Patent Grant
8996155
These teachings relate generally to manufacturing objects/materials, and, more particularly, to digital manufacturing.
Most conventional manufacturing techniques can be considered analog since the conventional manufacturing techniques are practically continuous, their substructure cannot be arbitrarily specified and accuracies lost with each measurement and subsequent application.
Conventional three-dimensional printing processes are generally material-dependent and irreversible. Typically, conventional three-dimensional digital printers use continuous materials, with the digital specification being imposed by external logic. Conventional 3-dimensional fabrication is either additive or subtractive. Additive conventional three-dimensional printers work by depositing and/or bonding amorphous materials together in a way that results in a three-dimensional structure. Subtractive three-dimensional fabrication, such as with lathes or CNC milling machines, works by removing material from a block of bulk material. These techniques use complex control systems in order to precisely position the working tool in order to accurately build the desired object. The substrates, typically powders and binders for additive processes, or blocks of raw material for subtractive processes, define the material and surface properties of the final product, but not its shape.
Existing Freeform Fabrication is mainly Analog Additive 3D Printing, as most existing assemblers build structures by dispensing small amounts of one or two different materials as droplets of very precise size and in very precise location. Most existing commercial free-form fabrication printers build by putting together small quantities of no more than a few expensive materials. In order to make high-resolution objects, they need to be very precise, and therefore they cost between tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars and must be operated by skilled technicians.
Existing technology in this field typically employs one of several processes. In one method, a component is constructed by depositing a first layer of a fluent porous material or porous solid. Next, a binder material is deposited to selected regions to produce a layer of material. A second method consists of incorporating a movable dispensing head provided with a supply of material which solidifies at a predetermined temperature or when exposed to light or UV light. Instead of dispensing drops, other apparatuses place a filament at the desired position then heat it to convert a portion of the filament to a flowable fluid that is solidified in that position. A third approach comprises fabricating a three-dimensional object from individual layers of fabrication material having a predetermined configuration. Successive layers are stacked in a predetermined sequence and fixed together to form the object. Refinements include producing parts from two distinct classes of materials, where the first class of material forms a three-dimensional shape defined by the interface of the first class of material and the second class of material.
Recent manufacturing techniques such as bottom-up self assembly offer some of the benefits of digital matter in their ability to spontaneously assemble materials guided by local interactions between components; however, self-assembled processes can be difficult to control and are generally limited to regular, semi-periodic or random structures. Top-down deterministic pick-and-place approaches offer precise control over production and are useful where a small number of components are assembled in specific ways. However, top-down methods of assembly are limited in their throughput and at small scales are often limited to two dimensions. Attempts have been made to reconcile different modes of assembly such as hierarchical, directed, and templated self assembly. Recent rapid-prototyping technologies based on selective curing have opened the door to top-down fabrication of arbitrarily complex geometries, but cannot handle prefabricated building blocks; as a result, they are limited to a small set of homogeneous materials with mutually compatible rheological properties.
A digital assembler for creating three-dimensional objects from digital materials where a new line is fed to the assembly head and added to the structure has been described but such a technique is limited in its throughput. There is a need for a digital manufacturing system capable of faster throughput and capable of scale up while still obtaining an accurate output.
In one embodiment, the method for manufacturing object/materials of these teachings includes (a) arranging, in a predetermined arrangement, predetermined components in a predetermined area, (b) selectively removing at least two of the arranged predetermined components, the selectively removing occurring substantially simultaneously and according to a predetermined removal prescription, and (c) substantially simultaneously placing the selectively removed components at a predetermined location according to a predetermined placement prescription. In one instance, steps (a)-(c) are repeated until the object/material is manufactured.
In one embodiment, the system for manufacturing object/materials of these teachings includes a component arranging subsystem receiving a number of components and arranging the received components in a feeder area, one location in an arrangement corresponding to a location of one component, an assembly head including a printhead structural subsystem having a number of selectively activatable locations on one surface, each selectively activatable location corresponding to a location in the arrangement; upon activation, one component is operatively attached to one selectively activated location upon disposing the printhead structural subsystem on the arranged components; the operatively attached component being removed from the arrangement upon displacement of the printhead structural subsystem away from the feeder area; and an activating subsystem for selectively activating locations from the number of selectively activatable locations. In that embodiment, the system also includes a motion control component controlling motion of the printhead structural subsystem, the motion comprising disposing the printhead structural subsystem on the arranged components, displacing the printhead structural subsystem away from the feeder area and placing the printhead structural subsystem at location on a build stage.
In one embodiment of the system of these teaching, the printhead includes a printhead structural component; a surface of the printhead structural component having a plurality of selectively activatable locations, each corresponding to a location in an arrangement; a wetting component for substantially uniformly wetting selectively activatable location with a predetermined solution, the predetermined solution being selected in order to operatively attach a component to a substantially uniformly wetted selectively activatable location upon disposing the surface on an arranged plurality of components, and a controllable drying component for selectively drying predetermined selectively activatable locations, the predetermined selectively activatable locations corresponding to a predetermined component removal prescription.
For a better understanding of the present teachings, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and detailed description and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.
a, 1b are flowchart representations of embodiments of the method of these teachings;
a-2g depict exemplary results obtained from practicing an embodiment of the method of these teaching;
a-3d are exemplary objects manufactured by an embodiment of the method of these teachings;
a-5i are exemplary embodiments of voxels (physical instantiations of 3D pixels-components) utilized in embodiments of the system of these teachings;
j-5k are exemplary embodiments of objects manufactured utilizing the method of these teachings;
a-6d are graphical schematic representations of the operation of one embodiment of the printhead of these teachings;
a-7e are graphical representations of an exemplary embodiment of operation of one embodiment of the printhead of these teachings;
Embodiments of digital manufacturing systems and methods are disclosed herein below. Voxel or component, as used herein, refers to a physical instantiation of a three-dimensional pixel or basic digital building block.
a shows a flowchart of one embodiment of the method of these teachings. Referring to
When the removal/placement prescription requires removing/placing only one component, only one component is removed from the arrangement and only one component is placed at the location in the staging area. In one instance the arranging of the components (Voxels) is accomplished by self-assembly. In one embodiment, self-assembly is obtained by means of gravity and vibration. It should be noted that other methods of self-assembly are within the scope of these teachings. For example, methods such as, but not limited to, self-assembly by means of capillary forces (see for example, Uthara Srinivasan, Dorian Liepmann, and Roger T. Howe, Microstructure to Substrate Self-Assembly Using Capillary Forces, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2001; Smith, J. S, High density, low parasitic direct integration by fluidic self assembly (FSA), 2000. IEDM Technical Digest. International Electron Devices Meeting, 2000, Pages: 201-204, U.S. Patent Publication Number 20070092654, all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety) or electrostatic forces (see, for example, Joe Tien, Andreas Terfort, and George M. Whitesides, Microfabrication through Electrostatic Self-Assembly, Langmuir 1997, 13, 5349-5355, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety) can also be used.
It should be noted that other methods of arranging components, such as, but not limited to, manual placing, placing by means of a pick and place robot, settling of components into area indentations, floating components over capillary attraction point, or hopper feeds into a conveyor belt, are within the scope of these teachings.
Although in the exemplary embodiment disclosed herein the components are substantially spherical components, a variety of other component shapes are within the scope of these teachings. In some embodiments, the components (voxels) can include, but are not limited to, cylindrical components (2.5 D components) having a cross-sectional area selected from an equilateral triangle, a rectangle, a diamond, a hexagon, an irregular two-dimensional and tessellating shape, and interlocking areas comprised of a combination of the above, and 3-D components such as, but not limited to, a rectangular prism, a truncated tetrahedron or a truncated octahedron.
In some instances, the arranging of the components, and/or the selective removing of the two or more of the arranged components and/or the substantially simultaneous placing of the selectively removed components is monitored in order to ensure correct performance.
In some embodiments, components of another type are also utilized. In a group of embodiments, the components of the other type are sacrificial components. In those embodiments, an arrangement of the sacrificial components is obtained (either after or in parallel with arranging a group of the components that will stay in the object). After obtaining an arrangement of sacrificial components, steps 20 and 30 of
b shows a flowchart of another embodiment of the method of these teachings. Referring to
At various steps in the process, the process is monitored in order to determine proper performance. In one instance, the arranging of the predetermined components, the voxels of one material type, is monitored. In another instance, the substantially simultaneous selective removing of the at least two voxels of one material type from the arrangement is monitored. In yet another instance, the substantially simultaneous placing of the removed voxels of one material type is monitored.
The placing (also referred to as depositing, of the selected components, in one instance, occurs by deactivating the mechanism that allows picking up the selected components. After the activation, the selected components are deposited at the build stage, the first group of components to be deposited being deposited on the stage, the next group of components being deposited on the previously deposited group. In one instance, the deactivation occurs by dispensing a binder at the location on the build stage for the components are going to be deposited. Upon, after placing the assembly (pickup) head at the build stage and removing the assembly (pickup) head away from the build stage, components that are operatively attached to the assembly head are detached and deposited.
In one embodiment, the object/material being manufactured will consist of multiple types of components in multiple layers. There can be any number of different types of components and each layer can consist of one or more of the multiple types of components. The object/material being manufactured will consist of a predetermined number of layers, and there can be any number of layers. The composition of each layer can be different. Steps 10-30 (
a-3d are exemplary objects manufactured by an embodiment of the method of these teachings.
In one embodiment, the system of these teachings includes a component arranging subsystem receiving a number of components of one material type and arranging the components in a feeder area, one location in an arrangement corresponding to a location of one component from the arrangement of components, an assembly head having a printhead structural subsystem, one surface of the printhead structural subsystem (the surface that will be disposed on the arrangement of components) having a plurality of selectively activatable locations, each selectively activatable location corresponding to a location in the arrangement of components. Upon activation, one component from the number of components (voxels) can be operatively attached to one selectively activated location upon disposing the printhead structural subsystem on the arrangement of components; the operatively attached component being removed from the arrangement upon displacement of the printhead structural subsystem away from the feeder area. The assembly head also includes an activating subsystem for selectively activating locations from the number of selectively activatable locations. The above embodiment of the system of these teachings also includes a motion control subsystem controlling motion of the printhead structural subsystem where the motion includes disposing the printhead structural subsystem on the components, displacing the printhead structural subsystem away from the feeder area and placing the printhead structural subsystem at location on a build stage. In one instance, the embodiment of the system of these teachings also includes a deactivating subsystem. The deactivating subsystem, after the printhead structural subsystem has been placed at the location on the build stage, detaches components operatively attached to the printhead structural subsystem and deposits the detached components on the location at the build stage.
In one instance, these teachings not being limited to that instance, the deactivating subsystem includes a binder dispensing component dispensing binder on the location at the build stage; wherein, after placing the assembly head at the location on the build stage, upon removing the printhead structural subsystem away from the build stage, components operatively attached to the printhead structural subsystem are detached from the printhead structural subsystem and deposited on the location at the build stage.
In another instance, these teachings not being limited to that instance, each component in the number of components is an interlocking component. After placing the printhead structural subsystem at the location on the build stage, components operatively attached to the printhead structural subsystem interlock with components already disposed on the build stage, the interlocking detaching the operatively attached components. Upon removing the printhead structural subsystem away from the build stage, the detached components are deposited on the build stage.
In one embodiment, these teachings not being limited to that embodiment, the component arranging subsystem includes a feeder receptacle receiving the components (voxels) and a vibration generating component vibrating the feeder receptacle after receiving the components. In one instance, the feeder receptacle is inclined in order to utilize both gravity and vibration for self-assembly of the arrangement.
It should be noted that component arranging subsystem utilizing other methods of self-assembly are within the scope of these teachings. For example, component arranging subsystems utilizing methods such as, but not limited to, self-assembly by means of capillary forces or self-assembly by means of electrostatic forces are within the scope of these teachings.
It should also be noted that component arranging subsystems utilizing other methods of arranging components, such as, but not limited to, manual placing, placing by means of a pick and place robot, settling of components into area indentations, floating components over capillary attraction point, or hopper feeds into a conveyor belt, are within the scope of these teachings.
In one embodiment, the assembly head (also referred to as the printhead) includes a printhead structural component, a surface of the printhead structural component having the number of selectively activatable locations, each selectively activatable location being an area corresponding to a location in the arrangement of components. In that embodiment, the assembly head also includes a wetting subsystem and a drying subsystem. The wetting subsystem substantially uniformly wets each area with a predetermined fluid, the predetermined fluid being selected in order to operatively attach a component to a substantially uniformly wetted area upon disposing the surface on the components. The controllable drying subsystem selectively dries predetermined areas, the predetermined areas corresponding to a predetermined component removal prescription. In one instance, the predetermined fluid comprises water and detergent. It should be noted that “fluid” as used herein includes gels and that other fluids are within the scope of these teachings.
In one instance, the controllable drying subsystem includes an optical system projecting onto the surface of the assembly head an image corresponding to the non-removal areas in the predetermined component removal prescription. An electromagnetic radiation source provides a source for the optical system, a wavelength and intensity of the source being selected in order to substantially dry the predetermined areas corresponding to the predetermined component removal prescription. It should be noted that the activatable areas may be indented areas.
In another embodiment, the assembly head (also referred to as the printhead) includes a printhead structural component, a surface of the printhead structural subsystem having a number of selectively activatable locations, each selectively activatable location corresponding to a location in the arrangement of voxels and a charging subsystem substantially providing an electrical charge to predetermined ones of the selectively activatable locations.
In one instance, the charging subsystem includes a corona charging subsystem provides an ionized stream providing electrical charge and a selective blocking/discharging subsystem preventing electrical charging of predetermined selectively activatable locations. In one instance, the selective blocking/discharging subsystem includes a mask providing a physical barrier between predetermined selectively activatable locations and the ionized stream, the physical barrier preventing electrical charging of predetermined selectively activatable locations. In another instance, the charging subsystem includes an optical subsystem providing electromagnetic radiation directed at predetermined selectively activatable locations, the selectively activatable location being comprised of a material that discharges upon illumination by electromagnetic radiation of a predetermined wavelength/intensity.
In one embodiment, each component (voxel) comprises a substantially spherical component. In another embodiment, each component (voxel) may be a cylindrical component having a cross-sectional area selected from an equilateral triangle, a rectangle, a diamond, a hexagon, an irregular two-dimensional and tessellating shape, and an interlocking area comprised of a combination of the above, a rectangular prism, a truncated tetrahedron or a truncated octahedron.
In order to better illustrate these teachings, several exemplary embodiments are disclosed hereinbelow.
The deposition print head 50 moves to a series of stations (B-E) on the X axis degree of freedom 55. Station A is the exposure station, where the selective drying takes place from a pattern of light generated by the projector 60 and scaled through a series of lenses 65. A camera underneath monitors the drying process in real time. Station B is the wet station 70, where, in this exemplary embodiment, the entire surface of the print head is immersed in a solution of water and detergent before selective drying takes place. The stations at C are the material feeders 80. Raw materials (spheres) are poured into the hoppers in the back, and each of the two feeders inclines, in this exemplary embodiment, approximately 3 degrees. (It should be noted that specific numerical values and properties are provided for the exemplary embodiment are not a limitation of these teachings.) Pager motors (generating mechanical vibration) are embedded in each feeder and vibrate to settle the spheres into the positions of lowest energy, which corresponds to a close packed lattice. The ability to selectively pick up voxels at arbitrary locations within a pre-aligned layer is useful in the substantially simultaneous assembly process. A camera is mounted beneath each feeder, which have transparent bases so that the camera can monitor the position of each sphere in real time using machine vision techniques. The inspection station 85 also contains a camera underneath which inspects the deposition head before and after depositing the spheres on the build stage 90. This allows indirect verification of spheres that were actually deposited. The build stage simply holds the part being assembled, and moves down on the Z axis degree of freedom (H) as subsequent layers are stacked up. Control electronics 95 provide, in one instance, a USB interface (other interfaces and embodiments are within the scope of these teachings) to the master computer that controls the slave microcontrollers in charge of the motion systems and camera image acquisition.
Although the above exemplary embodiment of the system of these teachings and the embodiments shown in
The operation of the exemplary embodiment shown in
Each layer of the matrix is then printed and stacked in turn, as follows. Once a uniform layer of a single material has been self-aligned (
To deposit the voxels (
In a specific example shown in
Another embodiment of the print head of these teachings is disclosed hereinbelow. Referring to
In one instance, the charging subsystem 180 includes a corona charging subsystem providing an ionized stream providing electrical charge and a selective blocking/discharging subsystem preventing electrical charging of predetermined selectively activatable locations. In one instance, a corona wire is used to impart a static charge on the print head surface. To obtain a selective charge, a physical barrier is placed between the desired cells and the corona emitter.
In another instance (not shown), the selective blocking/discharging subsystem includes an optical subsystem providing electromagnetic radiation directed at predetermined selectively activatable locations, the selectively activatable location being comprised of a material that discharges upon illumination by electromagnetic radiation of a predetermined wavelength/intensity (such as, but not limited to, selenium).
In the exemplary embodiments shown in
In another instance, in the exemplary embodiments, the self alignment process can then be carried out in closed loop. The feeder is inclined and vibrated, then a frame is captured and analyzed. When all spheres are within some threshold of optimal lattice positions, the algorithm exits. Otherwise the algorithm chooses to either continue vibrating, or to reset the feeder by emptying all the spheres back into the hopper.
In another exemplary application of the monitoring subsystems, a machine vision subsystem verifies which spheres are physically held by the deposition head. This step occurs after a pickup operation both before and after the deposition step. By differencing the spheres present at these two steps, it can be inferred which ones were deposited.
The monitoring subsystems can also be utilized to monitor in the drying of selected wetted areas in the embodiments where the printhead utilizes wetting.
It should be noted that different combinations of materials, such as, but not limited to, metallic and nonmetallic materials can be utilized in embodiments of the sister of these teachings. Free-form geometries can be obtained. In one exemplary embodiment, not a limitation of these teachings stainless steel and acrylic spherical components (voxels) are utilized, where the acrylic spherical components and are utilized a sacrificial support material. Upon completion of the assembly, the result is structure is sintered to burn out the acrylic components and bind the stainless steel voxels.
The methods and systems of these teachings can be utilized to manufacture a variety of objects/materials. Manufacturing prototypes can be obtained for complex structures. Other exemplary embodiments, but not an exhaustive list, of objects/materials manufacture by the methods and systems of these teachings are disclosed hereinbelow.
Electrical networks. The methods and systems of these teachings may be used to make extremely compact, integrated 3D electrical networks and microrobots. With a small library of conductive, insulating, transistor, and other electrical component voxels, compact custom 3D integrated circuits can be fabricated in one step—complete with fluidic cooling channels. By including piezo-electric or shape memory alloy voxels for sensing and actuation, all the components to create a robot in any form are in place, except power. Fluidic networks. A small library of voxels with microfluidic functionality may be developed to enable 3D integrated microfluidic circuits for chemical and biological uses. In one instance, only two voxel types are needed to create arbitrary 3D fluidic networks (see, for example,
Photonics. The method and systems of these teachings may also benefit those at the forefront of photonics research. Currently, there are many simulations of 3D optical circuits that would usher in a new era of computation, but there is no way to readily produce them. In general, optical circuits are constructed by arbitrary regular placement of high and low optical index elements within a larger matrix. Voxels (order 1,000 mm) could be used to verify these properties with microwaves, and as the scale of voxels approaches the wavelength of visible light (order: 0.5 mm), the methods and systems of these teachings may provide the ability to create optical circuits 9 see, for example,
Smart voxels: Voxels do not need to consist of a single material; a voxel could be any microscale tile that can be picked up and laid down according to an electronic blueprint. The flexibility of voxels as fabrication building blocks enables the fabrication methods and systems of these teachings to go beyond the creation of just passive materials. For example, microprocessors, sensors, and actuators could embedded in “smart voxels,” allowing fabrication of 3D integrated active devices such as microrobots and 3D circuits. Biological materials shaped into appropriate voxels could permit fabrication of heterogeneous tissue on demand for tissue engineering applications.
Parallel production of incompatible materials: The methods and systems of these teachings allow substantially simultaneous manipulation of a very broad range voxel types using a single printhead. Though the exemplary embodiments of objects and voxels presented herein are relatively simple, the methods and systems of these teachings can be utilized to obtain tunable material properties.
It should be noted that analysis indicates that the error in the dimensions of a object manufacture by the methods and systems of these teachings grows more slowly than in proportion to its size. This sub-linear error scaling is due to the fact that voxel imprecisions tend to cancel each other out.
Although the invention has been described with respect to various embodiments, it should be realized these teachings are also capable of a wide variety of further and other embodiments within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
The present application is the U.S. national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Application No. PCT/US09/51671 filed Jul. 24, 2009 entitled APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR DIGITAL MANUFACTURING, which in turn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/137,008 filed Jul. 25, 2008 entitled APPARATUS FOR DIGITAL MANUFACTURING AND METHOD OF USING, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety for all purposes.
This invention was made with United States government support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), under Contract Number W911NF-07-1-0298. The United States Government has certain rights in the invention.
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| WO2010/011911 | 1/28/2010 | WO | A |
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