IP Library Granted Patent US 12708940
Granted Patent B2
US 12708940 · App. 18/593,344 · Granted Aug 18, 2026

Residual stress management through closed loop control

Inventors: Scott Nelson (Indianapolis, IN); David James Puhl (Indianapolis, IN); Clive Grafton-Reed (London, GB); Peter E. Daum (Indianapolis, IN); Robert F. Proctor (Indianapolis, IN); Christopher Paul Heason (London, GB)
Assignees: Rolls-Royce Corporation; Rolls-Royce plc
B22F10/36B22F10/37B22F12/90B33Y30/00B33Y50/02B22F10/28B22F2203/11
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12708940
App. No.
18/593,344
Granted
Aug 18, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

An additive manufacturing system includes an energy delivery device configured to deliver, a powder delivery device, and one or more thermal sensors configured to measure a temperature of a first portion of the additively-manufactured component and a second portion of the additively manufactured component. The additive manufacturing system includes a computing device configured to receive data indicative of the temperature of the first portion and of the second portion, determine a residual stress of the additively-manufactured component based at least partially on the received thermal sensor data from the first portion of the additively-manufactured component and the received data from the second portion of the additively-manufactured component; and predict final dimensions of the additively-manufactured component based at least partially on the determined residual stress of the additively-manufactured component.

Claims (42)

1 . An additive manufacturing system comprising:

an energy delivery device configured to deliver energy to a build surface of an additively-manufactured component to form a melt pool in the build surface of the component;

a powder delivery device configured to direct a powder stream toward the melt pool;

one or more thermal sensors configured to measure a temperature of a first portion of the additively-manufactured component and a second portion of the additively manufactured component; and

a computing device configured to:

receive data indicative of the temperature of the first portion of the additively-manufactured component from the one or more thermal sensors captured at a first point in time and data indicative of the temperature of the first portion captured at a second point in time;

receive data indicative of a temperature of the second portion of the additively-manufactured component from the one or more thermal sensors captured at the first point in time and data indicative of a temperature of the second portion captured at the second point in time;

determine a residual stress of the additively-manufactured component based at least partially on the received data indicative of the temperature of the first portion of the additively-manufactured component and the received data indicative of the temperature of the second portion of the additively-manufactured component; predict final dimensions of the additively-manufactured component based at least partially on the determined residual stress of the additively-manufactured component; and

control the energy deliver device or the powder deliver device based on the predicted final dimensions of the additively-manufactured component.

2 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further comprising a second energy delivery energy delivery device configured to deliver energy to the build surface of the additively-manufactured component.

3 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein the computing device is configured to mitigate deformation of the additively-manufactured component, where deformation is defined as the difference in one or more dimensions of the component between an as-deposited state and a final state, by controlling at least one of the first energy delivery device, the second energy delivery device, or the powder delivery device to reduce or eliminate residual stress in the additively-manufactured component.

4 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein the computing device is configured to control at least one of the first energy delivery device, the second energy delivery device, or the powder delivery device to impart residual stress in the component to leverage distortion to achieve a final component dimension.

5 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein:

the computing device stores instructions and is configured to execute an initial build strategy,

the computing device is further configured to modify the initial build strategy to form a modified build strategy based on the determined residual stress, and

the computing device is further configured to control at least one of the powder delivery device, the first energy delivery device, or the second energy delivery device based on the modified build strategy.

6 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein, to determine the residual stress, the computing device is configured to calculate thermal expansion or contraction of the additively manufactured component based at least partially on the data captured by the one or more thermal sensors.

7 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 6 , wherein the computing device is configured to calculate a cooling rate of the first portion or the second portion of the additively-manufactured component by comparing the data captured at the first point in time to the data captured at the second point in time.

8 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 7 , wherein the computing device is configured to compare the cooling rate of the first portion to the cooling rate of the second portion to determine the residual stress of the additively-manufactured component.

9 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 7 , wherein, to determine the residual stress, the computing device is configured to receive data indicative of a temperature of a plurality of portions of the additively-manufactured component in addition to the first portion and the second portion.

10 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further comprising a stage configured to mechanically support the additively-manufactured component, and wherein the computing device is configured to determine the residual stress of the additively-manufactured component without removing the additively-manufactured component from the stage.

11 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of mass sensors, each mass sensor associated with a portion of the additive manufacturing system.

12 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein:

the first energy delivery device is coincident with a central longitudinal axis of a deposition head, and

the second energy delivery device is not coincident with the central longitudinal axis of the deposition head.

13 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is configured to control the energy delivery device based on the determined residual stress by:

modifying at least one of a power, a travel speed, a spot size, or a power density of the first energy delivery device or the second energy delivery device, or

modifying a mass flow rate of the powder to adjust the as-deposited thickness of a layer being added to the additively-manufactured component.

14 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device stores and is configured to execute a machine learning algorithm, and

wherein the machine learning algorithm is trained on data generated by the one or more thermal sensors.

15 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , further comprising a topology sensor configured to capture data indicative of a topology of the build surface, and

wherein the computing device is configured to receive data generated by the topology sensor and determine the residual stress based at least partially on the data generated by the topology sensor.

16 . A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, data indicative of a temperature of a first portion of an additively-manufactured component from one or more thermal sensors of an additive manufacturing system captured at a first point in time and at a second point in time;

receiving, by the computing device, data indicative of a temperature of a second portion of the additively-manufactured component from the one or more thermal sensors at a second point in time;

determining, by the computing device, a residual stress of the additively-manufactured component based at least partially on the received data indicative of the temperature of the first portion of the additively-manufactured component and the received data indicative of the temperature of the second portion of the additively-manufactured component;

predicting, by the computing device, final dimensions of the additively-manufactured component based at least partially on the determined residual stress of the additively-manufactured component;

delivering, by a powder deliver device, a stream of powder to a melt pool in a build surface of the additively-manufactured component delivering, by an energy delivery device, energy to the build surface of the additively-manufactured component to form the melt pool in the build surface of the component, and

controlling, by the computing device, at least one of the powder delivery device or the energy delivery device based at least partially on the predicted final dimensions of the additively-manufactured component to adjust a build strategy of the component based on the determined residual stress.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising delivering energy to a build surface of the additively manufactured component via a second energy delivery energy delivery device.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein determining the residual stress comprises calculating, by the computing device, a thermal expansion or contraction of the additively manufactured component based at least partially on the data captured by the one or more thermal sensors.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein calculating a thermal expansion or contraction comprises calculating a cooling rate of the first portion or the second portion of the additively-manufactured component by comparing the data captured at the first point in time to the data captured at the second point in time.