Method and apparatus for high-speed layer thickness curing in 3-D model making
US5204823A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 20, 1991 |
| Grant date | Apr 20, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 20, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB29K2995/0073
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
This is a method and associated apparatus for creating a 3-dimensional model by curing a photocurable liquid polymer. The method comprises first placing a quantity of the photocurable liquid polymer in a container. A substrate upon which to build the model is then placed in the container and in the polymer. A knife member is positioned over the substrate with a bottom edge parallel to the substrate at a layer-spaced distance therefrom. The knife member is then moved over the substrate and parallel thereto from a starting side edge of the model to an opposite side edge of the model while a 1-dimensional pattern of light beams for curing the liquid polymer is simultaneously created and conducted to a line at and parallel to the bottom edge of the knife member and therefrom into the liquid polymer immediately behind the bottom edge of the knife member to cure a layer of the polymer and thereby form a layer of the model. The knife member is then raised over the layer just created so as to place the bottom edge parallel to that layer at a layer-spaced distance therefrom. This process is then repeating until the model had been formed in a line-by-line and layer-by-layer pattern from a bo…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.