Stratasys know-how advances anatomical mannequin manufacturing and bicycle saddle design

Industrial 3D printer producer Stratasys has launched a brand new software program module, the Digital Anatomy Creator, for its Digital Anatomy 3D printers in an effort to improve the manufacturing of 3D printed anatomic fashions. 

Alongside the brand new software program module, the corporate has partnered with third-party software program distributors Synopsys’ Simpleware ScanIP Medical and Materialise’ Mimics inPrint to certify its Digital Anatomy and J5 MediJet printers to be included in FDA 510(ok) cleared medical modeling workflows. 

Elsewhere, Stratasys’ not too long ago launched H350 3D printer has additionally been leveraged by German design agency DQBD to provide totally customized biking saddles that provide elevated consolation and efficiency effectivity over these produced by way of conventional strategies, whereas slashing lead occasions and manufacturing prices. 

Advancing customized healthcare

Stratasys’ Digital Anatomy 3D printer was initially launched in 2016 for the manufacturing of anatomical fashions for the medical sector. Since then, the printer has been validated by world coloration authority Pantone and acquired medical upgrades, together with the potential to create fashions that mimic human bone.

The corporate launched its J5 MediJet 3D printer in June this yr, designed particularly for medical purposes equivalent to patient-specific anatomical fashions, surgical guides, and medical tooling. The total-color system leverages Stratasys’ PolyJet know-how and is suitable with a wide selection of sterilizable and biocompatible 3D printing resins.

The Digital Anatomy Creator module

Now, Stratasys is advancing the potential of its medical machines with a brand new software program module, the Digital Anatomy Creator, which permits customers to provide patient-specific anatomic fashions which can be a direct reproduction of a affected person’s anatomy. 

By means of the module, customers can simply manipulate materials formations and customise the interior constructions of their prints due to extra choices and controls. This functionality permits customers to calibrate their printers’ supplies to satisfy the precise necessities of every anatomic mannequin, in an effort to customise and produce ultra-realistic fashions that behave and reply like the true factor. 

The Digital Anatomy Creator additionally allows customers to create, replicate, and share designs throughout a group devoted to patient-specific anatomies for a variety of purposes, starting from prognosis to affected person training. 

“The Digital Anatomy Creator is the lacking hyperlink between the affected person, the printer and the ultimate printed 3D anatomic mannequin,” stated Seth Friedman, Supervisor of Innovation, Imaging and Simulation Modeling for Seattle Kids’s Hospital. “This new software program has allowed us to personalize our anatomic fashions to a mind-blowing stage – we will now present a stage of care that’s really customized to every of our sufferers, which is basically essential when working with youngsters and their caregivers.”

Alongside the introduction of the brand new module, Stratasys has licensed its Digital Anatomy and J5 MediJet 3D printers to be included in FDA 510(ok) cleared medical modeling workflows, by partnerships with third-party software program distributors. Synopsys’ Simpleware ScanIP Medical and Materialise’s Mimics inPrint software program will allow Stratasys’ clients to entry workflows for diagnostic anatomic modeling and point-of-care 3D printing.

“We proceed our journey in direction of accessible, correct, and sensible 3D medical modeling by deepening our structural pathology flexibility with the introduction of the Digital Anatomy Creator module and by validating our digital workflow with third-party segmentation software program with FDA 510(ok) clearance,” stated Osnat Philipp, Vice President, Healthcare, for Stratasys.

“Our options enable suppliers to ship best-in-class healthcare that results in higher outcomes and establishes a brand new stage of care.”

Optimizing biking saddle manufacturing

Shifting away from the medical sector now, and Stratasys has revealed how its not too long ago launched H350 3D printer has been leveraged to provide custom-made biking saddles at scale.

Unveiled in April, the H350 is powered by Stratasys’ Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF) know-how, primarily based on a high-speed sintering course of initially developed by Xaar, which Stratasys acquired in October.

The H350 has been deployed by DQBD to provide totally customized bicycle saddles that reportedly ship a better stage of consolation and efficiency effectivity in comparison with common saddles. The design agency is 3D printing quite a few the saddle’s load-bearing elements at scale utilizing the machine, and says Stratasys’ SAF know-how has up to now enabled it to save lots of as much as £22,000 whereas slashing lead occasions from six months to only 10 days in comparison with injection molding processes. 

“We’ve got at all times deliberate for additive manufacturing to play a pivotal position within the creation of SAM – our biking saddle,” stated Sebastian Hess, CEO at DQBD. “In reality, we designed the saddle with additive manufacturing in thoughts. In addition to delivering constantly correct, production-grade elements at quantity shortly and affordably, the know-how presents a singular alternative to personalize merchandise in a means that can’t be replicated with conventional strategies.”

The SAM saddle is made up of a semi-rigid, customized PA11 3D printed backbone and a 3D thermoformed seat pad. DQBD makes use of software program mapping of strain factors and weight distribution to match the geometry of the saddle with the rider’s physique and driving place, whereas the composition of inflexible and versatile zones inside the saddle’s 3D printed backbone presents help and adaptation the place it’s wanted. 

In response to DQBD, the mixture of inflexible and versatile zones will supply a better stage of consolation to the rider, whereas lowering fatigue. Your entire saddle meeting can be glue-less, which means the elements will be simply separated and reintroduced into manufacturing on the finish of the saddle’s lifetime. 

“We’re undoubtedly seeing a pattern in companies’ readiness for quantity manufacturing of end-use elements,” stated Yann Rageul, Head of Manufacturing Enterprise Unit EMEA & Asia at Stratasys. “DQBD is showcasing how the H350 and its SAF know-how cannot solely optimize your entire manufacturing course of with worthwhile time and price financial savings, but additionally reveals the deployment of additive manufacturing for really distinctive and superior designs – prepared for manufacturing at scale.

“We’re proud to see that the SAM saddle design DQBD created reveals the developments of additive manufacturing inside the product improvement cycle – because the product idea was designed round additive manufacturing from the beginning.”

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Featured picture reveals Digital Anatomy Creator permits customers to advance the creation of useful medical fashions. Photograph by way of Stratasys.