Non-intrusive instrumentation and estimation -Applications for control of an additive manufacturing process

For integration of additive manufacturing into industrial production, there is a need for capable yet robust automation solutions. Such solutions are to ensure consistent process outputs, both with regard to deposit geometry and material properties. In this thesis, instrumentation and control solutions have been investigated for the laser metal wire deposition additive manufacturing process. This particular process is promising with regard to e.g. high deposition rates and negligible material waste. However, due to its inherent dynamics, it requires automatic control in order to prove competitive. A large number of process parameters affect the resulting quality of the deposit. Successful control of these parameters is crucial for turning laser metal wire deposition into an industrially tractable process. This requires relevant and reliable process information such as the temperature of the deposit and the positioning of the tool relative to the workpiece. Due to the particular requirements of instrumenting the process, only non-intrusive measurement methods are viable. In this thesis, such measurement solutions are presented that advance automatic control of the laser metal wire deposition.In response to the need for accurate temperature measurements for the process, a new temperature measurement method has been developed. By adopting the novel concept of temporal, rather than spectral, constraints for solving the multispectral pyrometry problem, it opens up for temperature measurements which compensates for e.g. an oxidising deposit. For maintaining a good deposition process in laser metal wire deposition, control of tool position and wire feed rate is required. Based on measurements of resistance through the weld pool, a simple yet well performing control system is presented in this thesis. The control system obtains geometrical input information from resistance measurements made in-situ, and feeds this information to an iterative learning controller. This results in a robust, cheap and practical control solution for laser metal wire deposition, which is suitable for industrial use and that can easily be retrofitted to existing equipment

Instrumentation and estimation for high temperature control

Within a variety of industrially relevant high temperature production processes such as welding, heat treatment and metal deposition, the quality of the manufactured component is largely affected by how well parameters can be controlled during processing. These parameters might be, in the case of metal deposition, power input, material feed, or a parameter which is common for all of the aforementioned processes: material temperature. The ability to correctly measure, or in other ways estimate process parameters is vital in order to successfully control high temperature processes such as above 700 degrees Celsius. In this work, instrumentation and estimation solutions adapted to high temperature control are proposed and implemented with a focus on the laser metal wire deposition process. Special attention is given to temperature measurements on specimens with varying emissivity as commonly found in high temperature processes. A calibration procedure for a single-wavelength pyrometer is also presented together with a general discussion on limitations of such a system for measurands with varying emissivity. A new method for non-contact emissivity compensated temperature estimations using a spectrometer is presented. Simulations and industrially relevant experiments have been carried out validating the method. The theoretical framework for the developed method will be further investigated in the future together with additional experimental validation.In addition to temperature measurements, a method for real-time process control of laser metal wire deposition has been developed and implemented with good results. This control scheme estimates and controls the tool-to-workpiece distance based on resistance measurements. Such measurements allow for placement of instruments outside of the processing chamber and easy integration into existing equipment. Future work will be directed towards incorporation of resistance measurements into an iterative learning control scheme. Also, improvement on the resistance-distance model and further investigation into suitable signal processing methods for the resistance signal will be pursued

Non-intrusive instrumentation and estimation -Applications for control of an additive manufacturing process

For integration of additive manufacturing into industrial production, there is a need for capable yet robust automation solutions. Such solutions are to ensure consistent process outputs, both with regard to deposit geometry and material properties. In this thesis, instrumentation and control solutions have been investigated for the laser metal wire deposition additive manufacturing process. This particular process is promising with regard to e.g. high deposition rates and negligible material waste. However, due to its inherent dynamics, it requires automatic control in order to prove competitive. A large number of process parameters affect the resulting quality of the deposit. Successful control of these parameters is crucial for turning laser metal wire deposition into an industrially tractable process. This requires relevant and reliable process information such as the temperature of the deposit and the positioning of the tool relative to the workpiece. Due to the particular requirements of instrumenting the process, only non-intrusive measurement methods are viable. In this thesis, such measurement solutions are presented that advance automatic control of the laser metal wire deposition.In response to the need for accurate temperature measurements for the process, a new temperature measurement method has been developed. By adopting the novel concept of temporal, rather than spectral, constraints for solving the multispectral pyrometry problem, it opens up for temperature measurements which compensates for e.g. an oxidising deposit. For maintaining a good deposition process in laser metal wire deposition, control of tool position and wire feed rate is required. Based on measurements of resistance through the weld pool, a simple yet well performing control system is presented in this thesis. The control system obtains geometrical input information from resistance measurements made in-situ, and feeds this information to an iterative learning controller. This results in a robust, cheap and practical control solution for laser metal wire deposition, which is suitable for industrial use and that can easily be retrofitted to existing equipment

Analysis of Acoustic Spectroscopy Signals using Artificial Neural or Bayesian Networks

Vid analys av fluider med akustisk spektroskopi finns ett behov av att finna multivariata metoder för att utifrån akustiska spektra prediktera storheter såsom viskositet och densitet. Användning av artificiella neurala nätverk och bayesiska nätverk för detta syfte utreds genom teoretiska och praktiska undersökningar. Förbehandling och uppdelning av data samt en handfull linjära och olinjära multivariata analysmetoder beskrivs och implementeras. Prediktionsfelen för de olika metoderna jämförs och PLS (Partial Least Squares) framstår som den starkaste kandidaten för att prediktera de sökta storheterna.When analyzing fluids using acoustic spectrometry there is a need of finding multivariate methods for predicting properties such as viscosity and density from acoustic spectra. The utilization of artificial neural networks and Bayesian networks for this purpose is analyzed through theoretical and practical investigations. Preprocessing and division of data along with a handful of linear and non-linear multivariate methods of analysis are described and implemented. The errors of prediction for the different methods are compared and PLS (Partial Least Squares) appear to be the strongest candidate for predicting the sought-after properties

Resistance measurements for control of laser metal wire deposition

A method for controlling robotized laser metal wire deposition on-line by electrical resistance metering is proposed. The concept of measuring the combined resistance of the wire and the weld pool is introduced and evaluated for automatic control purposes. Droplet formation, detachment of the wire from the weld pool and stubbing can be hard to avoid during processing due to the sensitive process and short reaction times needed for making on-line adjustments. The implemented system shows a possible route for automatic control of the process wherein such problems can be avoided automatically. The method proves to successfully adjust the distance between the tool and the workpiece through controlling the robot height position, thus increasing stability of the laser metal wire deposition process. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Emissivity compensated spectral pyrometry-algorithm and sensitivity analysis

In order to solve the problem of non-contact temperature measurements on an object with varying emissivity, a new method is herein described and evaluated. The method uses spectral radiance measurements and converts them to temperature readings. It proves to be resilient towards changes in spectral emissivity and tolerates noisy spectral measurements. It is based on an assumption of smooth changes in emissivity and uses historical values of spectral emissivity and temperature for estimating current spectral emissivity. The algorithm, its constituent steps and accompanying parameters are described and discussed. A thorough sensitivity analysis of the method is carried out through simulations. No rigorous instrument calibration is needed for the presented method and it is therefore industrially tractable

Hot-Wire Laser-Directed Energy Deposition : Process Characteristics and Benefits of Resistive Pre-Heating of the Feedstock Wire

This study investigates the influence of resistive pre-heating of the feedstock wire (here called hot-wire) on the stability of laser-directed energy deposition of Duplex stainless steel. Data acquired online during depositions as well as metallographic investigations revealed the process characteristic and its stability window. The online data, such as electrical signals in the pre-heating circuit and images captured from side-view of the process interaction zone gave insight on the metal transfer between the molten wire and the melt pool. The results show that the characteristics of the process, like laser-wire and wire-melt pool interaction, vary depending on the level of the wire pre-heating. In addition, application of two independent energy sources, laser beam and electrical power, allows fine-tuning of the heat input and increases penetration depth, with little influence on the height and width of the beads. This allows for better process stability as well as elimination of lack of fusion defects. Electrical signals measured in the hot-wire circuit indicate the process stability such that the resistive pre-heating can be used for in-process monitoring. The conclusion is that the resistive pre-heating gives additional means for controlling the stability and the heat input of the laser-directed energy deposition.Finansiärer:Stiftelsen för Kunskaps- och KompetensutvecklingProjektnummer: 20160281, 20170060</p