Patent ID: 11872761
Assignee: NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A continuous filament additive manufacturing machine for building a part by laying down a continuous mono-filament or continuous composite filament material layer by layer on a tool or substrate, said machine comprising:
a system operable to move in at least three degrees of freedom; and
a placement module coupled to the system and being configured to deposit the continuous filament material, said placement module including a guide for guiding the material to the part and at least one ultrasonic compaction device for compacting the filament material as it is being deposited from the placement module, said at least one compaction device including at least one ultrasonic driver and a plurality of ultrasonic disk horns positioned side-by-side relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to a direction that the filament material is being deposited, said at least one ultrasonic driver being coupled to the plurality of ultrasonic disk horns and ultrasonically vibrating the plurality of ultrasonic disk horns in a reciprocating circular motion to melt or flow the filament material in contact with the plurality of ultrasonic disk horns and cause the filament material to fuse and be compacted to the tool or substrate.