CN106457666A

CN106457666A - Printing spray head, three-dimensional printer and control method

Info

Publication number: CN106457666A
Application number: CN201580000082.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙玉春; 吕培军; 王勇; 陈科龙
Original assignee: Beijing Shinotech Co ltd; Peking University Hospital Of Stomatology
Current assignee: Nanjing Profeta Intelligent Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2015-03-30
Filing date: 2015-03-30
Publication date: 2017-02-22
Anticipated expiration: 2035-03-30
Also published as: CN106457666B; WO2016154849A1

Abstract

A printing spray head, a three-dimensional FDM printer and a control method, which relate to the field of three-dimensional printing. The three-dimensional FDM printer comprises a movement mechanism (1), a spray head (2), a printing platform (3), a platform heating mechanism (4) and a cooling fan (5), wherein the cooling fan (5) comprises a model cooling fan (501) configured to cool a model printed by the three-dimensional printer. The three-dimensional FDM printer is provided with a model cooling fan (501), and the model cooling fan (501) can cool a printed model, thereby increasing the cooling speed of a printing material, solving the problem of influence on a printing effect due to the fact that the printing material cannot be quickly cooled and solidified to make the printed model deform, and effectively improving the surface quality of the model.

Description

Printing nozzle, three-dimensional printer and control method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of three-dimensional printing, in particular to a printing nozzle, an FDM three-dimensional printer and a control method.

Background

The FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) process is a method of heating and melting various kinds of filament materials (e.g., ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene Styrene copolymers), PC (Polycarbonate), etc.) to perform stack molding without using a laser as a molding energy source. The printing material used for FDM printing is typically a thermoplastic material, such as wax, ABS, PC, PA (Polyamide, nylon), etc., fed in filaments. The material is heated and melted in the spray head. The nozzle moves along the cross-sectional profile and filling trajectory of the part while extruding the molten material, which solidifies rapidly and bonds with the surrounding material. Each layer is formed by stacking on the upper layer, and the upper layer plays a role in positioning and supporting the current layer.

The process does not use laser, and has simple use and maintenance and lower cost. The prototype of the part formed by wax can be directly used for paraffin casting. Prototypes made with ABS have high strength and are widely used in product design, testing and evaluation. In recent years, higher strength molding materials such as PC, polycarbonate and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer and blends PC/ABS, PMMA, PA and the like have been developed, making it possible to directly manufacture functional parts by this process. Since this process has some significant advantages, it is developing very rapidly, and the current share of FDM systems in globally installed rapid prototyping systems is about 30%.

The FDM three-dimensional printer has the following advantages:

1. laser is not used, the maintenance is simple, and the cost is low: price is an important factor in whether the molding process is suitable for three-dimensional printing. The three-dimensional printer which is mostly used for conceptual design has low requirements on prototype precision and physical and chemical characteristics, and the low price is a decisive factor for whether the printer can be popularized or not.

2. The plastic wire is clean and easy to replace: compared with other processes using powder and liquid materials, the wire is cleaner, easy to replace and store, and free from powder or liquid contamination in or near the equipment.

3. The post-treatment is simple: the prototype can be used after only a few minutes to a quarter of a second of stripping the support material. At present, processes such as SL (stereolithography), SLs (selective Laser Sintering), 3DP (Three Dimensional powder bonding) and the like which are applied more often have a step of cleaning residual liquid and powder, and need post-curing treatment and additional auxiliary equipment. These additional post-processing steps are prone to powder or liquid contamination, and increase the time to several hours, making them unusable immediately after molding.

4. The forming speed is fast: in general, the FDM process is relatively slow compared to the SL, SLs, 3DP process. But also has certain advantages for three-dimensional printing applications. First, SL, SLs, 3DP all have an interlaminar process (powder/liquid, leveling), so that they form multiple prototypes at once very quickly, e.g., 3DP can form prototypes with a height of about 25mm in an hour. The three-dimensional printer has small forming space, and can form 1 to 2 prototypes at most at one time, so that the speed advantages are relatively unobvious. And secondly, the requirement of the three-dimensional printer on the strength of the prototype is not high, so that the FDM process can improve the forming speed by reducing the compaction degree of the prototype. Through tests, the maximum forming speed of a model with certain structural characteristics can reach 60 cubic centimeters per hour. High speeds of 200 cc/hr are expected to be achievable through software optimization and technological advances.

The existing equipment adopting the FDM process also has some problems, for example, a spray head is easily blocked by printing materials, the printing materials cannot be smoothly sprayed according to a printing path, even if the printing is stopped by manual intervention, the spray head is difficult to clean, and the printing efficiency and the printing quality are reduced; too much softening and breaking of the material filaments results in discontinuous supply of material; the printed model has insufficient compactness; the model is rough and not delicate enough; the nozzle has limited high temperature resistance, poor adaptability to materials and the like. These problems have limited the development of FDM processes.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to improve print model quality.

Another object of the present invention is to solve the problems of easy clogging of the spray head and easy breakage of the material.

According to one aspect of the invention, an FDM three-dimensional printer is provided and comprises a movement mechanism, a spray head, a printing platform, a platform heating mechanism and a cooling fan, wherein the cooling fan comprises a model cooling fan and is used for cooling a model printed by the three-dimensional printer.

Optionally, a position calibration mechanism is further included for calibrating the distance between the nozzle and the printing platform.

Optionally, the printer comprises more than 2 jets, each jet having a corresponding material supply mechanism.

Optionally, the three-dimensional printer further comprises: a material supply mechanism that supplies a printing material to the printer, a power supply module, and a switch.

Optionally, the three-dimensional printer further comprises: and the display module is used for displaying the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism, the printing speed, the printing progress, the displacement of the movement mechanism, the printing state, the rotating speed of the cooling fan and/or a printing list.

Optionally, the three-dimensional printer further comprises a temperature adjustment unit for setting a temperature of the nozzle, a temperature of the platform heating mechanism, and/or a cooling fan rotation speed.

Optionally, the three-dimensional printer further comprises a speed adjustment unit for adjusting the printing speed.

Optionally, the three-dimensional printer further comprises a state selection unit for selecting to suspend printing or continue printing.

Optionally, the three-dimensional printer further comprises a data selection unit for selecting the print data.

Optionally, the three-dimensional printer further comprises a data input module for receiving the print data.

Optionally, the data input module is an SD card slot for acquiring print data from the SD card.

Optionally, the data input module is a USB interface for obtaining the print data from the computer.

Optionally, the data input module is a network interface for acquiring the print data from a network.

Optionally, the printing system further comprises a control module for controlling the motion track of the motion mechanism according to the printing data.

Optionally, the control module is configured to control the temperature of the showerhead and the platen heating mechanism.

Optionally, the control module is configured to control a rotation speed of the cooling fan.

Such FDM three-dimensional inkjet printer has the model radiator fan, and the model that the model radiator fan can cool off the printing for the cooling rate of printing material, solved the printing material and can not cooled off fast and solidify and lead to printing the model deformation, influence the problem of printing the effect, effectively improve model surface quality.

According to another aspect of the invention, a printing nozzle is provided, which comprises a throat part and a nozzle part, wherein the nozzle is made of all-metal materials, and the inner walls of the throat part and the nozzle part are coated with non-stick coatings.

Optionally, the non-stick coating is a ceramic coating or a polytetrafluoroethylene coating.

Optionally, the nozzle portion inner diameter is tapered.

Optionally, the metallic material comprises stainless steel, an aluminum alloy and/or copper.

Optionally, the showerhead is temperature resistant at no less than 345 °.

Optionally, the nozzle portion has a bore diameter of 0.1mm to 0.4 mm.

In the printing nozzle, the throat part and the nozzle part are all made of metal materials, so that heat is easy to dissipate, the temperature is not too high, the printing material is prevented from being softened too much and broken easily, and the material supply is stabilized; the non-stick coating on the inner walls of the throat part and the nozzle part can prevent the printing material from being attached to the inner wall of the spray head to cause spray head blockage. The printing nozzle can uniformly provide printing materials, and unexpected material supply interruption can not occur when the model is printed, so that the quality of the printing model is optimized.

According to another aspect of the invention, an FDM three-dimensional printer is provided, which includes the printing nozzle mentioned above.

Optionally, the printer comprises more than 2 print heads.

Optionally, the printer further comprises a model cooling fan for cooling the model printed by the three-dimensional printer.

Optionally, a position calibration mechanism is further included for calibrating the position of the spray head and/or the printing platform.

Optionally, the printing system further comprises a display module for displaying the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism, the printing speed, the printing progress, the movement mechanism displacement, the printing state, the fan rotating speed and/or the printing list.

Optionally, a temperature adjusting unit is further included for setting the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism and/or the rotational speed of the cooling fan.

Optionally, a speed adjusting unit is further included for adjusting the printing speed.

Optionally, a status selection unit is further included for selecting to suspend printing or to continue printing.

Optionally, a data selection unit is further included for selecting the print data.

Optionally, a data input module is further included for receiving the print data.

In the printer, the throat part and the nozzle part of the printing nozzle are all made of metal materials, so that heat is easy to dissipate, the temperature of the printer is not too high, the printing material is prevented from being softened too much and broken easily, and the material supply is stabilized; the non-stick coating on the inner walls of the throat part and the nozzle part can prevent the printing material from being attached to the inner wall of the spray head to cause spray head blockage. Thus, such a printer does not experience unexpected material supply interruptions while printing the model, thereby optimizing the quality of the printing model.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for controlling an FDM three-dimensional printer is provided, including: controlling the motion track of the motion mechanism and the material supply of the spray head according to the printing path; controlling the temperature of the spray head and/or the platform heating mechanism according to the printing temperature requirement; and controlling the heat dissipation of the heat dissipation fan according to the printing temperature requirement, wherein the heat dissipation fan comprises a model heat dissipation fan, and the model heat dissipation fan is controlled to cool the model printed by the three-dimensional printer.

Optionally, the method further comprises controlling the position calibration mechanism to calibrate the distance between the spray head and the printing platform.

Optionally, more than 2 nozzles are controlled to print printing materials of different colors according to the multi-color printing data.

Optionally, more than 2 nozzles are controlled to print different kinds of printing materials according to the printing data.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the display module displays the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism, the printing speed, the printing progress, the movement mechanism displacement, the printing state, the rotating speed of the cooling fan and/or a printing list.

Optionally, the nozzle motor, the platform heating mechanism and/or the cooling fan are controlled according to the temperature of the nozzle, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism and/or the cooling fan rotation speed set by the user through the temperature adjusting unit.

Alternatively, the speed of the moving mechanism is controlled according to the printing speed adjusted by the user through the speed adjusting unit.

Alternatively, the suspended movement or the continued movement of the movement mechanism is controlled according to suspended printing or continued printing selected by the user through the state selection unit.

Alternatively, printing is performed according to the print data selected by the user through the data selection unit.

Optionally, the control module controls the data input module to receive print data.

Optionally, the data input module acquires the print data from the SD card through the SD card slot.

Alternatively, the data input module acquires the print data from the computer through the USB interface.

Alternatively, the data input module acquires the print data from a network through a network interface.

Through the control method of the FDM three-dimensional printer, the model cooling fan can be controlled by the control module to dissipate heat of the printing model, so that the cooling speed of the printing material is increased, the problem that the printing model is deformed and the printing effect is influenced due to the fact that the printing material cannot be cooled and solidified quickly is solved, and the surface quality of the model is effectively improved.

In addition, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing an oral cavity model, including: generating print data from the digital model, the print data including a print path; and printing the oral cavity model according to the printing data by using any one of the FDM three-dimensional printers mentioned above.

Optionally, the number of the nozzles of the FDM three-dimensional printer is more than 2, and the multicolor oral cavity model is printed by using different nozzles to print printing materials of different colors.

By the method, the oral cavity model can be directly printed by the FDM three-dimensional printer according to the digital model data, on one hand, the step of manufacturing the oral cavity model is simplified, operation is convenient, on the other hand, compared with the manual manufacturing of the oral cavity model, the oral cavity model printed by the FDM three-dimensional printer is more accurate and exquisite, and the accuracy of the model is improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a system diagram of an embodiment of an FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the movement mechanism of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a cooling fan of an FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

FIG. 4a is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a print head of the present invention.

Figure 4b is a perspective view of one embodiment of a print head of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of one embodiment of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of one embodiment of a nozzle of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the printing process of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a control device of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the control device of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a control method of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method of making an oral cavity model of the present invention.

Fig. 12a is a schematic view of a digital model of an oral cavity model in the method of making an oral cavity model according to the present invention.

Fig. 12b is a schematic digital model of another oral cavity model in the method of making an oral cavity model of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail by the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

A system schematic of one embodiment of the FDM three dimensional printer of the present invention is shown in fig. 1. Wherein, 1 is a motion mechanism. In one embodiment, the motion mechanism 1 includes three parts, namely an x-axis motion mechanism, a y-axis motion mechanism and a z-axis motion mechanism, and the specific structure is shown in fig. 2. The X-axis movement mechanism 101 controls the spray head to move in the X direction in the figure; the Y-axis movement mechanism 102 controls the spray head to move in the Y direction in the figure, and the x-axis movement mechanism 101 and the Y-axis movement mechanism 102 can control the spray head to move on a horizontal plane, so that printing of each layer is realized; the Z-axis movement mechanism 103 can control the printing platform 3 to move in the vertical direction (Z direction), and when one layer is printed, the printing platform 3 moves downward, and the next layer is printed on the basis of the printed one layer. In one embodiment, the position of the printing platform is unchanged, and the moving mechanism controls the spray head to realize three-dimensional movement for printing. In one embodiment, the position of the spray head is unchanged, and the moving mechanism controls the printing platform to realize three-dimensional movement for printing.

And 2, a spray head for extruding the molten printing material. In one embodiment, the FDM printer may be a dual head configuration, such as head one 201 and head two 202 in fig. 3. The double-nozzle can be respectively used for printing materials with different colors, thereby realizing double-color printing. The dual nozzle structure can also be used for printing materials of different materials respectively. In the printing process, the area and the shape of the layer contour can be changed along with the increase of the height, when the shape is greatly changed, the upper layer contour can not provide sufficient positioning and supporting functions for the current layer, and therefore some auxiliary structures, namely supports, need to be designed to provide positioning and supporting for the subsequent layer, and the smooth realization of the forming process is ensured. A shower nozzle of the printer of two shower nozzle structures uses ordinary printing material to print the model, and another shower nozzle uses soluble material to print the support to accomplish getting rid of the holding material that can relax more after printing, prevent to damage printing model owing to getting rid of the support, further improve print quality.

3 is print platform, and shower nozzle 2 prints on print platform 3, and print platform 3 plays the effect of bearing the weight of the printing model. The distance between the printing platform 3 and the spray head 2 is adjusted through the movement of the z-axis movement mechanism, and layer-by-layer printing is achieved.

And 4, a platform heating mechanism for heating the printing platform 3. When the temperature difference of the printing model is too large or the printing model is cooled too fast, the warping phenomenon is easy to occur. The platform heating mechanism 4 can maintain the temperature of the printing platform 3 to be the printing model heating, such as 30-100 ℃, and ensure the quality of the printing model.

And 5, a heat radiation fan. The heat radiation fan 5 includes a mold heat radiation fan. The model cooling fan blows air to the printing model, cooling and solidification of printing materials are accelerated, and deformation or collapse of the printing model is prevented. The heat dissipation fan 5 may further include a head heat dissipation fan. The specific structure of the heat dissipation fan 5 may be as shown in fig. 3. In fig. 3, 501 is a model cooling fan, 502 is a first nozzle cooling fan for cooling the

first nozzle

201, and 503 is a second nozzle cooling fan for cooling the second nozzle 202.

Foretell FDM three-dimensional printer can realize the FDM three-dimensional printing, and the model that its model radiator fan can cool off and print for the cooling rate of printing the material, solved and printed the material and can not cooled off fast and solidify and lead to printing the model deformation, influence the problem of printing the effect, effectively improve model surface quality.

In one embodiment, a position calibration mechanism may be further included for calibrating the distance between the printhead and the printing platform. At the initial stage of printing, position calibration mechanism can acquire that print platform 3 is located the suitable height in shower nozzle 2 below, through z axle motion's regulation, controls print platform 3 to be located this suitable height, conveniently prints on print platform is attached to the printing material.

In one embodiment, a material supply mechanism 6 may also be included for placing the printing material. The printing material can be ABS and PLA organic materials, inorganic nano composite materials, PMMA resin materials, nylon materials, resin wax and the like. Different printing materials are different in the aspects of proper temperature, texture and printing effect, and the proper printing materials can be selected according to requirements. The printing wire material is inserted into the nozzle, and the nozzle clamp spring is pressed downwards to realize quick loading of the printing material.

In one embodiment, a power supply module 7 may be further included for supplying power to the FDM three-dimensional printer. The power supply module 7 can be powered on through a power line to supply power to other parts of the printer. The FDM three dimensional printer may also include a switch 8 for controlling the printer on or off. Under the inconvenient condition of plug power, open or close through switch 8 control printer, can be more convenient and safety.

In one embodiment, 9 is a display module, and may be configured to display one or more of information such as a temperature of the ejection head, a temperature of the platform heating mechanism, a printing speed, a printing progress, a movement mechanism displacement, a printing state, a rotation speed of the cooling fan, and a printing list. The Display module 9 may be an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). The user can check the current status of the printer, e.g. whether it is warmed up to a suitable temperature, via the display module 9, facilitating further operations. In cooperation with the adjustment module 10, parameters of the printer can be adjusted, and the adjustment result can be viewed from the display module 9.

In one embodiment, 10 is an adjusting module for adjusting parameters of the FDM three-dimensional printer. The adjusting module 10 may be a knob structure, a button structure, a touch screen, or a combination of these structures. The adjusting module 10 can include a temperature adjusting unit for adjusting temperature parameters of each part of the printer, such as the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism, the rotating speed of the cooling fan, and the like, the user can refer to each parameter displayed in the display module 9, the adjusting module 10 is used for adjusting, such as adjusting the temperature of the spray head within the range of 20-345 ℃, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism is adjusted within the range of 20-100 ℃, each parameter of the printer meets the requirements of different printing materials, and the printer can print by using various printing materials. The printer also comprises a speed adjusting unit for adjusting the printing speed, wherein the printing speed is negatively related to the printed density and negatively related to the printing time length, and a user can select a proper printing speed according to the requirement of the model density and the requirement of the printing time, such as adjusting the movement speed of the spray head within the range of 10-300 mm/s. The printing device also comprises a state selection unit for selecting to suspend printing or continue printing and responding to the emergency. A data selection unit may be further included for selecting print data to be printed from the print list.

In one embodiment, the data input module 11 may be an SD card slot for acquiring print data from an inserted SD card, a USB interface for acquiring print data from a computer, or a network interface for directly acquiring print data via a network. The required print data can be selected from the print list displayed by the display module 9 by the data selection unit.

In one embodiment, a control module 12 may also be included. The control module 12 can control the motion track of the motion mechanism 1 according to the print data, can also control the temperature of the spray head 2 and the platform heating mechanism 4, and can control the rotation speed of the cooling fan 5. The control module 12 can also receive various parameters regulated by the regulating mechanism 10, and regulate and control various parts of the printer according to the parameters; the control module 12 can also transmit the parameters and the status of the printer to the display module 9, and show the parameter status of the printer to the user.

In one embodiment, an illuminating device is attached to the inner wall of the FDM three-dimensional printer and can be a cold light source, and therefore the temperature in the printer is guaranteed not to be affected. Through lighting switch 13 control lighting device, can make things convenient for the user to observe the printing progress.

The invention also provides a printing nozzle, and a cross-sectional view and a perspective view of one embodiment of the printing nozzle are shown in fig. 4a and 4 b. The print head 2 includes a throat portion 21 and a nozzle portion 22. The throat part and the nozzle part are all made of metal materials. The inner walls of the venturi portion 21 and the nozzle portion 22 are coated with a non-stick coating 23.

In the printing nozzle, the throat part and the nozzle part are all made of metal materials, so that heat is easy to dissipate, the temperature is not too high, the printing material is prevented from being softened too much and broken easily, and the material supply is stabilized; the non-stick coating on the inner walls of the throat part and the nozzle part can prevent the printing material from being attached to the inner wall of the spray head to cause spray head blockage. Therefore, the printing nozzle can uniformly provide printing materials, unexpected material supply interruption does not occur when the model is printed, and the quality of the printing model is optimized.

In one embodiment, the non-stick coating 23 may be a ceramic coating or a teflon coating. The coating has good heat resistance, can enable the printing nozzle to bear high temperature, thereby reducing the requirement on the softening point of the printing material, being suitable for various materials with low softening point and high softening point, and increasing the types of the usable printing materials. In one embodiment, the print head is capable of withstanding temperatures up to 345 °.

In one embodiment, the metallic material may be stainless steel, aluminum alloy, or copper. The three common metal materials have the characteristics of low price, stable property and high temperature resistance, and have advantages in the aspects of cost and effect.

In one embodiment, the inner diameter of the nozzle portion is tapered. The tapered configuration facilitates the extrusion of molten marking material, thereby improving printing efficiency and quality.

In one embodiment, the nozzle 22 has an orifice diameter of 0.1mm to 0.4mm, e.g., 0.1mm, 0.2mm, 0.3mm, or 0.4 mm. A fine aperture can print more elaborate models, while a larger aperture can speed up the printing speed. The printing nozzles with different apertures can be selected according to actual requirements.

A plan view of one embodiment of the FDM three dimensional printer of the present invention is shown in fig. 5. The structural features in fig. 5 are similar to those in fig. 1. The FDM three-dimensional printer adopts any one of the printing spray heads mentioned above. The throat part and the nozzle part of the printing nozzle are all made of metal materials, so that heat is easy to dissipate, the temperature of the printing nozzle is not too high, the printing material is prevented from being softened too much and broken easily, and the material supply is stabilized; the non-stick coating on the inner walls of the throat part and the nozzle part can prevent the printing material from being attached to the inner wall of the spray head to cause spray head blockage. Thus, such a printer does not experience unexpected material supply interruptions while printing the model, thereby optimizing the quality of the printing model.

In one embodiment, the nozzle 2 of the FDM three-dimensional printer is a double-nozzle structure, and the specific structure is shown in fig. 6. The spray head 2 includes a first spray head 201 and a second spray head 202. The printing material enters the throat from the upper part, is heated and melted, and is sprayed out from the nozzle. The double nozzles can be fixed with each other through the fixing mechanism, the relative position relation between the double nozzles is kept fixed, the stability can be enhanced in the moving process, and the printing quality can be prevented from being influenced by the mutual interference of the double nozzles.

In one embodiment, the dual nozzles of the FDM three dimensional printer may be used to print two different colors or materials of printing material, as shown in fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the printing process of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention. The material supply mechanism supplies two

printing materials

601 and 602 with different materials or colors, which are printed by two nozzles. The printing model on the printing platform 3 is partly made of a material 601 and partly of a material 602. 601 and 602 may be only printing materials different in color for realizing two-color printing; the printing material can also be printing material of different materials, in one embodiment, 602 is soluble material and is used as support material for printing, and the printing material can be conveniently removed after printing is finished, so that the completeness of the printing model is ensured.

A schematic diagram of an embodiment of the control device of the FDM three-dimensional printer of the present invention is shown in fig. 8.

And 12, a control module for controlling the operation of each mechanism and module of the FDM three-dimensional printer. Wherein 111 is an x-axis motion mechanism motor, 112 is a y-axis motion mechanism motor, and 113 is a z-axis motion mechanism motor. The control module 12 controls the movement track of the spray head 2 by controlling the work of the x-axis movement mechanism motor 111 and the y-axis movement mechanism motor 112; the distance between the spray head and the printing platform is controlled by controlling the work of the z-axis motion mechanism motor 113, so that the layer-by-layer printing is realized.

The control module can control the movement track of the spray head 2 by controlling the motors of the x-axis movement mechanism and the y-axis movement mechanism, can also control the material supply of the spray head 2, and controls whether the spray head 2 sprays printing materials at the current position, thereby realizing the printing of models in various shapes.

The control module 12 controls the temperature of the nozzle by controlling the working state of the nozzle motor 21, and controls the temperature of the printing platform by controlling the working state of the platform heating mechanism 4, so as to provide a proper temperature environment for the printing material and the printing model.

The control module 12 controls the heat dissipation fan 5 to dissipate heat according to the temperature requirement of printing. The cooling fan comprises a model cooling fan, and the model printed by the three-dimensional printer is cooled by controlling the work of the model cooling fan.

Through the method of controlling the work of each motor and each module by the control module 12, the motion and the temperature of the spray head, the material supply of the spray head and the motion and the temperature of the printing platform can be controlled according to the printing requirements, and the model cooling fan is controlled to dissipate heat for the printing model, so that the cooling speed of the printing model is accelerated while printing is completed, and the quality of the surface of the model is improved.

In one embodiment, the control module 12 is also capable of controlling the operation of the position calibration mechanism. The position calibration mechanism is used for calibrating the distance between the spray head and the printing platform. In the initial stage of printing, control module 12 controls the position calibration mechanism to work, obtains the suitable height that print platform is located the shower nozzle below, and control module 12 controls z axle motion motor work, makes print platform stabilize at this height, conveniently prints on print platform is attached to the printing material.

In one embodiment, the control module 12 can also obtain information about the temperature of the nozzle, the temperature of the printing platform, and the rotation speed of the fan from the adjustment module 10, and adjust the operating states of the nozzle motor 21, the platform heating mechanism 4, and the heat dissipation fan 5 according to the obtained parameters to provide the proper temperature. The control module 12 can also obtain the printing speed for adjustment from the adjustment module 10, and adjust the movement speeds of the x-axis movement mechanism motor 111, the y-axis movement mechanism motor 112, and the z-axis movement mechanism motor 113 according to the printing speed, so that the density and the completion time of printing can meet the user requirements.

In one embodiment, the control module 12 transmits the parameters and status of the printer to the display module 9, and the parameters and status are displayed by the display module 9, so that the user can know the printing status and adjust the parameters conveniently.

In one embodiment, the FDM three-dimensional printer may further comprise a position calibration mechanism to calibrate the distance of the print head from the print platform. When printing begins, the initial distance between the nozzle and the printing platform needs to be calibrated, and the material printed by the nozzle can be smoothly attached to the printing platform. The position calibration mechanism may be a limit switch, as shown in FIG. 9, and the position calibration mechanism is a z-axis limit switch 123. The method can realize the initial calibration of the distance between the spray head and the printing platform, thereby improving the successful printing probability and the quality of the printing model.

In one embodiment, an x-axis limit switch 121 and a y-axis limit switch 122 may be further included, and when printing is completed, the control module 12 controls the x-axis movement mechanism motor 111 and the y-axis movement mechanism motor 112, and when the x-axis limit switch 121 and the y-axis limit switch 122 are triggered, the operation of the corresponding movement mechanism motor is stopped, and the zero resetting of the position of the nozzle is completed. The method can realize automatic zero setting of the position of the spray head and prevent the damage of the device caused by excessive movement of the spray head in the x and y axes.

In one embodiment, the FDM three-dimensional printer has two nozzles, and the control module 12 controls the first nozzle motor 211 and the second nozzle motor 212 to heat the first nozzle 201 and the second nozzle 202, respectively, and the heating temperature may be different according to the difference of printing materials, and the setting is performed according to the nozzle temperature parameter adjusted by the user through the adjusting module 10, so as to ensure that the dual nozzles print the material softening point meeting the requirements of the two nozzles.

In one embodiment, after the printing is completed, the control module 12 can control the x-axis movement mechanism motor 111 and the y-axis movement mechanism motor 112 to automatically return the nozzle, and control the nozzle motor 21 and the platform heating mechanism 4 to stop heating, so that the user can take off the printing model from the platform conveniently.

As shown in fig. 10, in step 1001, the control module controls a movement locus of the moving mechanism and material supply of the head according to print data.

In step 1002, the motors of the nozzle and the platform heating mechanism are controlled to make the nozzle and the printing platform reach a predetermined temperature.

In step 1003, the cooling fan is controlled to dissipate heat, and the cooling fan includes a model cooling fan, which can accelerate the cooling speed of the printing model.

The quality of the model surface can be improved by such a method.

The invention further provides a manufacturing method of the oral cavity model, the printing data is obtained according to the mathematical model, and the printing data is applied to any one of the FDM three-dimensional printers mentioned above, so that the oral cavity model can be directly printed.

A flow chart of one embodiment of a method of making an oral cavity model of the present invention is shown in fig. 11.

In step 1101, print data is generated from the digital model, which may include print paths, material supply data, and the like.

In step 1102, a model is printed from print data using a three-dimensional printer. The printing data can be led into the three-dimensional printer through the SD card, the three-dimensional printer can be connected through a USB port or a network port, and the three-dimensional printer is used for printing the oral cavity model.

Fig. 12a and 12b are schematic views of digital models of the oral cavity model according to the method of the present invention. Fig. 12a is a mathematical model of the upper jaw and fig. 12b is a mathematical model of the lower jaw. And generating printing data including printing tracks and nozzle material supply according to the mathematical model, and finishing printing through the FDM three-dimensional printer.

In one embodiment, the FDM three-dimensional printer is a multi-nozzle printer that prints multiple colors of printing materials, such as tooth colors, gum colors, etc., respectively, to achieve more realistic, detailed, and accurate printing of the three-dimensional model of the oral cavity.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention and not to limit it; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that: modifications to the specific embodiments of the invention or equivalent substitutions for parts of the technical features may be made; without departing from the spirit of the present invention, it is intended to cover all aspects of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

The three-dimensional printer is characterized by comprising a movement mechanism, a spray head, a printing platform, a platform heating mechanism and a cooling fan, wherein the cooling fan comprises a model cooling fan and is used for cooling a model printed by the three-dimensional printer.
The printer of claim 1, further comprising a position calibration mechanism for calibrating a distance of the spray head from the printing platform;

or

The printer further comprises: a material supply mechanism that supplies the printer with a printing material, a power supply module, and a switch;

or

The printer comprises more than 2 spray heads, and each spray head is provided with a corresponding material supply mechanism.
The printer according to claim 1, further comprising:

the display module is used for displaying the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism, the printing speed, the printing progress, the displacement of the movement mechanism, the printing state, the rotating speed of the cooling fan and/or a printing list;

and/or

The temperature adjusting unit is used for setting the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism and/or the rotating speed of the cooling fan;

and/or

A speed adjusting unit for adjusting a printing speed;

and/or

A state selection unit for selecting to suspend printing or continue printing;

and/or

A data selection unit for selecting the print data.
The printer of claim 1, further comprising a data input module for receiving print data.
The printer of claim 4, wherein the data input module is an SD card slot for retrieving print data from an SD card;

and/or

The data input module is a USB interface and is used for acquiring printing data from a computer;

and/or

The data input module is a network interface and is used for acquiring printing data from a network.
The printer according to claim 4, further comprising a control module for controlling a movement trajectory of the movement mechanism, and/or temperatures of the head and the stage heating mechanism, and/or a rotation speed of a heat dissipation fan according to the print data.
The printing nozzle is characterized by comprising a throat part and a nozzle part, wherein the nozzle is made of all-metal materials, and the inner walls of the throat part and the nozzle part are coated with non-stick coatings.
The print head of claim 7, wherein the non-stick coating is a ceramic coating or a polytetrafluoroethylene coating;

or

The metal material comprises stainless steel, aluminum alloy and/or copper;

or

The temperature resistance of the spray head is not lower than 345 degrees;

or

The inner diameter of the nozzle part is conical;

or

The aperture of the nozzle part is 0.1 mm-0.4 mm.
An FDM three-dimensional printer comprising the print head of any one of claims 7 to 8.
The printer of claim 9, wherein said printer comprises more than 2 of said print heads;

or

The printer further comprises a model cooling fan for cooling the model printed by the three-dimensional printer;

or

The printing device also comprises a position calibration mechanism used for calibrating the distance between the spray head and the printing platform.
The printer of claim 9, further comprising a display module for displaying a temperature of the spray head, a temperature of the platform heating mechanism, a printing speed, a printing schedule, a movement mechanism displacement, a printing status, a fan speed, and/or a print list;

and/or

The temperature adjusting unit is used for setting the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism and/or the rotating speed of the cooling fan;

and/or

A speed adjusting unit for adjusting a printing speed;

and/or

A state selection unit for selecting to suspend printing or continue printing;

and/or

A data selection unit for selecting the print data.
The printer of claim 9, further comprising a data input module for receiving print data;

the data input module is an SD card slot and is used for acquiring printing data from the SD card;

and/or

The data input module is a USB interface and is used for acquiring printing data from a computer;

and/or

The data input module is a network interface and is used for acquiring printing data from a network.
The printer of claim 12, further comprising a control module for controlling a motion trajectory of the motion mechanism, and/or temperatures of the head and the stage heating mechanism, and/or a rotational speed of a heat dissipation fan according to the print data.
A control method of an FDM three-dimensional printer is characterized by comprising the following steps:

controlling the motion track of the motion mechanism and the material supply of the spray head according to the printing path;

controlling the temperature of the spray head and/or the platform heating mechanism according to the printing temperature requirement; and

and controlling the heat dissipation of a heat dissipation fan according to the printing temperature requirement, wherein the heat dissipation fan comprises a model heat dissipation fan, and the model printed by the three-dimensional printer is cooled by controlling the model heat dissipation fan.
The method of claim 14, further comprising controlling a position calibration mechanism to calibrate a position of the spray head and/or the printing platform;

or

Controlling more than 2 nozzles to print printing materials with different colors according to the multi-color printing data; and/or controlling more than 2 nozzles to print different types of printing materials according to the printing data.
The method of claim 14, further comprising:

the control display module displays the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism, the printing speed, the printing progress, the displacement of the movement mechanism, the printing state, the rotating speed of the cooling fan and/or a printing list;

and/or

Controlling a spray head motor, a platform heating mechanism and/or a cooling fan according to the temperature of the spray head, the temperature of the platform heating mechanism and/or the cooling fan rotating speed which are set by a user through a temperature adjusting unit;

and/or

Controlling the speed of the moving mechanism according to the printing speed adjusted by the user through the speed adjusting unit;

and/or

Controlling the motion mechanism to pause or continue according to the pause or continue of the printing selected by the user through the state selection unit;

and/or

Printing is performed according to the print data selected by the user through the data selection unit.
The method of claim 14, wherein the print data is received by a data input module;

the data input module acquires printing data from the SD card through the SD card slot, and/or acquires the printing data from a computer through the USB interface, and/or acquires the printing data from a network through the network interface.
A method of making an oral cavity model, comprising:

generating print data from the digital model, the print data including a print path;

use any one FDM three-dimensional printer of claims 1-6, 9-13 to print an oral cavity model according to the print data.
The method according to claim 18, wherein the number of nozzles of the FDM three dimensional printer is 2 or more, and the multi-color oral model is printed by printing different colors of printing materials using different nozzles.