Printing system for cured 3D structures
View Patent ↗A printing system is provided having a plurality of printers, a conveyor for serially conveying a print medium past each printer so that voxels printed by the successive printer form successive layers of a three dimensional printed structure on the conveyed print medium, and a plurality of curing mechanisms between the printing devices for curing the printed voxels.
1. A printing system comprising:
a plurality of printers;
a conveyor for serially conveying a print medium past each printer so that voxels printed by the successive printer form successive layers of a three dimensional printed structure on the conveyed print medium; and
a plurality of curing mechanisms between the printing devices for curing the printed voxels.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each curing mechanism is configured to carry out at least one of: cooling to cause the voxels to solidify; evaporative drying; precipitation reactions; catalytic reactions; and curing using electromagnetic radiation.
3. A system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said electromagnetic radiation includes ultra violet radiation.
4. A system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the printers are arranged so that each successive printer is located further from the conveyor than any preceding printer.
5. A system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein each printer comprises a plurality of printheads arranged in a row.
6. A system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein all of the printheads of each printer are configured to print voxels of material concurrently.
7. A system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material printed by each printer comprises any one of: a polymeric material; a metallic material; a sacrificial material; and an evaporative drying material.
8. A system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the metallic material is Indium or an alloy of Indium and Gallium.