As of February 2017, Netherlands-based 3D printer manufacturer Ultimaker has filed its first patent in the 3D printing industry. The patent protects the Active Bed Leveling technology found insideUltimaker 3系列。3D打印机于2016年10月首次发布.
Protecting IP in the industrial market
正如Lana Lozova在公司博客上的一篇文章中所解释的那样，此行动是一种防御专利。Ultimaker表示，该专利旨在保护公司的发明免受竞争对手的侵害。正如Lozova解释的那样，
工业添加剂制造市场有一些强大的雷电竞充值参与者，其中一些人非常积极主动，专利[…]
防御专利有助于保护公司免受专利侵权诉讼。它还可以使公司反驳竞争对手是否起诉侵权或其他任何原因。
Ultimaker还向用户保证，此举并不是关闭开源社区的一步。Lozova解释说，
We won’t be initiating patent lawsuits against anyone who uses our technology in good faith – for example, for personal use, research or small business development […]
我们也愿意共同开发，也不会声称其他方面的IP权利。Ultimaker 3步骤文件将在GitHub上共享，我们将继续使用开源许可。
专利涵盖什么？
Active Bed Leveling is Ultimaker’s term for the process that automatically sets up the build plate for 3D printing. Bed leveling is one of the key factors that affects the success of a 3D print.
与在3D打印机中发现的自动床平整相反，Ultimaker 3中的床并没有移动，正如Ultimaker的戴德所解释雷电竞app下载的那样，“We do not level the bed, the bed stays where it is. We compensate for a tilted bed.”
Active bed levelling. Clip viaUltimaker在YouTube上
The filed patent covers the process for one or more nozzles, with contactless sensors that detect the distance between those nozzles, a flat bed, and in relation to the center of the surface.More detail is added in a blog post by SandervG.
3D印刷行业将在该专利上发表有关制造商社区反应的进一步故事。注册我们的时事通讯， 和关注我们活跃的社交媒体渠道to be the first in the know.
特色图片显示了3D打印机的Ultimaker 3家族。雷电竞app下载通过Ultimaker的照片
