3D printer
OwnerGregory D. Vialleinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mobile autonomous printer includes a body, a plurality of hollow arms extending outwardly from the body, a pump system in each of the plurality of hollow arms, wherein the pump system in each of the plurality of hollow arms is switchable to extrude or take in material, and a vessel disposed within the body for mixing materials prior to deposition. Articulation of the hollow arms provides for mobility of the mobile autonomous printer. A method of building a structure includes printing portions of the structure using a plurality of printers and embedding the plurality of printers into the structure. The printers embedded in the structure may function as a network of switchable pumps. Distinct conduits constructed into the structure supply chemically reacting constituents of the material that forms the structure.
Claims14
A method of building a structure, comprising:
- printing portions of the structure using a plurality of printers, each of the printers comprising at least three arms each containing a pump configured to select between extruding and taking in materials for use as active printheads in building the structure via selective deposition;
- embedding in situ a subset of the plurality of printers into the structure to provide embedded pump nodes, while a remaining portion of the plurality of the printers remain as active printhead printers;
- wherein the embedded pump nodes in the structure function together as a network to selectively transport material via in situ printed conduits to the active printhead printers for deposition onto the structure;
- wherein the active printhead printers connect pump arms to the in situ conduit network to take in material;
- wherein material mixed within a manifold mixing vessel of one of the printers is combined with material transported through another pump arm and conduit path.
A method of building a structure, comprising:
- printing a plurality of layers of the structure using a plurality of mobile autonomous printers, wherein each of the mobile autonomous printers comprises (a) a body, (b) a plurality of hollow arms extending outwardly from the body, (c) a pump system in each of the plurality of hollow arms, wherein the pump system in each of the plurality of hollow arms is switchable in order to switch between extruding and taking in material to or from a manifold, and (d) the manifold disposed within the body of the mobile autonomous printer;
- and
- embedding at least a subset of the plurality of the mobile autonomous printers into the structure as the structure grows to provide a selectable interconnected network of pump nodes, while a remaining subset of the plurality of the mobile autonomous printers remain as active deposition printers;
- wherein the switchable interconnected network of pumps is configured to transport the material through the structure to the active deposition printers;
- wherein at least one of the plurality of hollow arms extending outwardly from the body of each of the mobile autonomous printers further comprises an articulating joint for moving each of the mobile autonomous printers;
- wherein the structure further comprises in situ constructed holding tanks, wherein the holding tanks are configured to store the material prior to mixing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.