DISTRIBUTED QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DECENTRALIZED MANUFACTURING USING CONNECTED SENSOR DEVICES

• Main Authors: Muniraju, Raghavendra, Jayarajan, Keerthi, Hota, Rakesh, Kasimsetty, Vinayakumar, Rao, Sujaya, Godfrey, Donald, Kar, Satyanarayan
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 21.04.2022
• Subjects: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; CONTROLLING; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS ORELEMENTS; PHYSICS; REGULATING

A method for additive manufacturing process parameter monitoring of additively manufactured articles and associated raw materials, the method comprising the steps of: at an additive manufacturing raw material supplier located at a first location, packaging a raw additive manufacturing material, which may be a metal powder, and placing a sensor device inside the packaging, wherein the sensor device, which is powered by ambient energy, monitors one or more material parameters, as the packaging moves through a supply chain, and wherein sensed parameters from the sensor device are recorded periodically until the raw material is loaded to an additive manufacturing tool at a second location, different from the first location; prior to utilizing the sensor device, registering an identity for the sensor with blockchain rules to establish a trust on data originating from the sensor device; at an additive manufacturing article supplier located at the second location, using an additive manufacturing tool, manufacturing an article in accordance with a design file provided to the additive manufacturing supplier from an additive manufacturing designer located at a location different from the first and second locations; at the additive manufacturing supplier, utilizing the sensor device to monitor one or more process parameters associated with manufacturing the article, wherein the sensor device is: (1) connected to wireless network, (2) powered by ambient energy, and (3) sized and configured for monitoring the process parameters in situ at the additive manufacturing tool; at the additive manufacturing supplier, sending data regarding the one or more process parameters from the sensor device to a network node associated with the additive manufacturing tool; at the additive manufacturing supplier, generating a cryptographic distributed ledger comprising the data regarding the one or more process parameters, wherein the ledger is generated in the manner of a blockchain; and from the additive manufacturing supplier, the distributed ledger that is also accessible to the additive manufacturing designer using a private network, wherein the analyses of the data regarding the one or more process parameters are performed automatically by the blockchain rules, where in rules defined by additive manufacturing designer, for any anomalies during the manufacture of the article.