Three dimensional printing system

a system for producing a three dimensional component by bonding together successive layers of a porous material with droplets of a binder material, said system comprising:

• a binder printhead having an array of nozzles for supplying jets of binder material droplets to selected regions of said layers of porous material;
• means for controlling the supplying of said jets of droplets;
• means for moving said printhead in a raster scan fashion over a layer of said porous material so that during each scan said printhead is moved along a fast-scan axis in at least one direction to provide a first plurality of fast-scanning paths for supplying said droplets to said layer of said porous material;
• wherein said controlling means controls the supplying of droplets so as to variably deflect said droplets which are supplied from said array of nozzles in a direction having a component which is perpendicular to said fast-scanning paths so that the deflection thereof is large enough to cover substantially a distance between adjacent ones of the fast-scanning paths of said droplets so that a selected region of said layer of porous material can be completely covered by said droplets;
• said controlling means further controls the variable deflection of said droplets on to the layers of porous material at which interior portions of the component are to be formed so that positions of said droplets on said layers provide a selected pattern of bonded porous material within the interior portions of the component;
• and
• means for making measurements of changes in times of flight of said droplets from the time at which they are formed at the nozzles of the array to the time at which they impact onto the porous material, the controlling means responding to the measurements to control the placements of said droplets on the porous material, said means for making measurements including:
• means for charging said droplets as they are formed;
• means for imposing a periodic voltage on said charging means to produce charges on said droplets as they are formed;
• means for detecting a signal representative of a periodic charge on said droplets at a level of said layer of porous material;
• and
• means for determining a phase delay between the periodic voltage imposed on said charging means and the periodic charge on the droplets to provide a measurement of the time of flight of said droplets.

A system for measuring the times of flight of droplets from an ink jet printhead to a material, said system comprising:

• a printhead having a nozzle for supplying a jet of droplets to selected regions of said material;
• means for controlling the supplying of said jet of droplets;
• means for providing relative motion between said printhead and said material;
• and
• means for making measurements of changes in times of flight of said droplets from the time at which they are formed at the nozzle to the time at which they impact onto the material, the controlling means responding to measurements measured by said means for making measurements to control the placements of said droplets on the material, said means for making measurements including:
• means for charging said droplets as they are formed;
• means for imposing a periodic voltage on said charging means to produce charges on said droplets as they are formed;
• means for detecting a signal representative of a periodic charge on said droplets at a predetermined point along a flight path;
• and
• means for determining a phase delay between the periodic voltage imposed on said charging means and the periodic charge on said droplets at the predetermined point along the flight path to provide a measurement of the time of flight of said droplets.

A system for producing a three dimensional component by bonding together successive layers of a porous material with droplets of a binder material, the system comprising:

• a binder printhead having an array of nozzles for supplying jets of binder material droplets to selected regions of layers of porous material;
• means for moving the printhead in a raster scan fashion over a layer of the porous material so that during each scan the printhead is moved along a fast-scan axis in at least one direction to provide a plurality of fast-scanning paths for supplying the droplets to the layer of the porous material;
• and
• means for controlling the supplying of the jets of droplets to variably deflect the supplied droplets in a direction having a component which is perpendicular to the fast-scanning paths on to the successive layers of porous material at which interior portions of the component are to be formed so that the positions of the droplets on the successive layers provide a selected three-dimensional pattern of bonded porous material within the interior portions of the component.

A system for producing a three dimensional component by bonding together successive layers of a porous material with droplets of a binder material, the system comprising:

• a binder printhead having an array of nozzles for supplying jets of binder material droplets to selected regions of layers of porous material;
• means for moving the printhead in a raster scan fashion over a layer of the porous material so that during each scan the printhead is moved along a fast-scan axis in at least one direction to provide a plurality of fast-scanning paths for supplying the droplets to the layer of the porous material;
• and
• means for controlling the supplying of the jets of droplets to variably deflect the supplied droplets in a direction having a component which is perpendicular to the fast-scanning paths on to the successive layers of porous material at which edges of the component are to be formed so that the positions of the droplets on the successive layers provide three-dimensional surface contours.

A system for producing a three dimensional component by bonding together successive layers of a porous material with droplets of a binder material, the system comprising:

• a binder printhead having an array of nozzles for supplying jets of binder material droplets to selected regions of the layers of porous material, the binder printhead mounted for movement in a raster scan fashion over a layer of the porous material;
• a controller in communication with the binder printhead for controlling the movement of the binder printhead and the supplying of the jets of droplets;
• the controller including instructions for moving the printhead in a raster scan fashion over a layer of the porous material so that during each scan the printhead is moved along a fast-scan axis in at least one direction to provide a plurality of fast-scanning paths for supplying the droplets to the layer of the porous material;
• and
• the controller including further instructions for variably deflecting the droplets which are supplied from the array of nozzles in a direction having a component which is perpendicular to the fast-scanning paths to create a preselected three dimensional interior pattern of bonded material within the three dimensional component.

A system for producing a three dimensional component by bonding together successive layers of a porous material with droplets of a binder material, the system comprising:

• a binder printhead having an array of nozzles for supplying jets of binder material droplets to selected regions of the layers of porous material, the binder printhead mounted for movement in a raster scan fashion over a layer of the porous material;
• a controller in communication with the binder printhead for controlling the movement of the binder printhead and the supplying of the jets of droplets;
• the controller including instructions for moving the printhead in a raster scan fashion over a layer of the porous material so that during each scan the printhead is moved along a fast-scan axis in at least one direction to provide a plurality of fast-scanning paths for supplying the droplets to the layer of the porous material;
• and
• the controller including further instructions for variably deflecting the droplets which are supplied from the array of nozzles in a direction having a component which is perpendicular to the fast-scanning paths to create a three dimensional surface contour of the three dimensional component.

A system for producing a three dimensional component by bonding together successive layers of a porous material with droplets of a binder material, said system comprising:

• a binder printhead having an array of nozzles for supplying jets of binder material droplets to selected regions of said layers of porous material;
• means for controlling the supplying of said jets of droplets;
• means for moving said printhead in a raster scan fashion over a layer of said porous material so that said printhead is moved along a fast-scan axis to provide a plurality of fast-scanning paths for supplying said droplets to said layer of porous material;
• and
• wherein said controlling means controls the supplying of droplets to variably deflect said droplets which are supplied from said array of nozzles in a direction having a component which is perpendicular to said fast-scanning paths;
• and
• first means for making measurements of changes in positions of said droplets;
• and
• second means for making measurements in times of flight of said droplets from the time at which they are formed at the nozzles of the array to the time at which they impact onto the porous material,
• the controlling means responding to measurements measured by said first and second means for making measurements to control placement of said droplets on the porous material to maintain drop placement accuracy.