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US 12,570,086 B2Granted
Systems and methods for printing a tactile textured surface on a surface of a component
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsEdward Greene, Stephanie Metting, Jason Drexler, Lloyd Layton Womack, II, Anilegna Nunez Abreu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system include controlling, by a control unit, a printer to form one or more tactile features on a surface of a component. Said controlling includes varying a speed of a print head of the printer to vary one or more attributes of the one or more tactile features. In at least one example, said varying the speed includes varying the speed of the print head of the printer during a single pass of the print head in relation to the surface of the component.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- creating, by a control unit, a desired output display that includes one or more tactile features on a surface of a component through unit vector mapping, wherein said creating comprises:
- (a) providing, by the control unit, a unit vector map of the surface of the component in a two dimensional plane, and (b) unit vector mesh unwrapping and image texturing in conjunction with pixel clustering in relation to a speed of a print head of a printer;
- controlling, by the control unit, the printer to form the one or more tactile features on the surface of the component,
- wherein said controlling comprises varying the speed of the print head of the printer to vary one or more attributes of the one or more tactile features.
1 more element
A system comprising:
- a printer including a print head;
- and
- a control unit configured to:
- provide a unit vector map of a surface of a component in a two-dimensional plane,
- create a desired output display that includes one or more tactile features on the surface of the component through the unit vector map, wherein the control unit is configured to create the desired output display through unit vector mesh unwrapping and image texturing in conjunction with pixel clustering in relation to a speed of the print head, and
- control the printer to form the one or more tactile features on the surface of the component,
- wherein the control unit is configured to vary the speed of the print head of the printer to vary one or more attributes of the one or more tactile features.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- creating, by a control unit, a desired output display that includes tactile features on a surface of a component through unit vector mapping, wherein said creating comprises:
- (a) providing, by the control unit, a unit vector map of the surface of the component in a two dimensional plane, and (b) unit vector mesh unwrapping and image texturing in conjunction with pixel clustering in relation to a speed of a print head of a printer;
- controlling, by the control unit, the printer to form the tactile features on the surface of the component,
- wherein said controlling comprises varying the speed of the print head of the printer during a single pass to vary one on or both of height or width of the plurality of tactile features, wherein at least two of the plurality of tactile features differ in relation to one or both of the height or the width,
- said varying the speed comprises:
- reducing the speed of the print head to form at least one of the plurality of tactile features having an increased height, and
- increasing the speed of the print head to form at least one of the plurality of tactile features having an increased width.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.