Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080269939 | DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCURATE PRINTING OF THREE DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS - A method for building a three-dimensional object by depositing drops of material from a printing head onto a printing surface, layer upon layer is provided. The method includes providing data representing a layer of a three-dimensional object having X and Y coordinates, where X represents the direction of motion of the printing head; applying an X offset parameter for the X coordinate to compensate for inaccuracies caused by deviation of a drop flight trajectory between forward and reverse motions of the printing head; modifying the data based on the X offset parameter and printing the layer of the three-dimensional object according to modified data. | 10-30-2008 |
20090145357 | RAPID PROTOTYPING APPARATUS - Apparatus for producing an object by sequentially forming thin layers of a construction material one on top of the other responsive to data defining the object, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of printing heads each having a surface formed with a plurality of output orifices and controllable to dispense the construction material through each orifice independently of the other orifices; a shuttle to which the printing heads are mounted; a support surface; and a controller adapted to control the shuttle to move back and forth over the support surface and as the shuttle moves to control the printing heads to dispense the construction material through each of their respective orifices responsive to the data to form a first layer on the support surface and thereafter, sequentially the other layers; wherein each printing head is dismountable from the shuttle and replaceable independently of the other printing heads. | 06-11-2009 |
20090148621 | RAPID PROTOTYPING APPARATUS - Apparatus for producing an object by sequentially forming thin layers of a construction material one on top of the other responsive to data defining the object, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of printing heads each having a surface formed with a plurality of output orifices and controllable to dispense the construction material through each orifice independently of the other orifices; a shuttle to which the printing heads are mounted; a support surface; and a controller adapted to control the shuttle to move back and forth over the support surface and as the shuttle moves to control the printing heads to dispense the construction material through each of their respective orifices responsive to the data to form a first layer on the support surface and thereafter, sequentially the other layers; wherein each printing head is dismountable from the shuttle and replaceable independently of the other printing heads. | 06-11-2009 |
20090176032 | Method and apparatus for curing waste containing photopolymeric components - Method and apparatus for polymerizing photoactive materials included in a liquid material by electromagnetic radiation, by dispensing the liquid material layer-wise into a container and irradiating the accumulated layers by a curing radiation, wherein a substantial part of the radiation is well transmitted through the photoactive material. | 07-09-2009 |
20090210084 | Rapid prototyping apparatus - Apparatus for producing an object by sequentially forming thin layers of a construction material one on top of the other responsive to data defining the object, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of printing heads each having a surface formed with a plurality of output orifices and controllable to dispense the construction material through each orifice independently of the other orifices; a shuttle to which the printing heads are mounted; a support surface; and a controller adapted to control the shuttle to move back and forth over the support surface and as the shuttle moves to control the printing heads to dispense the construction material through each of their respective orifices responsive to the data to form a first layer on the support surface and thereafter, sequentially the other layers; wherein each printing head is dismountable from the shuttle and replaceable independently of the other printing heads. | 08-20-2009 |
20090304952 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SOLID FREEFORM FABRICATION - A Solid Freeform Fabrication system, apparatus and method is provided, that includes a movable fabrication tray adapted to hold an object being fabricated; a depositing surface to hold deposited materials, and ink jet printing heads to selectively deposit a plurality of building materials on the depositing surface; wherein the deposited materials are merged to the object being fabricated, when said fabrication tray moves said object being fabricated to be in contact with said deposited materials. | 12-10-2009 |
20100033521 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING A SCANNING PLAN IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING - Embodiments of the present invention may include a method for printing three-dimensional objects, layer by layer utilizing an optimized scheme of predefined passes for each layer based on considerations related to both throughput and quality of printing. Embodiment of the invention may include generating a scanning plan for a layer such that the accumulated length for all the scanning passes in the layer is minimized. The optimization scheme may be performed based on image data parameters, such as sizes, locations, dimensions and shapes of the imaged areas of the layer. | 02-11-2010 |
20100121476 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL FABRICATION - A method of three-dimensional fabrication of an object is disclosed. The method comprises: forming a plurality of layers in a configured pattern corresponding to the shape of the three-dimensional object, at least one layer of the plurality of layers being formed at a predetermined and different thickness selected so as to compensate for post-formation shrinkage of the layer along a vertical direction. In various exemplary embodiments of the invention spread of building material of one or more layers is diluted at least locally such as to maintain a predetermined thickness and a predetermined planar resolution for the layer. | 05-13-2010 |
20100140852 | PREPARATION OF BUILDING MATERIAL FOR SOLID FREEFORM FABRICATION - A method suitable for solid freeform fabrication is disclosed. The method comprises mixing respective amounts of a plurality of materials such as to provide a building material characterized by at least one attribute, and using the building material for fabricating a three-dimensional object. | 06-10-2010 |
20100170540 | METHOD OF REMOVING SUPPORT STRUCTURE FROM 3-D OBJECTS MADE BY SOLID FREEFORM FABRICATION - Some demonstrative embodiments of the invention include an apparatus and a method for removing the support structures from three-dimensional objects, in which the support removal is carried out using techniques that decrease the duration of the support removal process and increase the quality of the final three-dimensional objects. This method also ensures the safe removal of the support structures without damage to the three-dimensional object. | 07-08-2010 |
20100173096 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING ELECTRO-MAGNETIC RADIATION POWER IN SOLID FREEFORM FABRICATION SYSTEMS - Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system and method for controlling fabrication of three-dimensional objects, layer by layer, the system comprising a printing assembly, including an irradiation unit and a printing head, the printing assembly is movable between a printing area and a service area. A light sensor positioned at the service area to measure output radiation power of the irradiation unit at a printing plane and a controller to receive information from the sensor and to automatically adjust electrical power supplied to the irradiation unit based on the information. | 07-08-2010 |
20100194813 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACCURATE POSITIONING OF PRINTING UNITS - Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems and methods for accurate positioning of a unit movable by a drive system. The method may include adjusting tension of a resilient element of the drive system to reduce hysteresis motion errors of the resilient element below a predetermined threshold by performing measurements of the hysteresis motion errors of the resilient element for two or more tension values and selecting a tension value for which the hysteresis motion error is below the threshold. | 08-05-2010 |
20100195122 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BUILDING PAINTED THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS - Embodiments of the invention are directed to a method for printing a painted three-dimensional object. Each layer of the object is printed so that only the external circumference of the layer contains colored material. The building material used may be transparent, and a white colored material may be used as a barrier between the building material and the colored material. | 08-05-2010 |
20100208016 | CARTRIDGE APPARATUS FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT PRINTING - A cartridge apparatus for supplying materials to a three-dimensional printing system is provided. The cartridge apparatus may include a cartridge, a data storage device to record data relating to a material contained within the cartridge and a reader to read data from the data storage device and transmit the data to a controller of the printing system. | 08-19-2010 |
20100215856 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING - Embodiments of the invention are directed to a system and method to fabricate three-dimensional objects, layer by layer, by selectively dispensing material from a printing head onto a transfer platform to form a cross-sectional layer of the object that has a pre-determined non-uniform surface. Each layer may then be transferred from the transfer platform to previously formed layers that are carried by a fabrication platform by contacting an exposed surface of a previously formed layer to the layer on the transfer platform. | 08-26-2010 |
20100217429 | RAPID PRODUCTION APPARATUS - A method of producing an object by sequentially printing layers of construction material one on top of the other, the method comprising: providing the construction material at a first lower temperature; flowing the construction material through a heated flow path in a flow structure to heat the construction material and delivering the heated construction material to a heated reservoir in a printing head; and dispensing the heated construction material from the reservoir to build the object layer by layer. | 08-26-2010 |
20110118864 | RAPID PROTOTYPING APPARATUS - Apparatus for producing an object by sequentially forming thin layers of a construction material one on top of the other responsive to data defining the object, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of printing heads each having a surface formed with a plurality of output orifices and controllable to dispense the construction material through each orifice independently of the other orifices; a shuttle to which the printing heads are mounted; a support surface; and a controller adapted to control the shuttle to move back and forth over the support surface and as the shuttle moves to control the printing heads to dispense the construction material through each of their respective orifices responsive to the data to form a first layer on the support surface and thereafter, sequentially the other layers; wherein each printing head is dismountable from the shuttle and replaceable independently of the other printing heads. | 05-19-2011 |
20110147993 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THREE DIMENSIONAL MODEL PRINTING - A scanning 3-D printing system comprises a printing platform movable in a printing direction and in an indexing direction, the printing platform comprising a printing head configured for dispensing building material while the printing platform is moving in a printing direction one pass at a time, and layer by layer, a roller configured for leveling the dispensed building material one pass at a time, wherein the roller is rotatably mounted on a roller axle, and wherein the roller axle extends over all passes of the printing system and is stationary in the indexing direction, a scraper configured for scraping excess building material off the roller, and a trough configured for collecting the building material scraped off the roller. | 06-23-2011 |
20110165027 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CURING WASTE CONTAINING PHOTOPOLYMERIC COMPONENTS - An Apparatus for polymerizing photoactive materials included in a liquid material by electromagnetic radiation, by dispensing the liquid material layer-wise into a container and irradiating the accumulated layers by a curing radiation, wherein a substantial part of the radiation is well transmitted through the photoactive material. | 07-07-2011 |
20110289791 | CARTRIDGE APPARATUS FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT PRINTING - A material supply apparatus for supplying printing materials to a printing system is provided. The apparatus includes a container to store printing material and a source of electromagnetic radiation to cure remnant printing material within the container. The printing system may be a three-dimensional printing system for producing three-dimensional objects. | 12-01-2011 |
20120081455 | Method And Device For Printing On Heated Substrates - A printing device for dispending material on a heated substrate is provided. The device may include a printing head having one or more nozzles and a heat shield that partially masks a side of the printing head that faces the heated substrate when printing so as to reduce heat transfer from the substrate to the printing head. The shield includes a slot aligned with the one or more nozzles to enable passage of material from the one or more nozzles to the heated substrate. | 04-05-2012 |
20120267827 | RAPID PRODUCTION APPARATUS WITH PRODUCTION ORIENTATION DETERMINATION - A method of producing an object by sequentially printing layers of construction material one on top of the other, the method comprising: providing the construction material at a first lower temperature; flowing the construction material through a heated flow path in a flow structure to heat the construction material and delivering the heated construction material to a heated reservoir in a printing head; and dispensing the heated construction material from the reservoir to build the object layer by layer. | 10-25-2012 |
20120316669 | RAPID PROTOTYPING APPARATUS - Apparatus for producing an object by sequentially forming thin layers of a construction material one on top of the other responsive to data defining the object, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of printing heads each having a surface formed with a plurality of output orifices and controllable to dispense the construction material through each orifice independently of the other orifices; a shuttle to which the printing heads are mounted; a support surface; and a controller adapted to control the shuttle to move back and forth over the support surface and as the shuttle moves to control the printing heads to dispense the construction material through each of their respective orifices responsive to the data to form a first layer on the support surface and thereafter, sequentially the other layers; wherein each printing head is dismountable from the shuttle and replaceable independently of the other printing heads. | 12-13-2012 |
20130176355 | PRINTING HEAD NOZZLE EVALUATION - A method for evaluating performance of a plurality of nozzles of a printing head includes repeatedly operating each of the nozzles to print test marks on a surface of a substrate, each of the test marks printed by that nozzle being printed at a different time. At least once during the repeated operation of each of the nozzles, at least some of the test marks are erased from the surface. The test marks that were printed by that nozzle are inspected for a feature that is indicative of the performance of that nozzle. | 07-11-2013 |
20130297063 | RAPID PROTOTYPING APPARATUS - Apparatus for producing an object by sequentially forming thin layers of a construction material one on top of the other responsive to data defining the object, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of printing heads each having a surface formed with a plurality of output orifices and controllable to dispense the construction material through each orifice independently of the other orifices; a shuttle to which the printing heads are mounted; a support surface; and a controller adapted to control the shuttle to move back and forth over the support surface and as the shuttle moves to control the printing heads to dispense the construction material through each of their respective orifices responsive to the data to form a first layer on the support surface and thereafter, sequentially the other layers; wherein each printing head is dismountable from the shuttle and replaceable independently of the other printing heads. | 11-07-2013 |
20140175706 | METHOD FOR PRINTING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS - A method for forming three dimensional objects is disclosed. The method includes printing building material, layer by layer, to form a three dimensional object on a printing tray by moving a printing block that comprises a printing head , at least two curing sources and a leveler in forward and reverse passages. The printing is done by moving the printing block in a forward passage when the distance between the printing block and the printing tray is such that the leveler does not touch a layer being built, adjusting a height position of the printing tray relative to the printing block prior to printing a reverse passage and moving the printing block in the reverse passage, wherein during the reserve passage the leveler touches and levels the layer being built. | 06-26-2014 |
20140339720 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRINTING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT - A three-dimensional printing system to print three-dimensional objects and a method of printed are disclosed. The system includes one or more printing heads, two or more cartridges, two or more sensors configured to determine the status of building material in the cartridges and a controller configured to receive data from the sensors and to control switching of building material supply from one cartridge to another. The printing method includes measuring data from two or more sensors to determine the status of the three-dimensional building material in the cartridges, controlling supply of the building material based on data received from the sensors and controlling switching of building material supply from one cartridge to another. | 11-20-2014 |