Patent ID: 9233507
Filing Date: 2016-01-12
CPC Classification: B29C,B33Y

Claim Text:
1. A three-dimensional (3-D) printer comprising a print head and a print bed, a positioning system configured to displace the print head and print bed relative to each other, the tilt between the axis of the print head and print bed being adjustable; a calibrated sensor device having a light source, at least three photo detectors and an output, the light source emitting a beam, the beam directed towards a reflecting surface, the beam reflecting from the surface, the detectors configured to detect the reflecting beam, the detectors of the sensor device generating an output signal, the output of the sensor device connected to a processor, the processor loaded with software having an algorithm; the algorithm used to calculate a tilt correcting output; the output sent to a print bed tilt adjustment means to adjust the tilt between the print head and the print bed; so that at any stage that is, before, during, and after the printing process upon activation the light source emits a beam that is reflected from the reflecting surface and detected by the detectors, the detectors of the sensor device then generating an output signal that is used by the processor to calculate a tilt correcting output which is sent to the print bed tilt adjusting means, which then adjusts the tilt between the print head and print bed, wherein the algorithm includes the following steps: grouping the output signal of the detectors, into a max group containing the detectors having a high reading output and into min group containing the light detectors having a low reading output and then using a look-up table to calculate the tilt correcting output.