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US-12623403-B2 - Method and system for manipulating curing radiation in three-dimensional printing

US12623403B2US 12623403 B2US12623403 B2US 12623403B2US-12623403-B2

Abstract

A system for additive manufacturing comprises an array of nozzles for dispensing a building material on a receiving surface; a curing system having an irradiation source emitting a beam of curing radiation, and a beam manipulator for manipulating an angular width of the beam on the building material. A computerized controller controls the array of nozzles to dispense the building material formulation to form a layer in a configured pattern corresponding to a slice of a three-dimensional object, and to control the beam manipulator to select an angular width of the beam based on a three-dimensional shape of a stack of previously formed layers.

Inventors

  • Alexander Libinson

Assignees

  • STRATASYS LTD.

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20231128

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A system for additive manufacturing of a three-dimensional object, the system comprising: an array of nozzles for dispensing a building material on a receiving surface; a curing system having an irradiation source emitting a beam of curing radiation, and a beam manipulator for manipulating an angular width of said beam on said building material; and a computerized controller configured to control said array of nozzles to dispense said building material formulation to form a layer in a configured pattern corresponding to a slice of the object, and to control said beam manipulator to select an angular width of said beam based on a three-dimensional shape of a stack of previously formed layers; wherein said beam manipulator comprises at least one reflective wall rotatable about an axis parallel to said receiving surface.
  2. 2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein for at least one layer, said controller is configured to select different angular widths of said beam at different regions of said layer.
  3. 3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein for at least two layers, said controller is configured to select different angular widths of said beam for different layers, but to maintain constant angular width for at least one of said at least two layers.
  4. 4 . The system according to claim 2 , comprising a user interface having a beam manipulation mode selector, wherein said controller is configured to receive from said beam manipulation mode selector input pertaining to a selection of a beam manipulation mode and to control said beam manipulator based on said input.
  5. 5 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said controller is configured to increase said angular width when said curing system is above a vertical wall of said stack.
  6. 6 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said controller is configured to select said angular width based on a type of said building material forming said stack.
  7. 7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein there is a plurality of arrays of nozzles, each configured to dispense a different building material, and wherein said controller is configured to select said angular width based on a combination of building materials forming said stack.
  8. 8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said beam manipulator comprises at least two reflective walls, independently rotatable about said axis.
  9. 9 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said beam manipulator comprises at least two reflective walls, independently rotatable about different axes.
  10. 10 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said beam manipulator comprises a static reflective wall generally perpendicular to said receiving surface, and wherein said irradiation source is between said walls.
  11. 11 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said beam manipulator comprises a linear actuator configured to rotate said at least one rotatable reflective wall.
  12. 12 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said beam manipulator comprises a rotating actuator configured to rotate said at least one rotatable reflective wall.
  13. 13 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein there are two curing systems, mounted at opposite sides of said array of nozzles, and wherein an orientation of a beam manipulator of one of said curing systems is a reflection of an orientation of another one of said curing systems.
  14. 14 . A method of additive manufacturing of a three-dimensional object, the method comprising: dispensing a building material on a receiving surface to form a layer in a configured pattern corresponding to a slice of the object; emitting a beam of curing radiation onto on said layer; and manipulating an angular width of said beam on said building material based on a three-dimensional shape of a stack of previously formed layers; wherein said manipulating is by a beam manipulator comprising at least one reflective wall rotatable about an axis parallel to said receiving surface.
  15. 15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein said manipulating comprises, for at least one layer, selecting different angular widths of said beam at different regions of said layer.
  16. 16 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein said manipulating comprises, for at least two layers, selecting different angular widths of said beam for different layers, but maintaining a constant angular width for at least one of said at least two layers.
  17. 17 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein said manipulating comprises increasing said angular width when a curing system emitting said radiation is above a vertical wall of said stack.
  18. 18 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein said manipulating comprises selecting said angular width based on a type of said building material forming said stack.
  19. 19 . The method according to claim 14 , comprising dispensing a plurality of different building materials, wherein said manipulating comprises selecting said angular width based on a combination of building materials forming said stack.
  20. 20 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein said dispensing is by an array of nozzles and said emitting is by two curing systems mounted at opposite sides of said array of nozzles.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a National Phase of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL2023/051220 having International filing date of Nov. 28, 2023, which claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC § 119 (e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/428,430 filed on Nov. 29, 2022. The contents of the above applications are all incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein in their entirety. FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to three-dimensional printing and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to the manipulation of curing radiation in three-dimensional printing, e.g., three-dimensional inkjet printing. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a technology enabling fabrication of shaped structures directly from computer data via additive formation steps. The basic operation of any AM system consists of slicing a three-dimensional computer model into thin cross sections, translating the result into two-dimensional position data and feeding the data to control equipment which fabricates a three-dimensional structure in a layerwise manner. Additive manufacturing entails many different approaches to the method of fabrication, including three-dimensional (3D) printing such as 3D inkjet printing, electron beam melting, stereolithography, selective laser sintering, laminated object manufacturing, fused deposition modeling and others. Some 3D printing processes, for example, 3D inkjet printing, are being performed by a layer by layer inkjet deposition of building materials. Thus, an uncured building material is dispensed from a dispensing head having a set of nozzles to deposit layers on a supporting structure. The layers are then cured by curing radiation emitted by a radiation. Various three-dimensional printing techniques exist and are disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,259,979, 6,569,373, 6,658,314, 6,850,334, 6,863,859, 7,183,335, 7,209,797, 7,225,045, 7,300,619, 7,500,846, 9,031,680 and 9,227,365, U.S. Published application No. 20060054039, and International publication No. WO2016/009426, all by the same Assignee, and being hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to some embodiments of the invention the present invention there is provided a system for additive manufacturing of a three-dimensional object. The system comprises: an array of nozzles for dispensing a building material on a receiving surface; a curing system having an irradiation source emitting a beam of curing radiation, and a beam manipulator for manipulating an angular width of the beam on the building material; and a computerized controller configured to control the array of nozzles to dispense the building material formulation to form a layer in a configured pattern corresponding to a slice of the object, and to control the beam manipulator to select an angular width of the beam based on a three-dimensional shape of a stack of previously formed layers. According to some embodiments of the invention for at least one layer, the controller is configured to select different angular widths of the beam at different regions of the layer. According to some embodiments of the invention for at least two layers, the controller is configured to select different angular widths of the beam for different layers, but to maintain constant angular width for at least one of the at least two layers. According to some embodiments of the invention the system comprises a user interface having a beam manipulation mode selector, wherein the controller is configured to receive from the beam manipulation mode selector input pertaining to a selection of a beam manipulation mode and to control the beam manipulator based on the input. According to some embodiments of the invention the beam manipulation mode selector allows selecting between at least a first beam manipulation mode in which all layers of the object are formed while the angular width remains constant, and a second beam manipulation mode in which the angular width is varied at least once during or before formation of at least one of the layers. According to some embodiments of the invention the controller is configured to increase the angular width when the curing system is above a vertical wall of the stack. According to some embodiments of the invention the controller is configured to select the angular width based on a type of the building material forming the stack. According to some embodiments of the invention there is a plurality of arrays of nozzles, each configured to dispense a different building material, and wherein the controller is configured to select the angular width based on a combination of building materials forming the stack. According to some embodiments of the invention there are two curing systems, mounted at opposite sides of the array of nozzles, wherein an orientation of a beam manipulator of one of the curing systems is a reflection of an orientation of a