PRINTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRINTING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL STRUCTURE, PROVIDING REAL-TIME QUALITY CONTROL OF THE PRINTED OPTICAL STRUCTURE

• Main Authors: GROET, Guido, BISKOP, Joris, VAN DEN HEUVEL, Kevin-Koos
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 13.06.2018
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS; i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; LINING MACHINES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PRINTING; PRODUCING PARTICULAR ARTICLES FROM PLASTICS OR FROM SUBSTANCESIN A PLASTIC STATE; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; STAMPS; TRANSPORTING; TYPEWRITERS; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

The present invention refers to a printing system for printing a three-dimensional optical component (2), comprising a printing unit comprising a print head (3) with ejection nozzles (4) for ejecting droplets (6) of printing ink, comprising a measurement unit to measure optical properties of a pre-structure of the three-dimensional optical component (2) characterized in that the measurement unit comprises at least one light source (9) and at least one light detector (11), further comprising a process control unit for determining the difference between the measured optical properties of the pre-structure and target optical properties of the pre-structure. The present invention further relates to a corresponding method.