Additive manufacturing device with release mechanism

Abstract

An additive manufacturing device has a vessel for containing a polymerizable material, a build platform and a curing unit. The vessel has a flexible wall which is at least partially transparent to radiation at one or more wavelengths at which the material is polymerizable. The build platform is movable relative to the vessel to position a build surface thereof to face the flexible wall. The curing unit has a rigid component with a planar contact surface, the rigid component being at least partially transparent to radiation at the one or more curing wavelengths, and a radiation module positioned to emit radiation through the rigid component. The rigid component and the vessel are movable relative to each other. In a first position, the planar contact surface of the rigid component is in contact with the flexible wall, and in a second position, the rigid component is separated therefrom.

1 . An additive manufacturing device, comprising:
 a vessel for containing a material which is photo-polymerisable at one or more curing wavelengths;   a build platform having a build surface, the build platform being movable relative to the vessel to position the build surface to face a bottom of the vessel;   a curing unit housed in an enclosure, the curing unit comprising:
 a flexible membrane at the bottom of the vessel, the flexible membrane being at least partially transparent to radiation at the one or more curing wavelengths; and 
 a radiation module to generate radiation having a pattern; and 
   a pump to change a pressure inside the enclosure that houses the curing unit.   
     
     
         2 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation module comprises an electronically addressable array of radiation emitting or transmitting elements, the array being configurable to produce a radiation pattern by selective activation of the elements of the array. 
     
     
         3 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 2 , wherein the radiation module comprises a dynamic mask component containing the electronically addressable array, and a radiation source for irradiating through the dynamic mask component. 
     
     
         4 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 3 , wherein the dynamic mask component comprises a liquid crystal display (LCD). 
     
     
         5 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 4 , wherein the LCD is a monochrome LCD. 
     
     
         6 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 3 , wherein the radiation source is a light emitting diode (LED) light source. 
     
     
         7 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation module comprises a light emitting diode (LED) array, or an organic LED (OLED) array. 
     
     
         8 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is an air-tight enclosure. 
     
     
         9 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 3 , wherein the dynamic mask component comprises a rigid component having a planar contact surface. 
     
     
         10 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 9 , wherein the rigid component and the vessel are movable relative to each other for the planar contact surface to be in contact with the flexible membrane in a first position, and for the planar contact surface to be separated from the flexible membrane in a second position. 
     
     
         11 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 9 , wherein the pump is operable to reduce or increase the pressure inside the enclosure for the flexible membrane to wrap tightly over or move away from the planar contact surface. 
     
     
         12 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible membrane comprises at least one of: a fluoropolymer or an elastomer. 
     
     
         13 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible membrane comprises a fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) film. 
     
     
         14 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 1 , wherein the enclosure comprises a rounded edge. 
     
     
         15 . The additive manufacturing device of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible membrane is elastic.