Resin slot extruder for additive manufacturing system
AssigneeStratasys, Inc.
InventorsJ. Samuel Batchelder, Moshe Aknin, Jonathan B. Hedlund
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A slot extruder for use with an additive manufacturing system, which includes a plenum configured to receive a photocurable resin, an elongated slot positioned at a bottom end of the plenum and configured to receive the photocurable resin from the plenum, one or more resin inlet ports extending into the plenum, and one or more mechanisms configured to controllably pressurize and depressurize the photocurable resin in the plenum.
Claims28
A slot extruder for use with an additive manufacturing system, the slot extruder comprising:
- a plenum that is at least partially enclosed and configured to receive a photocurable resin;
- a slot positioned at a bottom end of the plenum, and configured to receive the photocurable resin from the plenum, wherein the slot has an average slot width in a direction of movement of the slot extruder, and a span length in a second direction that is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the slot extruder, and wherein the span length more than about 5 times larger than the average slot width;
- and
- one or more resin inlet ports extending into the plenum.
A slot extruder for use with an additive manufacturing system, the slot extruder comprising:
- one or more sidewalls that define regions comprising:
- a plenum configured to extrude a photocurable resin;
- an elongated slot configured to receive the photocurable resin from the plenum;
- a top cover and opposing end walls connected to or integrally formed with the one or more sidewalls to define a volume of the plenum;
- a plurality of resin inlet ports extending into the plenum;
- and
- one or more heater assemblies secured within the plenum and configured to receive commands from a controller assembly of the additive manufacturing system.
The slot extruder of claim 21, wherein the one or more feed lines comprise one or more controllable pumps, one or more controllable valves, or both.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.