Tagged build material for three-dimensional printing

• US 10,093,061 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stratasys Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MakerBot Industries, LLC (Ultimaker BV)
• Inventors: Douglas, Ariel, Steiner, Robert J., Jennings, Aric Lynn, Buel, William B., Moschella, Anthony D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Del Sole, Joseph S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thukhanh T
• Application Number:
  US14/992,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20160121550A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 264129, 2641761, 264 401, 264 407, 264308, 264113, 264401, 264497, 425145, 425150, 425375, 425112, 425113, 4251744, 425185, 425186, 700118, 700119, 700120, 226 8, 226 24, 226 26, 226 42, 226 43, 226 45
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 2948/9258 Velocity
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 2948/92704 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/02 Small extruding apparatus, e.g. handheld, toy or laboratory extruders
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/154 Coating solid articles, i.e. non-hollow articles
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/265 Support structures or bases for apparatus, e.g. frames
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/266 Means for allowing relative movements between the apparatus parts, e.g. for twisting the extruded article or for moving the die along a surface to be coated
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/92 Measuring, controlling or regulating
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/106 using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/118 using filamentary material being melted, e.g. fused deposition modelling [FDM]
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/205 Means for applying layers
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/209 Heads; Nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/386 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/393 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/40 Structures for supporting 3D objects during manufacture and intended to be sacrificed after completion thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B29K 2101/12 Thermoplastic materials
• CPC Class Codes: B29K 2105/0067 Melt
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 Processes of additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 40/00 Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 : for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 70/00 : Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 : Products made by additive manufacturing

Abstract

A supply of build material such as a spool or cartridge is instrumented with a data tag that includes information about the build material. A three-dimensional printer can read the information from the tag and determine how to use the build material during fabrication of a three-dimensional object.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a three-dimensional printer that includes a controller and a tag sensor;

coupling a container of a build material to the three-dimensional printer, the container including a tag that stores at least one property of the build material and a private key to prevent use of an unauthorized build material with the three-dimensional printer;

transmitting a message from the controller to the tag;

signing the message at the tag with the private key to provide a signed message and returning the signed message to the controller;

transmitting the signed message from the controller to a resource for authentication;

when the signed message cannot be authenticated by the resource, preventing fabrication with the build material on the three-dimensional printer; and

when the signed message is authenticated;

determining an operational parameter with the controller for configuring the three-dimensional printer for a fabrication process using the build material based upon at least one property of the build material from the tag; and

fabricating an object with the three-dimensional printer based upon the operational parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the resource includes a third-party key management system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the resource is a remote resource managed by a third party.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag includes at least one of a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, an optically-identifiable tag, a magnetically-identifiable tag, and a mechanical feature of the container.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag further comprises data including at least one of a material identification number, a build material type, a build material diameter, an extruder temperature requirement, a build material melting temperature, a build material color, a build material color lot number, a cost per unit of build material, a build material density, a build material tensile strength, a build material viscosity, a build material recycle code, and a build material expiration date.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the operational parameter includes at least one of an extruder temperature, a feed rate, a build platform temperature, a build volume temperature, an infill requirement, a rafting requirement, a support structure requirement, and a cooling requirement.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the container includes at least one of a cartridge and a spool.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the build material includes at least one of a filament, a number of pellets, and a liquid.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the build material includes at least one of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high-density polyethylene (HDPL), and polylactic acid (PLA).

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, and the RFID tag is at least one of a passive RFID tag and an active RFID tag.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag includes an optically-identifiable tag, and the optically-identifiable tag is at least one of bar code and quick read (QR) code.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag includes a magnetically-identifiable tag, and the magnetically-identifiable tag is a magnetic swipe strip.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag includes a mechanical feature of the container, and the mechanical feature includes a plurality of recesses or protrusions encoding information about the build material.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag sensor includes at least one of a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, an optical scanner, a magnetic reader, and a contact point sensor.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the operational parameter is based upon a build material identification number contained in data included in the tag.