Covering All Technology and Application Areas of Additive Fabrication Including:
RAPID PROTOTYPING    3D PRINTING    RAPID TOOLING    RAPID MANUFACTURING

Update 52.      BRIEF Highlights 9/4/07 to 12/4/07:

202 US RP patents and patent applications were published during this three month period. It's estimated that the original material reviewed for this update is more than 5,000 pages. Obviously, this summary can't provide a complete picture of all important developments. A detailed analysis, with complete information about each patent and application published during the period is available at low cost. This indexed, Acrobat pdf format report is more than 200 pages long and includes nearly 200 illustrations. Review the entire contents rapidly by category, or quickly page through to make sure you know what's happening in the complex world of RP technology. Here are a FEW highlights from Update 52.

ISSUED PATENTS and PATENT APPLICATIONS PUBLISHED

Technology

• TNO (Netherlands) has been granted a patent for a method of continuous inkjetting of viscous fluids. High pressure is used to produce discrete uniform droplets of such materials as thermoplastics in the melted state. See Fig. 1.

• Hewlett Packard has received a patent for a variation on three dimensional printing which uses translating powder bins as opposed to moving deposition means and stationary bins. It's said to allow the use of components that are currently used in 2D printers and therefore less expensive. See Fig. 2.

Manufacturing

• Siemens AG (Germany) is the likely assignee for a patent application written by Michael Eberler et al. Laser sintering is used to directly manufacture complex gradient coil structures for nuclear magnetic resonance instruments. See Fig. 3.

• Caterpillar Inc. has received a patent for the use of additive fabrication in making a complex power system component. Laser powder forming technology is used to make a turbine wheel for a supercharger. Operation at 200,000 RPM requires precision and material integrity. See Fig. 4.

   

   

   

   

   

  
• Sonitus Medical, Inc. has had several patent applications published this quarter that describe a novel approach to hearing aid fabrication. One or more extra microphones are mounted to the teeth and receive sounds by bone conduction. The signal may be used to cancel unwanted noise or otherwise improve information processing for the patient. See Fig. 5.

• A published patent application by Francis Reininger describes a fiber-coupled artificial compound eye. The system is modeled after the eyes of insects and provides a wide angle view with an infinite depth of field. The structure is made using stereolithography and then coated with aluminum. See Fig. 6, below.

• Stereolithography permits the direct fabrication of single piece, light-weight, complex missile igniters without tooling according to a patent issued to the US Army this period.

• A published patent application from Lucent Technologies, Inc. uses raised micro-scale features to provide surfaces which reduce the resistance to flow of fluids to very low values. In addition, such hydrophobic surfaces can make biochips, micro-reactors and the like self-cleaning. See Fig. 7.

• Toyota Motorsport GmbH and EOS GmbH (both of Germany) are co-assignees for a patent application concerning laser sintering materials with improved properties. Spherical plastic powders incorporate reinforcing fibers while retaining good flow characteristics.

• Timothy Moore et al (Australia) describe biodegradable polyurethane and polyurethane ureas suitable for use in fused deposition modeling (FDM) in their patent application. The materials can be used for tissue engineering and repair.

• CAD and rapid prototyping are used to create a mold to make a hydrogel-based prosthetic device which may be used to modify facial aesthetics according to a patent application by Nathaniel David. Previous plastic surgery applications of rapid prototyping have appeared, but this may be the first specifically aimed at modifying facial features.

• Glaxo Group (UK) has applied for a patent on a method of predicting where inhaled medicines are deposited in the lungs. Realistic throat geometries are fabricated using data from an MRI and an additive fabrication method such as FDM. The setup enables accurate experimental data to be gathered. See Fig. 8.

• An interesting variation on additive fabrication of pharmaceutical dosage forms is presented in a published patent application by Aprecia Pharmaceutical Co. Batch codes, surface markings and textures, and internal features to guard against counterfeiting are proposed. See Fig. 9.
  

   

• A mold made by additive fabrication is used to cast a Nitinol shape-memory device for insertion into the heart according to a patent application by Edwards Lifesciences Corp. The unit is deployed between the mitral valve leaflets and prevents regurgitation through that valve. The device is made in two pieces that are inserted individually, the first being an anchor for mounting it and the second the valve device itself. See Fig. 10.