System and method for fabricating a body part model using multi-material additive manufacturing

• US 9,999,509 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2012
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stratasys Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Stratasys Incorporated
• Inventors: Dikovsky, Daniel, Shtilerman, Stanislav
• Primary Examiner(s): Hauth, Galen H
• Application Number:
  US14/358,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20140312535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,042 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 13/0019 using three dimensional printing
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/30942 for designing or making customized prostheses, e.g. using templates, CT or NMR scans, finite-element analysis or CAD-CAM techniques
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30948 using computerized tomography, i.e. CT scans
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30962 using stereolithography
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30985 using three dimensional printing [3DP]
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/112 using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2031/7532 Artificial members, protheses
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 23/30 Anatomical models G09B23/281 - G09B23/288 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method for physically reconstructing a body part using multi-material additive manufacturing includes receiving image data of the body part in the form of arrays of voxels, each array of voxels representing image data pertaining to cross-section of the body part, translating the image data in the arrays of voxels to printable bitmap images representing combinations of modeling materials for reconstructing the body part, and dispensing the combinations of modeling materials responsive to the bitmap images in a layerwise manner.

Claims

1. A method for physically reconstructing an object using multi-material additive manufacturing, the method comprising:

receiving tomography data of the object from one or more of a CT scanner, MRI and ultrasound device, wherein the tomography data is in the form of arrays of tomography voxels, each array pertaining to a cross-section of the object and each tomography voxel having a value;

defining a relationship between tomography voxel values and target physical properties for reconstructing the object;

defining a relationship between combinations of modeling materials and their physical properties; and

defining a relationship between tomography voxel values and the material combination responsive to the relationship defined between the voxel values and the target physical properties and the relationship defined between the combinations of modeling materials and their physical properties;

translating tomography data to printable bitmap images representing combinations of modeling materials for reconstructing the object; and

dispensing the combinations of modeling materials responsive to the bitmap images in a layerwise manner, wherein the combinations of modeling materials in each layer are dispensed in a dropwise manner with an additive manufacturing device;

wherein the translating of the tomography data to the printable bitmap images is by raster-raster translation.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relationship between the voxel values and the material combination is defined by one or more lookup tables.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the combinations of modeling materials are selected to mimic mechanical properties of the object on a per voxel basis.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the tomography data in the arrays of voxels is translated into an array of digital materials, each digital material formed with a combination of at least two modeling materials.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein each of the digital materials in the array of digital materials is defined with a pre-defined number of modeling material voxels.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein different digital materials in the array of digital materials are defined to have different mechanical properties.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein different digital materials are defined to have different elastic properties.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein the digital material is formed from a liquid or gel volume surrounded by a stiffer material.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the combinations of modeling materials are defined to simulate an array of densities represented by CT numbers obtained from the CT scanner when the tomography data is received from a CT scanner.

10. The method of claim 1, using one or more additional materials to alter a physical appearance of a portion of the modeling material.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the additional material is applied responsive to user input.

12. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving input from a user; and

adjusting the combinations of the modeling materials for reconstructing the object based on the input from the user.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is a body part.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the tomography voxel value is a gray scale value.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the tomography voxel data is used by the multi-material additive manufacturing device without requiring a CAD system to first construct a computerized model of the body part.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the modeling materials is configured to remain in liquid state during the entire AM process.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one of the modeling materials is configured to provide reproduction of at least one of extremely soft tissue and body fluids.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one of the modeling materials may be selected to have one of a plurality of different colors supported by the additive manufacturing device.

13. A method for physically reconstructing an object using multi-material additive manufacturing, the method comprising:

receiving image data of the object from one or more of a CT scanner, MRI and ultrasound device, in the form of arrays of image voxels, each array pertaining to a cross-section of the object and each image voxel having a value;

defining a relationship between image voxel values and target physical properties for reconstructing the object;

defining a relationship between combinations of modeling materials and their physical properties; and

defining a relationship between the image voxel values and the material combination responsive to the relationship defined between the voxel values and the target physical properties and the relationship defined between the combinations of modeling materials and their physical properties;

translating the image voxel values to printable bitmap images representing combinations of modeling materials for reconstructing the object, wherein the translating is by raster-raster translation; and

dispensing the combinations of modeling materials responsive to the bitmap images in a layerwise manner, wherein the combinations of modeling materials in each layer is dispensed in a dropwise manner with an additive manufacturing device.