CN111890684A - Linear powder quantitative supply device and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a linear powder quantitative supply device and a method thereof, the device comprises a bracket, a powder spreading platform arranged at the bottom of the bracket, a powder storage container arranged at the top of the bracket, and at least one powder supply unit, wherein the powder supply unit comprises a powder supply container, a sliding door control unit and a controller, the powder supply container can be connected with the powder storage container in an on-off mode and is positioned between the powder storage container and the powder spreading platform, the powder supply container is obliquely arranged relative to the powder spreading platform, the powder supply container is provided with a strip-shaped powder outlet, the powder outlet corresponds to the powder spreading platform, the sliding door control unit controls the powder outlet to be gradually opened or closed along one end of the powder outlet towards the other end, and the controller is electrically connected with the sliding door open-web unit.

Description

Linear powder quantitative supply device and method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of 3D printing, in particular to a linear powder quantitative supply device and a method thereof.

Background

Powder bed three-dimensional forming is one of important classifications of 3D printing equipment, and the method comprises the steps of paving a powder thin layer with uniform thickness at the edge opening of a forming cylinder by a powder paving mechanism, selectively heating a specific area of the powder thin layer by a thermal scanning device to enable powder in the heated area to generate a melting or sintering phenomenon, and cooling to obtain a sheet-shaped combination; and then through the repeated execution of the steps of descending layer by layer, powder laying and thermal scanning of the forming platform, the flaky cured material obtained by thermal scanning of each layer is vertically welded, so that the three-dimensional formed object is obtained, and the three-dimensional formed object has the characteristics of high forming precision, high part surface quality, low support structure tolerance, simple part post-treatment and the like. The typical device adopting melting combination is a hot melt combination (SLM for short) printer which is mainly used for the occasion of metal powder three-dimensional forming, and the typical device adopting sintering combination is a hot melt bonding (SLS for short) printer which is mainly corresponding to polymer powder three-dimensional forming. Thanks to the basic processes of layer-by-layer scanning and accumulation forming, the SLM/SLS printer can effectively avoid the problem of tool interference in the traditional numerical control cutting processing, thereby playing an advantage in the field of forming parts with complex internal and external geometric characteristics, such as free curved surfaces, cavities, lattices and the like.

In recent years, with the continuous popularization of high-power laser scanning devices and the continuous optimization of fine powder manufacturing processes of various metals, ceramics and high polymer materials, the manufacturing cost and the use cost of SLM/SLS printers are continuously reduced, so that the SLM/SLS printers are applied to the bulk manufacturing field, and the SLM/SLS printers have attracted wide attention and are widely applied to the aerospace field and are used for manufacturing aircraft engine parts with complex structures, such as an integrated oil nozzle, an air compressor blade with a hollow cooling channel, an integrated turbine disc and the like; SLS polymer printers are beginning to be industrially applied in industrial and consumer fields, such as mass production of parts such as car trims, midsoles of novel sports shoes, and the like. Meanwhile, the rapidly developing batch manufacturing application also upgrades the driving SLM/SLS equipment to higher processing performance and better production efficiency, so that the SLM/SLS forming process is continuously updated to be larger in size and faster. In order to increase the speed and enlarge the width, the laser scanning device for the SLM/SLS printer is developed from a single-vibration mirror to a multi-vibration mirror and from static scanning to flying scanning, and the scanning speed is further increased from a plurality of meters per second to twenty meters per second. On the other hand, the improvement of the powder supply and powder laying system of the powder bed three-dimensional forming equipment is in a stagnation state for a long time. The existing powder supply structure of the powder storage cylinder can obviously increase the size of a forming bin, so that the size and the manufacturing cost of the whole machine are high; and the powder supply mode of quantitative powder falling of the powder roller is adopted, so that the powder discharging speed is low, powder is easy to clamp and leak, and the large multiplying power and uniform spreading of a powder pile after the powder falling of the powder roller are short is still one of the problems faced by the SLM/SLS printer.

At present, a quantitative powder supply method which is simple and reliable in structure, wide in powder supply width and controllable in powder supply amount and distribution is still lacked for the powder laying requirements of large-breadth powder bed three-dimensional forming equipment.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, there is a need to provide a linear powder quantitative supply device and a method thereof, which has the advantages of simple structure and controllable powder supply width.

The invention provides a linear powder quantitative supply device, which comprises a bracket, a powder spreading platform arranged at the bottom of the bracket, a powder storage container arranged at the top of the bracket and used for containing powder, and at least one powder supply unit, wherein the powder supply unit comprises a powder supply container, a sliding door control unit and a controller, the powder supply container can be communicated with the powder storage container in an on-off manner and is positioned between the powder storage container and the powder spreading platform, the powder supply container is obliquely arranged relative to the powder spreading platform, the powder supply container is provided with a strip-shaped powder outlet, the powder outlet corresponds to the powder spreading platform, the sliding door control unit controls the powder outlet to be gradually opened or closed towards the other end along one end of the powder outlet so as to enable the powder to pass through the powder outlet and fall to the powder spreading platform, the controller is electrically connected to the sliding door control unit.

So set up, when the powder outlet from the one end of powder outlet towards the other end opening process gradually, the powder that the powder outlet that has been opened corresponds can be followed the powder outlet that has been opened and located the spread powder platform under the action of gravity and spread, form the banding powder face of spreading, when the powder outlet was opened completely, the powder that supplies in the powder container can be spread completely and spread and form the target and spread the powder face at spread powder platform.

In one embodiment of the invention, an inclined angle is formed between the powder supply container and the powder laying platform, and the range of the inclined angle is greater than or equal to 0 degree and smaller than 90 degrees.

So set up, when the angle of inclination is 0 degree, supply powder container and shop's powder platform and set up parallelly, and at this moment, the length of supplying powder container's powder outlet equals the length of target shop's powder face. When the inclination angle is between 0 degree and 90 degrees, the powder supply container is obliquely arranged relative to the powder paving platform, and the length of the target powder paving surface is equal to the projection length of the powder outlet in the vertical powder falling direction on the powder paving platform, so that the length of the target powder pile can be adjusted by adjusting the inclination angle.

In one embodiment of the invention, the sliding door control unit comprises a flexible sliding door, a guide wheel, a driving wheel and a rotary driver, wherein two sides of the flexible sliding door are connected in a head-to-tail closed manner through a flexible cable, the guide wheel and the driving wheel, the driving wheel is connected with the rotary driver, the flexible sliding door can control the opening and closing of the powder outlet, and the rotary driver is electrically connected with the controller.

So set up, corotation or the reversal through flexible sliding door and rotary actuator can drive flexible sliding door and move towards the other end along the one end of powder outlet, and then open the powder outlet gradually or close the powder outlet, realize the control to the powder speed that supplies.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the powder supply unit further includes a flexible conduit communicating the powder storage container and the powder supply container, and a press type shut-off valve provided to the flexible conduit, the press type shut-off valve being electrically connected to the controller.

So set up, oppression formula stop valve can be through controller control, automatically control store up the break-make between the powder container and the confession powder container, and then can control and fill the powder that supplies in the powder container, can promote the control to supplying the powder precision. In addition, the arrangement of the flexible conduit can conveniently adjust the inclination angle of the powder supply container so as to change the length of the target powder paving surface.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the powder supply unit further includes a stirrer disposed inside the powder storage container, the stirrer being electrically connected to the controller.

So set up, the agitator stirs slowly in storing up the powder container for powder is in mobile state in storing up the powder container, so that can flow into flexible pipe under the action of gravity.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the powder supplying unit further includes at least one vibrator disposed at an outer wall of the powder supplying container, the vibrator being electrically connected to the controller.

So set up, the vibrator can drive the outer wall vibration that supplies the powder container at the powder in-process that falls, accelerates the powder process of falling for powder process of falling keeps synchronous with flexible sliding door opening speed.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the powder supply unit further comprises a vent valve and a communication conduit, wherein the vent valve is arranged at one end of the powder supply container relatively far away from the powder storage container; and two ends of the communicating conduit are respectively communicated with the top of the vent valve and the top of the powder storage container.

So set up, in order to guarantee to supplying during the powder container intussuseption powder, supply the atmospheric pressure in powder container and the storage powder container to maintain balanced to can guarantee that the powder can flow into flexible pipe under the action of gravity, can be full of by the powder in having better guaranteed supplying the powder container completely.

The present invention also provides a method for quantitatively supplying linear powder, which uses the above-mentioned device for quantitatively supplying linear powder, the method comprising:

communicating the powder storage container with the powder supply container under the condition that the powder outlet of the powder supply container is in a closed state, and filling powder into the powder supply container through the powder storage container until the powder is filled in the powder supply container;

the disconnection store up the powder container with supply UNICOM between the powder container, through sliding door control unit control the powder mouth along the one end of powder mouth slides towards the other end and then will the powder mouth opens gradually, and the powder passes and has opened the powder mouth drops spread the powder platform, until the powder mouth is opened completely, supply that the powder in the powder container is all dropped spread the powder platform and form the target powder heap.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of connecting communication between the powder storage container and the powder supply container under the condition that the powder outlet of the powder supply container is closed, and filling the powder supply container with the powder through the powder storage container until the powder is filled in the powder supply container, the method further including the step of:

the rotary driver rotates to drive the driving wheel to rotate, so that the flexible cable is driven to pull the flexible sliding door to slide from one end of the powder outlet to the other end until the flexible sliding door completely closes the powder outlet;

driving the stirrer to stir in the powder storage container;

and opening the press type stop valve, and communicating the powder storage container and the powder supply container so as to enable the powder in the powder storage container to be filled into the powder supply container along the flexible conduit until the powder supply container is filled.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the step of disconnecting the communication between the powder storage container and the powder supply container, the sliding door control unit controls the powder outlet to slide along one end of the powder outlet to the other end so as to gradually open the powder outlet, the powder passes through the opened powder outlet and falls onto the powder spreading platform until the powder outlet is completely opened, and the powder in the powder supply container all falls into a target powder pile formed by the powder spreading platform, the method further includes the steps of:

closing the compression type stop valve, and disconnecting the communication between the powder storage container and the powder supply container;

driving a vibrator to vibrate on the outer wall of the powder supply container; and setting the rotary driver to rotate so that in the process that the flexible sliding door slides towards the other end along one end of the powder outlet to gradually open the powder outlet, powder passes through the opened powder outlet and falls onto the powder spreading platform until the powder outlet is completely opened, and the powder in the powder supply container completely falls onto the powder spreading platform to form a target powder pile.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a linear powder quantitative supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram showing a relationship between the slide gate control unit and the powder supply container of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of the powder supply container of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above embodiment of the present invention in a state before powder supply.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a powder supplying process of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above embodiment of the present invention when powder supply is completed.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above embodiment of the present invention before powder spreading after powder supply is completed.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged schematic view of a portion a of fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a powder laying process of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of the powder spreading completion of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the electrical connection between the controller and other components of the linear powder quantitative supply device according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention.

10. A support; 20. a powder storage container; 21. a stirrer; 30. a powder supply unit; 31. a powder supply container; 311. a powder outlet; 32. a slide gate control unit; 321. a flexible sliding door; 322. a guide wheel; 323. a driving wheel; 324. a rotary driver; 325. a flexible cable; 33. a controller; 34. a flexible conduit; 35. a press type stop valve; 36. a vibrator; 37. a vent valve; 38. a communicating conduit; 40. a powder laying platform; 50. powder; 51. spreading powder.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the embodiments of the present invention, are within the scope of the present invention.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "mounted on" another element, it can be directly mounted on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When a component is referred to as being "disposed on" another component, it can be directly on the other component or intervening components may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "secured to" another element, it can be directly secured to the other element or intervening elements may also be present.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used herein in the description of the invention is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term "or/and" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a linear powder quantitative supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The invention provides a linear powder quantitative supply device which is used for quantitatively supplying powder to printing equipment. The invention provides a linear powder quantitative supply device which can be used for supplying powder 50 of hot melt bonding (SLS) or hot melt bonding (SLM) equipment and has the characteristics of simple structure and controllable powder supply breadth.

The invention provides a linear powder quantitative supply device, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, comprising a bracket 10, a powder spreading platform 40 arranged at the bottom of the bracket 10, a powder storage container 20 arranged at the top of the bracket 10 for containing powder 50, and at least one powder supply unit 30, wherein the powder supply unit 30 is arranged between the powder storage container 20 and the powder spreading platform 40, the powder storage container 20 can supply the powder 50 to the powder supply unit 30, and the powder supply unit 30 can spread the powder 50 on the powder spreading plane to form a target powder spreading surface 51, so as to complete the powder supply process. The powder storage container 20 provided by the invention can supply powder for a plurality of powder supply units 30, and can realize powder paving to a plurality of areas of the powder paving platform 40 or powder paving for a plurality of powder paving platforms 40 at the same time.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the powder supply unit 30 is disposed at the powder spreading platform 40, the powder supply unit 30 includes a powder supply container 31, a sliding door control unit 32 and a controller 33, the powder supply container 31 is connected to the powder storage container 20 in an openable and closable manner and is located between the powder storage container 20 and the powder spreading platform 40, the powder supply container 31 is disposed obliquely with respect to the powder spreading platform 40, the powder supply container 31 has a strip-shaped powder outlet 311 so that the powder 50 falls onto the powder spreading platform 40 through the powder outlet 311 under the action of gravity, the powder outlet 311 corresponds to the powder spreading platform 40, the sliding door control unit 32 controls the powder outlet 311 to be gradually opened or closed along one end of the powder outlet 311 toward the other end, the controller 33 controls the sliding door control unit 32, and when the powder outlet 311 is gradually opened from one end of the powder outlet 311 toward the other end, the powder 50 corresponding to the opened powder outlet 311 can be electrically connected to the powder outlet 311 under the action of gravity from the opened powder outlet 311 The powder spreading platform 40 can form a strip-shaped powder spreading surface 51 until the powder outlet 311 is completely opened, and the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 is completely spread on the powder spreading platform 40 to form the target powder spreading surface 51. When the powder outlet 311 is in a closed state, the powder spreading of the powder spreading platform 40 is stopped, and in a state where the powder outlet 311 is completely closed, the powder storage container 20 is filled with the powder 50 into the powder supply container 31 to prepare for the next powder spreading process.

As shown in fig. 1, the powder supply unit 30 further includes a stirrer 21 disposed inside the powder storage container 20, the stirrer 21 being electrically connected to the controller 33, the stirrer 21 being capable of slowly stirring in the powder storage container 20 so that the powder 50 in the powder storage container 20 is in a flowing state so that the powder 50 can be filled into the powder supply container 31 by gravity.

It should be noted that, since the volume of the powder supply container 31 provided by the present invention is constant, the total amount of the powder 50 that can be accommodated when the powder 50 in the powder storage container 20 is in a saturated state is uniform, and the amount of the powder 50 that falls along different positions of the powder outlet 311 is also uniform, so that the powder outlet amount is controllable.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the powder supply container 31 and the powder spreading platform 40 have an inclination angle therebetween, and the range of the inclination angle is greater than or equal to 0 degrees and less than 90 degrees, so that the length of the powder spreading surface 51 can be adjusted by adjusting the inclination angle of the powder supply container 31 with respect to the powder spreading platform 40. Here, when the inclination angle is 0 degree, it means that the powder supply container 31 and the powder spreading platform 40 are arranged in parallel, and at this time, the length of the powder outlet 311 of the powder supply container 31 is equal to the length of the target powder spreading surface 51. When the inclination angle is any angle between 0 degree and 90 degrees, the powder supply container 31 is arranged obliquely relative to the powder laying platform 40, and the length of the target powder laying surface 51 is equal to the projection length of the powder outlet 311 on the powder laying platform 40 along the vertical powder falling direction, so that the length of the target powder pile can be adjusted by adjusting the size of the inclination angle. In addition, the powder supply container 31 is obliquely arranged from top to bottom, so that the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 can be better filled, and the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 can be conveniently filled under the action of gravity only. In addition, the design of the powder supply container 31 from top to bottom can also ensure that the opening state of the powder outlet 311 is also opened from top to bottom in the powder spreading process, the powder outlet 311 is gradually opened from the high-position end of the powder outlet 311 to the low-position end, and since the cavity corresponding to the low-position end of the powder supply container 31 is filled with the powder 50, the powder 50 at the high-position end cannot move towards the low-position end along the cavity of the powder supply container 31 under the action of gravity, and when the powder outlet 311 at the position is opened, the powder 50 can fall to the powder spreading platform 40.

In order to control the sliding door control unit 32 to automatically control the powder outlet 311 to gradually open or close, and to control the speed of the powder outlet 311 in opening the powder outlet 311 or closing the powder outlet 311, the controller 33 of the powder supply unit 30 is electrically connected to the sliding door control unit 32 to achieve that the powder outlet 311 can be kept gradually open or closed, and it can be ensured that the powder 50 corresponding to the powder outlet 311 of the opened portion can fall through the powder outlet 311 each time the powder outlet 311 is opened.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the sliding door control unit 32 includes a flexible sliding door 321, a guide wheel 322, a driving wheel 323 and a rotary driver 324, wherein two sides of the flexible sliding door 321 are connected end to end through a flexible cable 325, the guide wheel 322 and the driving wheel 323 are connected in a closed manner, the driving wheel 323 is connected with the rotary driver 324, the flexible sliding door 321 can control opening and closing of the powder outlet 311, and the rotary driver 324 is electrically connected to the controller 33. Since the powder outlet 311 is bar-shaped, the flexible sliding door 321 can gradually open or close the powder outlet 311 from one end of the powder outlet 311 to the other end.

Specifically, when the controller 33 controls the rotary driver 324 to rotate in the forward direction (or rotate clockwise), the driving wheel 323, the flexible cable 325 and the guide wheel 322 are driven to rotate in the forward direction or rotate clockwise, and the flexible sliding door 321 is pulled by the flexible cable 325, so that the elongated powder outlet 311 is gradually opened from top to bottom; when the controller 33 controls the rotary driver 324 to rotate reversely (or rotate counterclockwise), the driving wheel 323, the flexible cable 325 and the guide wheel 322 are driven to rotate reversely or rotate counterclockwise, and then the flexible sliding door 321 is pulled by the flexible cable 325, so that the strip-shaped powder outlet 311 is gradually closed from bottom to top, and the opening and closing of the powder outlet 311 are controlled.

As shown in fig. 1, the powder supply unit 30 further includes a flexible conduit 34 for communicating the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31, and a press type stop valve 35 disposed on the flexible conduit 34, wherein the press type stop valve 35 is electrically connected to the controller 33, and the press type stop valve 35 can be controlled by the controller 33 to automatically control the on/off of the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31, thereby controlling the powder 50 filled in the powder supply container 31 and improving the control of the powder supply precision. In addition, the flexible conduit 34 is provided to facilitate adjustment of the tilt angle of the powder supply container 31 to change the length of the target dusting surface 51.

As shown in fig. 1, the powder supply unit 30 further includes at least one vibrator 36, the vibrator 36 is disposed on an outer wall of the powder supply container 31, the vibrator 36 is electrically connected to the controller 33, and the vibrator 36 can drive the outer wall of the powder supply container 31 to vibrate during the powder falling process, so as to accelerate the falling process of the powder 50, and the falling process of the powder 50 is synchronized with the opening speed of the flexible sliding door 321.

As shown in fig. 1, the powder supply unit 30 further includes an air-permeable valve 37, wherein the air-permeable valve 37 is disposed at an end of the powder supply container 31 relatively far from the powder storage container 20, and the air-permeable valve 37 is disposed to discharge air existing in the powder supply container 31 through the air-permeable valve 37, so as to better ensure that the powder supply container 31 can be completely filled with the powder 50. Further, as shown in fig. 1, in order to ensure that the air pressures in the powder supply container 31 and the powder storage container 20 are maintained in balance during the filling of the powder 50 into the powder supply container 31, the powder supply unit 30 further includes a communication conduit 38, and both ends of the communication conduit 38 are respectively communicated with the vent valve 37 and the top of the powder storage container 20, so as to ensure that the powder 50 can flow into the flexible conduit 34 under the action of gravity.

The principle of the linear powder 50 quantitative supply device provided by the invention is as follows: in the powder supplying process, as shown in fig. 3 to 5, before the powder supply is started, the controller 33 sends a start instruction to the vibrator 36, and controls the vibrator 36 to drive the powder supplying cavity shell to vibrate; the controller 33 sends a stop instruction to the compression stop valve 35, and controls the compression stop valve 35 to extrude and cut off the passage of the flexible conduit 34; the controller 33 sends a closing instruction to the rotary driver 324, and controls the rotary driver 324 to drive the flexible sliding door 321 to close the strip-shaped powder outlet 311 of the powder supply container 31 from bottom to top; adding sufficient powder 50 into the powder storage container 20, sending a stirring instruction to the stirrer 21 by the controller 33, and controlling the stirrer 21 to stir slowly so that the powder 50 in the powder storage container 20 is in a circulating flow state all the time; the controller 33 sends an opening instruction to the pressing type stop valve 35, and controls the separation of the pressing type stop valve 35, so that the flexible conduit 34 is communicated with the powder storage tank under the action of self resilience and the pressure of the powder 50 in the powder storage tank, the flowing powder 50 in the powder storage tank 20 flows out from the bottom opening of the powder storage tank 20 and flows into the powder supply container 31 through the flexible conduit 34, the gas in the powder supply container 31 can be discharged into the top cavity of the powder storage tank 20 through the vent valve 37, the vibrator 36 can drive the outer wall of the powder supply container 31 to vibrate to accelerate the process of the powder 50 flowing into the powder supply container 31, the pressing type stop valve 35 is opened for a period of time until the powder supply container 31 is filled with the powder 50, as shown in fig. 3, and the powder supply process of the powder.

As shown in fig. 6 to 9, in the powder spreading process, the controller 33 sends a stop instruction to the compression stop valve 35, and controls the compression stop valve 35 to compress and cut off the passage of the flexible conduit 34; the controller 33 sends an opening instruction to the rotary driver 324, controls the rotary driver 324 to drive the flexible sliding door 321 to gradually open the strip-shaped powder outlet 311 from top to bottom, and allows the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 to fall to a target powder supply position from the opened part of the strip-shaped powder outlet 311; the vibrator 36 drives the outer wall of the powder supply container 31 to vibrate during powder falling, and accelerates the falling process of the powder 50, so that the falling process of the powder 50 is kept synchronous with the opening speed of the flexible sliding door 321; after the flexible sliding door 321 completely opens the powder outlet 311, the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 synchronously falls to the target powder supply position to form a powder pile with the length consistent with the projection length of the long strip-shaped powder outlet 311 along the gravity vertical line, and the powder spreading process is completed.

The controller 33 sends a closing instruction to reversely rotate the rotary driver 324, the rotary driver 324 is controlled to drive the flexible sliding door 321 to close the powder outlet 311, the controller 33 opens the compression type stop valve 35, and the powder 50 in the powder storage container 20 flows into the powder supply container 31 through the flexible conduit 34 until the powder supply container 31 is filled with the powder 50 again for the next powder spreading.

The powder storage container 20 and the flexible conduit 34 in the linear powder quantitative supply device are connected in series with the powder supply container 31, the powder storage container 20 is positioned above the powder supply container 31, the powder supply container 31 is positioned below the powder storage container 20, and the whole powder supply container 31 is arranged downwards and obliquely, so that the powder 50 in the powder storage container 20 has a good downward flowing condition under the action of gravity; under the dual actions of the stirrer 21 in the powder storage container 20 and the vibrator 36 of the powder supply container 31, the powder 50 can smoothly and quickly flow from the powder storage container 20 into the powder supply container 31; the press type stop valve 35 of the invention presses the wall of the flexible conduit 34 from the outside, so that the section of the flexible conduit 34 is closed, the flow of the powder 50 is completely cut off, and further, when the powder outlet 311 of the powder supply container 31 is opened, the flow of the powder 50 from the powder storage container 20 to the powder supply container 31 is cut off; when the press type stop valve 35 of the invention is opened or closed, no power element or other movable parts are arranged in the flexible conduit 34, the problem of the locking of movable components in the flexible conduit 34 and the powder 50 does not occur, and the problem that the movable components in the flexible conduit 34 are worn to cause the leakage of the powder 50 or the abrasion debris to pollute the powder 50 does not occur.

The powder supply container 31 is provided with a strip-shaped powder outlet 311, the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 falls to the powder spreading platform 40 through the powder outlet 311 to form a powder pile, and the opening and closing of the strip-shaped powder outlet 311 are realized through the reciprocating motion of the flexible sliding door 321 of the sliding door unit; the flexible sliding door 321 is driven by the rotary driver 324 to gradually open the powder outlet 311 from top to bottom, so as to avoid that the powder outlet 311 is completely opened instantly, and the powder 50 falls down along the inclined posture of the powder supply container 31, so that the powder stacking amount deviates to one side of the tail end of the powder supply container 31; when the powder outlet 311 of the powder supply container 31 starts gradually from top to bottom, the powder 50 at the opened section of the powder outlet 311 falls to the powder spreading platform 40 synchronously with the opening action of the flexible sliding door 321 under the action of the vibrator 36, so that the powder quantity distribution of the powder pile is only related to the sectional area of the powder supply container 31 and the inclination angle of the powder supply container 31 relative to the powder spreading platform 40, and when the sectional area of the powder supply container 31 is S and the inclination angle is alpha, the volume of the powder 50 of the powder pile in unit length is S/cos (alpha), so that the powder supply quantity is quantitative and controllable.

The linear powder 50 quantitative supply device provided by the invention adopts natural powder falling and powder supply container 31 volume measurement under the action of gravity, can realize fixed-length and quantitative supply of the powder 50 along the powder supply direction, adopts the externally-operated compression stop valve 35 to control the on-off of the powder paths of the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31, has the advantages of accurate and controllable powder supply amount, no need of an accurate powder sensor, only setting the opening duration of the compression stop valve 35 with redundancy according to the volume of the powder supply container 31, no power element and other movable parts in the powder path, reliable powder supply and no pollution. Therefore, the linear powder quantitative supply device provided by the invention has the advantages of simple structure, low cost, high powder supply precision, and accurate and controllable powder supply breadth and powder 50 distribution, and is easy to apply to powder three-dimensional forming equipment with various specifications.

The invention also provides a method for quantitatively supplying linear powder, which adopts the device for quantitatively supplying linear powder, and the method comprises the following steps:

communicating the powder storage container 20 with the powder supply container 31 under the condition that the powder outlet 311 of the powder supply container 31 is in a closed state, and filling the powder supply container 31 with the powder 50 through the powder storage container 20 until the powder 50 is filled in the powder supply container 31;

the communication between the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31 is disconnected, the sliding door control unit 32 controls the powder outlet 311 to slide towards the other end along one end of the powder outlet 311 so as to gradually open the powder outlet 311, the powder 50 passes through the opened powder outlet 311 and falls onto the powder spreading platform 40 until the powder outlet 311 is completely opened, and all the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 falls onto the powder spreading platform 40 to form a target powder pile.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of communicating the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31 under the condition that the powder outlet 311 of the powder supply container 31 is in a closed state, and filling the powder 50 into the powder supply container 31 through the powder storage container 20 until the powder 50 is filled in the powder supply container 31 further includes the steps of:

the communication between the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31 is cut off, and the powder outlet 311 is completely opened by the sliding door control unit 32 to empty the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31.

In an embodiment of the present invention, under the condition that the powder outlet 311 of the powder supply container 31 is in a closed state, the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31 are communicated, and the powder 50 is filled into the powder supply container 31 through the powder storage container 20 until the powder 50 is filled into the powder supply container 31, the method further includes the steps of:

the rotary driver 324 rotates to drive the driving wheel 323 to rotate, so as to drive the flexible cable 325 to pull the flexible sliding door 321 to slide from one end of the powder outlet 311 to the other end until the flexible sliding door 321 completely closes the powder outlet 311;

the press type stop valve 35 is opened to communicate the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31, so that the powder 50 in the powder storage container 20 is filled into the powder supply container 31 along the flexible conduit 34 until the powder supply container 31 is filled.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of opening the press type stop valve 35 to communicate between the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31 so that the powder 50 in the powder storage container 20 is filled into the powder supply container 31 along the flexible conduit 34 until the powder supply container 31 is filled, further comprises the steps of:

the stirrer 21 is driven to stir in the powder storage container 20.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the step of disconnecting the communication between the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31, the sliding door control unit 32 controls the powder outlet 311 to slide along one end of the powder outlet 311 to the other end so as to gradually open the powder outlet 311, the powder 50 falls to the powder laying platform 40 through the opened powder outlet 311 until the powder outlet 311 is completely opened, and the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 all falls into the powder laying platform 40 to form the target powder pile, further comprising the steps of:

closing the press type stop valve 35 to cut off the communication between the powder storage container 20 and the powder supply container 31;

the rotary driver 324 is set to rotate, so that in the process that the flexible sliding door 321 slides towards the other end along one end of the powder outlet 311 to gradually open the powder outlet 311, the powder 50 falls to the powder spreading platform 40 through the opened powder outlet 311 until the powder outlet 311 is completely opened, and all the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 falls to the powder spreading platform 40 to form a target powder pile.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the step of setting the rotary driver 324 to rotate in the forward direction to slide the flexible sliding door 321 along one end of the powder outlet 311 to the other end to gradually open the powder outlet 311, the powder 50 falls to the powder spreading platform 40 through the opened powder outlet 311 until the powder outlet 311 is completely opened, and the powder 50 in the powder supply container 31 all falls to the powder spreading platform 40 to form the target powder pile, further comprising the steps of:

the driving vibrator 36 vibrates on the outer wall of the powder supply container 31.

The detailed description of the embodiment of the method for quantitatively supplying linear powder according to the present invention has been given in the description of the apparatus for quantitatively supplying linear powder, and will not be repeated herein.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments are only for illustrating the present invention and are not to be used as a limitation of the present invention, and that suitable changes and modifications of the above embodiments are within the scope of the claimed invention as long as they are within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. The utility model provides a linear powder ration device, includes support (10), set up in shop's powder platform (40) of support (10) bottom, and set up in storage powder container (20) that support (10) top is used for depositing powder (50), its characterized in that, linear powder ration device still includes at least one powder supply unit (30), powder supply unit (30) are including supplying powder container (31), sliding door control unit (32) and controller (33), supply powder container (31) can break-make communicate in store up powder container (20) and be located store up powder container (20) with between shop's powder platform (40), supply powder container (31) for the setting of shop's powder platform (40) slope, supply powder container (31) have banding meal outlet (311), sliding door control unit (32) control meal outlet (311) along the one end of meal outlet (311) is gradually opened to the other end Or closed, the controller (33) is electrically connected to the sliding door control unit (32).

2. The linear powder metering device according to claim 1,

an inclined angle is formed between the powder supply container (31) and the powder laying platform (40), and the range of the inclined angle is more than or equal to 0 degree and less than 90 degrees.

3. The linear powder metering device according to claim 1,

the sliding door control unit (32) comprises a flexible sliding door (321), a guide wheel (322), a flexible cable (325), a driving wheel (323) and a rotary driver (324), wherein the flexible cable (325), the guide wheel (322) and the driving wheel (323) are connected in an end-to-end closed manner on two sides of the flexible sliding door (321), the driving wheel (323) is connected with the rotary driver (324), the flexible sliding door (321) can control the opening and closing of the powder outlet (311), and the rotary driver (324) is electrically connected with the controller (33).

4. The linear powder metering device according to claim 1,

the powder supply unit (30) further comprises a flexible conduit (34) for communicating the powder storage container (20) with the powder supply container (31), and a press type stop valve (35) provided in the flexible conduit (34), the press type stop valve (35) being electrically connected to the controller (33).

5. The linear powder metering device according to claim 1,

the powder supply unit (30) further comprises a stirrer (21) arranged inside the powder storage container (20), and the stirrer (21) is electrically connected to the controller (33).

6. The linear powder metering device according to claim 1,

the powder supply unit (30) further comprises at least one vibrator (36), the vibrator (36) is arranged on the outer wall of the powder supply container (31), and the vibrator (36) is electrically connected to the controller (33).

7. The linear powder metering device according to claim 1,

the powder supply unit (30) further comprises a vent valve (37) and a communication conduit (38), wherein the vent valve (37) is arranged at one end of the powder supply container (31) relatively far away from the powder storage container (20); and two ends of the communication conduit (38) are respectively communicated with the vent valve (37) and the top of the powder storage container (20).

8. A method for quantitatively supplying a linear powder, using the linear powder quantitatively supplying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized by comprising:

communicating the powder storage container (20) with the powder supply container (31) under the condition that a powder outlet (311) of the powder supply container (31) is in a closed state, and filling powder (50) into the powder supply container (31) through the powder storage container (20) until the powder (50) is filled in the powder supply container (31);

the disconnection store up powder container (20) with supply UNICOM between powder container (31), control through sliding door control unit (32) go out powder mouth (311) along the one end of going out powder mouth (311) slides to the other end and then will go out powder mouth (311) and open gradually, powder (50) pass and have opened go out powder mouth (311) and drop to spread powder platform (40), until go out powder mouth (311) and be opened completely, supply that powder (50) in the powder container (31) all drop spread powder platform (40) and form the target powder heap.

9. The linear powder quantitative supply method according to claim 8, wherein the communication between the powder storage container (20) and the powder supply container (31) is performed under a condition that the powder outlet (311) of the powder supply container (31) is in a closed state, and the powder supply container (31) is filled with the powder (50) through the powder storage container (20) until the powder (50) is filled in the powder supply container (31), further comprising the steps of:

setting a rotary driver (324) to rotate so as to drive a driving wheel (323) to rotate, and further driving a flexible cable (325) to pull a flexible sliding door (321) to slide from one end of the powder outlet (311) to the other end until the flexible sliding door (321) completely closes the powder outlet (311);

driving a stirrer (21) to stir in the powder storage container (20);

and opening a pressing type stop valve (35), and communicating the powder storage container (20) and the powder supply container (31) so as to enable the powder (50) in the powder storage container (20) to be filled into the powder supply container (31) along a flexible conduit (34) until the powder supply container (31) is filled.

10. The linear powder quantitative supply method according to claim 8, wherein the communication between the powder storage container (20) and the powder supply container (31) is disconnected in the step, the powder outlet (311) is controlled by the slide gate control unit (32) to slide along one end of the powder outlet (311) toward the other end to gradually open the powder outlet (311), the powder (50) drops to the powder laying platform (40) through the opened powder outlet (311) until the powder outlet (311) is completely opened, and the powder (50) in the powder supply container (31) all drops in the powder laying platform (40) to form the target powder pile, and further comprising the steps of:

closing a compression type stop valve (35) and disconnecting the communication between the powder storage container (20) and the powder supply container (31);

driving a vibrator (36) to vibrate on the outer wall of the powder supply container (31); and setting a rotary driver (324) to rotate so that in the process that a flexible sliding door (321) slides towards the other end along one end of the powder outlet (311) to gradually open the powder outlet (311), powder (50) passes through the opened powder outlet (311) and falls to the powder spreading platform (40) until the powder outlet (311) is completely opened, and the powder (50) in the powder supply container (31) falls on the powder spreading platform (40) to form a target powder pile.

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