Pro2AMech: Computer aided product and process parameter design of additively manufac-tured non-assembly mechanisms

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Additive manufacturing techniques (AM) are mainly characterized by their great freedom of design and batch size independent manufacturing costs and additionally offer the possibility to manufac-ture movable mechanisms in a single manufacturing step. A subsequent assembly step becomes thereby dispensable and thus leads to a considerable cost reduction. However, AF processes still have the disadvantage that lower geometric accuracies and tolerances can be achieved com-pared to conventional manufacturing technologies. These are mostly process- and equipment dependent. Additionally, reliable and comprehensive information is missing especially for the de-sign and production of FDM-manufactured, non-assembly mechanics to be used effectively in an industrial context.Although the previous funding phase created a basis for the virtual validation of the motion be-havior of additively manufactured and clearance-affected joint gears by means of statistical toler-ance analysis, there is still a lack of a comprehensive method for a subsequent synthesis to im-prove these mechanisms. At present, this is done manually and without further support by a sup-port system, thus confronting especially AM-inexperienced product developers with an iterative and cost-intensive process.Therefore, it is the goal of this research project to support product developers without AM-specific knowledge in improving the product and process parameter design of additively manufactured, non-assembly mechanisms by a comprehensive support system. In addition to the extension and adaptation of the available statistical tolerance analysis resulting from the first funding phase by considering process-related influences on the operating behaviour of the mechanisms, the devel-opment of methods for the improvement of the product and process parameter design is the main focus. For this purpose, methods for improving the nominal product design in terms of the Design for Additive Manufacturing are developed and implemented in commercial CAD systems. For the improvement of the process parameter design, existing approaches like e. g. Adaptive Slicing and Non-planar Printing for the optimization of different objectives such as geometric accuracy, achievable tolerances and build time are improved within the scope of pre-processing and new methods are developed on this basis. Finally, the developed methods will be linked in a support system with the help of a common, interdisciplinary software demonstrator and validated and their applicability will be evaluated in user studies. Thus, product developers can be supported in a widely automated way in the design of the product and process parameters, the functional analy-sis and the subsequent production of additive, non-assembly mechanisms, in order to finally ena-ble its application in the industrial context.