Optical data fiber in filament: Kai Parthy outlines concept for standard hot ends

Kai Parthy describes a concept in which an optical data fiber is to be fed through a conventional hot end together with a thermoplastic filament. The goal is to develop a solution that does not require special hardware and could run on standard 3D printers, regardless of age or hot end type. This raises the question of how additional functional structures can be integrated into a standard filament without fundamentally changing the printing process. 

As a starting point, Parthy cites previous approaches that rely on hot ends with additional fiber inlets or feed the fiber separately. He wants to avoid this complexity. The requirement is that a “data” filament must be printable with any printer, provided it has a normal hot end. The decisive factor here remains the integration of the optical fiber, which is described as glass fiber. 

Parthy cites two technical solutions for embedding the fiber. These are available as drawings in a “very recent” patent application and are intended to be either integrated directly into filament production or implemented downstream. According to the description, this would allow the optical fiber to be combined with almost any polymer that is suitable as a filament material. He sees an obvious problem in the difference in cross-sections between the filament and the nozzle, but emphasizes that this has been taken into account.

For the time being, the project remains at the conceptual stage. Parthy speaks of a concept stage and is looking for partners and potential licensees to whom he intends to disclose details. As a possible further development, he mentions another product idea with fibers for effective current transport with very low resistance, without conductive graphite and without expensive nanoparticles, which, according to his description, are otherwise added to the base polymer. He is also considering fiber reinforcement with continuous carbon fiber. For further questions, Parthy provides the contact address kai.parthy@gmail.com.