Abstract: A method is disclosed for designing a nozzle for jetting printing material in a printing system including selecting a surface tension and viscosity of a printing material at a jetting temperature, selecting a drop volume of the printing material, and constructing a constricted axisymmetric dissipative section of the nozzle, which may include defining a length of the constricted axisymmetric dissipative section and defining a cross-sectional area of the constricted axisymmetric dissipative section.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides techniques for determining a manufacturing plan. An example method includes obtaining an initial object definition describing an initial state of a manufacturing plan and obtaining a final object definition describing a target shape of an object to be formed through the manufacturing plan. The method also includes generating a tree comprising a plurality of nodes and edges. Each edge represents a selected manufacturing operation. The nodes include a parent node representing the initial object definition, intermediate child nodes representing an intermediate state of the object, and leaf nodes representing the target shape. The selected manufacturing operation applied at each edge may be a subtractive manufacturing (SM) operation or an additive manufacturing (AM) operation. The method also includes identifying a lowest cost manufacturing plan comprising a sequence of manufacturing operation connecting the parent node and one of the leaf nodes.

Abstract: System and method that allow utilize machine learning algorithms to move a micro-object to a desired position are described. A sensor such as a high speed camera or capacitive sensing, tracks the locations of the objects. A dynamic potential energy landscape for manipulating objects is generated by controlling each of the electrodes in an array of electrodes. One or more computing devices are used to: estimate an initial position of a micro-object using the sensor; generate a continuous representation of a dynamic model for movement of the micro-object due to electrode potentials generated by at least some of the electrodes and use automatic differentiation and Gauss quadrature rules on the dynamic model to derive optimum potentials to be generated by the electrodes to move the micro-object to the desired position; and map the calculated optimized electrode potentials to the array to activate the electrodes.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides techniques for analyzing trapped unused materials during AM. For example, given a geometry or shape to be manufactured using one or more AM materials, a tool path for solidifying the one or more AM materials is generated to turn the geometry into a physical object based on one or more manufacturing parameters related to AM resolutions. A processing device may compute a simulated manufactured geometry (e.g., a realistic representation of the actual shape of the corresponding physical object to be produced) based on the tool path and the one or more manufacturing parameters. The processing device analyzes the simulated manufactured geometry for a portion of removable AM materials trapped inside the simulated manufactured geometry. The processing device then generates a report regarding the portion of the removable AM materials trapped inside the simulated manufactured geometry.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides techniques for determining a configuration for 3D printing a 3D object. An example method includes obtaining user input parameters describing one or more user objectives. The method also includes computing, by a processing device, a graph of hybrid manufacturing (HM) configurations based in part on the user input parameters, wherein the graph comprises a plurality of nodes corresponding to different configurations for manufacturing the 3D object, wherein each node corresponds with a favorable print configuration with respect to two or more figures of merit. The method also includes displaying a selected HM configuration corresponding to a selected node of the plurality of nodes.

Abstract: The system and method described allow for real-time control over positioning of a micro-object. A movement of at least one micro-object suspended in a medium can be induced by a generation of one or more forces by electrodes proximate to the micro-object. Prior to inducing the movement, a simulation is used to develop a model describing a parameter of an interaction between each of the electrodes and the micro-object. A function describing the forces generated by an electrode and an extent of the movement induced due to the forces is generated using the model. The function is used to design closed loop policy control scheme for moving the micro-object towards a desired position. The position of the micro-object is tracked and taken into account when generating voltage patterns in the scheme.

Abstract: A method of classifying design criteria includes receiving design criteria for a product part. The criteria comprise one or both of performance and manufacturing criteria. The design criteria are sorted into different classes of one or both of one or more objective functions and one or more constraints based on when they can be satisfied or optimized. Constraint violations are determined. A design workflow is produced to generate one or more designs of a part to comply with one or more of satisfying constraints and optimizing objective functions.

Abstract: This disclosure teaches techniques, devices, and systems for automatically generating design parameters of a structural model (or any component that is defined by one or more parameters) to be produced by additive manufacturing, using machine-learning models to avoid production failures. In aspects, a topology optimization framework (e.g., with optimization iterations, or loops) is used to efficiently explore the expanded design space of additive manufacturing components is disclosed.

Abstract: The system and method described allow for real-time control over positioning of a micro-object. A movement of at least one micro-object suspended in a medium can be induced by a generation of one or more forces by electrodes proximate to the micro-object. Prior to inducing the movement, a simulation is used to develop a model describing a parameter of an interaction between each of the electrodes and the micro-object. A function describing the forces generated by an electrode and an extent of the movement induced due to the forces is generated using the model. The function is used to design closed loop policy control scheme for moving the micro-object towards a desired position. The position of the micro-object is tracked and taken into account when generating voltage patterns in the scheme.

Abstract: A geometry of a substrate surface is received at a neural network. The neural network is trained using one or more training sets. Each training set comprises a different type of substrate geometry and a collection of manufacturing process parameters. The substrate is configured to receive at least one liquid droplet. A shape of the at least one droplet after it has been deposited on the substrate is determined based on the received geometry. An output representing the determined shape of the at least one droplet is produced.

Abstract: A Web-based system and method creates one or more qualitatively distinct process plans for machining a part. The surfaces of the part are modeled and parameters for a plurality of CNC machining tools are obtained, including the orientations along which the tool cuts away raw material. A maximal set of translations for each tool is also obtained, where each translation includes a collision-free orientation of the tool and a maximal machinable volume of material removable from the part in that orientation. A search engine navigates through a hierarchically-structured search space that starts at an initial state and transitions to successive states based on actions that satisfy a cost constraint function. Each state and each action includes a tool, orientation of the tool, and a maximal machinable volume. The search ends when a goal condition is satisfied. The actions constitute the process plan.

Abstract: A representation of an initial design domain, at least one subtractive tool assembly, machine degrees of freedom, and a termination criterion are used to iteratively generate intermediate part designs by redistributing the material within the design domain. A measure of inaccessibility of exteriors of the intermediate part designs by the at least one subtractive manufacturing tool assembly are generated. The measure of inaccessibility is used to inform generation of an intermediate part design at a next iteration. The iterative algorithm is terminated when the termination criterion is satisfied, the result of the iterative algorithm being a part design accessible for subtractive manufacturing.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a representation of a near-net shape including a 3D part and a support volume. The method also includes calculating a measure of inaccessibility of the support volume by at least one subtractive tool assembly. The method also includes calculating a measure of change in a physical quantity of interest with respect to a change in the near-net shape. The method also includes constructing a physics-aware inaccessibility measure based at least partially upon the measure of inaccessibility, the measure of change, or both. The method also includes creating a plan to remove at least a portion of the support volume using the at least one subtractive tool assembly based at least partially upon the physics-aware inaccessibility measure.

Abstract: Two or more computational services are defined that each represent a respective different manufacturing capability used to partially create a target part model. A common space shared among the computational services is defined to reference the target part model and manufacturing primitives corresponding to each capability. The computational services are queried to construct a logical representation of the planning space based on intersections among the primitives. One or more process plans are formed using the different manufacturing capabilities to manufacture the part.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a representation of an initial design domain. The method also includes iteratively generating intermediate part designs by redistributing material within the initial design domain. The intermediate part designs each include a 3D part and a support volume. The method also includes calculating a measure of inaccessibility of the support volume of each intermediate part design by at least one subtractive tool assembly. At least one of the intermediate part designs is generated based at least partially upon the measure of inaccessibility of a previous one of the intermediate part designs.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a representation of a near-net shape including a 3D part and a support volume. The method also includes calculating a measure of inaccessibility of the support volume by at least one subtractive tool assembly. The method also includes calculating a measure of change in a physical quantity of interest with respect to a change in the near-net shape. The method also includes constructing a physics-aware inaccessibility measure based at least partially upon the measure of inaccessibility, the measure of change, or both. The method also includes creating a plan to remove at least a portion of the support volume using the at least one subtractive tool assembly based at least partially upon the physics-aware inaccessibility measure.

Abstract: A systematic approach to constructing process plans for hybrid manufacturing is provided. The process plans include arbitrary combinations of AM and SM processes. Unlike the suboptimal conventional practice, the sequence of AM and SM modalities is not fixed beforehand. Rather, all potentially viable process plans to fabricate a desired target part from arbitrary alternating sequences of pre-defined AM and SM modalities are explored in a systematic fashion. Once the state space of all process plans has been enumerated in terms of a partially ordered set of states, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) planning techniques are utilized to rapidly explore the state space, eliminate invalid process plans, for instance, process plans that make no physical sense, and optimize among the valid process plans using a cost function, for instance, manufacturing time and material or process costs.

Abstract: A three-dimensional object model is divided into slices that are targeted for an additive manufacturing process operable to deposit material at a variable deposition size ranging between minimum and maximum printable feature sizes. For each of the slices, a thinning algorithm is applied to contours of the slice to form a meso-skeleton. Topological features of the thinned slice are reduced over a number of passes such that a portion of the meso-skeleton is reduced to a single pixel wide line. Based on the number of passes, a slice-specific printable feature size within the range of the minimum and maximum printable feature sizes is determined. An adjusted slice is formed by sweeping the meso-skeleton with the slice-specific printable feature size. The adjusted slices are assembled into an object model which is used to create a manufactured object.

Abstract: A target system is coupled to a diagnosis engine that uses a lumped parameter model of the system for diagnosis. A proximity search in is performed in a computer-aided design model of the system to find groups of components that may be affected by resistive or parasitic interactions between the individual components in the groups. The lumped parameter model is augmented by adding elements that emulate the resistive or parasitic interactions between the individual components in the groups. The augmented lumped model is used by the diagnosis engine to perform diagnosis on the system.

Abstract: A geometry model is defined of a part targeted for a manufacturing operation that includes an additive process followed by a subtractive process. Potential build orientations of the geometry model used in the additive processes are defined, as are one or more removal tools of the subtractive process. For each of the potential build orientations, supports that are used by the additive process at the orientation are determined. One of the build orientations is selected that minimizes portions of one of the supports that are inaccessible via at least one of the removal tools.