Apparatus and method for production of three-dimensional models by spatial light modulator
First Claim
1. An improved three-dimensional object producing apparatus of the type for irradiating a liquid surface of a vat of liquid photo-curable resin to form a succession of cured resin layers corresponding to successive cross-sectional laminae of a three-dimensional object, and incrementally lowering the cured resin layers below the liquid surface as they are formed to build up a three-dimensional copy of the object, wherein the improvement comprises:
- a radiant energy source of a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for curing a layer of the photo-curable resin;
a spatial light modulator (SLM) having an array of pixel elements which are individually controllable, for modulating the radiant energy beam projected from the radiant energy source on a pixel-by-pixel basis, to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object;
optical means for focusing each image formed by the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of photo-curable resin for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of cured resin, each lamina of cured resin being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae; and
means for positioning each lamina of cured resin after it is formed by the SLM below the liquid surface corresponding to the thickness of one cross-sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the projection of a new image by the SLM to thereby flow a layer of photo-curable liquid resin to cover the lamina of cured resin;
wherein the SLM, the means for lowering, and the optical means operate repeatedly and sequentially until a complete copy of the object is thereby produced; and
wherein certain pixels'"'"' states are repeatedly toggled ON and OFF during the exposure so that during a given exposure period the pixels are ON a predetermined percentage of the time and OFF the remaining percentage of the time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and the method of its operation for rapid prototyping of a three-dimensional object which includes a radiant energy source of a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for curing a layer of photo-curable resin contained in an open vat, a spatial light modulator (SLM) having an array of pixel elements which are individually digitally controllable by a computer, for modulating the radiant energy beam projected from the radiant energy source on a pixel by pixel basis, to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object, an optical system for focusing each image formed by the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of photo-curable resin for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of cured resin, each lamina of cured resin being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae, and a piston support for lowering each lamina of cured resin after it is formed by the SLM and for depositing a layer of resin corresponding to the thickness of one cross sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the step of projecting a new image by the SLM. The SLM, the piston support for lowering, and the optical system operate repeatedly and sequentially until a complete copy of the object is thereby produced.
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Citations
55 Claims
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1. An improved three-dimensional object producing apparatus of the type for irradiating a liquid surface of a vat of liquid photo-curable resin to form a succession of cured resin layers corresponding to successive cross-sectional laminae of a three-dimensional object, and incrementally lowering the cured resin layers below the liquid surface as they are formed to build up a three-dimensional copy of the object, wherein the improvement comprises:
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a radiant energy source of a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for curing a layer of the photo-curable resin; a spatial light modulator (SLM) having an array of pixel elements which are individually controllable, for modulating the radiant energy beam projected from the radiant energy source on a pixel-by-pixel basis, to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object; optical means for focusing each image formed by the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of photo-curable resin for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of cured resin, each lamina of cured resin being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae; and means for positioning each lamina of cured resin after it is formed by the SLM below the liquid surface corresponding to the thickness of one cross-sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the projection of a new image by the SLM to thereby flow a layer of photo-curable liquid resin to cover the lamina of cured resin; wherein the SLM, the means for lowering, and the optical means operate repeatedly and sequentially until a complete copy of the object is thereby produced; and wherein certain pixels'"'"' states are repeatedly toggled ON and OFF during the exposure so that during a given exposure period the pixels are ON a predetermined percentage of the time and OFF the remaining percentage of the time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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13. An improved three-dimensional object producing apparatus of the type for irradiating a liquid surface of a vat of liquid photo-curable resin to form a succession of cured resin layers corresponding to successive cross-sectional laminae of a three-dimensional object, and incrementally lowering the cured resin layers below the liquid surface as they are formed to build up a three-dimensional copy of the object, wherein the improvement comprises:
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a radiant energy source of a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for curing a layer of the photo-curable resin; a spatial light modulator (SLM) having an array of pixel elements which are individually controllable, for modulating the radiant energy beam projected from the radiant energy source on a pixel-by-pixel basis, to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object; optical means for focusing each image formed by the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of photo-curable resin for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of cured resin, each lamina of cured resin being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae; means for positioning each lamina of cured resin after it is formed by the SLM below the liquid surface corresponding to the thickness of one cross-sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the projection of a new image by the SLM to thereby flow a layer of photo-curable liquid resin to cover the lamina of cured resin; wherein the SLM, the means for lowering, and the optical means operate repeatedly and sequentially until a complete copy of the object is thereby produced; control means for controlling the SLM, the optical means and the means for lowering, the control means including; a three-dimensional shape information memory for storing at least part of three-dimensional shape data defining the three-dimensional object to be formed; a computer for generating cross-sectional patterns and programmed with a computer aided design (CAD) software program, the computer analyzing the three-dimensional shape data stored in the shape information memory, and mathematically slicing the solid model into layers of programmed thickness of Z height, where Z is the direction of lowering, to thereby produce a series of cross-sectional images of laminae; means for connecting the control means to the SLM, the optical means and the means for lowering; and
wherein;the means for lowering includes a piston sealed to the sides of the vat to prevent the transfer of resin past the piston and means controlled by the computer for lowering and raising the piston; the portion of the vat below the piston is filled with the resin, so that the portion of the vat below the piston will source the resin that is deposited on the build surface for the layer by layer build. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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33. An improved three-dimensional object producing method of the type for irradiating a liquid surface of a vat of liquid photo-curable resin to form a succession of cured resin layers corresponding to successive cross-sectional laminae of a three-dimensional object and incrementally lowering the cured resin layers below the liquid surface as they are formed to build up a three-dimensional copy of the object, wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:
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(a) generating computer aided design (CAD) digital data which define a plurality of two-dimensional graphical patterns that comprise laminae of a three-dimensional object to be formed and storing the CAD digital data in a memory; (b) generating a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for curing a layer of the photo-curable resin; (c) reading out the CAD digital data and pixelating a graphical pattern to determine which pixels of a spatial light modulator (SLM) must be turned to an ON state in order to solidify corresponding individual pixel resin segments that, taken together, form a lamina of the photo-curable resin contained in a vat; (d) modulating the wide beam of radiant energy by individually digitally controlling each pixel element of an array of pixel elements of the SLM to modulate the radiant energy beam on a pixel-by-pixel basis to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object; (e) focusing each image from the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of the photo-curable resin for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of cured resin, each lamina of cured resin being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae; (f) lowering each lamina of cured resin after it is formed; (g) depositing a layer of resin corresponding to the thickness of one cross-sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the step of projecting a new image by the SLM; and wherein the modulating step further comprises the step of repeatedly toggling ON and OFF certain pixels'"'"' states during the exposure period so that the certain pixels are ON a predetermined percentage of the time and OFF the remaining percentage of the time. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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36. An improved three-dimensional object producing method of the type for irradiating a liquid surface of a vat of liquid photo-curable resin to form a succession of cured resin layers corresponding to successive cross-sectional laminae of a three-dimensional object and incrementally lowering the cured resin layers below the liquid surface as they are formed to build up a three-dimensional copy of the object, wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:
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(a) generating computer aided design (CAD) digital data which define a plurality of two-dimensional graphical patterns that comprise laminae of a three-dimensional object to be formed and storing the CAD digital data in a memory; (b) generating a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for curing a layer of the photo-curable resin; (c) reading out the CAD digital data and pixelating a graphical pattern to determine which pixels of a spatial light modulator (SLM) must be turned to an ON state in order to solidify corresponding individual pixel resin segments that, taken together, form a lamina of the photo-curable resin contained in a vat; (d) modulating the wide beam of radiant energy by individually digitally controlling each pixel element of an array of pixel elements of the SLM to modulate the radiant energy beam on a pixel-by-pixel basis to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object; (e) focusing each image from the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of the photo-curable resin for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of cured resin, each lamina of cured resin being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae; (f) lowering each lamina of cured resin after it is formed; (g) depositing a layer of resin corresponding to the thickness of one cross-sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the step of projecting a new image by the SLM; wherein the step of lowering includes lowering a piston within the vat, and filling the portion of the vat below the piston with the resin, so that the portion of the vat below the piston will source the resin that is deposited for the layer-by-layer build. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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44. An improved three-dimensional object producing apparatus of the type for irradiating a surface of a container of flowable medium capable of solidification when subjected to prescribed radiant energy to form a succession of hardened medium layers corresponding to successive cross-sectional laminae of a three-dimensional object, and incrementally lowering the hardened medium layers below the flowable surface of the medium as they are formed to build up a three-dimensional copy of the object, wherein the improvement comprises:
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a radiant energy source of a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for hardening a layer of the medium; a spatial light modulator (SLM) having an array of pixel elements which are individually controllable, for modulating the radiant energy beam projected from the radiant energy source on a pixel-by-pixel basis, to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object; optical means for focusing each image formed by the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of the medium for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of hardened medium, each lamina of hardened medium being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae; means for positioning each lamina of hardened medium after it is formed by the SLM below the flowable surface of the medium corresponding to the thickness of one cross-sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the projection of a new image by the SLM to thereby flow a layer of the medium to cover the lamina of hardened medium; wherein the SLM, the means for lowering, and the optical means operate repeatedly and sequentially until a complete copy of the object is thereby produced; and wherein certain pixels'"'"' states are repeatedly toggled ON and OFF during the exposure so that during a given exposure period the pixels are ON a predetermined percentage of the time and OFF the remaining percentage of the time. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification