WO2019112661A1

WO2019112661A1 - Predicting and compensating for manufacturing distortion of a designed geometry of an object

Info

Publication number: WO2019112661A1
Application number: PCT/US2018/048307
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tsz Ling Elaine TANG; Lucia MIRABELLA; Sanjeev SRIVASTAVA
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft; Siemens Corporation
Priority date: 2017-12-07
Filing date: 2018-08-28
Publication date: 2019-06-13

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are described for determining and compensating for manufacturing distortion to a designed geometry of an object that is introduced by a physical manufacturing process that produces the object. The physical manufacturing process is simulated using the designed geometry of the object (e.g., a CAD model of the object) and associated manufacturing parameters (e.g., CAM instructions) to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object. A comparison of the predicted manufactured shape to the designed geometry is then performed to determine a deviation there between. The determined deviation is used to generate a pre-distortion geometry of the object that substantially compensates for the distortion in the original designed geometry of the object that is expected to be introduced by the manufacturing process. The physical manufacturing process can then be initiated based on the predistortion geometry of the object and updated manufacturing parameters associated therewith.

Description

PREDICTING AND COMPEN SATIN G FOR MANUFACTURING DISTORTION OF A DESIGNED GEOMETRY OF AN OBJECT

BACKGROUND

[01 ] The present invention relates generally to distortion to the designed geometry of an object that can be introduced by a physical manufacturing process, and more specifically, to predicting and compensating for such distortion.

[02] The final geometry of an object manufactured by a physical manufacturing process such as an additive manufacturing process can deviate from the intended geometry specified by a design of the object such as a computer-aided design (CAD) model of the object. Thermal distortion during the manufacturing process can result m this deviation. The extent of the thermal distortion that may occur and the resulting deviation between the as-designed geometry and the as-manufactured shape of the object may be influenced by a number of factors including process parameters, material properties, and geometric effect.

SUMMARY

[03] In one or more example embodiments, a computer-implemented method for compensating for manufacturing distortion of an object is disclosed. The method includes simulating, based at least in part on a designed geometry of an object to be manufactured and associated manufacturing parameters, a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object and determining a deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object. The method further includes generating a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the determined deviation and sending an instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process to manufacture the object based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry of the object. [04] In one or more other example embodiments, a system for compensating for manufacturing distortion of an object is disclosed. The system includes at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions and at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to perform a set of operations. The operations include simulating, based at least in part on a designed geometry of an object to be manufactured and associated manufacturing parameters, a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object and determining a deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object. The operations further include generating a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the determined deviation and sending an instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process to manufacture the object based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry of the object.

[05] In one or more other example embodiments, a computer program product for compensating for manufacturing distortion of an object is disclosed. The computer program product includes a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit, the storage medium storing instructions executable by the processing circuit to cause a method to be performed. The method includes simulating, based at least in part on a designed geometry of an object to be manufactured and associated manufacturing parameters, a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object and determining a deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object. The method further includes generating a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the determined deviation and sending an instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process to manufacture the object based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry of the object. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[06] The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict example embodiments of the disclosure. The drawings are provided to facilitate understanding of the disclosure and shall not be deemed to limit the breadth, scope, or applicability of the disclosure. In the drawings, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numeral identifies the drawing in which the reference numeral first appears. The use of the same reference numerals indicates similar, but not necessarily the same or identical components. However, different reference numerals may be used to identify similar components as well. Various embodiments may utilize elements or components other than those illustrated in the drawings, and some elements and/or components may not be present in various embodiments. The use of singular terminology to describe a component or element may, depending on the context, encompass a plural number of such components or elements and vice versa.

[07] FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating simulation of a distortion of a designed geometry of an object by a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shaped of the object in accordance with example embodiments.

[08] FIG. IB is a schematic diagram illustrating determination of a deviation between the predicted manufactured shaped of the object and the designed geometry of the object in accordance with example embodiments.

[09] FIG. 1 C is a schematic diagram illustrating generation of a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the simulated distortion of the physical manufacturing process in accordance with example embodiments.

[010] FIG. 1D is a schematic diagram illustrating use of the pre-distortion geometry of the object by the physical manufacturing process to obtain a final manufactured shape of the object that corresponds to the designed geometry of the object in accordance with example embodiments.

[01 1 ] FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method for predicting and compensating for distortion in the designed geometry of an object by a physical manufacturing process that produces the object in accordance with example

embodiments.

[012] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative computing configuration for implementing one or more example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[013] Example embodiments of the invention relate to, among other things, systems, methods, computer-readable media, techniques, and methodologies for determining and compensating for manufacturing distortion to a designed geometry of an object that is introduced by a physical manufacturing process that produces the object. In particular, example embodiments simulate a physical manufacturing process such as an additive manufacturing process using a designed geometry of an object to be manufactured (e g., a computer-aided design (CAD) model of the object) and associated manufacturing parameters (e.g., computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) instructions) to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object. Example embodiments then perform a comparison of the predicted manufactured shape of the object to the designed geometry to determine a deviation there between. In example embodiments, the determined deviation is used to generate a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the distortion in the original designed geometry of the object that is expected to be introduced by the manufacturing process. The physical manufacturing process can then be initiated based on the pre-distortion geometry of the object and updated manufacturing parameters associated therewith. In example embodiments, the result of the physical manufacturing process is an object having a manufactured shape that substantially corresponds to the original designed geometry of the object. [014] Example embodiments utilize computational tools to identify and compensate for deviation between a designed geometry/model of an object and an as- manufactured geometry of the object produced by a physical manufacturing process such as an additive manufacturing process. The deviation between the geometry of the manufactured object and the original designed geometry of the object may occur during the manufacturing process as a result of the physical effects of thermal expansion or contraction, for example. Example embodiments geometrically compensate for this expected deviation based on the rationale that certain regions of the object may expand or contract during manufacturing beyond the designed geometry, and that shrinking or expanding the designed geometry by the same amount will result in a final manufactured geometry of the object that has substantially the same dimensions as the original designed geometry even with the distortion expected to be introduced during manufacturing.

While example embodiments seek to compensate for the distortion in the object introduced during manufacturing by generating the pre-distortion geometry of the object, the final manufactured shape of the object based on the pre-distortion geometry may not be exactly the same as the original designed geometry of the object. Rather, in example embodiments, the distortion may be substantially reduced such that the final

manufactured shape of the object substantially corresponds to the original designed geometry of the object.

[015] Certain conventional approaches for addressing the expected distortion in the designed geometry of an object during manufacturing of the object have included attempts to determine optimal process parameters, raw materials, and/or design geometries. However, because the relationships between the physics of the

manufacturing process, the materials used, part geometries, and surrounding

environments are complex and not fully understood, such attempts have been unsuccessful in minimizing the expected distortion. Other conventional approaches have involved reducing the deviation between the designed geometry of an object and the manufactured geometry of the object by adding heat sink supports (e g., additional printed materials in an additive manufacturing process) to regions of the object having a high temperature gradient to dissipate heat more efficiently and reduce thermal expansion. However, such approaches are time-consuming because designing the geometry of the object is more involved and more costly due to the extra materials required to manufacture the heat sink supports. Yet other conventional approaches have involved physically printing a prototype of the object based on the designed geometry, measuring the actual distortion, and modifying the designed geometry based on the measured distortion.

[016] Example embodiments provide a technical solution that minimizes the distortion to a designed geometry of an object that is expected to be introduced during manufacturing of the object. This technical solution represents a technical benefit over the conventional approaches described above by providing a computational solution that requires less time/effort to generate a designed geometry of an object that compensates for the expected distortion and that is more cost-effective than adding additional materials to the object such as heat sinks. In addition, example embodiments simulate the distortion in the designed geometry that is expected to be introduced during the manufacturing process without actually requiring the object to be manufactured and the distortion to be measured, and thus, provide a technical benefit in terms of reduced time/effort and reduced cost over conventional approaches that rely on manufacturing the object and measuring the actual structural distortion in the manufactured object.

[017] An illustrative method in accordance with example embodiments of the invention will now be described. It should be noted that any given operation of the method 200 may be performed by one or more of the program modules or the like depicted in FIG. 3, whose operation will be described in more detail later in this disclosure. These program modules may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. In certain example embodiments, one or more of these program modules may be implemented, at least in part, as software and/or firmware modules that include computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processing circuit cause one or more operations to be performed. A system or device described herein as being configured to implement example embodiments may include one or more processing circuits, each of which may include one or more processing units or nodes. Computer-executable instructions may include computer-executable program code that when executed by a processing unit may cause input data contained in or referenced by the computer-executable program code to be accessed and processed to yield output data.

[018] FIG. 1 A is a schematic diagram illustrating simulation of a distortion of a designed geometry of an object by a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shaped of the object in accordance with example embodiments. FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram illustrating determination of a deviation between the predicted manufactured shaped of the object and the designed geometry of the object in accordance with example embodiments. FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram illustrating generation of a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the simulated distortion of the physical manufacturing process in accordance with example embodiments. FIG. ID is a schematic diagram illustrating use of the pre-distortion geometry of the object by the physical manufacturing process to obtain a final manufactured shape of the object that corresponds to he designed geometry of the object in accordance with example embodiments. FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method 200 for predicting and compensating for distortion in the designed geometry of an object by a physical manufacturing process that produces the object in accordance with example embodiments. FIG. 2 will be described in conjunction with FIGS. 1A-1D hereinafter.

[019] Referring first to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 1A, at block 202 of the method 200, in example embodiments, a designed geometry 102 of an object to be manufactured by a physical manufacturing process (e.g., an additive manufacturing process) and associated manufacturing parameters 104 may be received as input to a simulation tool 106. In example embodiments, the designed geometry 102 of the object may be a CAD model of the object, the physical manufacturing process may be an additive manufacturing process, and the manufacturing parameters 104 may be CAM instructions which may include, without limitation, laser parameters (e.g., laser power, laser rate, etc.); toolpath (i.e., a path traversed by a laser during the additive

manufacturing process); and so forth. Manufacturing parameters 104 such as the laser power and the rate at which the laser moves during manufacturing can have an impact on the amount of heat released/absorbed during manufacturing, and thus, can contribute to distortion of the designed geometry 102 during manufacturing. In addition, the toolpath can also impact the amount of distortion that occurs because the laser may traverse certain regions of the object during manufacturing that include geometric features and/or materials that are more susceptible to thermal expansion/contraction.

[020] At block 204 of the method 200, computer-executable instructions of one or more simulation modules 320 (FIG. 3) provided as part of the simulation tool 106 may be executed to determine a predicted manufactured shape 108 of the object based at least in part on the designed geometry 102 and the manufacturing parameters 104. In example embodiments, the predicted manufactured shape 108 of the object may be a CAD model that reflects the predicted distortion/deformation that the object would undergo from the designed geometry 102 during the physical manufacturing process.

[021 ] In example embodiments, the simulation tool 106 may be capable of performing a thermo-structural simulation of an additive manufacturing process to evaluate the distortion/deformation of the object that would occur during the additive manufacturing process without actually having to physically manufacture the object. In example embodiments, however, if measured distortion data is available from the actual physical manufacturing process, such data can be utilized to calibrate the simulation tool 106. In other example embodiments, the simulation tool 106 may be a machine learning construct such as a neural network that is trained to predict the distortion that an object would incur during the physical manufacturing process. For instance, in example embodiments, a neural network may be trained using ground-truth data (e.g., measured distortion associated with the physical manufacture of a sample set of objects), and the trained neural network may be used to predict the distortion that would occur based on the designed geometry 102.

[022] Referring now to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 1B, at block 206 of the method 200, computer-executable instructions of one or more distortion determination modules 322 (FIG. 3) may be executed to perform a comparison of the designed geometry 102 to the predicted manufactured shape 108 to determine a deviation there between. More specifically, in example embodiments, the distortion determination module(s) 322 may perform a registration 110 between the designed geometry 102 (e.g., a user-provided CAD model reflecting an original designed geometry for the object) and the predicted manufactured shape 110 (e.g., a CAD model produced by the simulation tool 106) to determine a distortion displacement field 112 indicative of the amount and nature of the distortion between the designed geometry 102 of the object and the predicted manufactured shape 108. In example embodiments, the distortion

determination module(s) 322 may perform the registration 110 by executing a registration algorithm. Further, in example embodiments, the distortion displacement field 112 may be a set of vectors having respective magnitudes and directions that indicate how various regions of the designed geometry 102 are predicted to be distorted during the physical manufacturing process to yield the predicted manufactured shape 108.

[023] Referring now to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 1 C, at block 208 of the method 200, computer-executable instructions of one or more distortion compensation module(s) 324 (FIG. 3) may be executed to reverse the distortion displacement field 112 to obtain a reverse displacement field 114. In example embodiments, the reverse displacement field 114 may include a set of vectors having the same magnitudes as the set of vectors included in the distortion displacement field 112, but with the direction of each vector being reversed, as depicted in FIG. 1 C. In other example embodiments, the reverse displacement field 114 can be obtained by applying a more complex

transformation to the distortion displacement field 112. [024] At block 210 of the method 200, computer-executable instructions of the distortion compensation module(s) 324 may be executed to apply the reverse displacement field 114 to the designed geometry 102 of the object to obtain a pre distortion compensated geometry 116 of the object (e.g., a pre-distortion CAD model).

In example embodiments, if the object is physically manufactured based on the pre distortion compensated geometry 116, the object is expected to distort/deform from the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116 to a geometry that is substantially the same as the original designed geometry 102, thereby resulting in a desired (e.g., non- distorted/non-deformed) final manufactured shape of the object. Thus, in example embodiments, application of the reverse displacement field 114 to the designed geometry 102 to obtain the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116 serves to counteract the distortion that the object is expected to undergo during the physical manufacturing process.

[025] Referring now to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. ID, at block 212 of the method 200, the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116 as well as updated manufacturing parameters 118 may be provided as input to the physical manufacturing process 120. At block 214 of the method 200, an instruction may be sent to initiate the physical manufacturing process 120 based on the received inputs to obtain an object having a final manufactured shape 124 that substantially corresponds to the desired shape of the object based on the original designed geometry 102. In particular, the pre distortion compensated geometry 116 undergoes distortion 122 during the manufacturing process 120 to yield an object having the final manufactured shape 124 that substantially corresponds to the desired shape of the object based on the original designed geometry 102. That is, the final manufactured shape 124 has a reduced amount of distortion than what would have occurred based on the original designed geometry 102. In example embodiments, the updated manufacturing parameters 118 may include, for example, updated laser parameters, an updated toolpath, etc., which may be determined based on the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116. [026] In certain example embodiments, after generating the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116 and prior to actually manufacturing the object based at least in part on the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116, a validation step may be performed. In particular, in example embodiments, the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116 and updated manufacturing parameters 118 may be provided as input to the simulation tool 106 to simulate the physical manufacturing process 120 and the distortion to the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116 that would be expected to occur during the manufacturing process 120. The simulated output of the simulation tool 106 can then be used to validate that the distortion 122 introduced by the manufacturing process 120 would be substantially compensated for by the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116.

[027] One or more illustrative embodiments of the disclosure are described herein. Such embodiments are merely illustrative of the scope of this disclosure and are not intended to be limiting in any way. Accordingly, variations, modifications, and equivalents of embodiments disclosed herein are also within the scope of this disclosure. For example, the data key generation process described herein in accordance with example embodiments can be expanded to use multiple data seeds to produce one set of unique and reproducible data for each data seed.

[028] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative computing configuration for implementing one or more example embodiments of the invention. In particular, FIG. 3 depicts one or more distortion compensation servers 302 configured to implement one or more example embodiments. While the server(s) 302 may be described herein in the singular, it should be appreciated that multiple servers 302 may be provided, and functionality described herein may be distributed across multiple such servers 302.

[029] In an illustrative configuration, the distortion compensation server 302 may include one or more processors (processor(s)) 304, one or more memory devices 306 (generically referred to herein as memory 306), one or more input/output (“I/O”) interface(s) 308, one or more network interfaces 310, and data storage 314. The distortion compensation server 302 may further include one or more buses 312 that functionally couple various components of the distortion compensation server 302.

[030] The bus(es) 312 may include at least one of a system bus, a memory bus, an address bus, or a message bus, and may permit the exchange of information (e.g., data (including computer-executable code), signaling, etc.) between various components of the distortion compensation server 302. The bus(es) 312 may include, without limitation, a memory bus or a memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and so forth. The bus(es) 312 may be associated with any suitable bus architecture including, without limitation, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), a Micro Channel

Architecture (MCA), an Enhanced ISA (EISA), a Video Electronics Standards

Association (VESA) architecture, an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) architecture, a Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) architecture, a PCI-Express architecture, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) architecture, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) architecture, and so forth.

[031 ] The memory 306 may include volatile memory (memory that maintains its state when supplied with power) such as random access memory (RAM) and/or non volatile memory (memory that maintains its state even when not supplied with power) such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and so forth. Persistent data storage, as that term is used herein, may include non-volatile memory. In certain example embodiments, volatile memory may enable faster read/write access than non-volatile memory. However, in certain other example embodiments, certain types of non-volatile memory (e.g., FRAM) may enable faster read/write access than certain types of volatile memory.

[032] In various implementations, the memory 306 may include multiple different types of memory such as various types of static random access memory (SRAM), various types of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), various types of unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variants of ROM such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, and so forth. The memory 306 may include main memory as well as various forms of cache memory such as instruction cache(s), data cache(s), translation lookaside buffer(s) (TLBs), and so forth. Further, cache memory such as a data cache may be a multi-level cache organized as a hierarchy of one or more cache levels (Ll, L2, etc.).

[033] The data storage 314 may include removable storage and/or non-removable storage including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disk storage, and/or tape storage. The data storage 314 may provide non-volatile storage of computer-executable instructions and other data. The memory 306 and the data storage 314, removable and/or non-removable, are examples of computer-readable storage media (CRSM) as that term is used herein.

[034] The data storage 314 may store computer-executable code, instructions, or the like that may be loadable into the memory 306 and executable by the processor(s) 304 to cause the processor(s) 304 to perform or initiate various operations. The data storage 314 may additionally store data that may be copied to memory 306 for use by the processor(s) 304 during the execution of the computer-executable instructions. Moreover, output data generated as a result of execution of the computer-executable instructions by the processor(s) 304 may be stored initially in memory 306 and may ultimately be copied to data storage 314 for non-volatile storage.

[035] More specifically, the data storage 314 may store one or more operating systems (O/S) 316; one or more database management systems (DBMS) 318 configured to access the memory 306 and/or one or more datastores 326; and one or more program modules, applications, engines, managers, computer-executable code, scripts, or the like such as, for example, one or more simulation modules 320, one or more distortion determination modules 322, and one or more distortion compensation modules 324. Any of the components depicted as being stored in data storage 314 may include any combination of software, firmware, and/or hardware. The software and/or firmware may include computer-executable instructions (e g., computer-executable program code) that may be loaded into the memory 306 for execution by one or more of the processor(s) 304 to perform any of the corresponding operations described earlier.

[036] Although not depicted in FIG. 3, the data storage 314 may further store various types of data utilized by components of the distortion compensation server 302 (e.g., data stored in the datastore(s) 326). Any data stored in the data storage 314 may be loaded into the memory 306 for use by the processor(s) 304 in executing computer- executable instructions. In addition, any data stored in the data storage 314 may potentially be stored in the datastore(s) 326 and may be accessed via the DBMS 318 and loaded in the memory 306 for use by the processor(s) 304 in executing computer- executable instructions.

[037] The processor(s) 304 may be configured to access the memory 306 and execute computer-executable instructions loaded therein. For example, the processor(s) 304 may be configured to execute computer-executable instructions of the various program modules, applications, engines, managers, or the like of the distortion compensation server 302 to cause or facilitate various operations to be performed in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The processor(s) 304 may include any suitable processing unit capable of accepting data as input, processing the input data in accordance with stored computer-executable instructions, and generating output data. The processor(s) 304 may include any type of suitable processing unit including, but not limited to, a central processing unit, a microprocessor, a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessor, a Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) microprocessor, a microcontroller, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a System-on-a-Chip (SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), and so forth. Further, the processor(s) 304 may have any suitable microarchitecture design that includes any number of constituent components such as, for example, registers, multiplexers, arithmetic logic units, cache controllers for controlling read/write operations to cache memory, branch predictors, or the like. The microarchitecture design of the processor(s) 304 may be capable of supporting any of a variety of instruction sets.

[038] Referring now to other illustrative components depicted as being stored in the data storage 314, the O/S 316 may be loaded from the data storage 314 into the memory 306 and may provide an interface between other application software executing on the distortion compensation server 302 and hardware resources of the distortion

compensation server 302. More specifically, the O/S 316 may include a set of computer- executable instructions for managing hardware resources of the distortion compensation server 302 and for providing common services to other application programs. In certain example embodiments, the O/S 316 may include or otherwise control the execution of one or more of the program modules, engines, managers, or the like depicted as being stored in the data storage 314. The O/S 316 may include any operating system now known or which may be developed in the future including, but not limited to, any server operating system, any mainframe operating system, or any other proprietary or non proprietary operating system.

[039] The DBMS 318 may be loaded into the memory 306 and may support functionality for accessing, retrieving, storing, and/or manipulating data stored in the memory 306, data stored in the data storage 314, and/or data stored in external datastore(s) 326. The DBMS 318 may use any of a variety of database models (e.g., relational model, object model, etc.) and may support any of a variety of query languages. The DBMS 318 may access data represented in one or more data schemas and stored in any suitable data repository. As such, data stored in the datastore(s) 326 may include, for example, data indicative of the designed geometry 102; manufacturing parameters 104, 118; data indicative of the simulated manufactured shape 108; data indicative of the distortion displacement field 112; data indicative of the reverse displacement field 114; data indicative of the pre-distortion compensated geometry 116; and so forth. External datastore(s) 326 that may be accessible by the distortion compensation server 302 via the DBMS 318 may include, but are not limited to, databases (e.g., relational, object- oriented, etc.), file systems, flat files, distributed datastores in which data is stored on more than one node of a computer network, peer-to-peer network datastores, or the like.

[040] Referring now to other illustrative components of the distortion compensation server 302, the input/output (I/O) interface(s) 308 may facilitate the receipt of input information by the distortion compensation server 302 from one or more I/O devices as well as the output of information from the distortion compensation server 302 to the one or more I/O devices. The I/O devices may include any of a variety of components such as a display or display screen having a touch surface or touchscreen; an audio output device for producing sound, such as a speaker; an audio capture device, such as a microphone; an image and/or video capture device, such as a camera; a haptic unit; and so forth. Any of these components may be integrated into the distortion compensation server 302 or may be separate. The I/O devices may further include, for example, any number of peripheral devices such as data storage devices, printing devices, and so forth.

[041 ] The I/O interface(s) 308 may also include an interface for an external peripheral device connection such as universal serial bus (USB), FireWire, Thunderbolt, Ethernet port or other connection protocol that may connect to one or more networks.

The I/O interface(s) 308 may also include a connection to one or more antennas to connect to one or more networks via a wireless local area network (WLAN) (such as Wi Fi) radio, Bluetooth, and/or a wireless network radio, such as a radio capable of communication with a wireless communication network such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, WiMAX network, 3G network, etc.

[042] The distortion compensation server 302 may further include one or more network interfaces 310 via which the distortion compensation server 302 may communicate with one or more other devices or systems via one or more networks. Such network(s) may include, but are not limited to, any one or more different types of communications networks such as, for example, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks (e g , frame-relay networks), wireless networks, cellular networks, telephone networks (e.g., a public switched telephone network), or any other suitable private or public packet-switched or circuit-switched networks. Such network(s) may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, such network(s) may include communication links and associated networking devices (e.g., link-layer switches, routers, etc.) for transmitting network traffic over any suitable type of medium including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire (e.g., twisted-pair copper wire), optical fiber, a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) medium, a microwave medium, a radio frequency communication medium, a satellite

communication medium, or any combination thereof.

[043] It should be appreciated that the program modules/engines depicted in FIG. 3 as being stored in the data storage 314 are merely illustrative and not exhaustive and that processing described as being supported by any particular module may alternatively be distributed across multiple modules, engines, or the like, or performed by a different module, engine, or the like. In addition, various program module(s), script(s), plug-in(s), Application Programming Interface(s) (API(s)), or any other suitable computer- executable code hosted locally on the distortion compensation server 302 and/or other computing devices accessible via one or more networks, may be provided to support functionality provided by the modules depicted in FIG. 3 and/or additional or alternate functionality. Further, functionality may be modularized in any suitable manner such that processing described as being performed by a particular module may be performed by a collection of any number of program modules, or functionality described as being supported by any particular module may be supported, at least in part, by another module. In addition, program modules that support the functionality described herein may be executable across any number of cluster members in accordance with any suitable computing model such as, for example, a client-server model, a peer-to-peer model, and so forth. In addition, any of the functionality described as being supported by any of the modules depicted in FIG. 3 may be implemented, at least partially, in hardware and/or firmware across any number of devices. [044] It should further be appreciated that the distortion compensation server 302 may include alternate and/or additional hardware, software, or firmware components beyond those described or depicted without departing from the scope of the disclosure. More particularly, it should be appreciated that software, firmware, or hardware components depicted as forming part of the distortion compensation server 302 are merely illustrative and that some components may not be present or additional components may be provided in various embodiments. While various illustrative modules have been depicted and described as software modules stored in data storage 314, it should be appreciated that functionality described as being supported by the modules may be enabled by any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. It should further be appreciated that each of the above-mentioned modules may, in various embodiments, represent a logical partitioning of supported functionality. This logical partitioning is depicted for ease of explanation of the functionality and may not be representative of the structure of software, hardware, and/or firmware for implementing the functionality. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that functionality described as being provided by a particular module may, in various embodiments, be provided at least in part by one or more other modules. Further, one or more depicted modules may not be present in certain embodiments, while in other embodiments, additional program modules and/or engines not depicted may be present and may support at least a portion of the described functionality and/or additional functionality.

[045] One or more operations of the method 200 may be performed by a distortion compensation server 302 having the illustrative configuration depicted in FIG. 3, or more specifically, by one or more program modules, engines, applications, or the like executable on such a device. It should be appreciated, however, that such operations may be implemented in connection with numerous other device configurations.

[046] The operations described and depicted in the illustrative method of FIG. 2 may be carried out or performed in any suitable order as desired in various example embodiments of the disclosure. Additionally, in certain example embodiments, at least a portion of the operations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certain example embodiments, less, more, or different operations than those depicted in FIG. 2 may be performed.

[047] Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that numerous other modifications and alternative embodiments are within the scope of the disclosure. For example, any of the functionality and/or processing capabilities described with respect to a particular system, system component, device, or device component may be performed by any other system, device, or component. Further, while various illustrative implementations and architectures have been described in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that numerous other modifications to the illustrative

implementations and architectures described herein are also within the scope of this disclosure. In addition, it should be appreciated that any operation, element, component, data, or the like described herein as being based on another operation, element, component, data, or the like may be additionally based on one or more other operations, elements, components, data, or the like. Accordingly, the phrase“based on,” or variants thereof, should be interpreted as“based at least in part on.”

[048] The present disclosure may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present disclosure.

[049] The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.

[050] Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.

[051 ] Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present disclosure.

[052] Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.

[053] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a

programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

[054] The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

[055] The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for compensating for manufacturing distortion of an object, the method comprising: simulating, based at least in part on a designed geometry of the object to be manufactured and associated manufacturing parameters, a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object; determining a deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object; generating a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the determined deviation; and sending an instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process to manufacture the object based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry of the object.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein simulating the physical manufacturing process comprises performing a thermo-structural simulation of an additive manufacturing process to evaluate effects of thermal expansion or contraction on the designed geometry of the object.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object comprises executing a registration algorithm to determine a distortion

displacement field indicative of the deviation.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the distortion displacement field comprises a set of vectors indicative of a magnitude and a direction of simulated distortion in the designed geometry of the object that results in the predicted manufactured shape of the object.

5. The computer- implemented method of claim 3, wherein generating the pre distortion geometry of the object comprises: reversing the distortion displacement field to obtain a reverse displacement field; and applying the reverse displacement field to the designed geometry of the object to obtain the pre-distortion geometry of the object.

6. The computer- implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: generating updated manufacturing parameters based at least in part on the pre distortion geometry of the object, wherein sending the instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process comprises providing the pre-distortion geometry of the object and the updated manufacturing parameters as input to the physical manufacturing process.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a manufactured shape of the object produced by the physical manufacturing process based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry substantially corresponds to the designed geometry of the object.

8. A system for compensating for manufacturing distortion of an object, the system comprising: at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions; and at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to access the at least one memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to: simulate, based at least in part on a designed geometry of the object to be manufactured and associated manufacturing parameters, a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object; determine a deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object; generate a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the determined deviation; and send an instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process to manufacture the object based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry of the object.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is configured to simulate the physical manufacturing process by executing the computer-executable instructions to perform a thermo-structural simulation of an additive manufacturing process to evaluate effects of thermal expansion or contraction on the designed geometry of the object.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object by executing the computer-executable instructions to execute a registration algorithm to determine a distortion displacement field indicative of the deviation.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the distortion displacement field comprises a set of vectors indicative of a magnitude and a direction of simulated distortion in the designed geometry of the object that results in the predicted manufactured shape of the object.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate the pre-distortion geometry of the object by executing the computer-executable instructions to: reverse the distortion displacement field to obtain a reverse displacement field; and apply the reverse displacement field to the designed geometry of the object to obtain the pre-distortion geometry of the object.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to: generate updated manufacturing parameters based at least in part on the pre distortion geometry of the object, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to send the instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process by executing the computer-executable instructions to provide the pre-distortion geometry of the object and the updated manufacturing parameters as input to the physical manufacturing process.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein a manufactured shape of the object produced by the physical manufacturing process based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry substantially corresponds to the designed geometry of the object.

15. A computer program product for compensating for manufacturing distortion of an object, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit, the computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by the processing circuit to cause a method to be performed, the method comprising: simulating, based at least in part on a designed geometry of an object to be manufactured and associated manufacturing parameters, a physical manufacturing process to obtain a predicted manufactured shape of the object; determining a deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object; generating a pre-distortion geometry of the object that compensates for the determined deviation; and sending an instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process to manufacture the object based at least in part on the pre-distortion geometry of the object.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein simulating the physical manufacturing process comprises performing a thermo-structural simulation of an additive manufacturing process to evaluate effects of thermal expansion or contraction on the designed geometry of the object.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein determining the deviation between the designed geometry of the object and the predicted manufactured shape of the object comprises executing a registration algorithm to determine a distortion

displacement field indicative of the deviation.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the distortion displacement field comprises a set of vectors indicative of a magnitude and a direction of simulated distortion in the designed geometry of the object that results in the predicted

manufactured shape of the object.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein generating the pre-distortion geometry of the object comprises: reversing the distortion displacement field to obtain a reverse displacement field; and applying the reverse displacement field to the designed geometry of the object to obtain the pre-distortion geometry of the object.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, the method further comprising: generating updated manufacturing parameters based at least in part on the pre distortion geometry of the object, wherein sending the instruction to initiate the physical manufacturing process comprises providing the pre-distortion geometry of the object and the updated manufacturing parameters as input to the physical manufacturing process.