Robot based wire arc additive manufacturing system with context-sensitive multivariate monitoring framework

Large scale, metal parts are commonly manufactured by milling with a buy-to-fly-ratio of up to 10. A resource efficient alternative is the production by Direct Energy Deposition (DED) based Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). In this study, a WAAM system is divided into four elements (welding source, kinematic structure, control system, monitoring system) and a review is accomplished for each. Requirements are defined based on these reviews and additional needs and a robot based WAAM setup is proposed. To validate the WAAM setup, first experiments are conducted regarding the influence of the orientation of the welding torch respectively of the lead and the tilt angle on the geometry of a deposited wall. Finally, a framework for a seamlessly integrated monitoring system in hybrid manufacturing for enhanced data analysis is introduced. The framework is based on a digital twin of the workpiece in production which serves as base for proactive, context sensitive process adaptions.