Conductive liquid three dimensional printer

摘要

A printer that produces objects from liquid conductive material is disclosed. In one embodiment, the printhead has a chamber for containing liquid conductive material surrounded by an electromagnetic coil. A DC pulse is applied to the electromagnetic coil, resulting in a radially-inward force on the liquid conductive material. The force on the liquid conductive material in the chamber results in a drop being expelled from an orifice. In response to a series of pulses, a series of drops fall onto a platform in a programmed pattern, resulting in the formation of an object.

主权项

1. A device for printing conductive material, comprising:
a structure incorporating at least one first chamber to accumulate a liquid conductive material; a partition at least partially submerged in a pool of liquid conductive material in the first chamber, said pool of liquid conductive material extends continuously and without interruption by gas pockets from the partition to an orifice during operation of the structure; wherein the pool of liquid conductive material is suspended above the orifice such that liquid conductive material does not flow out of the orifice under gravity alone; an electromagnetic coil to produce a radially-directed electromotive force on said liquid conductive material in response to a pulse of DC voltage applied to the electromagnetic coil; wherein the radially-directed electromotive force causes the liquid conductive material to flow within the first chamber; wherein the first chamber is adapted to direct the flow of liquid conductive material with the partition working in conjunction with the electromagnetic coil to redirect upward flow caused by the radially-directed electromotive force within the pool of liquid conductive material downward to push out a drop of liquid conductive material from the orifice.