Jun 10, 2015 | By Simon

As industry analysts continue to project that 3D technologies will continue to rise tremendously over the next decade and beyond, it’s no surprise that many of the largest consumer electronics companies that exist today are trying to figure out how to best get their own slice of the pie.  

While one-man and small team startups have proven time and time again that staying lean and agile while using modern-day product development tools such as Kickstarter are increasingly becoming one of the most viable options due to low risk and overhead, larger companies are oftentimes less able to move as quickly or be as agile due to chains of command, brand image and more often than not, reputation.  

Although they have previously reported that they have no interest in entering the 3D printer market, it appears that Samsung may have had an interest after all thanks to both a fairly-recent announcement that they have established a team to further explore virtual reality, UAVs, robotics, and 3D printing, as well as a recently unveiled patent that was filed by the company in September of 2014.  

The patent, which credits Samsung design engineers Yeon Kyoung Jung, O Hyun Beak, Keon Kuk, Eun Bong Han, Yong Hyun Lim, and Jong Youb Ryu among those responsible for the design, covers a new proprietary multi-color 3D printing process.   

The process, which is in some ways similar to other multi-colored 3D printing processes we’ve seen in the past, involves the use of multi-color photocurable inks and anti-intercolor bleed agents that are housed in several tanks and each contain their own print heads.  Additionally, a photoinitiator is attached to each of the print heads to ensure that each of the different colored inks are cured near-immediately after being printed.    

According to the patent, during the printing process, these multi-colored print heads move along the XYZ axes and layer both the ink as well as the anti-intercolor bleed agents before being cured by the photoinitiator and moving on to the next subsequent layer until the process has culminated in the finished and desired object.  While we’re yet to see the quality and/or the speed of the process, it appears that the system is designed to offer both high quality results as well as fast print times that rival existing multi-color 3D printing systems.  

In February, a representative at Samsung Electronics said that the company’s new innovation team, which is led by Samsung chief of mobile Shin Jong-kyun, said that the team:

“...will explore how technologies could help people’s daily life for a better future… given the significance of the team, members will have more authority and independence because the main purpose of the team isn’t to develop single devices for any imminent results, but to develop solutions to go with Samsung’s manufacturing capabilities.”

In any case, it would appear that Samsung is letting the team ‘run loose’ with their ideas and those that make the most sense could be further developed into marketable products - similar to how Google has setup their Google X research and developmnt platform that has been responsible for everything from Google Glass to their more recent self-driving car.  

Another Samsung representative added, “We need to constantly explore new ways to meet the needs of people through innovation and updated technologies. This is why Samsung is accelerating efforts to (put) more focus on developing solutions embedded with our components and technologies.”

If the surge of interest in 3D technologies at both the consumer and industrial levels are any indication, then it’s likely that Samsung is currently looking at ways to enter the 3D printing market in a way that makes sense for their brand.  

 

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

 

 

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Willy wrote at 6/10/2015 5:48:17 PM:

First Samsung was sued by Apple for patent infringement. Now they are putting HP technology in their business plan, Strange corporate decisions.

Willy wrote at 6/10/2015 6:47:37 AM:

Huh. Looks exactly like what HP was doing. Wonder if there will be another court issue of Samsung going to court for using some one elses plans yet again. First it was Apple, now?



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