for generating the object in its entirety may be derived based on the object model data. Where it is determined that the object model data comprises a data deficiency for deriving the object generation instructions, at least one attribute for the object may be inferred and object generation instructions may be derived based on the object model data and the inferred attribute.

In some embodiments, techniques are provided for verifying that a fabrication system can fabricate a proposed segmented design. A paintbrush pattern that represents capabilities of the fabrication system is determined. One or more forbidden patterns that the fabrication system is not capable of fabricating are determined based on the paintbrush pattern. The proposed segmented design is then searched for the forbidden patterns. If any forbidden patterns are found, the proposed segmented design is determined to not be fabricable by the fabrication system. If no forbidden patterns are found, then the proposed segmented design is determined to be fabricable by the fabrication system.

A method for constructing a body-in-white (BiW) spot welding deformation prediction model based on a graph convolutional network (GCN) includes: 1) acquiring a welding feature and 3D coordinates of a spot weld to form an eigenvector and extracting designed 3D coordinates at each 3D coordinate measurement point; 2) encoding, by an encoder, eigenvectors and designed 3D coordinate vectors into hidden space vectors of spot welds and hidden space vectors of the coordinate measurement points, respectively, and constructing a graph topology G through a k-nearest neighbors algorithm; 3) decomposing a Laplacian eigenvector of the constructed graph topology G to acquire frequency domain components, and linearly transforming eigenvalues corresponding to the frequency domain components to construct a multi-layer GCN; 4) inputting the thermodynamic and kinetic information of each coordinate measurement point into a deep neural network and decoding a final deformation at each coordinate measurement point; and 5) optimizing the model.

The present invention includes a method for generating a three-dimensional model of a bone and generating a cut plan for excavating a portion of the bone according to the cut plan to allow the insertion of a custom implant. In a particular arrangement, the method also includes excavating the bone with an autonomous extremity excavator utilizing the cut plan generated by a processor. In a further arrangement, the method includes generating a digital model of a custom implant and generating, using the digital model, a physical model sharing the same dimensions as the digital module using manufacturing device.

An off-the-shelf oral splint that is operatively secured to the maxilla and mandible to assist in reduction and provide maintenance of reduction of maxillary and mandibular fractures in the edentulous or partially edentulous patient. The oral splint is fabricated into a plurality of standardized sizes. These sizes are determined by imaging a population of jaws, measuring dimensions thereof, manipulating (e.g., calculating the mean) these dimensions, and generating a size that is representative of a subset of that population. This can be done for all sizes that would represent individuals in that population. The splint itself is fabricated virtually by creating “U-shapes”, splitting them horizontally into halves, creating an evacuation channel, and generating a coupling mechanism to hold the halves together. The splint can then be printed or otherwise manufactured.