Jetted material printer with pressure-assisted fluid extraction
AssigneeSakuu Corporation
InventorsPhilip Eugene Rogren, Morteza Vatani, Ronald Anthony Rojeski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A three-dimensional (3D) inkjet printer is configured to build up an object by printing a series of layers and stacking them to form the object. In order to speed printing, drying of each layer is accelerated by using a pressure differential to extract liquid vehicle from the ink, and by moving the printed layer away from the inkjet print heads before drying so that the inkjet print heads may print the next layer. The dried printed layer may also be conditioned and/or cured. Dried printed layers are stacked at a build station to assemble the finished object.
Claims17
A method of three-dimensional (3D) printing, comprising:
- depositing an ink onto a substrate with an inkjet print head to form a printed layer, the ink including a particulate material and a liquid vehicle;
- transporting the printed layer away from the inkjet print head;
- removing a portion of the liquid vehicle from the printed layer via a vacuum applied to a lower surface of the printed layer while applying pressure to an upper surface of the printed layer via a pressure plate configured to physically contact the upper surface of the printed layer to form a dried printed layer;
- and
- transferring the dried printed layer to a build station to form a stack of printed layers.
A method of three-dimensional (3D) printing, comprising:
- depositing an ink onto a substrate with an inkjet print head to form a printed layer, the ink including a particulate material and a liquid vehicle;
- and
- removing a portion of the liquid vehicle from the printed layer via a vacuum applied to a lower surface of the printed layer while applying pressure to an upper surface of the printed layer via a pressure plate configured to physically contact the upper surface of the printed layer to form a dried printed layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.