Additive Manufacturing Service Research Articles

Additive Manufacturing Cloud via Peer-Robot Collaboration

When building a 3D printing cloud manufacturing platform, self-sensing and collaboration on manufacturing resources present challenging problems. This paper proposes a peer-robot collaboration framework to deal with these issues. Each robot combines heterogeneous additive manufacturing hardware and software, acting as an intelligent agent. Through collaboration with other robots, it forms a dynamic and scalable integration manufacturing system. The entire distributed system is managed by rules that employ an internal rule engine, which supports rule conversion and conflict resolution. Two additive manufacturing service scenarios are designed to analyse the efficiency and scalability of the framework. Experiments show that the presented method performs well in tasks requiring large-scale access to resources and collaboration.

Design and Implementation of a Broker for Cloud Additive Manufacturing Services

With increasing number of cloud additive manufacturing (AM) service providers, cloud AM services are becoming decentralized and it is difficult for consumers to discover cloud AM services according to their personal preferences and tradeoffs. Existing frameworks of cloud manufacturing either do not have brokers between cloud manufacturing service providers and consumers or do not support personalized preference and tradeoff based brokerage. In this paper, we present a cloud-based service broker system for cloud AM to provide consumers with a single point of access to a large number of cloud AM services from many cloud AM service providers over the Internet based on a service oriented architecture using web services. This broker system uses an innovative cloud AM service selection method which considers consumers' preferences and tradeoffs on service attributes like price, material, and accuracy in the ranking process. It is also based on a new integrated representation for both exact and varied matches in cloud AM service selection. We present an application case study to show how the cloud AM service broker system is used to select cloud AM services based on personal preferences and tradeoffs. It demonstrates feasibility of brokerage in cloud AM and effectiveness of the cloud AM service ranking method based on personalized preferences and tradeoffs.

Animaris Geneticus Parvus

Purpose – This paper investigates how designers exploit the full potential of additive manufacturing (AM). AM yields a broad range of advantageous properties including the possibility to fabricate mechanical multi-body structures. Design/methodology/approach – This case study explores the possibilities and limitations in designing mechanical multi-body structures for AM, focused on the development of a selective laser sintering (SLS) version of Theo Jansen’s “Strandbeest” walking mechanism, dubbed Animaris Geneticus Parvus (AGP). We discuss the design process and considerations involved and attempt to distill design guidelines. Findings – Novel structural solutions were developed to enable SLS fabrication of the AGP, specifically cross-shaped pivot pins, increased clearance between bodies, spacing studs, restricting axial play with pins, partial disassemblies and increased clearance around extremities. The result is a functioning walking mechanism of 74 components can be fabricated at once without human intervention. Research limitations/implications – This article represents a case study; although it does mention adapted design rules for SLS, its greatest contribution is the holistic approach – to integrate a number of engineering challenges in one prototypical manifestation. Practical implications – Part consolidation by AM could bring great benefits in future product design applications. The findings show that complex multi-body mechanical structures with more than 70 elements are feasible by AM without assembly. This presents new business opportunities for AM service bureaus and novel product opportunities for designers. Originality/value – As a case study, this article provides inspiration of the mechanical complexity beyond regular products – from original idea to end result. For researchers, key contribution is the approach in obtaining design optimization strategies which provides engineering designers with a new language to consider SLS.