KR101990431B1 - 3D Printer using macro led - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a three-dimensional printer using a micro-LED and, more specifically, to a three-dimensional printer using a micro-LED, which prints a large amount of printouts quickly by using a display having a plurality of micro-LED elements as a light source, and can precisely implements the printouts by maintaining high resolution of the light source.

Description

A 3D printer using micro LED {3D Printer using macro led}

The present invention relates to a 3D printer using a photocurable material that is cured by irradiating light, and more particularly, to a 3D printer using a micro LED as a light source.

The 3D printer is a device that prints a three-dimensional product provided to enable printing on the (x, y, z) axis by adding the z axis in the conventional 2D printer method which was capable of only printing on the (x, The 3D printer is largely classified into a light-curing type and a cutting type according to the printing method, and the light-curing type 3D printer is formed by layering the layers in the z-axis using a photo-curing resin which is cured by irradiated light, And a cutting type 3D printer is a method in which a large lump of an object is cut and displayed in an input 3D solid shape. In this case, the cutting type 3D printer is not suitable for outputting a large amount of output due to the limitation of cutting a lump of a limited size, and because of the limitation that the precision of the output according to cutting is lower than that of the light-curing type 3D printer, Is used.

Generally, a light-curing 3D printer uses a beam projector to project light onto a photo-curing resin in a liquid state, and cures the photo-curing resin in a projected shape to laminate a single layer, SLA (stereo lithography) method is used in which a laser is projected onto a water tank containing a photo-cured resin and is hardened. In this case, the SLA method has a merit of low loss of resolution, The DLP method has the advantage of relatively fast molding speed for small prints, but because of the high price, weight and size limitation of the projector used as the light source There is a limitation that it is difficult to enlarge.

In order to overcome the limitations of such a beam projector, a method of irradiating a light image using a liquid crystal display (LCD) has been developed. However, since an LCD panel that receives ultraviolet light and outputs an optical image is seriously damaged, . A 3D printer is disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1800667 (LCD type 3D printer, Nov. 17, 2017), which has a meniscus lens for reducing the angle of light irradiation between LCD panels receiving ultraviolet light, Discloses a technique for preventing overexposure to ultraviolet rays to prolong the life.

However, the LCD system replacing the conventional beam projector has an additional lens or reflector, which complicates the structure, and fails to overcome the limitations of the short life of the LCD panel.

Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1533374 (DLP-type 3D printer, Jun. 26, 2015) Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1669627 (DLP type 3D printer output device drop prevention device, 2016.10.20.) Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1800667 (LCD type 3D printer, Nov. 17, 2017)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a 3D printer capable of rapidly printing a large-volume output using a micro LED as a light source and realizing high resolution of an output.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 3D printer including a water tank for storing a photo-curing resin and a plurality of micro LED elements provided on one side of the water tank in a direction opposite to the water tank, A plurality of micro LED devices, and a PCB substrate formed in an array, the display device comprising: a display for irradiating light of a pattern to be shaped according to a combination of light emitted from the plurality of micro LED devices; A display driving unit for driving the display to move up and down, and a printing unit for repeatedly performing single-layer curing of an output according to a pattern of light emitted from the display, wherein the output is stacked, Wherein the single layer of the output has a predetermined thickness, And controlling a plurality of micro LED elements arranged on the display, wherein the thickness of the single layer of the stacked output light is set so that a thickness of a plurality of micro LED elements arranged in the display The thickness of the single layer of the output according to the plurality of micro LED devices selected to emit the light is controlled by a micro- And a maximum distance at which light emitted from the other micro LED device does not overlap with each other to emit light adjacent to the light emitted from the LED device.

Also, the display is provided on the upper side of the water tank, and the output plate is provided inside the water tank, and the photo-curing resin is cured on the upper surface of the output plate by a pattern of light irradiated downward from the display And the formed output is formed.

The display may further include a waterproof transparent housing enclosing at least a part of the lower portion of the PCB substrate to enclose a plurality of micro LED elements arranged on the lower surface of the PCB substrate, .

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The display may further include a heat sink provided on an upper surface of the PCB substrate and integrated with the waterproof transparent housing to reduce heat generated in the micro LED device.

In addition, the 3D printer may move the output plate in the vertical direction Wherein the control unit controls the output plate driving unit to move the output plate upward when the printing of the output is completed and to discharge the output plate to the outside of the water tank.

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The present invention according to the above-described construction can be used as a light source in which a display having a plurality of micro LED elements is used as a light source, and a bottom-up type output having a structure in which a light- It is advantageous in printing of the output of the printer.

In addition, the present invention does not have a structure of a water tank having a complicated structure so that the display has a transparent material at the bottom so that light emitted from an existing beam projector can be transmitted by moving from the opened upper side of the water tank, There is an advantage that it can be easily manufactured.

Further, the present invention does not have a separate structure for projecting light emitted from a light source as in the conventional beam projector or LCD system, and thus it is possible to secure high reliability even in long-term use.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a bottom plan view of a display according to one embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA 'in FIG. 2;
4 is an exemplary diagram illustrating operation of a display in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 5 and Fig. 7 are views showing the operation of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, .

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

Hereinafter, the technical idea of the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the technical concept of the present invention, are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a 3D printer 1000 using a micro LED according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a water tank And a plurality of micro LED elements 220 arranged on one side of the water tank 100 in a direction opposite to the water tank 100 and arranged on one side of the water tank 100, (200) for irradiating light of a pattern to be shaped according to a combination of light emitted from the plurality of micro LED elements (220) by a cross-sectional image irradiated from the display (200) A display driver 500 that operates to move the display in the axial direction, an output plate driver 300 that operates to move the output plate 300 in the axial direction 600 And controls the display 200 to emit light of a pattern to be formed. The display driver 500 controls the display unit 500 according to the operation of the 3D printer 1000, And a control unit 400 for controlling the output plate driver 600.

The water tank 100 is configured to store the photocurable resin R cured by the light emitted from the display 200. The water tank 100 may have various sizes and shapes according to the design capacity of the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention. And the output plate 300 is arranged in a direction opposite to the display 200 so that a single layer output according to a pattern of light emitted from the display 200 can be formed. Here, the photo-curing resin may be a polymer such as a photopolymer or a resin including acrylic or epoxy-based materials, which absorbs light having a specific wavelength and causes a polymerization reaction between adjacent adjacent units, and the photo- The resin may be made of any material that causes curing by light emitted from the display 200 without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Here, the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention may have various shapes and structures without departing from the gist of the present invention, but it is preferable to use the display 200 including a plurality of micro LED elements 400 as a light source The display 200 is provided on the upper side of the water tub 100 by using a micro LED having a simple structure as a light source by overcoming the limitations of the heavy weight and size of the conventional beam projector, 300 are provided inside the water tub 100 and are formed on the top surface of the output plate 300 by a pattern of light irradiated downward from the display 200. The bottom plate 300 is formed by curing the photo- -up method, and it is possible to print a large amount of output.

The 3D printer 1000 includes a display driver 500 driven to move the display 200 up and down and a single layer curing of prints according to a pattern of light emitted from the display 200 It is preferable that the controller 400 controls the display 200 and the display driver 500 such that a single layer of the output T stacked has a predetermined thickness, The thickness of the single layer is determined by the height of the photocurable resin R that is cured by the light emitted from the display 200 and the thickness of the single layer of the display 200 and the output plate 300, Corresponds to the distance to the upper surface. Therefore, it is preferable to adjust the height of the display 200 to stack the output T so that the thickness of the single layer of the output T is kept constant.

At this time, the finer the thickness of the single layer of the output, the more precise the finished output is, but the output speed of the output increases as the number of times the output is stacked increases. Therefore, it is preferable that the thickness of the single layer of the output T is input in consideration of the accuracy and the output speed of the output to be output by the user, and the thickness of the single layer of the output, Due to the resolution of the pattern of FIG. Conventional beam projectors have a resolution by adjusting a mask for projecting a pattern between a light source emitting light and a lens for condensing light. In this case, the focus of the pattern irradiated onto the output plate by the lens There is a disadvantage in that the resolution of the pattern irradiated from the light source is deteriorated because the distance between the beam projector and the water tub is separated by a certain distance. However, in the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention, it is possible to control the thickness of a single layer of a very fine output in micro units using the plurality of micro LEDs 220 as a light source, and a configuration for projecting a separate pattern is required It is possible to control the thickness of the single layer of the output without decreasing the resolution by forming a pattern according to the combination of the light emitted from the plurality of micro LED devices 220 without using the LED.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view illustrating a display according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA ' And a plurality of micro LED devices 220 are arranged on one surface of the PCB substrate 210. The micro LED devices 220 are arranged on a side of the PCB substrate 210, In this case, the micro LED device 220 is a LED (Light Emitting Diode) having a diode formed on a circuit board and having a size of 5 to 100 micrometers (m) At least one or more subpixels 221, 222, and 223 that emit light may be separately disposed on the circuit board and emit light having a specific wavelength overlapping with the emission pattern of the subpixels 221, 222, and 223. In this case, the subpixels may be arranged to have red 221, green 222 and blue 223, respectively, to form a wider range of light patterns. Preferably, however, the micro LED device 220 has a specific range of wavelengths And a light pattern to be emitted to the output plate 300 can be formed according to a combination of light emitted by the plurality of micro LED devices 220. [ Furthermore, by arranging the micro LED elements composed of the single subpixel, a denser array interval can be formed.

At this time, when the light source using conventional LCD is irradiated with light having a short wavelength in the range of 360 to 420 nm, the lifetime of the Liquid Crystal material is remarkably shortened, and there is a limitation that the short wavelength below a certain range can not be used However, the display 200 using the micro LED device 220 of the present invention has an advantage that a long lifetime can be expected even if light having a short wavelength ranging from 360 to 420 nm is emitted for a long period of time. Further, when the short wavelength is used, the exposure time for holding the irradiation of light to cure the photocurable resin can be shortened, and the printing speed of the output can be remarkably shortened.

The display 200 is operated to be drawn into the water tub 100 and the photocurable resin R stored in the water tub 100 contacts the PCB substrate 210 of the display 200 The display 200 may include a plurality of micro LED devices 220 disposed on the lower surface of the PCB 210 to receive the micro LED devices 220 in the internal space 231. [ And a waterproof transparent housing 230 surrounding at least a part of the lower portion of the PCB 210 and configured to close the internal space 231. The waterproof transparent housing 230 may be formed to surround the front surface of the display 200 including the PCB 210 and may be provided on the top surface of the PCB 210, The heat sink 240 is integrated with the heat sink 240 to reduce the heat generated by the heat sink 220, thereby sealing the internal space 231 accommodating the PCB substrate 210. The display 200 may further include a separate sealing member to firmly seal the photocurable resin from the interior space 231 so that the waterproof transparent housing 230 can prevent the micro- And the outer end of the cap 220 is bent upward to have a U-shaped cross-section, so that the micro LED device 220 of the display 200 May be bonded to the lower surface or a portion of the side surface of the heat sink 240 coupled to the upper surface by using adhesive or various fastening means.

The heat sink 240 is formed on the upper surface of the micro LED device 220 to cool the heat emitted from the plurality of micro LED devices 220, The heat sink 240 may be formed of a material having a high thermal conductivity and may have a variety of outer surfaces, And a separate cooling fan or cooling channel may be coupled to prevent overheating of the display 200. Various modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. .

4 (a), the present invention can be applied to a display 200 having a plurality of (not shown) The micro LEDs 220 emit light, and the light emitted from the plurality of micro LEDs 220 is combined to form a pattern of light to be emitted to the output plate 300. In addition, the distance H between the display 200 and the output plate 300 must be kept constant during curing of the printout, and the distance between the display 200 and the output plate 300, And the photosensitive resin is cured by the light irradiated from the display 200 to form a single layer of the output. That is, the distance between the display 200 and the output plate 300 forms the thickness of a single layer stacked upon printing of the output, and then the display 200 displays the thickness of the top layer of the stacked output and the thickness of the single layer And is operated to irradiate light having a pattern of the next layer, which is spaced apart from the output plate 300 so as to gradually increase. That is, the thickness of the single layer of the output corresponds to the distance H between the display 200 and the output side of the output plate 300, and the controller 400 controls the thickness of the single layer The operation of the display driver 500 in the up and down direction is controlled so that the thickness of the next layer remains the same as the thickness of the next layer, and more specifically, the single layer hardening of the output material is repeated according to the pattern of the light emitted from the display 200 It is preferable that the display driver 500 is controlled such that the output is stacked, and the single layer of the output product stacked has a predetermined thickness H.

The display 200 may include a plurality of micro LED devices 220 arranged on a PCB substrate 210 so that the micro LED devices 220 may be arranged on the PCB substrate 210 according to an interval d between adjacent micro LED devices 220. [ It is preferable that the display 200 and the output plate 300 are spaced apart from each other by a maximum distance H that does not interfere with the light irradiated from the adjacent micro LED device 220.

That is, the controller 400 individually controls the plurality of micro LED devices 220 arranged in the display 200, and the thickness of the single layer of the stacked output products is different from the thickness of the plurality of micro LED devices 220 arranged in the display Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > micro LED < / RTI >

Accordingly, the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention arranges the micro LED elements 220 having a size of several tens to several tens of micros so that the interval d between the plurality of micro LED elements 220 is reduced to a microsize Without degrading the resolution of the light pattern for shaping the monolayer, There is an advantage that a single layer thickness of several tens of micrometers can be formed.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the plurality of micro LED devices 220 can be separately controlled by the control unit 400, and adjacent to the plurality of micro LED devices 220 The thickness H of the single layer of the output can be adjusted according to the combination of the plurality of micro LED devices 220 selected to emit light and light is emitted between the plurality of micro LED devices 220a emitting light The distance d between a plurality of micro LED devices 220a that emits light in accordance with the number of micro LED devices 220b which are not in contact with the micro LED devices 220a, The maximum distance H between the light output from one micro LED device 220a and the light output from the other micro LED device 220a which emits light adjacent to the light output from one micro LED device 220a is shifted away from each other, The display 200 and the output 300, it is possible to increase the thickness (H) of the single layer of the output according to the distance between the top layer, or between the output of the coin and the display 200.

5 to 7 illustrate operation of the 3D printer 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, the operation of the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention will be described in detail do.

5 (a) to 5 (c) illustrate operations to output a single layer after the start of the output of the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention. When the output of the 3D printer 1000 starts, The display 200 and the output plate 300 are maintained at the thickness H of the input single layer by filling the photocurable material R with the photo- And forms an output according to a pattern of light emitted from the display 200. At this time, after the exposure time set according to the height of the single layer of the set output, the display 200 moves upward and moves out of the water tub 100 to be separated from the cured output T1. At this time, the upward movement of the display 200 is to cause the cured monolayer in the output plate 300 and the surface of the display 200 in contact with the display 200 to be deformed, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

6, the display 200, which has moved upward, is lowered again so that the upper surface of the single-layer output T 1 formed on the output plate 300 is spaced from the upper surface of the single- And the pattern of the output T2 corresponding to the next layer is checked. At this time, after the exposure time according to the height of the single layer of the set output, the display 200 moves upward and moves out of the water tub 100 to separate the cured output T2 from the cured output T2. Output.

8 (a) and 8 (b), when the output plate 300 is moved upward and discharged out of the water tub 100, T may be separated from the output plate 300.

Although the 3D printer 1000 according to the present invention has been described above with reference to an example in which the display 200 moves to the output plate 300 to form an output product, the driving method using the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention The display 200 may be spaced a predetermined distance above the water tub 100 and the output plate 300 provided in the water tub 100 may be moved up and down, The output plate 300 moves downward so that the distance from the uppermost surface of the photocurable resin R filled in the inner space 100 to the upper surface of the uppermost layer of the output product formed on the upper surface of the output plate 300 is kept constant You will be able to stack the output. At this time, since the polymerization reaction is not performed on the side where the photo-curable resin R contacts the air layer, the 3D printer performing the above-mentioned operation separates the output layer 300 into the air layer, It is possible to prevent the demarcation phase in which the axes of the other output members are twisted with the movement of the output plate 300. However, in order to control the height of the photocurable resin R filled in the water tub 100 to be constant Means are required. That is, as described above, the driving method of the 3D printer 1000 of the present invention may be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the present invention.

In addition, recently, in order to obtain a more precise printout throughout the 3D printer industry, a technology for forming a finer monolayer thickness has been developed. In the 3D printer using the micro LED according to the present invention, The present invention overcomes the limitations of conventional projectors by providing a micro LED device, thereby achieving a high precision and a high output speed of an output, and it is unnecessary to have a separate structure for transmitting emitted light such as an additional lens, a reflector and an image mask According to There is an advantage that a high resolution of a level of several tens of micrometers can be realized and a 3D printer which is more suitable for outputting a large volume of output can be manufactured due to the simple structure of the display constituting a light source.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1000: 3D Printer
100: water tank
200: Display 210: PCB substrate
220: Micro LED element 230: Waterproof transparent housing
240: heat sink
300: output plate 400: control unit
500: display driver 600: output plate driver
R: Photocurable resin T: Output

Claims (8)

A water tank in which the photocurable resin is stored;
And a PCB substrate provided on one side of the upper side or the lower side of the water tank and having a plurality of micro LED elements arrayed on a surface facing the water tank, A display for irradiating light of a pattern to be formed according to the pattern;
An output plate disposed in a direction opposite to the display and configured to produce an output according to a pattern of light emitted from the display;
A display driver driven to move the display in a vertical direction; And
A controller which controls the display and the display driver so that a single layer of the output material stacked thereon has a predetermined thickness by repeating a single layer curing of an output material according to a pattern of light irradiated from the display and stacking the output materials;
Lt; / RTI >
Each of the plurality of micro LED elements arranged on the display is individually controlled,
Controlling the display and the display driver so that the thickness of the monolayer of the stacked output is varied by a plurality of micro LED devices selected to emit light among a plurality of micro LED devices arranged on the display,
The thickness of the single layer of the output according to the plurality of micro LED devices selected to emit the light is set such that the thickness of the single layer of light emitted from the other micro LED device to emit light adjacent to the light emitted from one micro LED device emitting light Wherein the light emitted from the light source is a maximum distance at which the light beams do not overlap with each other.
The method according to claim 1,
The display is provided on the upper side of the water tank,
Wherein the output plate is provided inside the water tank,
And a printed product formed by curing the photocurable resin on the upper surface of the output plate by a pattern of light irradiated downward from the display.
delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the display further comprises a waterproof transparent housing enclosing at least a part of the lower portion of the PCB substrate to accommodate a plurality of micro LED elements arranged on a lower surface of the PCB substrate, 3D printer.
5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the display further comprises a heat sink provided on an upper surface of the PCB substrate and integrally coupled to the waterproof transparent housing to reduce heat generated in the micro LED device.
The method according to claim 1,
The 3D printer may be configured to move the output plate in a vertical direction An output plate driver;
Further comprising:
Wherein the control unit controls the output plate driving unit to move the output plate upward when the printing of the output is completed and to discharge the output plate out of the water tank.

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