This application claims the priority benefit of China application no. 201810143832.7, filed on Feb. 12, 2018. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The disclosure relates to a three-dimensional printing nozzle, a three-dimensional printing nozzle assembly, and a three-dimensional printing apparatus.
With the advance in computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), rapid prototyping (RP) has been developed by manufacturing industries, which can rapidly fabricate original concept designs. The rapid prototyping technology may provide geometric shapes without limitations, and excellence of the rapid prototyping technology is better demonstrated in more complex components. Further, manpower and processing time can be greatly reduced, and designed components on three-dimensional computer-aided design can be realistically rendered in a short amount of time. Not only can the components be touched, but the geometric curves thereof can also be truly appreciated. Moreover, the assembly ability of the components can be tested, and even functional tests may be performed thereto.
A number of rapid prototyping methods are available, such as fused deposition modeling (FDM), laminated object manufacturing (LOM), and so on. However, in most three-dimensional printing apparatuses that currently use the rapid prototyping methods for forming three-dimensional objects, only one printing head is provided. Thus, in terms of the forming material, not until the printing nozzle is heated, driven, and extruded does the melted forming material be smoothly extruded and printed onto the platform. In this way, the time of manufacturing the three-dimensional object is limited to the above and that the material forming efficiency is less likely to be increased.
Further, in terms of a roll-to-roll three-dimensional printing apparatus, as the forming material is a wire material with a fixed outer diameter, as such, when printing of a large volume is required (e.g., a three-dimensional object of a relatively large volume), longer time for manufacturing is required based on the above. Moreover, as limited by the material properties of the wire material, not all of the materials can be smoothly transformed into the wire material to enable the outer diameters of the materials to meet the requirement of three-dimensional printing.
To sum up, improvements for solving the foregoing problems is an important issue for the industry.
A three-dimensional printing nozzle, a three-dimensional printing nozzle assembly, and a three-dimensional printing apparatus are introduced herein in which a process efficiency of three-dimensional printing is increased through a three-dimensional printing nozzle of a particle type.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a three-dimensional printing nozzle includes a nozzle body, a driving unit, a first heating unit, and a first heat dissipation unit. The nozzle body includes a material inlet zone and a material outlet zone, and a particle forming material is adapted to enter into the nozzle body from the material inlet zone. The driving unit is disposed in the nozzle body and is configured for pushing the particle forming material in the nozzle body to move from the material inlet zone to the material outlet zone. The first heating unit is disposed in the nozzle body and configured for heating and melting the particle forming material in the nozzle body and extrudes a melted forming material out of the nozzle body from the material outlet zone through the driving unit.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a three-dimensional printing nozzle assembly includes a nozzle body, a driving unit, a first heating unit, a first heat dissipation unit, and a material feeding hopper. The nozzle body includes a material inlet zone and a material outlet zone, and a particle forming material is adapted to enter into the nozzle body from the material inlet zone. The driving unit is disposed in the nozzle body and is configured for pushing the particle forming material in the nozzle body to move from the material inlet zone to the material outlet zone. The first heating unit is disposed in the nozzle body and configured for heating and melting the particle forming material in the nozzle body and extrudes a melted forming material out of the nozzle body from the material outlet zone through the driving unit. The material feeding hopper is connected to the nozzle body to introduce the particle forming material into the material inlet zone.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a three-dimensional printing apparatus includes a control module and a three-dimensional printing nozzle. The nozzle body includes a material inlet zone and a material outlet zone, and a particle forming material is adapted to enter into the nozzle body from the material inlet zone. The driving unit is disposed in the nozzle body and electrically connected to the control module, the driving unit is controlled by the control module to push the particle forming material in the nozzle body to move from the material inlet zone to the material outlet zone. The first heating unit is disposed in the nozzle body and is electrically connected to the control module. The first heating unit is controlled by the control module to heat and melt the particle forming material in the nozzle body. The driving unit is controlled by the control module to extrude a melted framing material out of the nozzle body from the material outlet zone. The first heat dissipation unit is disposed in the nozzle body, located between the first heating unit and the material inlet zone, and electrically connected to the control module. The first heat dissipation unit is controlled by the control module to reduce heat transmitted from the first heating unit to the material inlet zone.
Several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below to further describe the disclosure in details.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
Herein, the movement module 130 is, for example, a 3-axis (X-Y-Z) movement module or a gantry configured for driving the three-dimensional printing nozzle 110 to move on the platform 1150.
The driving unit 112 is disposed in the nozzle body 111, and the driving unit 112 includes a screw 112a, a driving wheel 112b, and a power source 112c connected to one another. Among them, the power source 112c is electrically connected to the control module 140 to be controlled by the control module 140 to drive the screw 112a to move in the nozzle body 111 through the driving wheel 112b. Moreover, the power source 112c is configured for pushing the particle forming material in the nozzle body 111 to move from the material inlet zone (part 111a) to the material outlet zone (part 111c).
The first heating unit 113 is disposed in and electrically connected to the nozzle body 111 to be controlled by the control module 140. As such, the first heating unit 113 is configured for heating and melting the particle forming material in the nozzle body 111 and extrudes a melted forming material out of the nozzle body 111 from the material outlet zone through the driving unit 112. The first heat dissipation unit 114 is disposed in the nozzle body 111, located between the first heating unit 113 and the material inlet zone (part 111a), and electrically connected to the control module 140. The first heat dissipation unit 114 is controlled by the control module 140 to reduce heat transmitted from the first heating unit 113 to the material inlet zone (part 111a).
In this embodiment, a diameter-to-length ratio of the screw 112a is between 8 and 12. The diameter-to-length ratio refers to a ratio of a bottom diameter (an outer diameter of the screw excluding a spiral portion) to a length (the length extending from the first segment S1 to the second segment S2) of the screw. That is, the length is 8 to 12 times greater than the bottom diameter of the screw in this embodiment. In this way, the particle forming material requires a more simple process when being added, heated and melted, mixed, and extruded. Further, an outer diameter ϕ2 of the screw 112a at the second segment S2 is substantially greater than an outer diameter ϕ1 at the first segment S1 because the forming material is heated and thus is melted from a particle shape to a melted state. As such, the screw 112a at the second segment S2 is required to provide a greater pressure so as to smoothly extrude the melted forming material out of the outlet E2. Therefore, as inner diameters (internal chamber volumes) of the part 111a and the part 111b are fixed, a chamber space (i.e., the outer diameter of the screw 112a is required to be increased gradually from the top to the bottom according to
Besides, the third segment S3 of the screw 112a corresponds to the first heat dissipation unit 114, and the third segment S3 is located between the fourth segment S4 (corresponding to the first heating unit 113) and the first segment S1 (the material inlet zone). As such, the heat transmitted from the first heating unit 113 to the material inlet zone (the part 111a) may be reduced, and that the forming material at the first segment S1 and the third segment S3 is still maintained to be shaped as the particle shape. The forming material at the first segment S1 to the second segment S2 is thereby prevented from being melted, and the screw 112 is thereby prevented from running idle in the nozzle body 111.
Herein, the first heat dissipation unit 114 includes a heat dissipation fin 114a inserted by the part 111b, and the heat dissipation fin 114a is thus located between the first heating unit 113 and the part 111a. Further, the first heat dissipation unit 114 of this embodiment also includes a fan 114b disposed at the housing 115 and corresponding to the heat dissipation fin 114a for providing a heat dissipation effect to the heat dissipation fin 114a.
Note that the nozzle body 111 of this embodiment provides a quick release function. With reference to
In addition, as shown in
In view of the foregoing, in the embodiments of the disclosure, the forming material of the particle-type is adopted to serve as the material, and the forming material can thus be smoothly driven by the driving unit in the three-dimensional printing nozzle through the driving unit, the heating unit, and the heat dissipation unit. Next, the forming material is transformed to a melted state as heated by the heat provided by the heating unit in the moving process. The melted forming material can then be extruded out of the nozzle body by the driving unit, and the three-dimensional printing is thereby completed. In this way, the three-dimensional printing nozzle is no longer limited by the shape of the raw material, and the material discharging amount may thereby be effectively increased, and the efficiency of the three-dimensional printing process is further enhanced.
Further, the three-dimensional printing nozzle may be assembled with the material feeding hopper to allow the particle forming material to be placed in the material feeding hopper first to meet the material providing requirement. Simultaneously, as the heating unit and the heat dissipation unit are disposed in the material feeding hopper, the particle forming material in the material feeding hopper is maintained to be dry as required and may be heated to the required preheating temperature. As such, the time required for heating in the three-dimensional printing nozzle may be effectively reduced.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201810143832.7 | Feb 2018 | CN | national |