Material manipulation in three-dimensional printing
The present disclosure provides three-dimensional (3D) printing systems, apparatuses, software, and methods for the production of at least one requested 3D object. The 3D printer includes a material conveyance system, filtering system, and unpacking station. The material conveyance system may transport pre-transformed material against gravity. The 3D printing described herein comprises facilitating non-interrupted material dispensing through a component of the 3D printer, such as a layer dispenser.
1. An apparatus for printing at least one three-dimensional object, the apparatus comprising:
at least one controller comprising a power connector, the at least one controller being configured to:
(A) operatively couple with a dispenser and with a recycling system;
(B) direct the dispenser to dispense a dispensed amount of a pre-transformed material to form (a) a layer of a material bed utilized for printing at least a portion of the at least one three-dimensional object, and (b) an excess material, the dispensed amount being at least 95 percent of an amount of the pre-transformed material required to form the layer of the material bed utilized for the printing, the excess material comprising the dispensed amount of the pre-transformed material that does not form the layer of the material bed; and
(C) direct recycling the excess material.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the recycling of the excess material at least in part during the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object; and optionally wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the recycling of the excess material continuously during the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object from the material bed that comprises the pre-transformed material that includes a material comprising elemental metal, metal alloy, ceramic, or an allotrope of elemental carbon.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object from the material bed that comprises the pre-transformed material made of a material that includes a particulate material.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to (i) operatively couple with a gas flow system, and (ii) direct the gas flow system to, during the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object, maintain a positive pressure in a printing enclosure enclosing the material bed, the positive pressure being above ambient pressure of an ambient environment external to the printing enclosure.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the gas flow system comprises a venturi mechanism.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct flow of the pre-transformed material at least in part by directing utilization of a dense phase conveyance of the pre-transformed material, the flow of the pre-transformed material being from a material reservoir to the dispenser that dispenses the dispensed amount of the pre-transformed material.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the recycling system to recycle the excess material at least in part by sieving at a rate of at least about half cubic centimeter of the excess material per minute, and per square centimeter of a sieving area.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the dispenser to dispense the dispensed amount of the pre-transformed material is in a first enclosure having a first atmosphere, and wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the recycling system to recycle the excess material is in a second enclosure having a second atmosphere, the first atmosphere and the second atmosphere each being different from an external atmosphere to the first enclosure and to the second enclosure at least in part by having the external atmosphere comprising a higher level of a reactive agent that reacts with the pre-transformed material during the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object, the higher level being relative to a lower level of the reactive agent in each of the first atmosphere and of the second atmosphere.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct printing the at least one three-dimensional object from the material bed during a printing cycle; and wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct recycling the excess material during printing cycle, the excess material weighing at least 50 kilograms.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the recycling system to recycle the excess material at a throughput of at least about six cubic centimeters of the excess material per hour (cc/hr).
12. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the positive pressure is a first positive pressure; wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the recycling system to recycle the excess material at least in part by utilizing a filtering enclosure of the recycling system, the filtering enclosure being configured to filter under a second positive pressure above the ambient pressure that is external also to the filtering enclosure, the filtering enclosure comprising: (i) at least one wall enclosing a first volume configured to accommodate an internal environment; (ii) an inlet port disposed in the at least one wall, the inlet port being configured to direct the excess material into the first volume; (iii) a second volume configured to accommodate a filtered material collected from the first volume; (iv) an exit port disposed in the at least one wall, the exit port being configured to direct the filtered material out of the second volume and out of the filtering enclosure; and (v) a supportive structure configured to accommodate a filtration member having a filter and a frame configured to support the filter, the filtration member (a) being disposed in the filtering enclosure at an angle with respect to a normal to a gravitational field vector and (b) divides the filtering enclosure at least into the first volume and into the second volume, the filtration member being configured for reversible extraction of the filtration member from the filtering enclosure and for reversible insertion of the filtration member to the filtering enclosure; and wherein the at least one controller is configured to direct the gas flow system to maintain the second positive pressure in the filtering enclosure during recycling of the excess material.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the filtration member is operatively coupled with at least one modulatable agitator having a movable member, wherein the movable member is configured to be controlled and modulated, the movable member being coupled with the filtration member and is operable for moving the filtration member to facilitate filtration of the excess material thereby; and wherein the at least one controller is configured to operatively couple with the modulatable agitator and direct the modulatable agitator to move the movable member during recycling of the excess material.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the filtering enclosure is operatively coupled with a sensor configured to detect a characteristic of an accumulation in the filtering enclosure, the accumulation being of the excess material and/or of the filtered material; and wherein the at least one controller is configured to (a) operatively couple with the sensor to collect data from the sensor during the recycling, and (b) direct recycling of the excess material based at least in part on the data collected by the sensor during recycling.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to, at least during filtering of the excess material in the filtering enclosure, maintain the internal environment of the filtering enclosure at a reduced level of a reactive agent as compared to the ambient environment, the reactive agent being capable of reacting with the pre-transformed material during the printing.
16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the dispenser is comprised in a layer dispenser mechanism that comprises, or that is operatively coupled with, a cyclonic separator.
17. A method of printing the at least one three-dimensional object, the method comprising: (A) providing the apparatus of claim 1 , and (B) using the apparatus in association with the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the recycling of the excess material is at least in part during the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object.
19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the recycling of the excess material is continuous during the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object.
20. The method of claim 17 further comprising flowing the pre-transformed material from a material reservoir to the dispenser that dispenses the dispensed amount of the pre-transformed material, wherein the flowing of the pre-transformed material comprises utilizing a dense phase conveyance of the pre-transformed material.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the recycling of the excess material comprises sieving at a rate of at least about half cubic centimeter of the excess material per minute, and per square centimeter of a sieving area.
22. The method of claim 17 , wherein dispensing the dispensed amount of the pre-transformed material is in a first enclosure having a first atmosphere, and the recycling of the excess material is in a second enclosure having a second atmosphere, the first atmosphere and the second atmosphere each being different from an external atmosphere to the first enclosure and to the second enclosure at least in part by having the external atmosphere comprising a higher level of a reactive agent that reacts with the pre-transformed material during the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object, the higher level being relative to a lower level of the reactive agent in each of the first atmosphere and of the second atmosphere.
23. The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least the portion of the material bed is the material bed; wherein the at least the portion of the at least one three-dimensional object is the at least one three-dimensional object; wherein the printing of the at least one three-dimensional object from the material bed is during a printing cycle; and wherein the excess material from the printing cycle being recycled and/or sieved weighs at least 50 kilograms.
24. The method of claim 17 , wherein the recycling of the excess material comprises sieving the excess material, and the recycling of the excess material is at a throughput of at least about six cubic centimeters of the excess material per hour (cc/hr); and optionally wherein and the sieving of the excess material is at a throughput of at least about six cubic centimeters of the excess material per hour (cc/hr).
25. Non-transitory computer readable program instructions for printing the at least one three-dimensional object, the program instructions, when read by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to direct execution of one or more operations of the apparatus of claim 1 , the program instructions being inscribed on at least one non-transitory computer readable medium.