Imager Assembly and Method for Solid Imaging
First Claim
1. An imager assembly for making three-dimensional objects, the imager assembly solidifying a solid imaging build material layer-by-layer to build the three-dimensional object, the solid imaging build material having a predetermined value for the threshold energy of solidification, wherein said imager assembly comprises a source of solid imaging radiation, a controller and at least two or more imagers responsive to said controller, each said imager comprising an array of individually controlled imaging elements for transmitting radiation from said source, each said individually controlled imaging element corresponding to a pixel and each said array producing a projected image area in response to said controller, wherein said pixels of adjacent projected image areas aligningly overlap to produce a single combined image area having boundaries corresponding to a layer of the three-dimensional object and seams corresponding to said pixel overlap located between said projected image areas, one or more of which boundaries cross one or more of said seams, said controller adjusting exposure of each said pixel contributing to said boundaries in said single combined image area for providing to said pixels the predetermined threshold energy for solidification of the build material defining said boundaries.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Solid imaging apparatus and methods for use are disclosed that reduce the amount of uncured solid imaging build material remaining on a completed build object following the completion of the solid imaging build process. The amount of uncured build material is reduced through the use of either an uncoating web that removes excess build material from the build object during the course of the building process or an ink jet source of build material that uses only as much build material as is necessary for the fabrication of the build part. Also disclosed is an imager assembly for use with such a solid imaging apparatus that incorporates two or more individual imagers in an array and accounts for variations in the intensity and alignment of adjacent imagers. The apparatus can be modified for semi-continuous operation and for integrating into a manufacturing operation, if desired.
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Citations
25 Claims
- 1. An imager assembly for making three-dimensional objects, the imager assembly solidifying a solid imaging build material layer-by-layer to build the three-dimensional object, the solid imaging build material having a predetermined value for the threshold energy of solidification, wherein said imager assembly comprises a source of solid imaging radiation, a controller and at least two or more imagers responsive to said controller, each said imager comprising an array of individually controlled imaging elements for transmitting radiation from said source, each said individually controlled imaging element corresponding to a pixel and each said array producing a projected image area in response to said controller, wherein said pixels of adjacent projected image areas aligningly overlap to produce a single combined image area having boundaries corresponding to a layer of the three-dimensional object and seams corresponding to said pixel overlap located between said projected image areas, one or more of which boundaries cross one or more of said seams, said controller adjusting exposure of each said pixel contributing to said boundaries in said single combined image area for providing to said pixels the predetermined threshold energy for solidification of the build material defining said boundaries.
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12. An imager assembly for making three-dimensional objects by solidifying layer-by-layer a solid imaging build material having a predetermined threshold energy requirement for solidification, said imager assembly comprising a source of solid imaging radiation, a controller and at least two or more imagers responsive to said controller, each said imager producing in response to said controller and from said radiation source a projected image area defined by a plurality of illuminated pixels characterized according to a predetermined gray scale setting wherein said gray scale setting is a function of the ratio “
- r”
of the area of a said pixel to the total area of said pixel, wherein said pixels of adjacent projected image areas aligningly overlap from about ½
to 1 pixel to produce a single combined image area having boundaries corresponding to a layer of the three-dimensional object and seams corresponding to said pixel overlap located between said projected image areas, one or more of which boundaries cross one or more of said seams, said controller individually controlling said pixels for exposing said boundaries in said single combined image area according to said gray scale settings for providing to said pixels the predetermined threshold energy for solidification of said boundaries.
- r”
- 14. A method for increasing build size in solid imaging comprising the steps of producing a single combined image area from an imager assembly of two or more imagers and controlling exposure of the image border to supply the threshold energy exposure value for solidifying a layer of build material at the border.
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21. A method for solid imaging comprising the step of supplying at least the threshold energy exposure value for solidifying a layer of build material by:
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a) providing an imager assembly of two or more imagers selected from the group consisting of ultra violet light (“
UV”
) imagers, liquid crystal display (“
LCD”
) imagers, liquid crystal on silicon (“
LCoS”
) imagers, light emitting diode (“
LED”
) imagers, and digital light processing (“
DLP”
) imagers;b) determining the intensity and focus distributions for each individual imager; c) aligning the images produced by each imager and overlapping the images to produce a single combined image area having seams between the individual projected areas corresponding to the overlap; d) segmenting the single combined image area according to the individual projected image areas; e) imaging a layer of solid imaging build material to solidify the image in the build material; and f) controlling exposure of the image at the image border in accordance with the predetermined intensity and focus distributions to supply the threshold energy exposure value for solidifying a layer of build material at the border. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification