Solid freeform fabrication using a plurality of modeling materials

Abstract

A system and methods for solid freeform fabrication of an object is disclosed. The system comprises a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads, a building material supply apparatus configured to supply a plurality of building materials to the fabrication apparatus, and a control unit configured for controlling the fabrication apparatus and the supply apparatus based on an operation mode selected from a plurality of predetermined operation modes.

1 . A system for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
 a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads;   a building material supply apparatus configured to supply a plurality of building materials to said fabrication apparatus; and   a control unit configured for controlling said fabrication apparatus and said building material supply apparatus, based on an operation mode selected from a plurality of predetermined operation modes.   
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of operation modes comprises at least a first operation mode in which all dispensing heads operate during a single building scan cycle of said fabrication apparatus, and a second operation mode in which at least one dispensing head is not operative during at least a part of said single building scan cycle. 
   
   
       3 . A method of fabricating a three-dimensional object, comprising operating the system of  claim 1  so as to form the three-dimensional object. 
   
   
       4 . The system or method of  claim 1  or  3 , wherein at least one of said operation modes allows said dispensing heads to dispense one type of modeling material and a support material. 
   
   
       5 . The system or method of  claim 1  or  3 , wherein at least one of said operation modes allows said dispensing heads to dispense at least two types of modeling materials and a support material. 
   
   
       6 . The system or method of  claim 1  or  3  wherein at least some of said plurality of dispensing heads are included in one mechanical unit 
   
   
       7 . The system or method of  claim 1  or  3 , wherein a throughput characterizing a first operation mode is larger than a throughput characterizing a second operation mode. 
   
   
       8 . The system or method of  claim 1  or  3 , wherein a throughput characterizing a first operation mode is at least two times larger than a throughput characterizing a second operation mode. 
   
   
       9 . The system or method of  claim 1 ,  5 ,  7  or  8 , wherein said plurality dispensing heads has generally similar characteristic dispensing rates. 
   
   
       10 . The system or method of  claim 1 ,  3 ,  5 ,  7  or  8 , wherein said plurality of dispensing heads comprises at least two modeling material dispensing heads for dispensing the same modeling material. 
   
   
       11 . The system or method of  claim 10 , wherein said plurality of dispensing heads comprises at least one support material dispensing head for dispensing support material, and wherein said control unit is designed and configured to reduce a dispensing rate of said at least one support material dispensing head when said operation mode is said second operation mode. 
   
   
       12 . The system or method of  claim 5 , wherein said control unit is designed and configured to control said at least two modeling material dispensing heads such as to maintain a predetermined ratio between amounts per unit area of the at least two types of modeling materials for each layer formed by said plurality of dispensing heads. 
   
   
       13 . The system or method of  claim 5 , wherein said control unit is designed and configured to control said at least two modeling material dispensing heads and said at least one support material dispensing head such as to maintain the same amounts per unit area of modeling material and support material for each layer formed by said plurality of dispensing heads. 
   
   
       14 . The system or method of  claim 10 , wherein said control unit is designed and configured to control said at least two modeling material dispensing heads such as to maintain a predetermined amount per unit area of modeling material for each layer formed by said plurality of dispensing. heads 
   
   
       15 . The system or method of  claim 11 , wherein said control unit is designed and configured to control said heads to dispense said at least two types of modeling material so as to dynamically vary relative amounts of modeling materials per unit area dispensed thereby. 
   
   
       16 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 15 , wherein the solid freeform fabrication system comprises a controller capable of accessing a pixel map characterized by an even density of pixels, and composed of N different head pixel maps, each corresponding to a different dispensing head. 
   
   
       17 . The system or method of  claim 16 , wherein at least one operation mode is characterized in that all head pixel maps are similar to each other and include substantially the same number of pixels. 
   
   
       18 . The system or method of  claim 16 , wherein at least one operation mode is characterized in that at least two head pixel maps differ from each other and include different number of pixels. 
   
   
       19 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 15 , wherein said supply apparatus comprises a building material flow unit, controllable by said control unit and arranged for selectively allowing flow of building materials to said fabrication apparatus. 
   
   
       20 . The system or method of  claim 19 , wherein said supply apparatus comprises a plurality of containers for holding said plurality of building materials, and wherein said flow unit is arranged to allow flow of different building materials to different dispensing heads. 
   
   
       21 . The system or method of  claim 19 , wherein said supply apparatus comprise a plurality of containers for holding said plurality of building materials, and wherein said flow unit is characterized by at least a first state and a second state, said second state being defined such that at least two different dispensing heads are fed by different modeling materials, and said first state being defined such that all dispensing heads are supplied by the same modeling material. 
   
   
       22 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 21 , wherein said control unit is configured to allow dispensing of more than one modeling material at the same time. 
   
   
       23 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 22 , wherein said control unit is operative to dynamically change said operation mode by selecting a different operation mode from said plurality of operation modes. 
   
   
       24 . The system or method of  claim 23 , wherein said selection of said different operation mode is according to the number of different modeling materials being dispensed by said dispensing heads. 
   
   
       25 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 23 , wherein said plurality of dispensing heads comprises a plurality of modeling heads having a total of N nozzle arrays, wherein the nozzles in each array are disposed along an indexing direction, said plurality of modeling heads being operable to scan a working surface along a scanning direction being at an angle to said indexing direction so as to form on said working surface a plurality of rows of modeling material along said scanning direction, wherein each row is formed by a nozzle. 
   
   
       26 . The system or method of  claim 25 , wherein said N nozzle arrays are aligned along said scanning direction in a manner such that said rows of modeling material are formed on said working surface in a substantially uniform distribution along said indexing direction. 
   
   
       27 . The system or method of  claim 25 , wherein said plurality of dispensing heads comprises a plurality of support heads having a total of N nozzle arrays wherein the nozzles in each array are disposed along an indexing direction, wherein each nozzle of support material is aligned along said indexing direction with one nozzle of modeling material. 
   
   
       28 . The system or method of  claim 27 , wherein said N is a power of 2, and wherein said N nozzle arrays of modeling material are sequentially ordered with respect to said scanning direction at locations  1  to N such that rows formed by any nozzle array of modeling material at location K are symmetrically disposed between rows formed by all nozzle arrays of modeling material at locations  1  to K−1. 
   
   
       29 . The system or method of any of  claim 1 - 28 , wherein said plurality of dispensing heads comprises a plurality nozzle arrays are arranged in an interlaced manner, and wherein when the same material is supplied to all nozzle arrays, the object is fabricated during not more than half the required dispensing scans compared to when building the object by a single nozzle array. 
   
   
       30 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 28 , wherein said control unit is designed and constructed to ensure that the object's dimensions are rescaled along at least one direction so as to compensate for post-formation shrinkage of said object along said at least one direction. 
   
   
       31 . The system or method of any of  claims 30 , wherein regions having different modeling materials are rescaled according to a different rescaling factor. 
   
   
       32 . The system or method of  claim 30 , wherein regions having different modeling material combinations contacting each other are rescaled according to a common rescaling factor. 
   
   
       33 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 31 , wherein said solid freeform fabrication apparatus comprises a three-dimensional printing apparatus. 
   
   
       34 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 31 , wherein said solid free form fabrication apparatus comprises binder jet powder based apparatus. 
   
   
       35 . The system or method of any of  claims 1 - 31 , wherein said solid freeform fabrication apparatus comprises a fused deposition modeling apparatus. 
   
   
       36 . An article of manufacturing, fabricated by solid freeform fabrication and having a distinguishable pattern thereon. 
   
   
       37 . The article of  claim 36 , wherein said pattern forms a relief on a surface of the article. 
   
   
       38 . The article of  claim 36 , wherein said pattern forms an intaglio in a surface of the article. 
   
   
       39 . The article of  claim 36 , wherein said pattern is flush with a surface of the article. 
   
   
       40 . A method of solid freeform fabrication of an object from at least two different modeling materials, comprising:
 (a) determining a proportion of said at least two different modeling materials, using a lookup table or a mathematical formula; and   (b) dispensing the at least two different modeling materials according to said proportion using a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads.   
   
   
       41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein said proportion is determined so as to provide the object with an attribute other than color. 
   
   
       42 . A method of solid freeform fabrication of an object from at least two different modeling materials, comprising:
 (a) determining a proportion of said at least two different modeling materials; and   (b) dispensing the at least two different modeling materials using the system of  claim 1 .   
   
   
       43 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein said determination of said proportion comprises Boolean comparison between bitmaps representing said at least two different modeling materials with bitmaps representing the object. 
   
   
       44 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the object comprises a spatial zone in which at least one attribute of the material continuously changes from one point to another. 
   
   
       45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the at least one attribute is selected from the group consisting of hardness, solidity, elasticity, flexibility, color, translucency, electrical and/or magnetic behavior. 
   
   
       46 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein said at least two modeling materials comprise a first non-solidifiable solidifiable modeling material and a second non-solidifiable modeling material, and wherein said first and said second non-solidifiable modeling materials mix after said dispensing to form a solidifiable mixed material. 
   
   
       47 . A method for solid free form fabrication, comprising fabricating at least two separate objects on a building tray using different modeling material combinations, wherein the dimensions of the at least two objects are rescaled along a direction so as to compensate for post-formation shrinkage of said objects along said direction, and wherein the scale factors along said direction of the at least two different objects are different. 
   
   
       48 . The method of  claim 47 , wherein regions having different modeling material combinations that touch each other are rescaled according to a common rescaling factor. 
   
   
       49 . A printing device for a three-dimensional printing apparatus, comprising:
 a movable printing assembly having a plurality of printing units; and   a service assembly having a plurality of service stations;   wherein said printing assembly is configured for docking near said service assembly such that a temporary fluid communication is established between at least one printing unit and at least one service station during said docking.   
   
   
       50 . A three-dimensional printing apparatus, comprising:
 the printing device of  claim 49 ;   a control unit for controlling said printing assembly and said service assembly; and   a building tray for receiving building material from said printing assembly and for carrying an object formed by said building material.   
   
   
       51 . A system for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
 the printing apparatus of  claim 50 ; and   a building material supply apparatus configured to supply a plurality of building materials to said printing apparatus.   
   
   
       52 . The device, apparatus or system of  claim 49 ,  50  or  51 , wherein said service assembly is stationary. 
   
   
       53 . The device, apparatus or system of  claim 49 ,  50  or  51 , wherein said service assembly is movable. 
   
   
       54 . The device, apparatus or system of  claim 49 ,  50  or  51 , wherein said at least one service station is configured for refilling building material into said at least one printing unit via said temporary fluid communication. 
   
   
       55 . The device, apparatus or system of  claim 49 ,  50  or  51 , wherein said at least one service station is configured for cleaning said at least one printing during said docking. 
   
   
       56 . The device, apparatus or system of  claim 49 ,  50  or  51 , wherein at least one of said service assembly and said printing assembly comprises a plurality of actuating units configured for disconnecting and connecting said at least one printing unit from said printing assembly. 
   
   
       57 . The device, apparatus or system of  claim 49 ,  50  or  51 , wherein said service assembly comprises an arrangement of sensors for sensing presence of service means at said plurality of service stations, and said printing assembly comprises an arrangement of sensors for sensing presence of said plurality of printing units. 
   
   
       58 . The device, apparatus or system of  claim 57 , wherein said sensors are configured for sensing amount of building material in said plurality of printing units. 
   
   
       59 . A method of registering data for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
 (a) selecting at least one material combination, and determining relative amounts of different materials in said material combination; and   (c) recording said at least one material combination and said relative amounts in a computer readable medium;   thereby registering the data.   
   
   
       60 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein (a) further comprises associating a three-dimensional spatial distribution with each material combination. 
   
   
       61 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein said determining said relative amounts, comprises performing experimentations with said different materials. 
   
   
       62 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein said determining said relative amounts, comprises estimating said relative amounts based on properties of each of said different materials. 
   
   
       63 . A method of registering data for solid freeform fabrication of an object, comprising:
 (a) selecting a plurality of material combinations, each material combination being defined by at least two different materials and at least two relative amounts respectively corresponding to said at least two different materials;   (b) for each material combination, associating three-dimensional spatial distribution for each material in said combination; and   (c) recording said plurality of material combinations, said relative amounts and said three-dimensional spatial distribution in a computer readable medium;   thereby registering the data.   
   
   
       64 . The method of  claim 63 , further comprising determining at least one material property corresponding to said material combination. 
   
   
       65 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein said determining said at least one material property, comprises performing experimentations with said different materials. 
   
   
       66 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein said determining said at least one material property, comprises estimating said at least one material property based on properties of each of said different materials. 
   
   
       67 . A method of solid free form fabrication, comprising;
 using a solid freeform fabrication apparatus having a plurality of dispensing heads for dispensing a plurality of different modeling materials such as to form a three-dimensional object, wherein said three-dimensional object comprises of at least two regions which differ from each other by at least one attribute.   
   
   
       68 . The method of  claim 67 , wherein said at least two regions are made of different modeling material combinations, each combination comprising at least two different modeling materials, and the method further comprises selecting relative amounts of said at least two different modeling materials based on an attribute of a respective region. 
   
   
       69 . A method of solid freeform fabrication of an object, the object having a plurality of regions, the method comprising:
 (a) inputting data pertaining to shapes of the object and each of the plurality of regions;   (b) for each region, inputting pre-registered data pertaining to a material combination corresponding to a respective region and to relative amounts of at least two different materials in said material combination; and   (c) operating a solid freeform fabrication system for dispensing said at least two different materials based on said relative amounts.   
   
   
       70 . The method of  claim 69 , wherein said pre-registered data pertaining to said material combination comprises data pertaining to a three-dimensional spatial distribution associated with said material combination. 
   
   
       71 . The method of any of  claims 59 - 70 , wherein said at least two different materials comprise a first non-solidifiable modeling material and a second non-solidifiable modeling material, and wherein a combination of said first and said second non-solidifiable modeling materials forms a solidifiable mixed material. 
   
   
       72 . The method of  claim 69 , wherein (a) comprises:
 inputting data pertaining to shapes and properties of the object; and   dividing said data into a plurality of datasets each representing a different region.   
   
   
       73 . A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
 operating a solid freeform fabrication system for dispensing at least two different modeling materials such as to form a three-dimensional object having a bulk region at least partially surrounded by a skin region,   wherein said bulk region and said skin region are formed of different modeling material or modeling material combinations.   
   
   
       74 . The method of  claim 73 , wherein said bulk region and said skin region have different elasticity. 
   
   
       75 . The method of  claim 73 , further comprising at least one buffer layer interposed between said bulk region and said skin region, said at least one buffer layer being formed of a modeling material or modeling material combination which is different from a modeling material or modeling material combination forming said bulk region. 
   
   
       76 . A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
 dispensing at least one modeling material, at least one support material, and at least one additional material other than a modeling material and a support material, and   at least partially solidifying said at least one modeling material, such as to form a three-dimensional object.   
   
   
       77 . The method of  claim 76 , wherein said at least one additional material is at least partially interlaced with said modeling material. 
   
   
       78 . The method of  claim 76 , wherein said at least one additional material comprises at least one non-solidifiable material. 
   
   
       79 . The method of  claim 76 , wherein said at least partially solidifying said at least one modeling material is executed such that at least part of said modeling material solidifies and said at least one additional material does not solidify. 
   
   
       80 . The method of  claim 76 , wherein said at least one additional material and said at least one modeling material mix after said dispensing to form a solidifiable mixture. 
   
   
       81 . The method of  claim 76 , further comprising removing said at least one additional material so as to form a pours or hollow three-dimensional object. 
   
   
       82 . A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
 operating a solid freeform fabrication system for dispensing at least one support material and at least two non-solidifiable materials, such as to form a three-dimensional object, wherein said at least two non-solidifiable material mix after said dispensing to form a solidifiable mixture.   
   
   
       83 . A method of solid freeform fabrication, comprising:
 providing a plurality of modeling materials and dividing said plurality of modeling materials into at least two categories;   for each category, sorting the modeling materials in said category according to a predetermined criterion and using said sort for generating graphical representation of said modeling materials;   using said graphical representation for selecting at least some modeling materials; and   using a solid freeform fabrication system for fabricating the object from said at least some modeling materials.