Photocuring 3D printer
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of 3D printing, in particular to a photocuring 3D printer.
Background
The 3D printing technique, also known as additive manufacturing, refers to a process of performing layered discretization on a three-dimensional model, and then constructing an entity by using an adhesive material such as powdered metal, resin, or plastic in a layer-by-layer stacking manner. The 3D printing technique is different from the conventional subtractive machining technique, which is usually implemented by cutting or drilling. The 3D printing technology enables the manufacture of complex objects and better saves on production raw materials, which in the past were often used for the manufacture of models in the fields of mold manufacturing, industrial design, etc., and is nowadays increasingly used for the direct manufacture of some products, especially for some high-value applications (such as hip joints or teeth, or some airplane parts) already having parts printed using this technology, driven by the manufacturing requirements for personalization and specific services. At present, various specific methods have appeared for realizing the molding of parts by using the basic principle of 3D printing technology, one of which is Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA), which mainly uses the principle that liquid photosensitive resin is cured and molded under the irradiation of light with specific wavelength, and based on this method, there has appeared in the prior art a photocuring 3D printer including a tank containing liquid photosensitive resin, a driving mechanism controlled by a control component such as a computer, and a projector; the drive mechanism is connected to a tray which is immersed in the liquid photosensitive resin. The specific process of printing the part by using the photocuring 3D printer is as follows: firstly, establishing a three-dimensional model of a target printing part by using CAD software of a computer, and discretizing the three-dimensional model along a certain direction by using a discretization program to form slices with a certain number of layers and thickness (the number of the layers of the slices depends on the required precision of the target printing part and the computing capacity of the computer); the computer sequentially generates image information of all the slices and controls the driving mechanism to move, the projector correspondingly generates a light beam with a specific wavelength according to the image information of the slices (theoretically, the shape of the light beam is the same as that of the slices, but actually, the light beam is optically deformed after imaging for multiple times), the light beam is irradiated on the liquid photosensitive resin opposite to the tray, a layer of the liquid photosensitive resin between the liquid surface of the liquid photosensitive resin and the tray forms a solidified layer with the same shape as that of the corresponding slices under the irradiation of the light beam, then the tray of the driving mechanism moves downwards under the control of the computer, so that a layer of the liquid photosensitive resin is formed again between the formed solidified layer and the liquid surface of the liquid photosensitive resin, the projector irradiates the light beam with the same shape as that of the next slice on the liquid photosensitive resin to form a further solidified layer, and controls the tray to move downwards again, thus, the target printing parts are formed by overlapping layer by layer. Although the printer can print and mold parts, the printer has the following defects:
1. The light beam needs to be imaged for multiple times to irradiate the liquid photosensitive resin, and the light beam after imaging for multiple times can be optically deformed, so that an error exists between the shape of the formed cured layer and the shape of the corresponding slice.
2. because the light path distribution needs to be carried out on the light beams, the appearance is large, and finally the appearance of the photocuring 3D printer is large.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the defects of the photocuring 3D printer in the prior art, the photocuring 3D printer is small in size, convenient to carry and use, and can be used for accurately printing a target printing part.
in order to solve the technical problems, the invention adopts the technical scheme that:
a photocuring 3D printer comprises a containing pool containing liquid photosensitive resin, a bearing plate arranged in the liquid photosensitive resin and used for bearing the cured photosensitive resin, and a driving mechanism for driving the bearing plate to move, and further comprises a light beam generating assembly used for providing parallel light beams, and a liquid crystal screen which sequentially forms a light-transmitting area with the same shape as a slice according to image information of the slice of a discrete three-dimensional model; wherein:
The liquid crystal screen is arranged close to the bearing plate, is positioned between the bearing plate and the light beam generation assembly and is parallel and opposite to the bearing plate;
The parallel light beams generated by the light beam generating assembly vertically penetrate through a light transmitting area of the liquid crystal screen and irradiate on a layer of liquid photosensitive resin between the liquid crystal screen and the bearing plate or irradiate on a layer of liquid photosensitive resin between the liquid crystal screen and the cured photosensitive resin on the bearing plate.
Preferably, the light beam generating assembly comprises a point light source and a lens, and the point light source is arranged at a focus of the lens on the side far away from the liquid crystal screen.
Preferably, the lens is a convex lens or a fresnel lens.
Preferably, the liquid crystal screen is disposed above the carrier plate.
preferably, the lower surface of the liquid crystal screen is closely attached to the liquid level of the liquid photosensitive resin.
preferably, the lower surface of the liquid crystal screen is located below the liquid level of the liquid photosensitive resin.
Preferably, the tank bottom and/or the tank wall of the tank are made of a light-transmitting material, and the liquid crystal screen is arranged between the tank bottom or the tank wall of the tank and the bearing plate.
Preferably, the liquid crystal screen is arranged in the containing pool and forms seamless surface contact with the pool bottom or the pool wall of the containing pool; or the cell bottom is formed by the liquid crystal screen.
Preferably, the image information of the slices of the dispersed three-dimensional model is generated by an upper computer, and the upper computer is connected with the liquid crystal screen to control the liquid crystal screen to form the light-transmitting area.
preferably, the driving mechanism is coupled with the upper computer and drives the carrier plate to move according to the image information of the slices generated by the upper computer, and the moving distance is the same as the thickness corresponding to the slices.
Compared with the prior art, the photocuring 3D printer has the beneficial effects that: the photocuring 3D printer utilizes parallel light beams to penetrate through the light-transmitting area of the liquid crystal screen to irradiate the liquid photosensitive resin to cure the liquid photosensitive resin, and the parallel light beams penetrating through the liquid crystal screen do not have optical effects of refraction, reflection and the like to cause light beam deformation, so that the shape of each layer of cured photosensitive resin is the same as that of a corresponding slice, namely a printed target printing part is the same as a three-dimensional model (when deformation caused by the shape of a material is not considered), and the printing precision is high. In addition, the theoretical shortest distance from the point light source to the liquid photosensitive resin is one focal length of the lens, and the light path is short, so that the photocuring 3D printer can be manufactured to be small and is convenient to carry and use.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a photocuring 3D printer provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a photocuring 3D printer according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a photocuring 3D printer according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a photocuring 3D printer according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a photocuring 3D printer according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a light guide plate assembly.
Detailed Description
In order to make the technical solutions of the present invention better understood, the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
as shown in fig. 1 to 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a photo-curing 3D printer, which includes a container 1 containing liquid photosensitive resin 2, a carrier plate 3, a driving mechanism 5, a light beam generating assembly, and a liquid crystal screen 4; the well 1 is fixed and preferably kept horizontal to prevent the liquid photosensitive resin 2 from flowing out; the carrier plate 3 is used for receiving a cured photosensitive resin 7 (the cured photosensitive resin 7 is actually a printing completed part of a target printing part); the driving mechanism 5 is connected with the bearing plate 3 through a connecting rod 6, and drives the bearing plate 3 to move through the connecting rod 6; the light beam generating component can generate parallel light beams with specific wavelengths; the liquid crystal panel 4 is capable of sequentially forming light-transmitting regions having the same shape as the slices from the image information of the slices of the three-dimensional model which is described in detail below. From the foregoing, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the specific wavelength enables the liquid photosensitive resin to be cured and molded under the irradiation of the light beam with the wavelength. The liquid crystal screen 4 is arranged close to the bearing plate 3, is positioned between the bearing plate 3 and the light beam generating assembly and is parallel and opposite to the bearing plate 3, so that parallel light beams with specific wavelengths generated by the light beam generating assembly vertically pass through a light transmitting area of the liquid crystal screen 4 and then irradiate on a layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 between the liquid crystal screen 4 and the bearing plate 3 or between the liquid crystal screen 4 and cured photosensitive resin on the bearing plate 3 to form a layer of cured photosensitive resin 7 with the same shape as the slice (the layer of cured photosensitive resin 7 is actually a layer of section of the target printing part). Specifically, the three-dimensional model may be established by 3D drawing software of an upper computer such as a computer, a workstation, or the like, and the three-dimensional model is discretized by a discretization program of the upper computer to form a slice of the three-dimensional model and generate image information of the slice, and the upper computer is coupled with the liquid crystal screen 4 to control the liquid crystal screen 4 to form a light transmission region. Of course, the image information of the slices can be generated by other devices and apparatuses, and the liquid crystal screen 4 can be controlled by other devices and apparatuses, in combination with the prior art. In order to improve the printing precision, the driving mechanism 5 is connected with the upper computer, so that the driving mechanism 5 is directly controlled by the upper computer, and the driving mechanism 5 drives the bearing plate 3 to move by a slice thickness according to the image information of the slices generated by the upper computer. The shape and the thickness of the slice are controlled by the upper computer, so that the precision of the target printed part can be improved. The light beam generating assembly may be composed of different elements or may have various forms, as shown in fig. 6, and may be composed of a point light source 9 and a light guide plate assembly, the point light source 9 may include a cold cathode fluorescent lamp and a lamp reflector disposed outside the cold cathode fluorescent lamp, and the generated light beam horizontally irradiates on the light guide plate 11, and under the reflection of the reflector plate 10, the light beam passes through a first diffusion sheet 12, enters a prism sheet 13, and then passes through a second diffusion sheet 12 to form an approximately parallel light beam, and then enters the liquid crystal panel 3. In a preferred embodiment, the light beam generating assembly comprises a point light source 9 and a lens 8, and the point light source 9 is arranged at the focus of the lens 8 on the side remote from the liquid crystal screen 4, as shown in fig. 1. The lens 8 can be selected from a convex lens and a fresnel lens, but is not limited to these two lenses, and any lens 8 can be used to convert the light from the point light source 9 into a parallel light beam. The light generated by the point light source 9 may be ultraviolet light or blue light, but is not limited to these two lights, and any light capable of curing the liquid photosensitive resin 2 by irradiation may be used.
As shown in fig. 1-2, parallel light beams may be irradiated above the liquid photosensitive resin 2 to cure the liquid photosensitive resin, and specifically, the light beam generating assembly is disposed above the liquid photosensitive resin 2 and the liquid crystal screen 4 is disposed above the carrier plate 3. As shown in fig. 1, in one embodiment of the present invention, the liquid crystal panel 4 is disposed above the liquid level of the liquid photosensitive resin 2, so that the liquid photosensitive resin 2 between the cured photosensitive resin 7 on the carrier plate 3 or the carrier plate 3 and the liquid level is irradiated with parallel light beams to form a layer of cured photosensitive resin 7. In order to improve the printing precision of the parts, in another embodiment of the invention, the lower surface of the liquid crystal screen 4 is closely attached to the liquid level of the liquid photosensitive resin 2. As shown in fig. 2, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the liquid crystal panel 4 is partially immersed below the liquid level of the liquid photosensitive resin 2, i.e., the lower surface of the liquid crystal panel 4 is located below the liquid level of the liquid photosensitive resin 2. In this way, a layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 is formed between the carrier plate 3 or the cured photosensitive resin 7 on the carrier plate 3 and the liquid crystal panel 4, and the layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 is not affected by the liquid level ripples (for example, ripples of the liquid level that may be caused by external factors, etc.).
As shown in fig. 3-4, the parallel light beams can also irradiate the liquid photosensitive resin 2 under the liquid photosensitive resin for curing, specifically, the light beam generating assembly is arranged under the containing tank 1, the liquid crystal screen 4 is arranged under the bearing plate 3, and the bottom of the tank is made of a light-transmitting material. In one embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 3, the liquid crystal panel 4 is placed below the well 1 such that a layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 is formed between the cured photosensitive resin 7 on the carrier plate 3 or carrier plate 3 and the bottom of the well. In another embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 4, a liquid crystal panel 4 is disposed in the well 1 and in seamless surface contact with the bottom of the well. In a further embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 5, the cell bottom is formed directly by the liquid crystal screen 3. Thus, a layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 is formed between the carrier plate 3 or the cured photosensitive resin 7 on the carrier plate 3 and the liquid crystal panel 4.
The parallel light beams can also irradiate the liquid photosensitive resin 2 from one side of the containing pool, specifically, the light beam generating assembly is arranged at one side of the containing pool 1, and the liquid crystal screen is arranged between the pool wall and the bearing plate 3.
The operation of the photo-curing 3D printer of the present invention will be described with reference to a photo-curing 3D printer shown in fig. 2.
1. And establishing a three-dimensional model of the part by using three-dimensional modeling components such as 3D drawing software of an upper computer, slicing the three-dimensional model by using a discrete program, and sequentially generating image information of all slices. And generates image information for the first slice.
2. The liquid crystal screen 4 forms a light-transmitting area with the same shape as the first slice according to image information of the first slice generated by the upper computer, the light beam generating assembly emits parallel light beams and vertically irradiates on the liquid crystal screen 4, the parallel light beams irradiating the light-transmitting area of the liquid crystal screen 4 penetrate through the light-transmitting area and irradiate on a layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 between the bearing plate 3 and the liquid crystal screen 4, the parallel light beams irradiating the non-light-transmitting area of the liquid crystal screen 4 cannot penetrate through the liquid crystal screen, the layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 irradiated by the parallel light beams forms a first layer of cured photosensitive resin 7, and the layer of cured photosensitive resin 7 forms a first section of a target printing part.
3. The liquid crystal screen 4 forms a light-transmitting area with the same shape as the second slice according to the image information of the second slice generated by the upper computer, meanwhile, the upper computer controls the driving mechanism 5 to drive the bearing plate 3 to move downwards by the distance of the thickness of the second slice (namely the thickness of one section of the target printing part), a gap formed between the first layer of cured photosensitive resin 7 on the bearing plate 3 and the liquid crystal screen 4 is refilled by the liquid photosensitive resin 2 to form a layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2, the parallel light beams penetrating through the light-transmitting area irradiate on the layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2, so that the layer of liquid photosensitive resin 2 forms the second layer of cured photosensitive resin 7, and the layer of cured photosensitive resin 7 forms the second section of the target printing part. So that they are successively superimposed to form a prototype of the target printed part.
And 4, taking the prototype of the target printed part out of the liquid photosensitive resin 2, carrying out final curing, and carrying out polishing, electroplating, painting or coloring treatment to obtain the required part.
in summary, the light-cured 3D printer of the present invention cures the liquid photosensitive resin by irradiating the liquid photosensitive resin with parallel light beams through the light-transmitting area of the liquid crystal panel, and the parallel light beams passing through the liquid crystal panel do not undergo optical effects such as refraction and reflection that cause beam deformation, so that the shape of each layer of cured photosensitive resin is the same as the shape of the corresponding slice, and in consideration of manufacturing errors, the printed part is almost the same as the three-dimensional model, and the printing accuracy is high. In addition, the theoretical shortest distance from the point light source to the liquid photosensitive resin is one focal length of the lens, or the thickness of the light guide plate, so that when parallel light is formed by the light guide plate, only the thickness distance between the light guide plate and the liquid crystal screen is needed, and the formed light path is short, therefore, the photocuring 3D printer can be manufactured to be very small.