SOLID FREEFORM FABRICATION USING A PLURALITY OF MODELING MATERIALS
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
- a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads;
a building material supply apparatus configured to supply a plurality of building materials to said fabrication apparatus; and
a control unit configured for controlling said fabrication apparatus and said building material supply apparatus, based on an operation mode selected from a plurality of predetermined operation modes.
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Abstract
A system and methods for solid freeform fabrication of an object is disclosed. The system comprises a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads, a building material supply apparatus configured to supply a plurality of building materials to the fabrication apparatus, and a control unit configured for controlling the fabrication apparatus and the supply apparatus based on an operation mode selected from a plurality of predetermined operation modes.
249 Citations
83 Claims
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1. A system for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
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a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads; a building material supply apparatus configured to supply a plurality of building materials to said fabrication apparatus; and a control unit configured for controlling said fabrication apparatus and said building material supply apparatus, based on an operation mode selected from a plurality of predetermined operation modes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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- 36. An article of manufacturing, fabricated by solid freeform fabrication and having a distinguishable pattern thereon.
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40. A method of solid freeform fabrication of an object from at least two different modeling materials, comprising:
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(a) determining a proportion of said at least two different modeling materials, using a lookup table or a mathematical formula; and (b) dispensing the at least two different modeling materials according to said proportion using a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads. - View Dependent Claims (41)
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- 47. A method for solid free form fabrication, comprising fabricating at least two separate objects on a building tray using different modeling material combinations, wherein the dimensions of the at least two objects are rescaled along a direction so as to compensate for post-formation shrinkage of said objects along said direction, and wherein the scale factors along said direction of the at least two different objects are different.
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49. A printing device for a three-dimensional printing apparatus, comprising:
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a movable printing assembly having a plurality of printing units; and a service assembly having a plurality of service stations; wherein said printing assembly is configured for docking near said service assembly such that a temporary fluid communication is established between at least one printing unit and at least one service station during said docking. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. A method of registering data for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
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(a) selecting at least one material combination, and determining relative amounts of different materials in said material combination; and (c) recording said at least one material combination and said relative amounts in a computer readable medium; thereby registering the data. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 71)
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63. A method of registering data for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
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(a) selecting a plurality of material combinations, each material combination being defined by at least two different materials and at least two relative amounts respectively corresponding to said at least two different materials; (b) for each material combination, associating three-dimensional spatial distribution for each material in said combination; and (c) recording said plurality of material combinations, said relative amounts and said three-dimensional spatial distribution in a computer readable medium; thereby registering the data. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66)
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67. A method of solid free form fabrication, comprising;
using a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads for dispensing a plurality of different modeling materials such as to form a three-dimensional object, wherein said three-dimensional object comprises of at least two regions which differ from each other by at least one attribute. - View Dependent Claims (68)
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69. A method of solid freeform fabrication of an object, the object having a plurality of regions, the method comprising:
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(a) inputting data pertaining to shapes of the object and each of the plurality of regions; (b) for each region, inputting pre-registered data pertaining to a material combination corresponding to a respective region and to relative amounts of at least two different materials in said material combination; and (c) operating a solid freeform fabrication system for dispensing said at least two different materials based on said relative amounts. - View Dependent Claims (70, 72)
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73. A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
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operating a solid freeform fabrication system for dispensing at least two different modeling materials such as to form a three-dimensional object having a bulk region at least partially surrounded by a skin region, wherein said bulk region and said skin region are formed of different modeling material or modeling material combinations. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75)
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76. A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
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dispensing at least one modeling material, at least one support material, and at least one additional material other than a modeling material and a support material, and at least partially solidifying said at least one modeling material, such as to form a three-dimensional object. - View Dependent Claims (77, 78, 79, 80, 81)
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82. A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
operating a solid freeform fabrication system for dispensing at least one support material and at least two non-solidifiable materials, such as to form a three-dimensional object, wherein said at least two non-solidifiable material mix after said dispensing to form a solidifiable mixture.
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83. A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
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providing a plurality of modeling materials and dividing said plurality of modeling materials into at least two categories; for each category, sorting the modeling materials in said category according to a predetermined criterion and using said sort for generating graphical representation of said modeling materials; using said graphical representation for selecting at least some modeling materials; and using a solid freeform fabrication system for fabricating the object from said at least some modeling materials.
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Specification