Process for Large-Scale Free-Form 3D Printing

Web Published:

1/14/2015

Description:

Process for Large-Scale Free-Form 3D Printing

Princeton Docket # 14-3040

Large-scale 3D printers have constraints which include being slow for mass production, not cost-effective, and limited in available printing materials. Researchers in the School of Architecture at Princeton University have developed a technique for increasing the viability of large-scale 3D printing. By leveraging material computation and the relationships between materials, the process allows for large volumes to be extruded more efficiently, drastically decreasing the time required to create large prototypes. The process also enables a variable extrusion path direction, which can increase the strength of the printed object.

Application:

· Generation of rapidly prototyped parts

Advantages:

· Parts can be printed as continuous spatial extrusions

· Process allows for more intricate, complex, and intertwined geometry

· Process utilizes a relationship between materials to avoid the constraints of gravity during fabrication and allows faster spatial printing

· Can be enabled in both desktop manufacturing and rapid production of large parts

· Reduces the complexity of the 3D printing process

Video Demonstration

https://vimeo.com/98339071

Inventor

Ryan Johns holds a BA in Architecture with a concentration in Mathematics from Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University, where he continues to work as a Research Specialist and Lecturer in the School of Architecture (SoA). He has worked in the offices of KPF and DS+R, as a fabricator for Robert Lazzarini and as a research assistant at the Gramazio & Kohler chair of Digital Fabrication, ETH Zurich. He has served as an assistant instructor for courses in computation, construction and fabrication at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at the Princeton SoA. He is the recipient of Princeton University’s Suzanne Kolarik Underwod Prize in 2013 and the KUKA Young Potential Award at Rob/Arch 2012.

Intellectual Property Status

Patent protection is pending.

Princeton is seeking to identify appropriate partners for the further development and commercialization of this technology.

Contact

Laurie Tzodikov
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-7256• tzodikov@princeton.edu

Laurie Bagley
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-5579• lbagley@princeton.edu