Patent ID: 11966666
Assignee: INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AUSTRIA
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 16:
17. A method of reproducing an object, said method comprising:
designing at least one re-usable two-pieced flexible mold for the reproduction of the object, wherein designing comprises the following steps:
a) taking as an initial input (IN) a digital surface description (D) of the object to be reproduced, said input (IN) comprising a closed surface mesh (Mi) of the object to be reproduced, said initial closed surface mesh (Mi) being aligned with a surface of the object to be reproduced;
b) calculating the flexible mold by executing the following steps:
b1) separating the mesh into a number of connected surface patches (P1, P2), wherein each surface patch (P1, P2) is associated with a patch-individual parting direction and is selected based on an heuristic estimation of the effort for removal of each patch (P1, P2) from the flexible mold and wherein a design and number of patches (P1, P2) is selected based on a minimization algorithm; wherein the mesh comprises faces, wherein a visibility of a face is evaluated from a number of different viewpoints determined by potential parting directions, wherein neighbouring faces having at least one similar potential parting direction are grouped into a potential patch, splitting the mesh into a number of potential patches, and wherein an optimal set of patches is determined by the following criterions: {minimizing number of patches within a set, while ensuring that the entirety of the patches cover the entire mesh; minimizing the effort of removal of the patches (P1, P2) within a set};
b2) calculating the flexible mold based on the surfaces patches (P1, P2) yielded in step b1), wherein the number of pieces of the flexible mold corresponds with the number of patches (P1, P2);

c) calculating a process of production of the flexible mold, wherein the calculation comprises a selection of either:
c_1) calculating a corresponding rigid metamold for casting the flexible mold yielded in step b); or
c_2) calculating a process for additively manufacturing the flexible mold; and

d) yielding a design of the flexible mold of step b) and a result of the calculation of the process of production according to step c) as an output (OUT);
producing the two-pieced flexible mold utilizing the design yielded as the output (OUT) in step (d);
filling a cavity defined by the two-pieced flexible mold with a flexible casting material; and
forming the object from the flexible casting material within the filled cavity of the flexible mold.