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EP-4253003-B1 - APPARATUS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING WITH RESPECT TO A WORK PIECE

EP4253003B1EP 4253003 B1EP4253003 B1EP 4253003B1EP-4253003-B1

Inventors

  • RITCHIE, GARY
  • MAKSIMOVIC, Rebecca
  • FLANK, SHARON
  • FLANK, WILLIAM

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20150126

Claims (6)

  1. Apparatus for additive manufacturing with respect to a work piece, the apparatus comprising: a feed stock area holding feed stock for the additive manufacturing; means passing a portion of the feed stock to the work piece; whereby the portion of the feed stock passed to the work piece is joined thereto; the apparatus further comprising a spectroscopic means at the feed stock area; the apparatus further comprising enforcement means responsive to information from the spectroscopic means, the enforcement means generating feedback between an authorized recipe and a spectroscopic check for authorized print media depending upon spectroscopic characteristics of feed stock held in the feed stock area; and wherein the feedback comprises creating an indicator of whether there is a failure in the work piece.
  2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the indicator comprises including at thework piece a visible mark indicative that the work piece is authorized or genuine.
  3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the indicator comprises including at thework piece a visible mark indicative that the work piece is unauthorized or fake.
  4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein if the recipe and print media are authorized ,the indicator comprises including at the work piece a positive authorization.
  5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the indicator comprises creating a misaligned piece.
  6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the indicator comprises a visible mark.

Description

The present invention relates generally to the field of identifying genuine product when created by 3D printing, through the use of chemical taggants or additives, in quantities ranging from fractional parts per million to 10% of the total sample, as well as controlled media formulation variations. The chemical taggants or formula variations act as a fingerprint, which can be detected using a chemical analyzer, e.g., a spectrometer, in one or more regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (including ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, mid-infrared, x-ray fluorescence). 3D printing is increasingly acknowledged as vulnerable to counterfeiting. (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/3-d-printinfi-will-be-a-counterfeiters-best-friend/). There are two basic paths to creating counterfeits with 3D printing. An existing object (including a genuine branded or licensed product) can be 3D-scanned to create the instructions, or blueprint, for printing a copy. Alternatively, the instructions, or blueprint, can be created as software, and then shared. Hybrids of the two paths also exist, e.g., a 3D scan version that is then altered to change one or more characteristics. Simply requiring that the blueprint file contain an authorization code (Jung, et al., U.S. 8,286,236) is not enough to prevent all types of 3D counterfeiting, The authorization code validates the printing process, but leaves no trace of that validation (or the lack of it) on the product that is generated. Apple's application 20130341400 (Simon Larocque-Lancaster) addresses a physical 3D mark, but again, this is minimal protection, in this case because it assumes the ability to tuck away a visible mark unobtrusively. Using authorized material alone is also insufficient, in the same way that it is possible to use genuine Hewlett Packard ink in a genuine Hewlett Packard printer... to make illegal copies of a copyrighted work, or to print a plagiarized document. Encoding the instructions for materials tagging into the blueprint makes it possible to use software controls (authorized secure downloads) to limit proliferation of physical copies. Limiting unauthorized versions is important to brand owners and important for public safety. Brand owners want a way to ensure that the products in the marketplace are genuine, both to ensure quality and to ensure that they are getting paid for their work. They see 3D printing as an opportunity and a threat. It constitutes an opportunity to offer personalized, custom versions of a wide range of products, from shoes to jewelry, spare parts to medical implants. However, it also threatens their brand, their quality, and their market: how can they distinguish a branded athletic shoe from a knockoff, or a customized medical implant from a dangerous chunk of plastic, if both are 3D printed? Brand owners currently spend millions on ensuring that their products in the marketplace are genuine, employing quality inspectors, secret shoppers, security teams and forensic laboratories, many incorporating spectroscopic and other chemical analysis tools. These teams check distributors, monitor suspect products at customs in cooperation with border authorities, and visit retailers to keep tabs on their supply chain. When knockoffs slip through, the brand owners are alerted when suspect product is returned, often because it failed, and their labs spend time and money searching for the cause of failure, or attempting to prove that the failed product is in fact a fake. Authentication is the fastest-growing segment of the broader anti-counterfeiting market, because faster - and more portable - ways to check on products save money, time and reputation. The existing anti-counterfeiting effort is, however, insufficient to meet the challenges of 3D printing, thus inspiring the current invention. Different 3D printing media have different curing methods, but all are amenable to chemical fingerprinting. Methods for 3D printing include: fused deposition modeling (FDM), the technology that squirts the melted plastic out the head of the 3D printer, on which a major patent expired in 2009 (US 5121329 A). The heat-tolerance requirements for a taggant in this case are in the range of 250 C, which somewhat restricts the universe of available taggants, but still allows multiple cost-effective, safe choices.elective laser sintering (SLS)- a high-quality 3D-printing technology that can use metal, glass and ceramic materials as media, cured by lasers, based on a now-expired series of patents filed by Carl Deckard in the 1990s (US 5597589 A)stereolithographic (or SLA) 3D printing techniques- which put down a thin layer of resin that is cured with a UV laser (US 4575330 A), either cured, layer by layer, as each layer is exposed to the UV curing as it moves up on a platform in a vat of liquid photopolymer, or deposited (as in a spray) in layers. Some methods melt or soften material to produce the layers, e.g., selective laser melting (SLM), e.g. of aluminum m