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

Update 55.      BRIEF Highlights 6/10/08 to 9/10/08:

218 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 300 pages long and includes nearly 300 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 55.

ISSUED PATENTS and PATENT APPLICATIONS PUBLISHED

Technology

• Sony Corp. (Japan) has had two patent applications published for improvements to stereolithography. The method combines both laser-based vector scanning with raster-scanned spatial light modulators (SLMs) and is said to enable faster fabrication of large high-resolution parts.

• Stratasys describes a method of improving the surface quality of FDM-fabricated parts in its just-published patent application. Parts are suspended in a solvent vapor much like the fashion in which a typical degreasing machine operates. A bead-blasting operation is used to bring the parts to their final finish.

• 3D Systems has applied for several patents on many aspects of its VFlash™ technology. Particular emphasis is placed on removing uncured materials from the coating web, cleaning brush systems for the web, the cartridge technology, build pads and supports. See Fig. 1.

• One of the more interesting hearing aid patents issued this period is assigned to Sound Design Technologies, Ltd. (Canada). It describes the use of custom-fabricated hearing aid vents to reduce feedback at particular frequencies, a fairly non-obvious benefit of the use of additive technology.

• Human tissue phantoms that permit training physicians in clinical examinations of the breast and prostate are the subject of a patent granted to Artahn Laboratories, Inc. The devices are said to closely simulate the feel of the real item and are capable of displaying both normal and diseased states. See Fig. 2.

• The fused deposition modeling (FDM) process is used to fabricated ultracapacitors in a patent issued to NaturalNano Research, Inc. A slurry containing mineral microtubules is extruded into electrode structures to form very large value capacitors for energy storage and other applications.

• Arcam's electron beam melting (EBM) is the method used to fabricate a radio frequency cavity for an electron accelerator in a patent just issued to Radiabeam Technologies LLC. The metal housing has a complex geometry that allows a gentle, discontinuity-free field gradient. Such accelerators are a component used in several types of scientific instruments. See Fig. 3.
  

  
  

• The Boeing Company is the likely assignee for three patent applications concerning heat exchangers. The complex geometries are fabricated by electron beam melting (EBM) from Arcam AB, and are said to couple the advantage of requiring no assembly with high thermal efficiency. See Fig. 4.

• Sagem Defense Securite (France) describes the use of stereolithography to fabricate covers for electronic devices such as circuit boards which can guide a cooling air flow to specific components or areas. The technique could both improve performance and lower power and flow requirements for fans and other such components, and takes good advantage of the geometric freedom and low-volume manufacturing capabilities of additive technologies. See Fig. 5.

• Chanel Parfums Beaute (France) has applied for a patent on a batch-manufactured cosmetic applicator. The complex plastic device could be made by a variety of additive processes, but most likely laser sintering. Additive fabrication avoids a number of assembly steps and allows great geometric freedom. What's most interesting is that this is a high-volume consumer application with no customized features that might well compete with more conventional methods. See Fig. 6.

• EOS GmbH and Toyota Motorsport GmbH (both of Germany) are co-assignees for a patent application describing a plastic laser sintering material. PEEK or carbon fibers are contained within spherical particles which allows for uniform depositing and good powder flow characteristics.

• One novel implant that appeared this period is an endobronchial fluid exhaler for aiding conditions such as emphysema. These patients have great difficulty exhaling. The implant stores energy by using a small fan to wind up a spring as the patient inhales, and gives the energy back, spinning the fan in the opposite direction, when the patient exhales. See Fig. 7.

• Micro-electrodes made using additively fabricated molds are the subject of a patent application by Interuniversitair Microelektronica Centrum vzw (Belgium). The devices are said to be able to restore partial- or full-functionality to nerve conduction by bridging a cavity in the central or peripheral nervous system.

• Kimberly-Clark is the assignee for a patent application that combines several advanced technologies to create an immersive visualization center for market research. The basic idea is to build a simulation of, for example, an area of a store that can be quickly and easily manipulated and from which consumer response to products in that environment can be evaluated. Why use laboratory rats when you can use laboratory people?