Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes – Stereolithographic shaping from liquid precursor
Patent
1998-03-18
2000-04-18
Davis, Robert
Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes
Stereolithographic shaping from liquid precursor
4251744, B29C 3508, B29C 4102
Patent
active
060511796
ABSTRACT:
An apparatus and the method of its operation for rapid prototyping of a three-dimensional object which includes a radiant energy source of a wide beam of radiant energy of suitable intensity and wavelength for curing a layer of photo-curable resin contained in an open vat, a spatial light modulator (SLM) having an array of pixel elements which are individually digitally controllable by a computer, for modulating the radiant energy beam projected from the radiant energy source on a pixel by pixel basis, to form a series of time sequential images of the cross-sectional laminae of the object, an optical system for focusing each image formed by the SLM, one at a time, onto successive layers of photo-curable resin for predetermined exposure times to thereby form stacked laminae of cured resin, each lamina of cured resin being in the shape of a different one of the cross-sectional laminae, and a piston support for lowering each lamina of cured resin after it is formed by the SLM and for depositing a layer of resin corresponding to the thickness of one cross sectional lamina of the three-dimensional object before the step of projecting a new image by the SLM. The SLM, the piston support for lowering, and the optical system operate repeatedly and sequentially until a complete copy of the object is thereby produced.
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Davis Robert
Replicator Systems, Inc.
Shaw, Jr. Philip M.
LandOfFree
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