Digitally active 3-D object creation system
View Patent ↗A three dimensional object creation system that prints objects layer by layer, the system including a plurality of printheads, the system printing at least part of each of multiple layers simultaneously.
1. A three dimensional object creation system that prints objects layer by layer, wherein the system includes:
at least two printheads, wherein a first printhead configured for printing a first material is actively maintained at a corresponding first temperature and a second printhead configured for printing a second material is actively maintained at a corresponding second temperature, wherein;
the system is configured to print at least part of each of multiple layers simultaneously; the first and second materials, and the corresponding first and second temperatures, are not the same; and
the first material is cured by a first method and the second material is cured by a second method, the first and second methods being different.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein more than 100 layers are printed simultaneously.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein a plurality of objects are simultaneously printed.
4. The system of claim 2 wherein, when completed, the objects are substantially identical.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein each printhead only prints part or all of a predetermined layer.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one layer has at least two different materials.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one layer is printed by at least two printheads per layer.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the printheads are inkjet printheads.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein the printheads are fixed inkjet printheads able to simultaneously print the width of the objects.
10. The system of claim 1 wherein multiple layers of the same material are printed.
11. The system of claim 1 including a plurality of layer groups, each layer group including at least one printhead, each of the layer groups configured to print a different layer of the objects.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein each layer group includes a plurality of printheads.
13. The system of claim 11 wherein each layer group prints a plurality of different materials.
14. The system of claim 11 wherein each layer comprises rows of at least one material.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein each row comprises voxels of at least one material.
16. The system of claim 15 wherein the voxels of a row are created simultaneously.
17. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the printheads are configured to enable printing of at least two different materials in at least one layer.
18. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the system is configured to enable at least one first printhead that is initially configured to print at least part of a first layer to be dynamically reconfigured to print at least part of a second layer.
19. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the system is configured to enable at least one first printhead that is initially configured to print at least part of a first layer to be dynamically reconfigured to print at least part of a second layer, and
wherein if at least one printhead initially configured to print the second layer fails whilst printing said second layer, said at least one first printhead is dynamically reconfigured to complete the printing of at least part of said second layer.
20. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the system includes semiconductor memory and wherein data defining at least one layer is stored in the semiconductor memory.
21. A system as claimed in claim 1 , the system executes a process, the system including a plurality of subsystems, each of which performs a stage of the process, each of the subsystems configured to perform one of a first subset of N 1 of the stages, where N is greater than 1 and to change the stage of the subset being performed on receipt of a change instruction;
wherein, in the event that one of the subsystems fails, at least one of the remaining subsystems synchronously changes to performing the respective stage of the failed subsystem without requiring transfer of data relating the respective stage to the said at least one remaining subsystems, and when a subsystem changes to performing a different stage, the system reconfigures the subsystem to be capable of performing a second subset N 2 of the stages where N 1 and N 2 have the same number of stages.
22. A system as claimed in claim 1 including at least one printhead for printing material to create a printed product, and
an object incorporation device that incorporates inorganic semiconductors into the product being printed whilst the at least one printhead prints the product.
23. A system as claimed in claim 1 including at least one object incorporation device that incorporates non-printed objects into partially completed product, the non-printed objects not being printed by the system.
24. A system as claimed in claim 1 including an object incorporation device that inserts at least one non-printed object into at least one cavity created during the printing process, the object incorporation device incorporating the at least one non-printed object into the at least one cavity during the printing of the respective printed object.
25. A system as claimed in claim 1 including at least one printhead that prints electrical connections to at least one object incorporated in the products.