Three-dimensional modeling apparatus, object, and method of manufacturing an object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11203149-B2
Application number	US-201816007012-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2018
Priority date	Aug 19, 2010
Publication date	Dec 21, 2021
Grant date	Dec 21, 2021

Abstract

Provided is a three-dimensional modeling apparatus including a stage, a constraining body, a supply nozzle, an irradiation unit, and a movement mechanism. The constraining body includes a surface including a linear region along a first direction, and is opposed to the stage so that the linear region is the closest to the stage. The supply nozzle supplies a material curable by energy of an energy ray into a slit region between the stage and the linear region. The irradiation unit irradiates the supplied material with the energy ray through the constraining body. The movement mechanism moves the stage relative to the constraining body along a second direction for forming a cured layer of the material for one layer, and moves the constraining body and the stage relative to each other along a stacking direction for stacking the cured layers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A three-dimensional modeling apparatus, comprising:
a movable stage;
a rigid rotatable cylinder comprised of a rigid cylindrical constraining body having a curved rigid surface that includes a linear region oriented along a first direction parallel to an axis of rotation of the rigid cylindrical constraining body, wherein the curved rigid surface has a fixed radius of curvature, wherein the rigid cylindrical constraining body is arranged so as to be opposed to the stage so that the linear region of the curved rigid surface is closest to the stage, and wherein the rigid cylindrical constraining body has a hollow internal region;
a supply nozzle configured to supply a material to the curved rigid surface of the rigid cylindrical constraining body, wherein the material is delivered into a slit region formed of a gap between the stage and the linear region via rotation of the rigid cylindrical constraining body, wherein a thickness of the material is determined by the gap, and wherein the material is curable by energy of an energy ray;
a movable irradiation unit located in the hollow internal region of the rigid cylindrical constraining body, the irradiation unit being configured to irradiate the material with the energy ray by focusing the energy ray to pass as a focused spot through the rigid cylindrical constraining body to the material in the slit region, wherein the irradiation unit is movably supported by a guide rail such that the irradiation unit is movable in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the rigid cylindrical constraining body;
a guide roller configured to support rotation of the rigid cylindrical constraining body; and
a processor configured to operate at least one movement mechanism to move the stage relative to the rigid cylindrical constraining body along a second direction different from the first direction to form a cured layer of the material, the processor being configured to operate the at least one movement mechanism to place the stage at a first position along the second direction and at a second position along the second direction,
wherein at both the first and second positions the stage is aligned with the rigid cylindrical constraining body along a stacking direction that is different from the second direction,
wherein the processor is further configured to operate the at least one movement mechanism to move the stage relative to the rigid cylindrical constraining body along the stacking direction to create a stack of a plurality of the cured layer of the material.

2. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the curved rigid surface that includes the linear region is part of an outer peripheral surface of the rigid cylindrical constraining body.

3. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the hollow internal region of the rigid cylindrical constraining body is a hollow cylindrical region, and the irradiation unit is arranged inside of the hollow cylindrical region.

4. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the guide roller is adjacent the slit region.

5. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a drive portion configured to drive the guide roller.

6. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a cleaning nozzle configured to supply a cleaning material to an object formed on the stage.

7. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the supply nozzle includes a plurality of supply nozzles, and
the plurality of supply nozzles are configured to discharge different materials.

8. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the supply nozzle includes a nozzle of a slit coating type.

9. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the supply nozzle is configured to supply a material having a thixotropy as the material.

10. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the rigid cylindrical constraining body and the supply nozzle are among a plurality of rigid cylindrical constraining bodies and a plurality of supply nozzles included in the apparatus, with each of the plurality of rigid cylindrical constraining bodies and each of the plurality of supply nozzles being correspondingly paired with each other to form a plurality of paired sets of rigid cylindrical constraining bodies and supply nozzles, and
the plurality of paired sets of rigid cylindrical constraining bodies and supply nozzles are arranged along the second direction along which the at least one movement mechanism is configured to move the stage.

11. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the irradiation unit radiates the energy ray so as to form a main body being a target to be modeled and an anchor pattern arranged in at least a part of a periphery of the main body of the object.

12. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the irradiation unit includes
a generation source configured to generate the energy ray, and
a detector configured to detect an intensity distribution of the energy ray generating from the generation source, and

further comprising a control mechanism configured to control relative positions between the rigid cylindrical constraining body and the irradiation unit on a basis of the intensity distribution of the energy ray detected by the detector.

13. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the stage about an axis along the stacking direction.

14. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a protective film that is provided on the surface of the rigid cylindrical constraining body.

15. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an irradiation mechanism configured to radiate a plurality of energy beams as the energy ray; and
a control portion configured to control the irradiation mechanism so that a period of time when all of the plurality of energy beams are being radiated includes a period of time when at least two energy beams of the plurality of energy beams are being radiated simultaneously.

16. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to operate a power controller and a movement controller for the irradiation unit, to modulate an irradiation power of the energy ray during movement of the irradiation unit.

17. A method of manufacturing an object using a three-dimensional modeling apparatus,
the three-dimensional modeling apparatus including
a movable stage and a rigid rotatable cylinder comprised of a rigid cylindrical constraining body having a curved rigid surface that includes a linear region oriented along a first direction parallel to an axis of rotation of the rigid cylindrical constraining body, the curved rigid surface having a fixed radius of curvature, and the rigid cylindrical constraining body being arranged so as to be opposed to the stage so that the linear region of the curved surface is closest to the stage,

the method comprising:
rotating the rigid cylindrical constraining body to deliver a material into a slit region formed of a gap between the stage and the linear region, the material being curable by energy of an energy ray from an irradiation unit, wherein a thickness of the material is determined by the gap;
moving the irradiation uni

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Yasukochi Hiroyuki

Classifications

• B33Y30/00 Primary

  Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor · CPC title

• Y10T428/24479

  including variation in thickness · CPC title

• B29C67/00 Primary

  Shaping techniques not covered by groups B29C39/00 - B29C65/00, B29C70/00 or B29C73/00 · CPC title

• B29C64/188

  involving additional operations performed on the added layers, e.g. smoothing, grinding or thickness control (surface shaping B29C59/00; after-treatment of articles without altering their shape B29C71/00) · CPC title

• B29C64/135 Primary

  the energy source being concentrated, e.g. scanning lasers or focused light sources · CPC title