Carbon, Inc.

Ronald A Truong

Kyle Laaker

John R Tumbleston

Bob E Feller

Roy Goldman

Abhishek Parmar

Joshua D Deetz

Clarissa Gutierrez

Daniel N Mohsenizadeh

Catherine E Wood

David F Moore

Craig Bruce Carlson

David Moore

Steven R Katzman

Daniel Jiaji Yang

Craig B Carlson

A method of forming a three-dimensional object () includes the steps of: (a) providing an apparatus including a carrier (), a light transmissive window () having a build surface, polymerizable liquid () on the build surface, and a growing object () on the carrier, the growing object produced by light polymerization of the polymerizable liquid; (b) vertically reciprocating the carrier () with respect to the build surface in an upstroke and a downstroke, the downstroke being shorter than the upstroke, to form a build region between the growing object and the build surface, and to fill the build region with the polymerizable liquid, while also: (i) sensing force exerted between the carrier and the build surface through the growing object () and the polymerizable liquid () during the upstroke; and (ii) modifying the speed, acceleration, or both speed and acceleration of the upstroke in response to the sensed force so that the sensed force approaches a predetermined target force; then (c) irradiating the build region with light through the light transmissive window to form a new portion of the object from the polymerizable liquid on the growing object; and then (d) repeating steps (b) through (c) to form additional portions on the growing object until the three-dimensional object is formed.

Force-regulated additive manufacturing

A method of enhancing a performance characteristic of an additive manufacturing apparatus, the method including:

Performance optimization in additive manufacturing

Methods, systems, and/or apparatuses for making an object on a bottom-up stereolithography apparatus that includes a light source, a drive assembly, optionally a heater and/or cooler, and a controller. The light source, optional heater and/or cooler, and/or the drive assembly have at least one adjustable parameter that is adjustable by said controller. An example method comprises (a) installing a removable window cassette on said apparatus in a configuration through which said light source projects, said window cassette comprising an optically transparent member having a build surface on which an object can be produced, and with said optically transparent member having at least one thermal profile associated therewith; and then (b) modifying said at least one adjustable parameter by said controller based on said at least one thermal profile of said optically transparent member; and then (c) producing the object on said build surface from a light-polymerizable liquid by bottom-up stereolithography.

Window thermal profile calibration in additive manufacturing

An additive manufacturing system may include an additive manufacturing apparatus on which a process of producing a three-dimensional object from a material can be performed; an additive manufacturing process controller operatively associated with the additive manufacturing apparatus; and a first memory device operatively associated with the additive manufacturing process controller. The first memory device may include first and second stable release process programs each comprising a first subset of operations executable by said process controller. The system may include a second memory device comprising another stable release process program comprising a second subset of operations executable by said process controller. The system may include a selector configured to choose one of the stable release process programs to run on said process controller when producing a three-dimensional object on the additive manufacturing apparatus.

Systems and apparatuses for additive manufacturing with process update and lock down

A method of enhancing a performance characteristic of an additive manufacturing apparatus, the method including: (a) dispensing a batch of a light polymerizable resin into the additive manufacturing apparatus, the batch characterized by at least one physical characteristic; (b) determining the unique identity of the batch; (c) sending the unique identity of the batch to a database; then (d) either: (i) receiving on the controller from the database modified operating instructions for the resin batch, which modified operating instructions have been modified based on the at least one physical characteristic, or (ii) receiving on the controller from the database the at least one physical characteristic for the specific resin batch and modifying the operating instructions based on the at least one physical characteristic; and then (e) producing the object from the batch of light polymerizable resin on the additive manufacturing apparatus with the modified operating instructions.

In some embodiments, a method of determining the fill level of a resin pool in a bottom-up additive manufacturing apparatus includes the steps of: (a) providing an additive manufacturing apparatus including a build platform and a light transmissive window (), the build platform () and the window () defining a build region therebetween, with the window () carrying a resin pool, the pool having a resin top surface portion; (b) advancing the build platform () and the window () towards one another until the build platform () contacts the resin top surface portion; (c) detecting the impact of the build platform () with the resin top surface portion; and (d) determining the fill level of the resin pool from the detected impact.

Resin level detection in additive manufacturing

A method of forming a three-dimensional object includes providing a carrier and an optically transparent member having a build surface. The carrier and the build surface define a build region therebetween. The method further includes filling said build region with a polymerizable liquid; continuously or intermittently irradiating said build region with light through said optically transparent member to form a solid polymer from said polymerizable liquid; applying a reduced pressure and/or polymer inhibitor-enriched gas to the polymerizable liquid through the optically transparent member to thereby reduce a gas content of the polymerizable liquid; and continuously or intermittently advancing (e.g., sequentially or concurrently with said irradiating step) said carrier away from said build surface to form said three-dimensional object from said solid polymer.

Three-dimensional printing methods for reducing bubbles by de-gassing through build plate

A method of measuring the viscosity of a resin in a bottom-up additive manufacturing apparatus, includes the steps of: (a) providing an additive manufacturing apparatus including a build platform and a light transmissive window, said build platform and said window defining a build region there between, with said window carrying a resin; (b) advancing said build platform and said window towards one another until said build platform contacts said resin; (c) detecting the force exerted on said build platform by said resin; and (d) generating in a processor a viscosity measure of said resin from said detected force.

Resin viscosity detection in additive manufacturing

A method of improving production performance of an additive manufacturing system includes obtaining a first production plan and a second production plan, different from the first production plan, for the manufacture of a plurality of objects using a fleet of additive manufacturing apparatus, automatically generating a first allocation of a first quantity of the plurality of objects to the fleet of additive manufacturing apparatus using the first production plan, automatically generating a second allocation of a second quantity of the plurality of objects to the fleet of additive manufacturing apparatus using the second production plan, comparing a production performance of the first and second quantity of the plurality of objects after being manufactured by the fleet of additive manufacturing apparatus, and based on the comparison of the production performance, automatically regenerating the first and second allocations to change the first and second quantities.

Apparatus and methods for controlled validation of additive manufacturing systems

Methods, systems, and/or apparatuses for making an object on a bottom-up stereolithography apparatus that includes a light source (), a drive assembly (), optionally a heater () and/or cooler (), and a controller (). The light source, optional heater and/or cooler, and/or the drive assembly have at least one adjustable parameter that is adjustable by said controller. An example method comprises (a) installing a removable window cassette () on said apparatus in a configuration through which said light source projects, said window cassette comprising an optically transparent member () having a build surface on which an object can be produced, and with said optically transparent member having at least one thermal profile associated therewith; and then (b) modifying said at least one adjustable parameter by said controller based on said at least one thermal profile of said optically transparent member; and then (c) producing the object on said build surface from a light-polymerizable liquid by bottom-up stereolithography.

A method of making a three-dimensional object () is carried out by: (a) providing a carrier () and an optically transparent member () having a build surface, the carrier () and the build surface defining a build region therebetween, the optically transparent member () carrying a polymerizable liquid (); (b) advancing the carrier () and the optically transparent member () away from one another to draw the polymerizable liquid () into the build region; then (c) optionally, partially retracting the carrier () and the optically transparent member () back towards one another; and then (d) irradiating the build region with light to form a growing three-dimensional object () from the polymerizable liquid (); and then (e) cyclically repeating steps (b) to (d) while maintaining a continuous liquid interface () between the growing three-dimensional object () and the optically transparent member () until at least a portion of the three-dimensional object () is formed, while during at least some of the cyclically repeatings: (i) monitoring a transient increase in tension between the carrier () and the build surface through the growing three-dimensional object () during the advancing step (b), and optionally monitoring a transient increase in compression between the carrier () and the build surface through the growing three dimensional object during the partially retracting step (c); and then, when the transient increase in tension has substantially subsided, (ii) initiating the partially retracting step (c) when present, or initiating the irradiating step (d).

Continuous liquid interface production with force monitoring and feedback

A method and an apparatus of forming a three-dimensional object includes providing a carrier and an optically transparent member having a build surface. The carrier and the build surface define a build region therebetween. The method further includes filling said build region with a polymerizable liquid; continuously or intermittently irradiating said build region with light through said optically transparent member to form a solid polymer from said polymerizable liquid; applying a reduced pressure and/or polymer inhibitor-enriched gas to the polymerizable liquid through the optically transparent member to thereby reduce a gas content of the polymerizable liquid; and continuously or intermittently advancing (e.g., sequentially or concurrently with said irradiating step) said carrier away from said build surface to form said three-dimensional object from said solid polymer.

Growing community of inventors

San Mateo, CA, United States of America

Ronald A Truong