Global consumer electronics companyApple Inc.has been granted a patent for what the company hopes will allow the development of faster 3D printers.
Giving the .stl backronym “Standard Triangle Language” a whole new meaning, the patent experiments with an alternate deposition technique called “triangular tesellation.”
这可能是苹果需要宣布它的难题中的最后一块即将发布的3D打印机?
Apple 3D打印机的历史
苹果开发3D打印机的谣言始于2015年，当时该公司获得了专利全彩FDM/FFF系统。此后，在2017年，苹果申请了“指导3D打印系统的方法” and subsequently a further application for the aforementioned全彩3D打印机。
The latest Apple full color 3D printer patent, dated 2018, lists Geoffrey Stahl and Howard A. Miller as inventors, who are also frequently named in previous filings.
加拿大苹果公司的高级印刷系统工程师Michael R. Sweet被列为新的三角形Tesellation专利的唯一发明者。迄今为止，Sweet（通常与Miller一起）列出了该公司约13个不同的3D打印机专利。
Triangular tessellation
Sweet and Apple的最新专利明确与“系统，方法和计算机可读媒体相关，以改善三维（3D）打印机系统的操作”。
The abstract goes on to state that the goal of said techniques is to cut the print time and material consumption of 3D printers. “More particularly,” Sweet continues, “a print-head motion exhibiting a triangular support pattern (aka triangular tessellation) is shown to be more efficient than circular print head motions used in current 3D printers in terms of speed and/or material usage.”
为了澄清，该专利详述的“三角支撑模式”与FFF/FDM 3D打印中通常需要的结构无关。而是这里的“支持”一词是指整个物体的一般结构所需的填充模式。在摘要中，详细介绍如下：
“在一个实施方案中，组成三角形镶嵌的三角形是固定尺寸的三角形。在另一个实施方案中，构成三角形镶嵌的三角形是动态尺寸的三角形，如下图所示。
“举例来说，可以使用小三角形来形成需要强度/支撑的对象边缘或其他区域。较大的三角形可用于建立或构建力量/支持并不那么关键的区域。”
网格打印？
The patent refers to these triangles as print tiles. In relation to the tiles, an assumption could made that an object’s 3D printed triangles are made to directly relate to respective mesh in the .stl file However, though the size of Apple’s triangles change, to match the triangular mesh of a file the interior angles of the shapes would also have to change as can be seen in the 3D mesh of a dolphin below.
尽管已经向苹果公司提出了多项信息，但可以理解的是，对其3D打印机的可能性仍然很紧张。但是，我们尚未排除其在即将举行的行业贸易展览会上的出现。
The full document for Sweet and Apple’s “Using triangular tessellation in 3D printing”专利（2018年10月23日授予的10,105,905号）可以在此处在线找到。
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特色图片显示了通过USPTO/Apple的“在3D打印中使用三角形镶嵌”的图
