Additive manufacturing method and apparatus

Abstract

This invention concerns a method of monitoring an additive manufacturing apparatus. The method comprises receiving one or more sensor signals from the additive manufacturing apparatus during a build of a workpiece, comparing the one or more sensor signals to a corresponding acceptable process variation of a plurality of acceptable process variations and generating a log based upon the comparisons. Each acceptable process variation of the plurality of acceptable process variations is associated with at least one state of progression of the build of the workpiece and the corresponding acceptable process variation is the acceptable process variation associated with the state of progression of the build when the one or more sensor signals are generated.

1 . A method of generating instructions for the building of a workpiece in an additive manufacturing apparatus, the method comprising building one or more initial workpieces nominally identical to at least a portion of the workpiece with the and/or one or more corresponding additive manufacturing apparatus, receiving a set of sensor signals from the and/or the one or more corresponding additive manufacturing apparatus during the build of the or each initial workpiece, evaluating the one or more initial workpieces to determine if the or each initial workpiece meets specified requirements and associating the or each set of sensor signals with one or more quality identifiers identifying whether all or a portion of the sensor signals of the set represent sensor signals for a build that meets the specified requirements and determining, from the one or more sets of sensor signals and associated quality identifiers, a plurality of acceptable process variations for a corresponding set of sensor signals generated during a subsequent build of the workpiece using the additive manufacturing apparatus.