System and method for printing a three-dimensional object

Abstract

A three-dimensional printing system to print three-dimensional objects and a method of printed are disclosed. The system includes one or more printing heads, two or more cartridges, two or more sensors configured to determine the status of building material in the cartridges and a controller configured to receive data from the sensors and to control switching of building material supply from one cartridge to another. The printing method includes measuring data from two or more sensors to determine the status of the three-dimensional building material in the cartridges, controlling supply of the building material based on data received from the sensors and controlling switching of building material supply from one cartridge to another.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A three-dimensional printing system to print three-dimensional objects comprising:
 one or more printing heads;   two or more cartridges configured to provide building materials suitable for printing said three-dimensional objects;   two or more sensors configured to determine the status of building material in said cartridges; and   a controller configured to receive data from said sensors and to control switching of building material supply from one of said cartridges to another.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of said sensors is associated with a respective one of said cartridges. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sensors are selected from a group comprising material type sensors, material color sensors, cartridge availability sensors, material weight sensors and mass sensors. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said two or more cartridges are arranged as part of a cartridge array. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said cartridges is coupled to a memory device to record data relating to building material in the cartridge. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said cartridges comprises a bag configured to store said building material. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a valve matrix coupled to said two or more cartridges and configured to control supply of building materials from said cartridges to said printing heads. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said controller is configured to calculate material parameters for building materials in one or more of said cartridges. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 at least one memory device associated with one of the cartridges that stores material parameters related to the building material in said cartridge; and 
 at least one memory device reader coupled to the at least one memory device and to the controller and configured to transfer data from the at least one memory device to the controller. 
 
     
     
         10 . A printing method comprising:
 measuring data from two or more sensors to determine the status of three-dimensional building material in two or more cartridges configured to provide building materials suitable for printing said three-dimensional objects;   controlling supply of said building material from any of said cartridges based on data received from the sensors; and   controlling switching of building material supply from one of said cartridges to another.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein controlling the switching comprises automatically switching cartridges if one of said cartridges requires replacement. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein controlling the switching comprises alerting an operator if one of said cartridges requires replacement. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10  comprising computing an amount of time remaining before one of said two or more cartridges requires replacement. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  comprising computing an amount of building material required to print an object. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the two or more sensors are weight sensors and measuring comprises measuring the mass of said building material in said two or more cartridges. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving material parameters from two or more memory devices each associated with one of the cartridges, wherein controlling the switching is based on said material parameters.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein said material parameters includes type of material, material color, viscosity and surface tension. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10  comprising:
 determining supply parameters for said two or more cartridges based on amounts of one or more building materials required for a printing a given object, wherein controlling the switching is based on said supply parameters 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said controlling of material supply is enabled by controlling a set of valves.