Patent ID: 11969935
Assignee: PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A nozzle for a 3D printing system, the nozzle comprising:
a flowpath with a material inlet and a material outlet;
a valve in fluid communication with the flowpath between the material inlet and the material outlet, the valve including a closed state and an open state, wherein in the closed state a diaphragm of the valve is displaced and obstructs the flowpath between the material inlet and the material outlet, and wherein in the open state the material inlet is in fluid communication with the material outlet; and
a compensator in fluid communication with the flowpath, the compensator including a contracted state associated with the open state of the valve and an expanded state associated with the closed state of the valve, wherein in the contracted state, the compensator provides a portion of the flowpath with a first volume,
wherein the compensator moves from the contracted state to the expanded state when the valve moves from the open state to the closed state such that a decrease in volume of the flowpath caused by the displacement of the diaphragm when closing the valve is approximately equal to an increase in volume of the flowpath caused by movement of the compensator into the expanded state.