Patents by Inventor Hongqing Sun

Hongqing Sun has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11813798
    Abstract: A method of additively printing an extension segment on a workpiece includes pretreating a workpiece-interface of the workpiece using an energy beam emitted from an energy beam source of an additive manufacturing machine, providing a pretreated workpiece-interface having received a pretreatment, with the pretreatment remediating an aberrant feature of the workpiece and/or the workpiece-interface. The method further includes additively printing an extension segment on the pretreated workpiece-interface using an energy beam emitted from the energy beam source of the additive manufacturing machine. The aberrant feature includes one or more aberrant regions of the workpiece-interface having been determined from a digital representation of the workpiece-interface captured by a vision system. The pretreatment includes heat-conditioning at least a portion of the workpiece-interface including the one or more aberrant regions of the workpiece-interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jinjie Shi, Richard Roy Worthing, Jr., Hongqing Sun
  • Publication number: 20230311407
    Abstract: A tooling assembly for mounting a plurality of components, such as compressor blades, in a powder bed additive manufacturing machine to facilitate a repair process is provided. The tooling assembly includes component fixtures configured for receiving each of the compressor blades, a mounting plate for receiving the component fixtures, and a complementary fixture defining a plurality of voids within which the compressor blades are received when the complementary fixture is mounted to the mounting plate such that less powder is required to fill the powder bed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2023
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Inventors: Hongqing Sun, Jinjie Shi, Andrew Ezekiel Wessman
  • Publication number: 20230127361
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for two-dimensional and three-dimensional scanning path visualization are disclosed. An example apparatus includes at least one memory, instructions in the apparatus, and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to identify at least one melt pool dimension using a beam parameter setting, the at least one melt pool dimension identified from a plurality of melt pool dimensions obtained by varying the beam parameter setting, identify a response surface model based on the plurality of melt pool dimensions to determine an effect of variation in the beam parameter setting on the at least one melt pool dimension, output a three-dimensional model of a scanning path for an additive manufacturing process using the response surface model, and adjust the beam parameter setting based on the three-dimensional model to identify a second beam parameter setting.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2022
    Publication date: April 27, 2023
    Inventors: Pinghai Yang, Hongqing Sun, Manuel Acosta, Ruben E. Fairman
  • Patent number: 11537111
    Abstract: 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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Pinghai Yang, Hongqing Sun, Manuel Acosta, Ruben E. Fairman
  • Publication number: 20220291661
    Abstract: Methods of simulating additively manufacturing an object may include generating a simulated additively manufactured object based at least in part on a plurality of approximate consolidation domains that respectively correspond to a plurality of consolidation tracks determined from one or more digital representations of an additively manufactured object, and determining a predictive inference with respect to one or more material properties of the object to be additively manufactured based at least in part on the simulated additively manufactured object. Methods may include generating, for an object to be additively manufactured, a CAD file and/or a build file based at least in part on a simulated additively manufactured object and/or based at least in part on one or more predictive inferences with respect to one or more material properties of the object to be additively manufactured.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2021
    Publication date: September 15, 2022
    Inventors: Eric Allen Ott, Johannes Stroessner, Manuel Acosta, Peter Appel, Hongqing Sun
  • Publication number: 20220227061
    Abstract: A method of additively printing an extension segment on a workpiece includes pretreating a workpiece-interface of the workpiece using an energy beam emitted from an energy beam source of an additive manufacturing machine, providing a pretreated workpiece-interface having received a pretreatment, with the pretreatment remediating an aberrant feature of the workpiece and/or the workpiece-interface. The method further includes additively printing an extension segment on the pretreated workpiece-interface using an energy beam emitted from the energy beam source of the additive manufacturing machine. The aberrant feature includes one or more aberrant regions of the workpiece-interface having been determined from a digital representation of the workpiece-interface captured by a vision system. The pretreatment includes heat-conditioning at least a portion of the workpiece-interface including the one or more aberrant regions of the workpiece-interface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Publication date: July 21, 2022
    Inventors: Jinjie Shi, Richard Roy Worthing, JR., Hongqing Sun
  • Patent number: 11298884
    Abstract: Methods of additively printing an extension segment on a workpiece may include pretreating a workpiece-interface of a workpiece using an energy beam from an additive manufacturing machine, providing a pretreated workpiece-interface having received a pretreatment, with the pretreatment remediating an aberrant feature of the workpiece and/or the workpiece-interface. Such methods may additionally include additively printing an extension segment on the pretreated workpiece-interface using the energy beam from the additive manufacturing machine. Exemplary additive manufacturing system for printing an extension segment on a workpiece may include a controller operably coupled to a vision system and an additive manufacturing machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jinjie Shi, Richard Roy Worthing, Jr., Hongqing Sun
  • Publication number: 20220088680
    Abstract: A system (50) and method (200) for repairing one or more components (70) using an additive manufacturing process includes securing the components (70) in a tooling assembly (52) such that a repair surface (72) of each component (70) is positioned within a single build plane (82), determining a repair toolpath (76) corresponding to the repair surface (72) of each component using a vision system (56), depositing a layer of additive powder (72) over the repair surface (72) of each component (70) using a powder dispensing assembly (112), and selectively irradiating the layer of additive powder (72) along the repair toolpath (76) to fuse the layer of additive powder (72) onto the repair surface (72) of each component (70).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2019
    Publication date: March 24, 2022
    Inventors: Richard Roy Worthing, Jr., John Louis Cupito, Anthony John Matacia, Hongyuan Shen, Hongqing Sun, Joseph Edward Hampshire, Jinjie Shi, Glen Charles Fedyk, Thines Kumar Maragatham Perumal, Meddah Hadjar
  • Publication number: 20220009030
    Abstract: Optics assemblies and their methods of use in additive manufacturing systems are described. In some embodiments, an additive manufacturing system may include a build surface, a plurality of laser energy sources configured to produce a plurality of laser spots on the build surface, and an optics assembly configured to independently control a size of each of the plurality of laser spots and a spacing between the plurality of laser spots on the build surface. The optics assembly may include a plurality of lens arrays, where the plurality of lens arrays is configured to adjust a size of each of the plurality of laser spots on the build surface, and at least one lens. The at least one lens may also be configured to adjust a spacing between the plurality of laser spots on the build surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2021
    Publication date: January 13, 2022
    Applicant: VulcanForms Inc.
    Inventors: Michael von Dadelszen, Raghav Aggarwal, Hongqing Sun
  • Publication number: 20210311466
    Abstract: 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 to adjust the laser beam parameters based on the generated three-dimensional view.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Publication date: October 7, 2021
    Inventors: Pinghai Yang, Hongqing Sun, Manuel Acosta, Ruben E. Fairman
  • Publication number: 20200384692
    Abstract: Methods of additively printing an extension segment on a workpiece may include pretreating a workpiece-interface of a workpiece using an energy beam from an additive manufacturing machine, providing a pretreated workpiece-interface having received a pretreatment, with the pretreatment remediating an aberrant feature of the workpiece and/or the workpiece-interface. Such methods may additionally include additively printing an extension segment on the pretreated workpiece-interface using the energy beam from the additive manufacturing machine. Exemplary additive manufacturing system for printing an extension segment on a workpiece may include a controller operably coupled to a vision system and an additive manufacturing machine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Publication date: December 10, 2020
    Inventors: Jinjie Shi, Richard Roy Worthing, JR., Hongqing Sun
  • Publication number: 20200238386
    Abstract: A tooling assembly for mounting a plurality of components, such as compressor blades, in a powder bed additive manufacturing machine to facilitate a repair process is provided. The tooling assembly includes component fixtures configured for receiving each of the compressor blades, a mounting plate for receiving the component fixtures, and a complementary fixture defining a plurality of voids within which the compressor blades are received when the complementary fixture is mounted to the mounting plate such that less powder is required to fill the powder bed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2019
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Hongqing Sun, Jinjie Shi, Andrew Ezekiel Wessman
  • Publication number: 20150060042
    Abstract: An electric submersible pump and pump system including additively manufactures structures and method of manufacture are disclosed. The pump system including the electric submersible pump and an electric motor configured to operate the electric submersible pump. The electric submersible pump including a housing, at least one impeller and at least one diffuser disposed within the housing in cooperative engagement. The housing, the at least one impeller, and the at least one diffuser defining an internal volume configured to receive a fluid. At least one of the at least one impeller and the at least one diffuser configured as a monolithic additively manufactured structure comprised of a metal matrix composite. Also provided is an electric submersible pump including an impeller and a diffuser, wherein at least one of the impeller and the diffuser is configured as a monolithic additively manufactured structure comprised of a tungsten carbide (WC) dispersed in a metal matrix.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2013
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Applicant: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Vijay Shilpiekandula, James William Sears, Yanzhe Yang, Hongqing Sun, Farshad Ghasripoor