Deployable contour crafting

• US 7,814,937 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: University of Southern California
• Original Assignee: University of Southern California
• Inventors: Khoshnevis, Behrokh
• Primary Examiner(s): Rivell; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): PRICE, CRAIG JAMES
• Application Number:
  US11/552,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20070181519A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,455 Days
• Field of Search: 137/343, 137/615, 137/899, 212/294, 212/180
• US Class Current: 137/899
• CPC Class Codes: B66C 23/36 mounted on road or rail vehicles; Manually-movable jib-cranes for use in workshops; Floating cranes with pneumatic or hydraulic motors B66C23/54; vehicle or ship aspects B60 - B63
• CPC Class Codes: B66C 5/00 Base supporting structures with legs
• CPC Class Codes: E04G 21/04 Devices for both conveying and distributing concrete pumps F04
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/6855 Vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/8807 Articulated or swinging flow conduit

Abstract

A deployable crafting machine may include a vehicle and a gantry system. The gantry system may be configured to be collapsed on the vehicle during which the gantry system is inoperable and to be expanded during which the gantry system is operable and supported at least in part by the vehicle. A deployable crafting process may include moving a vehicle to a first location while a gantry system is stored on the vehicle in a collapsed and inoperable state and expanding the gantry system into an operable state after the vehicle arrives at the first location during which the gantry system is supported at least in part by the vehicle.

Claims

1. A deployable contour crafting machine comprising:

a vehicle;

a nozzle configured to extrude cementitious material; and

a gantry system configured to be collapsed on the vehicle during which the gantry system is inoperable and to be expanded during which the gantry system is operable and supported at least in part by the vehicle during operation of the gantry system, the gantry system being configured when operable to cause a first member of the gantry system to traverse linearly along a first axis and a second member of the gantry system to traverse linearly along a second axis that is substantially orthogonal to the first axis so as to move the nozzle substantially anywhere within a three-dimensional volume of space large enough to extrude a building from the nozzle and within the confines of the gantry system.

2. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 wherein the gantry system includes a bridge configured when operating to traverse and to support the nozzle and to controllably move the nozzle along a horizontal path and a pivot attaching the vehicle to the bridge.

3. The deployable crafting machine of claim 2 wherein the bridge and pivot are configured to swing the bridge and to maintain the bridge in a substantially horizontal position while the bridge swings around the pivot.

12. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 wherein the gantry system includes a forward truss, a hinge attaching the vehicle to the forward truss, a rear truss, and a hinge attaching the vehicle to the rear truss.

13. The deployable crafting machine of claim 12 wherein each of the hinges are configured to pivot about two orthogonal axes.

14. The deployable crafting machine of claim 12 wherein the gantry system includes a rail that is supported by the forward truss and another rail that is supported by the rear truss.

15. The deployable crafting machine of claim 12 wherein the gantry system includes a rail having two ends, wherein one end of the rail is configured to be supported by an end of the forward truss and the other end of the rail is configured to be supported by an end of the rear truss while the gantry system is expanded.

16. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 wherein the gantry system includes a bridge configured to traverse during operation that has at least two sections which are in a collapsed position while the gantry system is an inoperable position and an open position while the gantry system is in an operable position.

17. The deployable crafting machine of claim 16 wherein the gantry system includes a hinge attaching the two sections of the bridge to one another and configured to allow the two sections to move between the operable and inoperable gantry system positions.

18. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 wherein the gantry system includes a bridge and two rails, wherein the nozzle is movably attached to the bridge, and wherein the deployable crafting machine further comprises a positioning system configured to controllably move the nozzle along the bridge and to controllably move the bridge along the rails.

19. The deployable crafting machine of claim 18 wherein the positioning system includes one or more motors and one or more motor controllers.

20. The deployable crafting machine of claim 19 wherein the motor controllers are mounted on the vehicle.

21. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 further comprising an electric generator mounted on the vehicle.

22. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 further comprising a pump configured to pump unhardened cementitious material mounted on the vehicle.

23. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 further comprising a tank configured to hold unhardened cementitious material mounted on the vehicle.

24. The deployable crafting machine of claim 1 wherein the gantry system is configured to be completely supported by the vehicle while expanded and during operation.

4. A deployable contour crafting machine comprising:

a vehicle;

a nozzle configured to extrude cementitious material; and

a gantry system configured to be collapsed on the vehicle during which the gantry system is inoperable and to be expanded during which the gantry system is operable and supported at least in part by the vehicle during operation of the gantry, the gantry system being configured when operable to move the nozzle linearly along each of three substantially orthogonal axes so as to enable the nozzle to move substantially anywhere within a three-dimensional volume of space large enough to extrude a building from the nozzle and within the confines of the gantry system,

wherein the gantry system includes a rail, a column, and a detachable platform, and wherein the platform is configured to be attached to the vehicle when the gantry system is inoperable and to be detached and separated from the vehicle by sideways sliding movement when the gantry system is operable, supporting the rail and column slidably on top of the rail.

5. The deployable crafting machine of claim 4 wherein the platform includes wheels.

6. The deployable crafting machine of claim 5 wherein the wheels are configured to be raised to make the gantry system inoperable and lowered to make the gantry system operable.

7. The deployable crafting machine of claim 5 wherein the wheels are configured to rotate around both a vertical and a horizontal axis.

8. The deployable crafting machine of claim 4 wherein the gantry system includes a second rail attached to the vehicle and an alignment system configured to aid in aligning the two rails with respect to one another.

9. The deployable crafting machine of claim 8 wherein the alignment system is configured to aid in aligning the two rails to be parallel.

10. The deployable crafting machine of claim 9 wherein the alignment system includes a pivot between the vehicle and the second rail that is attached to the vehicle configured to allow the second rail to rotate in a horizontal plane with respect to the vehicle.

11. The deployable crafting machine of claim 8 wherein the alignment system is configured to aid in aligning the two rails to be at the same horizontal level.

25. A deployable crafting process comprising:

moving a vehicle to a first location while a gantry system is stored on the vehicle in a collapsed and inoperable state;

expanding the gantry system into an operable state after the vehicle arrives at the first location; and

supporting the gantry system at least in part by the vehicle while the gantry system is operated to cause a first member of the gantry system to traverse linearly along a first axis and a second member of the gantry system to traverse linearly along a second axis that is substantially orthogonal to the first axis so as to move a nozzle substantially anywhere within a three-dimensional volume of space large enough to extrude a building from the nozzle during operation of the gantry system.

26. The deployable crafting process of claim 25 further comprising extruding a building at the first location from the nozzle using the expanded gantry system.

27. The deployable crafting process of claim 26 wherein the extruding includes moving the nozzle along a bridge and extruding cementitious material from the nozzle while the nozzle is moving.

28. The deployable crafting process of claim 26 wherein the extruding crafting step includes moving the bridge along rails and extruding cementitious material from the nozzle while the bridge is moving.

29. The deployable crafting process of claim 26 further comprising:

moving the vehicle from the first location to a second location after the extruding; and

extruding a second building at the second location using the gantry system.

30. The deployable crafting process of claim 29 wherein the gantry system is collapsed before the vehicle is moved from the first location to the second location.

31. The deployable crafting process of claim 29 wherein the gantry system remains expanded while the vehicle is moved from the first location to the second location.

32. A deployable crafting process comprising:

moving a vehicle to a first location while a gantry system is stored on the vehicle in a collapsed and inoperable state;

expanding the gantry system into an operable state after the vehicle arrives at first location in a manner that causes the gantry system to be supported at least a part by the vehicle;

using the expanded gantry system while supported at least in part by the vehicle to extrude a first building at the first location, including traversing a first member of the gantry system linearly along a first axis and a second member of the gantry system linearly along a second axis that is substantially orthogonal to the first axis;

collapsing the gantry system into the collapsed and inoperable state on the vehicle at the first location;

moving the vehicle to a second location while the gantry system is stored on the vehicle in the collapsed and inoperable state;

expanding the gantry system into an operable state after the vehicle arrives at second location in a manner that causes the gantry system to be supported at least in part by the vehicle;

using the expanded gantry system while supported at least in part by the vehicle to extrude a second building at the second location; and

collapsing the gantry system into the collapsed and inoperable state on the vehicle at the second location.

33. A deployable crafting process comprising:

moving a vehicle to a first location while a gantry system is stored on the vehicle in a collapsed and inoperable state;

expanding the gantry system into an operable state after the vehicle arrives at first location in a manner that causes the gantry system to be supported at least in part by the vehicle;

using the expanded gantry system while supported at least in part by the vehicle to extrude a first building at the first location, including traversing a first member of the gantry system linearly along a first axis and a second member of the gantry system linearly along a second axis that is substantially orthogonal to the first axis;

moving the vehicle to a second location while the gantry system remains expanded in the operable state;

using the expanded gantry system to extrude a second building at the second location in a manner that causes the gantry system to be supported at least in part by the vehicle; and

collapsing the gantry system into the collapsed and inoperable state on the vehicle at the second location.