Additive manufacturing process for producing chemical delivery devices using screening
AssigneeGenesee Valley Innovations, LLC
InventorPatricia J. Donaldson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of forming a chemical delivery device with an active chemical includes generating image data using an arrangement of numeric threshold values and a concentration parameter for the active chemical. The method also includes ejecting a chemical carrier including the active chemical into a portion of a plurality of cavities formed in the chemical delivery device using the image data to produce the chemical delivery device with a concentration of the active chemical corresponding to the concentration parameter.
Claims20
A method of producing a chemical delivery device with a three-dimensional object printer comprising:
- receiving with a controller a first concentration parameter for a first active chemical in a first region of a substrate in the chemical delivery device;
- generating with the controller image data using an arrangement of numeric threshold values and with reference to the first concentration parameter, the image data including a plurality of activated pixels that correspond only to locations of a first portion of a plurality of cavities formed in a substrate that receive the first active chemical;
- and
- ejecting with at least a first ejector a predetermined amount of a first chemical carrier including the first active chemical into each cavity in the first portion of the cavities in the substrate with reference to the image data to produce the chemical delivery device with a concentration of the first active chemical corresponding to the first concentration parameter.
An additive manufacturing process for a three-dimensional (3D) object printer comprising:
- assigning a numerical range that corresponds to each material percentage in a plurality of material percentages, each assigned numerical range does not overlap with the numerical range assigned to any other material percentage;
- generating image data for a layer of an object to be formed by the 3D object printer using the assigned numerical ranges and an arrangement of numeric threshold values configured to prevent mixing of different active chemicals during the additive manufacturing process;
- and
- operating a plurality of dispensers using the generated image data for the layer to distribute a plurality of materials in the layer at non-overlapping locations within the layer in accordance with the material percentages.
A method of making an object with a three-dimensional (3D) printer comprising:
- generating image data for each of a plurality of successive layers of the object using an arrangement of numeric threshold values including dot centers that are uniformly sized and pseudo-randomly distributed throughout a two or three dimensional space, wherein for each of said successive layers the image data includes (i) a plurality of activated pixels that correspond to locations in each successive layer that receive a first material and (ii) a plurality of inactivated pixels that correspond to locations in each successive layer that receive a second material that is different than the first material;
- and
- printing the successive layers of the object using the generated image data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.