Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of manufacturing mass-fabricated items. More specifically, it relates to a system and method for automating a series of post-manufacturing processing steps for mass-fabricated items that are provided with three-dimensional codes formed therein, such as molds used to fabricate plastic dental aligners.
2. Background of the Invention
In the production of mass-customized items, the ability to identify individual items is important. One example of mass-customized items is plastic orthodontic alignment appliances, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,893 and US Patent Application Publication 2005/0082703, both of which are commonly assigned to the assignee of the subject invention, and the disclosures of which are both incorporated herein by reference. Other examples are prosthetic devices, form-fitting hearing aids, and athletic equipment (such as pads and protectors).
Plastic orthodontic appliances, of the type disclosed in the above-referenced documents, are made as a set of incremental position adjustment appliances that are used to realign or reposition a patient's teeth. The series of incremental position adjustment appliances is custom made for each patient during the fabrication process.
The fabrication process starts with a practitioner (e.g., a dentist) making impressions or casts of the upper and lower dental arches of a patient. The impressions or casts are then sent by the dentist to an orthodontic appliance manufacturing facility. The manufacturing facility creates a treatment file from the impressions or casts that includes the treatment information for the patient. Treatment information includes the number of stages (i.e. each appliance in the series of incremental position adjustment appliances represents a stage) for both the upper and lower jaws that are required for repositioning the patient's teeth, as well as how the patient's teeth move during each stage. The treatment file is then sent to the dentist for approval. Upon approval, the manufacturing facility generates 3D CAD models or images of molds for making the appliances using the treatment file, and then creates the molds using a rapid prototyping process, such as, for example, stereolithography (SLA). The molds are then used to fabricate the appliances. Because each aligner is associated with a unique mold on which the aligner is fabricated, for the purposes of this disclosure, the molds themselves are considered to be mass-fabricated custom items.
The SLA process is performed in SLA machines that build polymeric molds from the CAD images or models. Typically, a mass-customized item is identified by encoding item identification data into a multi-dimensional barcode and using an SLA apparatus to make the part with the multi-dimensional (i.e., three-dimensional) barcode embedded therein. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,627, commonly assigned to the assignee of the subject invention, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Ink is manually applied to the barcode with a marker so that a barcode reader can accurately read the information encoded therein. Next, a release agent is manually sprayed onto the molds so that the aligners can be easily separated from the molds. These process steps involve laborious manual operations, and therefore entail substantial costs and time to produce the items. Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient system and method to improve productivity by automating as many of these steps as possible.
Broadly, the present invention, in a first aspect, is a system for the automated processing of items, each of which incorporates information encoded in a three-dimensional code formed in the item, wherein the system comprises a printing mechanism operable to apply an ink medium to the three-dimensional code to form an optically-readable code; a code-reading mechanism operable to read the optically readable code and to transmit a signal indicative of the code to a database; and a transport mechanism operable to transport the items from the printing mechanism to the code-reading mechanism.
In a second aspect, the present invention may be broadly defined as a method for the automated processing of items, each of which incorporates information encoded in a three-dimensional code formed in the item, wherein the method comprises (1) applying an ink medium to the three-dimensional code to render the code optically readable; (2) optically scanning the optically readable code to create an electronic signal indicative of the code; and (3) transmitting the signal to a computer database.
The foregoing features and other features of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings of a preferred embodiment. In the drawings, the same components have the same reference numerals. The illustrated embodiment is intended to illustrate, but not to limit the invention. The drawings include the following Figures:
The present invention provides a system and method for processing items that incorporate information encoded in a three-dimensional coded data matrix formed in the items, such as, for example, mass-produced customized items. The system of the present invention, in a preferred embodiment, is controlled by a software algorithm executed by a computer system through a local area network, of conventional design, operation, and architecture. In the following detailed description of the invention, the invention is described primarily in context of a method for processing dental aligner molds. However, it should be understood that the system and processes of the present invention may be employed in the processing of various other types of mass-customized items and other items that carry encoded information in a three-dimensional coded data matrix, such as a three-dimensional barcode.
Mass-customized items, such as dental aligner molds, may be made by a stereolithography (SLA) apparatus, as is known in the art. Items such as molds may be formed in the SLA process with a three-dimensional barcode formed on the surface of the item. In the case of dental aligner molds, the barcode is encoded with information that may include, for example, the identity of the patient associated with the mold, which stage in the series of stages the mold represents, and whether the mold is for the upper or lower dental arch. Once the molds have been completed by the SLA process, they are sent to an automated processing system for post-manufacture processing that includes a number of discrete steps.
The pallet-raising mechanism, as shown in
It will be appreciated that the pallet raising mechanism described herein is exemplary only. Other types of mechanisms for raising and lowering the pallets 14 relative to the turntable or platform 16 will suggest themselves to those skilled in the arts, such as, for example, electrical and electromagnetic mechanisms.
The stations, as described below, advantageously include the following: a loading station 34, a first printing station 36, a second printing station 38, a liquid agent application station 40, a barcode reading station 42, an unloading station 44, and a pallet cleaning station 46. There may also be an extra or “idle” station 48 (advantageously, but not necessarily, located between the first printing station 36 and the second printing station 38) that may be used to perform an additional step that may be desirable or necessary in a particular application. In some applications, the liquid agent application station 40 may not be necessary. In such applications, it may be rendered inoperable or omitted altogether.
The items 12 may be transported by a first conveyor line or belt 50 to the loading station 34 for loading the items 12 onto a pallet 14.
Typically, the first pick and place mechanism 52 includes first and second pivot arms 53a, 53b, extending horizontally from a fixed vertical support 54. The first pivot arm 53a has a first end pivotally connected to the support 54, and a second end to which the second pivot arm 53b is pivotally connected. Extending upwardly from the free end of the second pivot arm 53b is a cylinder 56 that accommodates a vertically reciprocating rod 58 surrounded by a hollow tube, the lower end of which terminates in a pneumatic pick-up head 60 connected by a flexible hose 62 to a pneumatic source (not shown). The reciprocating rod 58 and tube 59 may be moved between a lowered or extended position (
Once the items 12 are loaded onto the pallet 14, the pallet 14 is moved by the turret 16 to the first printing station 36, The turret or turntable 16 is driven by an electric motor (not shown) that is controlled to advance its rotation incrementally and sequentially, from station to station, as the work or process step at each station is completed, as is well-known in the art.
The first and second printing stations 36, 38 are substantially identical, and exemplary embodiments thereof are illustrated in
The printing head 64 is preferably, but not necessarily, pneumatically operated. The pressure applied by the printing head 64 is controlled so to be maintained within a predetermined range, whereby the pressure is sufficient to assure the application of a readable inking, yet is not enough to damage the items. This printing pressure can be controlled by various means known in the art, such as a pressure transducer (not shown). If the measured printing pressure falls outside of the predetermined range, an alarm (not shown) is activated, and/or the system 10 will shut down. The upper and lower limits of the printing pressure will be dictated by the physical characteristics of the items to be printed, such as, for example, their material and their thickness in the area in which the data matrix 74 is located.
Once the first item 12a has been inked, the pallet 14 is lowered, and the turntable or turret 16 rotates past the idle station 48 (if present) and stops at the second printing station 38, where the pallet 14 is raised when the second item 12b of the pair of items 12a, 12b is aligned under the printing head 64, so that the data matrix 74 of the second item 12b can be inked, as discussed above and as shown in
It will be appreciated that a single printing station may be employed, especially in the case where only a single item 12 is presented on the pallet 14. Alternatively, either of the printing stations may be modified, in ways that will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the pertinent arts, to print two or more items simultaneously. As another alternative, three or more printing stations may be employed, each inking one or more of a like number of items on each pallet 14.
After the data matrices 74 of the items 12a, 12b on the pallet 14 have been inked to render them optically readable, as described above, the pallet 14 is lowered, and the turntable or turret 16 rotates to move the pallet 14 to the liquid agent application station 40, an exemplary embodiment of which is shown in
The application of the liquid agent is carefully controlled to assure that each item is adequately coated with the agent without wasting the agent. For example, the liquid agent is supplied to the spray heads 76 from a tank or reservoir (not shown) through tubing 77. Once the level of the release agent in the tank or reservoir reaches a predetermined minimum level, the spray station, an alarm (not shown) may be activated, and/or the liquid agent application station 40 is shut down to allow the tank or reservoir to be re-filled or replaced.
The operation of the spray heads 76 to assure proper application of the liquid agent is controlled by flow meters 78 and pressure transducers 79 that are operatively associated with the spray heads 76 to measure the flow rate and application pressure, respectively, of the sprayed agent. If either the measured flow rate or the measured spray pressure is above or below preset upper and lower flow rate and pressure limits, respectively, an alarm (not shown) may be activated, and/or the liquid agent application station 40 is shut down. The spray data (particularly the flow rate) for each spraying operation are advantageously conveyed by the appropriate transducer(s), through means such as a local area network (LAN), to a computer system (not shown) for storage in a system memory to create a spray parameter log for a predetermined time period. The log contains the spray data correlated to the time of each spray application, and it may be monitored to assure that each item is properly sprayed. From this information, any item that is determined to have had an insufficient spray agent application may be noted for special treatment and/or removal from the system.
After spraying, the pallet 14 is lowered and the turntable or turret 16 is rotated to She barcode reading station 42, where the inked data matrices 74 are read by one or more (preferably two) optical readers 80 (e.g., vision cameras), as shown in
It will be appreciated that code reading station 42 may be located before the liquid agent application station 40 (and after the printing stations 36, 38), rather than after the liquid agent application station.
After reading the data matrices 74 on the items 12 and extracting the encoded data, the turntable or turret 16 rotates the pallet 14 to the unloading station 44, where the items 12 are removed from the pallet 14 and placed on a second conveyor 82. At the unloading station 44, the pallet is raised to its raised position, as described above, and a second pick-and-place mechanism 84 (
After unloading the items 12 at the unloading station 44, the turntable or turret 16 is rotated to the cleaning station 46 (
The systems 10, 10′ of the present invention are operated with a software algorithm that controls the various stations and that controls the rotation of the turntable or turret 16 or the motion of the linear transport conveyor 90 so as to allow each station to perform its intended operation while the turntable or turret or linear transport conveyor is stopped at that station. Such software is in a class of automation software that is well-known in the art, and its specific details would depend on the particular type of equipment or mechanism provided at each of the stations in the system.
While the present invention is described above with respect to what is currently considered as preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the above description. For example, the application of the liquid agent to the items, if performed at all, may be performed by means other than spraying, such as dipping or brushing or any other suitable process that may suggest itself. Likewise, the inking of the barcodes may be performed by brushing or any other suitable process that is known in the art or that may subsequently suggest itself. Such modifications, variations, and uses of equivalent mechanisms and processes are deemed to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/617,193, filed Dec. 28, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,181 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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7604181 | Culp et al. | Oct 2009 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20100006640 A1 | Jan 2010 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11617193 | Dec 2006 | US |
Child | 12563057 | US |