System and methods for additive manufacturing of electromechanical assemblies
First Claim
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1. A method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly, comprising the steps of:
- depositing by a first device a first material into a plurality of stacked regions, each successive region positioned on top of a previously deposited region, the plurality of stacked regions forming a base region comprising one or more void elements;
selecting by a second device two or more module components from a library of module components, each module component comprising one or more connection elements;
positioning by the second device the selected module components into a portion of the one or more void elements of the base region portion such that the selected module components are adjacent to and in direct contact with one another;
connecting directly the one or more connection elements of the adjacent selected module components, the base region portion and the connected adjacent selected module components creating both mechanical properties and electrical properties of the electromechanical assembly.
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Abstract
A hybrid additive manufacturing approach that incorporates three-dimensional (3D) printing and placement of modules selected from a library of modules to fabricate an electromechanical assembly. By virtue of fabrication of the electromechanical assembly, mechanical properties and electrical properties of the assembly are created. The invention overcomes the material and process limitations of current printable electronics approaches, enabling complete, complex electromechanical assemblies to be fabricated.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly, comprising the steps of:
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depositing by a first device a first material into a plurality of stacked regions, each successive region positioned on top of a previously deposited region, the plurality of stacked regions forming a base region comprising one or more void elements; selecting by a second device two or more module components from a library of module components, each module component comprising one or more connection elements; positioning by the second device the selected module components into a portion of the one or more void elements of the base region portion such that the selected module components are adjacent to and in direct contact with one another; connecting directly the one or more connection elements of the adjacent selected module components, the base region portion and the connected adjacent selected module components creating both mechanical properties and electrical properties of the electromechanical assembly. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An electromechanical assembly comprising:
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a base region portion comprising a first plurality of successive material regions, wherein the first plurality of successive material regions forms one or more void elements; two or more module components positioned adjacent to and in direct contact with one another in the one or more void elements, each module component comprising one or more connection elements, wherein a first module component is directly connected to the one or more connection elements of a second module component; and a top region portion comprising a second plurality of successive material regions, wherein the second plurality of successive material regions encapsulates the connected module components. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly, comprising:
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a printing apparatus configured to deposit a first material into a first plurality of stacked regions, the first plurality of stacked regions forming a base region portion comprising one or more void elements; a module library comprising a plurality of module components, each module component comprising one or more connection elements; a component placement apparatus configured to select from the module library two or more module components, the component placement apparatus further positions the two or more selected module components within the one or more void elements of the base region portion such that the two or more selected module components are adjacent to and in direct contact with one another, and wherein the one or more connection elements of a first selected module component are connected directly to the one or more connection elements of a second selected module component; and the base region portion and the connected selected module components creating both mechanical properties and electrical properties of the electromechanical assembly. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification