CN107972268A - A kind of full-automatic air-drying device for process after 3D increasing material manufacturings - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a fully automatic air-drying device applied to the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing, which is used to effectively solve the problems of low manual operation efficiency and misoperation. A fully automatic air-drying device applied to the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing in the present invention, comprising: an air-drying device body (71) and a ventilation pipe (74); The bottom of the bottom stretches into the cavity inside of the air-drying device body (71); pipe (73); the air outlet (72) and the air outlet pipe (73) are respectively connected to the ventilation pipe (74); the other end of the ventilation pipe (74) is connected to the wind source.

Description

A fully automatic air-drying device for the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing

technical field

The invention relates to the field of machinery, in particular to a fully automatic air-drying device applied to the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing.

Background technique

Traditional 3D printing (rapid prototyping) generally only has a single molding device, and the post-processing steps include removing the printed part from the forming platform, preliminary cleaning of the printed part, secondary cleaning of the printed part, air drying, and post-curing steps. Manually done.

In the mass rapid prototyping production process, the efficiency of manually completing the above steps is extremely low, and it is prone to misoperation.

Contents of the invention

The embodiment of the present invention provides a fully automatic air-drying device applied to the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing, which is used to effectively solve the problems of low efficiency and misoperation of manual operation.

A fully automatic air-drying device applied to the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing, including:

The upper computer, the first PLC, the second PLC and the mechanical arm 2, the feeding device 3, the forming device 4, the buffer device 5, the cleaning device 6, the air drying device 7, the curing device 8 and the lower Material device 9;

The first PLC is electrically connected to the mechanical arm 2, the feeding device 3, the buffer device 5, the cleaning device 6, the drying device 7, the curing device 8 and the feeding device 9;

The second PLC is electrically connected to the molding device 4;

The forming device 4 is used to receive the forming platform 10 taken out by the mechanical arm 2 from the feeding device 3;

The forming device 4 is also used to perform rapid prototyping processing on the forming platform 10 to obtain a product with a forming platform;

The cleaning device 6 is used for cleaning the product of the forming platform taken out by the mechanical arm 2 from the forming device 4;

The air-drying device 7 is used to air-dry the workpiece taken out by the mechanical arm 2 from the cleaning device 6;

The curing device 8 is used to perform photocuring treatment on the product taken out by the mechanical arm 2 from the air-drying device;

The mechanical arm 2 is also used to take out the workpiece from the curing device 8 and transport it to the unloading device 9 .

optional,

The printing platform 10 includes: a connecting plate 10a, a forming plate 10b and a handle 10c;

The forming plate 10b is installed on the bottom surface of the connecting plate 10a through the connecting column 10d;

The handles 10c are fixedly connected to the top surface of the connecting plate 10a in pairs.

optional,

The upper computer is connected with the first PLC and the second PLC through the RS-485 serial bus;

The first PLC and the second PLC are connected through an RS-485 serial bus.

optional,

The feeding device 3, the buffer device 5 and the unloading device 9 are all equipped with an optical fiber sensor 33, two symmetrical conveyor belts 31 and a pair of opposite-beam sensors 32;

The through-beam sensors 32 are arranged in pairs on the two symmetrical conveyor belts 31;

The optical fiber sensor 33 is arranged at one end of the conveyor belt 31;

The width of the two symmetrical conveyor belts 31 matches the printing platform 10 used as the carrier of the three-dimensional object, and the printing platform 10 can be embedded between the two symmetrical conveyor belts 31.

optional,

The molding device 4 , the cleaning device 6 , the air-drying device 7 and the curing device 8 are all provided with windows for the printing platform 10 to be embedded in.

optional,

Described shaping device 4 comprises:

Lifting mechanism 41, connecting mechanism 42, force detection mechanism 43, printing platform loading frame 44, raw material tank 45, wire harness mechanism 46 and PLD mechanism;

The lifting mechanism 41 includes a motor and a screw mandrel, the motor drives the screw mandrel, and the screw mandrel is connected to one end of the connecting mechanism 42 for driving the connecting mechanism 42 to realize vertical movement;

The other end of the connecting mechanism 42 is connected with one end of the force detection mechanism 43;

The other end of the mechanical detection mechanism 43 is connected to the printing platform loading frame 44 .

optional,

A magnet is also arranged on the bottom surface of the connecting plate 10a;

The frame of the printing platform loading frame 44 can be attracted to the magnet;

The printing platform loading frame 44 includes a frame and a window surrounded by the frame;

The forming plate 10b can be embedded in the window, and the connecting plate 10a is attracted to the frame of the printing platform loading frame 44 through magnets.

optional,

The handle 10c has an arched structure, and the pair of holding parts 21 and 22 on the left and right of the mechanical arm 2 can be inserted into the hollow part of the arched structure.

optional,

Described cleaning device 6 comprises:

Cleaning device body 61, cover plate mechanism 62, liquid storage tank 67, liquid inlet pipe 65 and liquid discharge pipe 66;

The cleaning device body 61 includes a cleaning tank 63 and a liquid pump 66;

The liquid inlet pipe 65 is connected to the cleaning tank 63, the liquid pump 66 and the liquid storage tank 67;

The drain pipe 66 connects the cleaning tank 63 and the liquid pump 66 .

optional,

Air-drying device 7 comprises: air-drying device body 71 and ventilation pipe 74;

The ventilation pipe 74 extends into the cavity of the air-drying device body 71 from the bottom of the air-drying device body 71;

The air-drying device body 61 includes an air outlet 72 arranged on four side walls and an air outlet pipe 73 arranged at the lower part of the air outlet 72;

The air outlet 72 and the air outlet pipe 73 are respectively connected with the ventilation pipe 74;

The other end of the ventilation pipe 74 is connected to a wind source.

It can be seen from the above technical solutions that the embodiments of the present invention have the following advantages:

In the present invention, the molding device, cleaning device, air-drying device, curing device, automatic feeding device and mechanical arm arranged on the workbench; Receiving; the automatic feeding device is used to feed materials on the row platform; the forming device is also used to perform rapid prototyping on the material on the forming platform to obtain workpieces associated with the forming platform;

The cleaning device is used to clean the workpiece of the forming platform taken out by the mechanical arm from the forming device; the air-drying device is used to remove the mechanical arm from the cleaning device The workpiece is air-dried; the curing device is used to light-cure the workpiece taken out by the mechanical arm from the air-drying device; the mechanical arm is also used to take the workpiece out of the curing device and carry it to the unloading device. The robotic arm is responsible for taking out the forming platform from the feeding device and putting it into the forming device. After the forming is completed, take out the forming platform with workpieces and put them in the cleaning device, then take out the workpieces from the cleaning device and put them in the high-pressure air drying device to dry them, and finally take them out again. Put it into the curing device. After curing, take it out and put it into the unloading device. After manually removing the workpiece, put the forming platform back into the loading device. This process cycle can effectively solve the problems of low manual operation efficiency and misoperation.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the structural diagram of 3D additive manufacturing system among the present invention;

Figure 2 is a partially enlarged view in Figure 1;

Fig. 3 is the structural diagram of the feeding device in the 3D additive manufacturing system in the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a structural diagram of the molding device in the 3D additive manufacturing system of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a structural diagram of the cleaning device in the 3D additive manufacturing system of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a structural diagram of a fully automatic air-drying device applied to the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing in the present invention.

Detailed ways

The idea, specific structure and technical effects of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the embodiments and accompanying drawings 1 and 6, so as to fully understand the purpose, features and effects of the present invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative efforts belong to protection scope of the present invention.

The embodiment of the present invention provides a fully automatic air-drying device applied to the post-process of 3D additive manufacturing, which is used to effectively solve the problems of low efficiency and misoperation of manual operation.

The 3D additive manufacturing system in this embodiment includes:

The upper computer, the first PLC, the second PLC and the mechanical arm 2, the feeding device 3, the forming device 4, the buffer device 5, the cleaning device 6, the air drying device 7, the curing device 8 and the lower Material device 9.

The upper computer is connected with the first PLC and the second PLC through the RS-485 serial bus;

The first PLC and the second PLC are connected through the RS-485 serial bus;

It should be noted that the RS-485 serial bus can also be replaced by 232 multi-port communication, and the reason why RS-485 serial bus is used is that RS-485 requires fewer ports than 232 multi-port, but the The inconvenience that comes is because the RS-485 serial bus connects the upper computer, the first PLC and the second PLC, as long as one of them stops working, the upper computer, the first PLC and the second PLC will stop working simultaneously. Therefore, how to use the communication method can be reasonably adjusted in specific applications, and is not specifically limited here.

The operation process of the above-mentioned 3D additive manufacturing system will be described below.

The upper computer stores the print file locally, the print file includes model parameters and projection pictures, the upper computer extracts the layer thickness and number of layers from the model parameters, and sends it to the second PLC;

The second PLC converts the layer thickness and the number of layers into control data, and sends a print start request to the first PLC;

The first PLC controls the mechanical arm 2 to clamp the printing platform 10 to the window position of the forming device 4 from the feeding device 3;

It should be noted that the printing platform 10 is initially placed between the two symmetrical conveyor belts 31 of the loading device 3 , and the connecting plate 10 a of the printing platform 10 just sits on the two symmetrical conveyor belts 31 . When the through-beam sensor 32 detects the printing platform 10 , the conveyor belt 31 starts to rotate, driving the printing platform 10 to move. When the optical fiber sensor 33 detects the printing platform 10, the conveyor belt 31 stops rotating. Therefore, the predetermined position where the mechanical arm 2 clamps the printing platform 10 every time the loading mechanism 3 is fixed is fixed, so that the mechanical arm 2 can be better operated and the accuracy is improved.

When the optical fiber sensor 33 fails to detect the printing platform 10, the through-beam sensor 32 detects the printing platform 10, and the conveyor belt 31 continues to move until the optical fiber sensor 33 detects the printing platform 10 again, and the conveyor belt 31 stops moving. Therefore, the mechanical arm 2 clamps a printing platform 10, and the subsequent printing platform 10 will fill the vacancy of the previous position, effectively realizing the technical effect of automatic filling. At present, the ways of providing the subsequent printing platform 10 include but are not limited to using another robot arm, or extending the conveyor belt to the printing platform recycling device, so that the used printing platform can be recycled to realize the technical effect of recycling.

Since the feeding device 3, the buffer device 5 and the unloading device 9 are similar in structure, the above only uses the feeding device 3 as an example. This operation will be repeated in the subsequent steps, and its technical effect is the same, so it will not be described in the subsequent description. repeat.

It should also be explained that before the mechanical arm 2 clamps the printing platform 10 from the loading mechanism, it first needs to move the clamping mechanism vertically to a safe height, and then move horizontally within the safe height plane. Such an operation can effectively prevent the mechanical arm 2 from encountering other obstacles during the moving process, causing unnecessary operation errors. Before each movement of the mechanical arm 2, first move the holding mechanism to a safe height and move horizontally. The safe height is adjusted due to the layout of the entire system. The steps will appear repeatedly, and their technical effects are the same, so they will not be repeated in the subsequent description.

Since the printing platform 10 has a handle 10c with an arched structure, correspondingly, the holding mechanism of the mechanical arm 2 includes a pair of holding parts 21 and 22 on the left and right. The holding parts are chamfered and can be embedded in the hollow part of the arched structure, thereby The mechanical arm 2 can stably clamp the printing platform 10 . Those skilled in the art can understand that the way the mechanical arm 2 controls the opening and closing of the clamping mechanism includes, but is not limited to, mechanical transmission or hydraulic struts. At the same time, the mechanical arm 2 can also be equipped with power-off protection and air-off protection mechanisms, so that when the holding mechanism loses control, it still maintains the clamping state, and has the technical effect of preventing the holding object from falling midway.

The mechanical arm 2 moves the printing platform 10 to the window of the forming device 4, the connecting plate 10a of the printing platform 10 is magnetically attracted to the frame of the printing platform loading frame 44, and the forming plate 10b of the printing platform 10 is embedded in the window.

It should be noted that the forming device 4, the cleaning device 6, the air-drying device 7 and the curing device 8 are all provided with windows for the printing platform 10 to be embedded in, and a deviation correcting member is installed above each window, and the deviation correcting unit has four deviation correcting components. claws, located above the four corners of each window. The cross-section of the deviation-correcting claw is a right-angled triangle structure, and the bottom angle forms an included angle of 45° with the window plane. When the connecting plate 10a of the printing platform 10 is in contact with the deviation-correcting claw, if one end of the connecting plate 10a is higher than the stable position, under the action of the deviation-correcting claw, the higher end will slide down, so that the printing platform 10 always maintains a stable position and falls on the window .

When specifically processing the deviation-correcting claw, an isosceles right-angled triangular prism can be installed on the frame of each window, and the prism can also be fixedly connected with the frame of the window by connecting strips.

It should be noted that each window is equipped with a pressure sensor, which is convenient for triggering subsequent operations after the printing platform is detected. In this embodiment, the pressure sensor can detect whether there is a printing platform 10 at the window according to the pressure and the time when the pressure is applied. This setting is mainly to prevent objects other than the printing platform from pressing the window, such as human hands, but the pressure When the sensor judges that the pressure applied by the hand and the time are different from the printing platform, it does not trigger subsequent operations. Since this operation will be repeated in the subsequent steps, and its technical effect is the same, it will not be repeated in the subsequent description.

After the printing platform 10 is attracted to the printing platform loading frame 44 , the lifting mechanism 41 of the forming device 4 drives the printing platform 10 to sink to a predetermined position.

It should be noted that the predetermined position is related to the layer number and layer thickness sent by the host computer. The second PLC edits the layer number and layer thickness into control data, and then sends the control data to the molding device 4, and the lifting mechanism 41 moves according to the control data. The above operation is called finding the origin in the industry. When the forming device 4 finds the origin, the forming device 4 sends a print request to the host computer. After receiving the print request, the host computer sends the projected picture to the forming device 4 via HDMI. The upper computer extracts the exposure time from the model parameters, and sends it to the second PLC, and the second PLC edits the exposure time into a control instruction to control the lifting mechanism 41 to rise. The above operation is called peeling in the industry, and the lifting mechanism 41 stops rising after the peeling operation is finished.

After 5-10 minutes after the peeling operation, this time is the time left for the printing product to drip, and it will not be repeated in the subsequent steps. The second PLC sends a printing platform transfer request to the first PLC, and the first PLC controls the mechanical arm 2 to transfer the printing platform 10 from the forming device 4 to the buffer device 5 after receiving the printing platform transfer request.

The buffer device 5 is similar in structure to the feeding device 3, and can move the printing platform 10 from one end of the conveyor belt to the other, so as to facilitate the fixed-point grasping of the mechanical arm 2, which will not be repeated here. When the fiber optic sensor senses the printing platform, the conveyor belt stops moving, and the waiting time is 5-10 minutes.

When the first PLC detects that the mechanical arm 2 is in a non-working state, the first PLC controls the cleaning device 6 to open the cover plate mechanism 62, and the magnetic ring switch detects whether the cover is opened. If so, the first PLC controls the mechanical arm 2 to print the platform 10 Transport to the cleaning device 6, otherwise trigger exception processing. Here, the pressure sensor or the robot arm 2 can notify the first PLC platform that the placement is complete. Since the robot arm 2 will notify the first PLC after the action of the robot arm 2 is completed, there is a possibility that the robot arm 2 can notify the first PLC platform that the placement is completed. The cleaning device 6 starts to work, and the cleaning time is 5-10 minutes. The first PLC controls the cleaning device 6 to open the cover plate mechanism 62 to open another window for the second cleaning, which will not be repeated here.

It should be noted that the cleaning device also includes a cleaning device body 61 , a liquid storage tank 67 , a liquid inlet pipe 65 and a liquid discharge pipe 66 . The cleaning device body 61 further includes a cleaning tank 63 and a liquid pump 66 .

The liquid inlet pipe 65 is connected to the cleaning tank 63 , the liquid pump 66 and the liquid storage tank 67 , and the liquid discharge pipe 66 is connected to the cleaning tank 63 and the liquid pump 66 . The cleaning process is carried out in the cleaning tank 63 , through the cooperation of the liquid storage tank 67 , the liquid inlet pipe 65 and the liquid discharge pipe 66 to realize the replacement of the old and new cleaning liquid, and the discarded cleaning liquid can be discharged through the liquid discharge pipe 66 . The effect of the cover plate mechanism 62 is that when the cleaning process is not performed, the cover plate covers the cleaning tank 67 to prevent the cleaning liquid from volatilizing, being polluted and polluting the environment, and preventing damage to the human body and the environment. A common cleaning solution is isopropanol.

The first PLC controls the mechanical arm 2 to the cleaning device 6 to clamp the printing platform 10 and place it on the air-drying device 7. The mechanical arm 2 notifies the first PLC that the printing platform is in place, and the first PLC controls the air-drying device 6 to start air-drying. After the mechanical arm counts for 5-10 minutes, the air-drying ends, and the air valve is closed.

It should be noted that the air-drying device 7 includes: an air-drying device body 71 and a ventilation pipe 74; 61 includes an air outlet 72 arranged on the four sides of the side wall and an air outlet pipe 73 arranged at the bottom of the air outlet 72; the air outlet 72 and the air outlet pipe 73 are respectively connected to the ventilation pipe 74; the other end of the ventilation pipe 74 Connect to air source.

When the printed product carried under the printing platform 10 hovers above the window of the air-drying device 6, the mechanical arm 2 notifies the first PLC that the printing platform is in place, and the first PLC controls the air-drying device 6 to open the air valve, and the printed product first receives the The air-drying treatment of the air outlet 72 in the direction, at this time, the air outlet pipe 73 at the bottom of the air outlet 72 can also be used to perform air-drying treatment on the bottom of the printed product. The pressurized gas ejected from the air outlet pipe 73 forms a fan-shaped air knife, which can effectively air-dry dead corners, thereby further improving the air-drying effect.

The first PLC controls the mechanical arm 2 to the air-drying device 7 to clamp the printing platform 10 and place it on the curing device 8 to perform the curing operation. The first PLC timer ends after 5-10 minutes.

It should be noted that since this embodiment adopts in-liquid curing, another air-drying treatment is required, and another air-drying treatment is not required if other curing methods are adopted. The first PLC controls the mechanical arm 2 to the curing device 8 to clamp the printing platform 10 and place it on the air-drying device 7. The mechanical arm notifies the first PLC that the printing platform is in place, and the first PLC controls the air-drying device to start air-drying. After the mechanical arm counts for 5-10 minutes, the air-drying ends, and the air valve is closed.

The first PLC controls the mechanical arm 2 to move the printing platform to the unloading mechanism 9 .

It should be noted that the structure of the unloading mechanism 9 is similar to that of the loading mechanism, and will not be repeated here. In the follow-up, the classification of the printing platform and printing products can be realized, and the printing platform can be recycled and processed, and then enter the next cycle.

In this embodiment, there may be four forming platforms 4, which are respectively controlled by two second PLCs. It should be noted that the entire system can also be controlled by only one PLC. The reason why two are used is to prevent the operation of the entire system from being affected after one of the links stops working. Using two or three PLCs can effectively prevent such situations from happening. .

As mentioned above, the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that: it can still understand the foregoing The technical solutions recorded in each embodiment are modified, or some of the technical features are replaced equivalently; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the various embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (4)

1. A kind of 1. full-automatic air-drying device applied to process after 3D increasing material manufacturings, it is characterised in that including：

   Air-drying device body (71) and ventilation duct (74)；

   The ventilation duct (74) stretches into the cavity of the air-drying device body (71) from the bottom of the air-drying device body (71) It is internal；

   The air-drying device body (61) includes the air outlet (72) being arranged on the side wall of four sides and is arranged under air outlet (72) The discharge pipe (73) in portion；

   The air outlet (72) and discharge pipe (73) are connected with ventilation duct (74) respectively；

   The other end of the ventilation duct (74) is connected with wind regime.
2. 2. the full-automatic air-drying device according to claim 1 applied to process after 3D increasing material manufacturings, it is characterised in that 3D Increasing material manufacturing system includes：

   Host computer, the first PLC, the 2nd PLC and the mechanical arm (2) being arranged on same workbench (1), feeding device (3), Molding machine (4), buffer storage (5), cleaning device (6), air-drying device (7), solidification equipment (8) and blanking device (9)；

   First PLC respectively with the mechanical arm (2), feeding device (3), buffer storage (5), cleaning device (6), air-dry dress (7), solidification equipment (8) and blanking device (9) is put to be electrically connected；

   2nd PLC is electrically connected with the molding machine (4)；

   The molding machine (4) is used to connect the shaped platform (10) that the mechanical arm (2) takes out from feeding device (3) Receive；

   The molding machine (4), is additionally operable to carry out rapid shaping processing to the shaped platform (10), obtains related shaped platform Product；

   The cleaning device (6), for the related shaping taken out to the mechanical arm (2) from the molding machine (4) The product of platform carries out cleaning treatment；

   The air-drying device (7), the workpiece for being taken out to the mechanical arm (2) from the cleaning device (6) air-dry Processing；

   The solidification equipment (8), for carrying out photocuring processing to the product that the mechanical arm (2) takes out from air-drying device；

   The mechanical arm (2), is additionally operable to take out the workpiece from the solidification equipment (8), and is transported to blanking device (9).
3. 3. 3D increasing material manufacturings system according to claim 2, it is characterised in that

   The host computer is connected by RS-485 universal serial bus with the first PLC and the 2nd PLC；

   First PLC and the 2nd PLC connections are connected by RS-485 universal serial bus.
4. 4. 3D increasing material manufacturings system according to claim 2, it is characterised in that

   The molding machine (4), cleaning device (6), air-drying device (7) and solidification equipment (8) are equipped with for the print platform (10) embedded window.