Critical Need for the Technology
As additive manufacturing continues its foray into the mainstream production manufacturing markets, increasing geometrical and material complexities require sustainable solutions to reduce waste. Phase 3D provides an increasingly sustainable method to reduce the material waste associated with additive manufacturing, allowing for an even-leaner building process. By mitigating energy and labor costs of additive, we are excited to expand the limits of the awesome technology!
Supplemental Need for this Technology
Another benefit of Phase 3D’s in-situ monitoring is the creation of an additional stream of feature data. These data can aid in new material development research, in addition to adding another layer of part certification for mission-critical components.
Potential CO2 Reduction
Phase 3D has invented a real-time in-process monitoring system which can retrofit any industrial 3D printer to provide actionable part quality data. Builds with flaws must be discarded or recycled, so real-time monitoring will decrease material waste and energy consumption proportional to the number of parts it saves.
Globally, additive manufacturing of metal parts was responsible for 710 MtCO2e in 2020. Monitoring the process can reduce material and energy consumption by 9-15 percent. With exponential market growth to 100 percent in 2042, Phase 3D would deliver 690 MtCO2e emissions reduction in that year.
Competition
- Subjective visual inspection (status quo): Often times, part quality estimations are made by technicians walking the shop floor, problematic due to inherent subjectivity and the requirement of constant surveillance.
- 3D printer-specific melt pool monitoring systems: Some 3D printer OEMs provide in-situ monitoring systems, though these systems are cost prohibitive and inconvenient for customers often times interested in OEM-agnostic quality control systems.
Potential Markets
- Additive Manufacturing Part Service Bureaus
- In-House Additive Manufacturing Production Facilities at Aerospace and Medical Device Companies
- Additive Manufacturing Research Institutions
Key Innovation
Real-time dimensional measurement of additive manufacturing parts.
R & D Status of Project
Lab prototyping and initial pilot studies have shown feasibility of commercial integration. Data from Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source is being used to correlate final-part defects to in-situ feature data measured with our monitoring system.
Team Overview
Niall O’Dowd, Founder and CEO: Dr. O’Dowd earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology, followed by a MS and PhD in Structural Health Monitoring from the University of California San Diego. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, Niall developed system development skills during projects in live computer vision for an ultrasonic laser-based inspection systems and microprocessing for a mode shape measurement electronic speckle pattern interferometer.
Technology Profile
Status: Pre-Seed
Primary industry: Advanced Manufacturing
Category: Quality Control, in-situ Monitoring, Sustainable Manufacturing
Estimated annual revenue: n/a
Employs: n/a
