Patent Application
20200282651
The present invention relates to a peripheral apparatus of a 3D (3-dimensional) printer, and in particular, to a feeding control system of a 3D printer and a feeding control method thereof.
FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) is one of the object-forming principles of the 3d printer. The main process of FDM is as follows. The material is heated to an elevated temperature in a semi-molten state, then extruded on a platform and reverts to a solid state quickly. In this way, the stacking process is repeated to form a 3D object.
To increase the feeding speed of the above-mentioned material, a rear feeding motor and a front feeding motor are currently used to convey the filament sequentially to the front feeding nozzle, which can save the time of delivering the filament to the nozzle by the user and thus improves use convenience in which when the filament is carried to the front feeding motor, the front feeding motor synchronizes with the rear feeding motor to deliver the filament.
However, when the front feeding motor starts to pull the filament, the rear feeding motor will start synchronously to push the filament. During the fast printing process or the pull-back process, the issue that the speed of the front feeding motor does not synchronize with that of the rear feeding motor is particularly prone to occur. As a result, the filament is worn, squeezed, blocked, or broken, which causes poor printing quality.
In view of foregoing, the inventor pays special attention to research with the application of related theory to propose the cooling fan of the present invention, a reasonable design, to overcome the above disadvantages regarding the above related art.
The present invention provides a feeding control system of a 3D printer and a feeding control method thereof, which uses the mechanism when the second feeding apparatus holds the filament, the first feeding apparatus releases the filament immediately and stops pulling the filament to solve the problem of different feeding speeds and enhance the printing quality of the 3D printer.
In an embodiment, the present invention provides a feeding control system of a 3D printer, used with a filament. The feeding control system comprises a first feeding apparatus, a second feeding apparatus, and a feeding sensor. The first feeding apparatus comprises an outlet, a fixed wheel set, a movable wheel set, and a controller. The fixed wheel set and the movable wheel set hold and deliver the filament to the outlet; the controller is disposed corresponding to the movable wheel set. The second feeding apparatus is installed in the interior of the 3D printer. The feeding sensor is disposed corresponding to the second feeding apparatus and used to sense entrance of the filament and is held by the second feeding apparatus to generate a release signal in which after receiving the release signal, the controller drives the movable wheel set to move away from the fixed wheel set to release the filament.
In an embodiment, the present invention provides a feeding control method of a 3D printer, which comprises the steps of (a) providing a first feeding apparatus comprising an outlet and a driving wheel which drives and delivers a filament, (b) providing a second feeding apparatus installed in the interior of the 3D printer in which when the filament enters the 3D printer, the second feeding apparatus drives and delivers the filament, (c) causing the first feeding apparatus to drive and deliver the filament to the 3D printer through the outlet, and (d) controlling the second feeding apparatus to drive and deliver the filament and causing the first feeding apparatus to stop delivering the filament when the filament enters the 3D printer.
According to the above-mentioned description, when the second feeding apparatus holds the filament, the first feeding apparatus releases the filament immediately and stops pushing the filament. At this moment, only the second feeding apparatus pulls the filament which can solve the problem of different feeding speeds and prevent the filament from being worn, squeezed, blocked, and broken to improve the printing quality of the 3D printer.
The detailed description and technical details of the present invention will be explained below with reference to accompanying figures. However, the accompanying figures are only for reference and explanation, but not to limit the scope of the present invention.
Please refer to
The detailed description is given below. The fixed wheel set 13 has a driving wheel 131 installed on the main frame 11; the driving wheel 131 drives and delivers the filament 200. The outlet 12 is formed on the main frame 11 and disposed corresponding to the rotating direction of the driving wheel 131. The movable wheel set 14 comprises a movable bracket 141 hinged to main frame 11 and a driven wheel 142 installed on the movable bracket 141 and disposed corresponding to the driving wheel 131. The bottom of the movable bracket 141 is provided with a gear tooth 143.
Moreover, the controller 15 comprises a motor 151 and a worm 152 rotating with the motor 151. The movable bracket 141 drives the driven wheel 142, by means of the screw linkage between the gear tooth 143 and the worm 152, to approach the driving wheel 131 to hold and deliver the filament 200 or to move away from the driving wheel 131 to release the filament 200.
In addition, the first feeding apparatus 1 further comprises two auxiliary wheels 16 installed on the main frame 11. The two auxiliary wheels 16 are disposed between the outlet 12 and the driving wheel 131 to hold and delver the filament 200. The two auxiliary wheels 16 are used to direct the filament 200 to be delivered from the driving wheel 131 to the outlet 12. Therefore, the number of the auxiliary wheels 16 can be adjusted or the auxiliary wheels 16 can be omitted depending on the distance from the driving wheel 131 to the outlet 12.
As shown in step b and
As shown in step c and
Besides, in an embodiment, the feeding tube 3 can be optionally omitted and instead the user places the filament 200 manually to the second feeding apparatus 2 (or the interior of the 3D printer 100) after the first feeding apparatus 1 delivers the filament 200 to the outlet 12. The second feeding apparatus 2 which has at least one driving wheel to pull the filament 200 can be a mechanism design with which a person having general knowledge and ordinary skills in the art is familiar or an identical or similar design to the above-mentioned first feeding apparatus 1.
As shown in step d and
The further explanation is given below. A feeding sensor 4 is provided and disposed corresponding to the second feeding apparatus 2 to sense entrance of the filament 200 driven and delivered by the second feeding apparatus 2 to generate a release signal. That is, the feeding sensor 4 is used to sense the second feeding apparatus 2 holds the filament 200 to generate a release signal.
A controller 15 is provided and disposed corresponding to the first feeding apparatus 1 such that the delivery of the filament 200 by the first feeding apparatus 1 is stopped after the controller 15 receives the release signal.
The detailed description is as follows. A fixed wheel set 13 and a movable wheel set 14 are provided. The driving wheel 131 is disposed at the fixed wheel set 13. The movable wheel set 14 and the fixed wheel set 13 are controlled apart from each other to release the filament 200 and the driving wheel 131 is caused to stop the delivery of the filament 200 by the first feeding apparatus 1. That is, after receiving the release signal, the motor 151 rotates the worm 152 to drive the movable bracket 141 to move away from the driving wheel 131 to release the filament 200; the driving wheel 131 stops rotating after receiving the release signal.
As shown in
The operational states of the feeding control system 10 of the present invention are explained as follows. First, as shown in
Also, as shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
In the prior art, when the front feeding motor starts to pull the filament, the rear feeding motors synchronizes to start pushing the filament, which easily results in asynchronous speeds of the front feeding motor and the rear feeding motor. Compared with the prior art, when the second feeding apparatus 2 of the present invention holds the filament 200, the first feeding apparatus 1 releases the filament 200 immediately to stop pushing the filament 200 and only the second feeding apparatus 2 pulls the filament 200. Consequently, the problem of different feeding speeds is overcome and the filament is prevented from being worn, squeezed, blocked, or broken to improve the printing quality of the 3D printer 100.
Please refer to
The further explanation is as follows. A projecting plate 144 protrudes from the movable bracket 141. The controller 15 comprises a motor 151, a cam 153, and a return spring 154; the cam 153 rotates with the motor 151 and is disposed corresponding to one side of the projecting plate 144; the return spring 154 is clamped between the main frame 11 and the other side of the projecting plate 144. When the motor 151 drives the cam 153 to press against the projecting plate 144, the recovering spring force of the return spring 154 can be resisted such that the driven wheel 142 is driven to approach the driving wheel 131 to hold and deliver the filament 200. When the motor 151 drives the cam 153 to release the projecting plate 144, the recovering spring force of the return spring 154 immediately presses against the projecting plate 144 to drive the driven wheel 142 to move away from the driving wheel 131 to release the filament 200. The person having general knowledge and ordinary skills in the art should realize the above control mechanism can be adjusted to become a reverse design. That is, when the motor 151 drives the cam 153 to press against the projecting plate 144, the driven wheel 142 is caused to move away from the driving wheel 131; when the motor 151 drives the cam 153 to release the projecting plate 144, the driven wheel 142 is caused to approach the driving wheel 131.
After receiving the release signal, the motor 151 drives the cam 153 to release the projecting plate 144 such that the return spring 154 pushes the movable bracket 141 to move away from the driving wheel 131. In this way, the current embodiment can achieve the same function and effect as the embodiment in
Please refer to
The details are given below. The filament 200 and the first feeding apparatus 1 are both plural in number. The filaments 200 are disposed corresponding to the respective first feeding apparatuses 1. The feeding tube 3 has a main tube 31 disposed at one end thereof and a plurality of split tubes 32 which extend from the other end thereof and communicate with the main tube 31. The main tube 31 is connected to the second feeding apparatus 2 and the split tubes 32 are connected to the respective outlets 12.
Furthermore, the feeding control system 10 of the present invention further comprises a calculator 7 and a plurality of reloading sensors 8. The calculator 7 is electrically connected to each of the first feeding apparatuses 1 and the reloading sensors 8 are disposed corresponding to the respective first feeding apparatuses 1. Each of the reloading sensors 8 is used to detect the separation due to shortage of the filament 200 from the outlet 12 to generate a reloading signal. That is, the filament 200 in the first feeding apparatus 1 runs out, the reloading sensor 8 will send a reloading signal.
When the calculator 7 receives the reloading signal sent from one of the first feeding apparatuses 1, another first feeding apparatus 1 will deliver the filament 200 to the main tube 31 through the corresponding split tube 32. That is, the fixed wheel set 13 and the movable wheel set 14 of another first feeding apparatus 1 are driven to hold and deliver the filament 200 to the split tube 32 (or the filament 200 has been delivered to the corresponding split tube 32 when installed in advance) such that the main tube 31 has sufficient filament 200 to be delivered to the second feeding apparatus 2 at any time, which can prevent the 3D printer 100 from stopping by lack of filament 200 to make the feeding control system 10 have the feature of automatic feeding.
In summary, the feeding control system of a 3D printer and the feeding control method thereof of the present invention have never been anticipated by similar products in the market and used in public. Also, the present invention is useful, novel and non-obvious to be patentable. Please examine the application carefully and grant it as a formal patent for protecting the rights of the inventor.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201910175648.5 | Mar 2019 | CN | national |
