DIGITALIZATION OF DIRECTED ENERGY DEPOSITION PROCESS THROUGH A MULTIDIRECTIONAL HEIGHT MONITORING SENSOR SYSTEM

摘要

Industrialization of Directed Energy Deposition process relies on the development and implementation of a Quality Assurance system that makes the process reliable and repetitive. One of the geometrical characteristics that needs constant monitoring and control during any DED process is the height of the deposited layer. In this paper, a multi-directional layer height monitoring system relying on laser triangulation principle that has been developed for real-time direct measurement, in contrast to majority of the sensor systems that derive layer height based on melt pool temperature, is presented. Existing commercial laser triangulation systems are uni-directional which hinders the flexibility of the material handling system, like industrial robot, in most of the cases. An additional challenge lies on the integration with the deposition head due to its form, size and extreme working conditions.