CN113059796A

CN113059796A - Calibration mechanism, method and system of 3D printing equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN113059796A
Application number: CN202110504662.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 荣左超
Original assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Current assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Priority date: 2021-05-10
Filing date: 2021-05-10
Publication date: 2021-07-02
Anticipated expiration: 2041-05-10
Also published as: CN113059796B

Abstract

The application discloses a calibration mechanism, a method, a system and a storage medium of a 3D printing device, which are used for calibrating an energy radiation device through the position relation between the imaging of a calibration image and the imaging of a first projection point corresponding to each imaging in a reference image and the imaging of a first calibration point, and the position relation between the imaging of a second projection point corresponding to each imaging and the imaging of a second calibration point. The method and the device can reduce the probability of wrong point selection in the calibration process, improve the success rate of automatic calibration, ensure the calibration precision, avoid errors in operation, reduce the calibration time and improve the calibration precision and efficiency.

Description

Calibration mechanism, method and system of 3D printing equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of 3D printing, in particular to a calibration mechanism, a calibration method, a calibration system and a storage medium of 3D printing equipment.

Background

The 3D printing technology is a printing technology for quickly forming three-dimensional real objects, and mainly uses a mathematical model as a basis to construct the real objects in a layer-by-layer printing mode, but most of the existing 3D printers adopt adhesive materials in the forms of powder or liquid and the like as raw materials, in the printing process, in order to cure the adhesive materials with high precision, a scraper device is usually arranged above a raw material resin groove of the 3D printer, so that when one layer of raw materials is cured in the raw material resin groove every time, another layer of uncured raw materials can be covered on the scraper device for the next curing operation, the scraper device is operated in a reciprocating mode in such a way, the raw materials are overlapped layer by layer and cured, and then the three-dimensional real objects are stacked and manufactured.

In present 3D printing apparatus, above projection (also called top exposure) DLP 3D printing apparatus is taken as an example, calibration camera and DLP ray apparatus are arranged in the same side in its optical calibration process, and calibration plate arranged on the printing reference surface is irradiated through calibration camera and DLP ray apparatus simultaneously for calibration, but because the calibration plate usually adopts the glass plate of reflective material, the calibration camera and DLP ray apparatus irradiate the calibration plate simultaneously, can bring great interference to the photographing work in the calibration process because of the reflection of light of the calibration plate, cause calibration operation difficulty or inaccurate. Moreover, because the similarity of the calibration points on the calibration plate is extremely high, the computer often finds wrong points to cause calibration errors.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the related art, the present application aims to provide a method for solving the problems of the prior art, such as inconvenient calibration and low precision.

To achieve the above and other related objects, a first aspect of the disclosure provides a calibration method for a 3D printing apparatus, where the 3D printing apparatus includes: the calibration method comprises the following steps of: acquiring a reference image of each calibration area of the calibration plate; the calibration plate comprises a calibration plate body, a first side surface and a second side surface, wherein each calibration area of the calibration plate body comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate body and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate body, and the reference positions of the imaging of the first calibration points and the imaging of the second calibration points are displayed in the reference image; acquiring images of calibration images of the energy radiation device projected in each calibration area; the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points, and the imaging of the calibration image comprises the imaging of the first projection points and the imaging of the second projection points; and calibrating the energy radiation device based on the position relation between the imaging of the calibration image and the imaging of the first calibration point corresponding to each imaging of the first projection point in the reference image and the position relation between the imaging of the second calibration point corresponding to each imaging of the second projection point and the second calibration point.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the method further comprises adjusting the imaging of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device such that the imaging of each first projection point is adjacent to a corresponding first calibration point and the imaging of each second projection point is adjacent to a corresponding second calibration point.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the step of calibrating the energy radiation device based on the positional relationship between the imaging of the first projection point and the imaging of the first calibration point in each of the imaging of the calibration image and the reference image, and the positional relationship between the imaging of the second projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point in each of the imaging of the second projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point comprises: determining the actual imaging position of each second calibration point in the reference image according to the theoretical imaging position of each second calibration point; wherein the theoretical position of the imaging of each second index point is determined based on the actual position of the imaging of each first index point; determining the actual imaging position of each second projection point in the calibration image according to the theoretical imaging position of each second projection point; wherein the theoretical position of the image of each second projection point is determined based on the actual position of the image of each first projection point; calibrating the energy radiation device based on a difference in position between the imaging of the second projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the calibration images include a first calibration image including a plurality of first projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the first calibration points, and a second calibration image including a plurality of second projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the second calibration points.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the position of each first projection point in the first calibration image corresponds to the position of a second projection point at a vertex angle in the second calibration image.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the calibration of the energy radiation device is performed by individually calibrating corresponding radiation regions of the energy radiation device based on each calibration region on the calibration plate.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the first index point is smaller in size than the imaging of the first projected point.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the step of obtaining a reference image of each calibration region of the calibration plate includes: enabling the energy radiation device to project a pure-color image to the printing reference surface, and/or enabling a light source to irradiate the printing reference surface; and enabling the camera device to shoot the calibration plate to obtain the reference image.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the calibration plate is a light-transmissive material.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the first calibration point and the second calibration point on the calibration plate are dark in color, and the first projection point and the second projection point in the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device are light in color.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the first side surface of the calibration plate is engraved with a plurality of holes or coated with a plurality of dot patterns to constitute the first and second calibration points.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the energy radiation device comprises a DLP light machine device or an LCD light source.

A second aspect of the disclosure provides a calibration system of a 3D printing apparatus, including: the interface unit is used for acquiring a reference image of each calibration area of the calibration plate and acquiring an image of the calibration image projected to each calibration area by the energy radiation device; the calibration plate comprises a calibration plate body, a first side surface and a second side surface, wherein each calibration area of the calibration plate body comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate body and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate body, and the reference positions of the imaging of the first calibration points and the imaging of the second calibration points are displayed in the reference image; the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points, and the imaging of the calibration image comprises the imaging of the first projection points and the imaging of the second projection points; and the processing unit is used for calibrating the energy radiation device based on the position relation between the imaging of the calibration image and the imaging of the first calibration point and the position relation between the imaging of the second corresponding projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point in the reference image.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the processing unit further adjusts the imaging of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device such that the imaging of each first projection point is adjacent to the corresponding first calibration point and the imaging of each second projection point is adjacent to the corresponding second calibration point.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the processing unit is configured to determine an imaged actual position of each second calibration point in the reference image based on the imaged theoretical position of each second calibration point; wherein the theoretical position of the imaging of each second index point is determined based on the actual position of the imaging of each first index point; the processing unit determines the actual positions of the images of the second projection points in the calibration image according to the theoretical positions of the images of the second projection points; wherein the theoretical position of the image of each second projection point is determined based on the actual position of the image of each first projection point; the processing unit calibrates the energy radiation device based on a difference in position between the imaging of the second projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the calibration images include a first calibration image including a plurality of first projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the first calibration points, and a second calibration image including a plurality of second projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the second calibration points.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the position of each first projection point in the first calibration image corresponds to the position of a second projection point at a vertex angle in the second calibration image.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the interface unit obtains the reference image and the calibration image corresponding to each calibration region one by one, and the processing unit performs calibration on the energy radiation device one by calibrating the corresponding radiation region in the energy radiation device based on each calibration region on the calibration board.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the first index point is smaller in size than the imaging of the first projected point.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the reference image obtained by the interface unit is obtained by causing the energy radiation device to project a solid image onto the printing reference surface and/or causing a light source to illuminate the printing reference surface, and causing the imaging device to image the calibration plate.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the calibration plate is a light transmissive material.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the first and second calibration points on the calibration plate are dark in color, and the first and second projected points in the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device are light in color.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the first side surface of the calibration plate is engraved with a plurality of holes or coated with a plurality of dot patterns to constitute the first and second calibration points.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the energy radiation device comprises a DLP light machine device or an LCD light source.

A third aspect of the disclosure provides a calibration mechanism of a 3D printing apparatus, where the 3D printing apparatus includes: the frame and be located in the frame and set up in the energy radiation device of a printing reference surface first side preset position, calibration mechanism includes: the calibration plate is arranged on the printing reference surface and comprises at least one calibration area, each calibration area of the calibration plate respectively comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, and the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate; the first side surface of the calibration plate is further used for presenting a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device in calibration operation, and the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points; and the camera device is positioned on the second side of the calibration plate and used for shooting the image on the calibration plate in the calibration operation.

In certain embodiments of the third aspect of the present application, the first and second calibration points on the calibration plate are dark in color.

In certain embodiments of the third aspect of the present application, the first side surface of the calibration plate is engraved with a plurality of holes or coated with a plurality of dot patterns to constitute the first and second calibration points.

In certain embodiments of the third aspect of the present application, the calibration plate is made of a light-transmitting material, and a semi-light-transmitting film is coated on a first side surface of the calibration plate.

In certain embodiments of the third aspect of the present application, the calibration plate includes a plurality of calibration areas, and the calibration mechanism further includes a moving device disposed at a predetermined position on the second side of the calibration plate for installing the camera device to move along a predetermined path during the calibration operation to respectively photograph different calibration areas on the calibration plate.

In certain embodiments of the third aspect of the present application, the moving device includes a plate body or a frame body provided with a preset movement path, a reserved installation position capable of moving along the preset movement path is provided on the plate body or the frame body, and the reserved installation position is used for installing the image pickup device.

In certain embodiments of the third aspect of the present application, the mobile device comprises: the Y-axis moving mechanism is arranged on the rack, is positioned on the second side of the calibration plate, and comprises a Y-direction guide rail, a Y-direction sliding block arranged on the Y-direction guide rail and a Y-axis driving motor for driving the sliding block; the X-axis moving mechanism is arranged on the Y-axis moving mechanism and comprises an X-direction guide rail, an X-direction sliding block arranged on the X-direction guide rail and an X-axis driving motor used for driving the sliding block; and the reserved mounting position is arranged on the X-direction sliding block and used for mounting the camera device and driving the camera device to move in the Y-axis direction or the X-axis direction under the driving of the Y-axis driving motor or the X-axis driving motor in the calibration operation so as to shoot the calibration plate.

A fourth aspect of the present disclosure provides a 3D printing apparatus, including: a frame; the container is detachably arranged in the rack and is used for containing the light curing material; the Z-axis system is arranged in the rack and comprises a Z-axis component, a bearing frame connected with the Z-axis component and a driving device used for driving the Z-axis component to move up and down, and the bearing frame is used for compatibly installing a calibration plate used in calibration operation and a component plate bearing a 3D object in 3D printing operation; the calibration plate comprises at least one calibration area, each calibration area of the calibration plate comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, and the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate; the energy radiation device is arranged at a preset position on one side of the container and is configured to radiate energy to a printing reference surface in the container through a control program when a printing instruction is received in a printing operation so as to cure the light-cured material on the printing reference surface; or in the calibration operation, a calibration image is projected to the printing reference surface through a control program, wherein the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points; and the camera device is positioned on the second side of the calibration plate and used for shooting images on the calibration plate in the calibration operation.

In certain embodiments of the fourth aspect of the present application, the calibration plate includes a plurality of calibration areas, and the calibration mechanism further includes a moving device disposed at a predetermined position on the second side of the calibration plate for installing the camera device to move along a predetermined path during the calibration operation to respectively photograph different calibration areas on the calibration plate.

In certain embodiments of the fourth aspect of the present application, the imaging device is disposed at a bottom of the container.

In certain embodiments of the fourth aspect of the present application, the frame has a common receiving space for mounting the camera device during calibration operations and for mounting the container during non-calibration operations.

In certain embodiments of the fourth aspect of the present application, the energy radiation device comprises a DLP light machine device or an LCD light source.

In certain embodiments of the fourth aspect of the present application, the energy radiation device is mounted on the frame of the 3D printing apparatus by a position adjustment mechanism, so that the physical position of the energy radiation device is adjusted by the position adjustment mechanism, so that the imaging of a first projection point in the imaging of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device is adjacent to a corresponding first calibration point, and the imaging of each second projection point is adjacent to a corresponding second calibration point.

A fifth aspect of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium comprising a stored computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, the computer program controls an apparatus in which the storage medium is located to perform the calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus according to any one of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

To sum up, the calibration system and method for the 3D printing device, the storage medium and the 3D printing device have the following beneficial effects: through the calibration image that shows energy radiation device throws in the operation of maring at the upper surface of calibration board in this application, utilize simultaneously camera device shoots in the calibration image a plurality of projection points are in the formation of image of calibration board lower surface is in order to obtain the transmission image, and camera device and energy radiation device are disposed in the different sides of calibration board, has avoided the reflection of light that the ray apparatus throwed on the calibration board to mark the interference that brings on the one hand, and on the other hand has avoided camera device to the blockking of ray apparatus at the shooting in-process to calibration accuracy has been guaranteed when improving calibration operation convenience. In addition, by setting the calibration points with different sizes and the corresponding projection points, the error in the calibration process is greatly reduced, the probability of wrong selection of the calibration points is reduced, and the success rate of automatic calibration is improved.

Other aspects and advantages of the present application will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. Only exemplary embodiments of the present application have been shown and described in the following detailed description. As those skilled in the art will recognize, the disclosure of the present application enables those skilled in the art to make changes to the specific embodiments disclosed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as it is directed to the present application. Accordingly, the descriptions in the drawings and the specification of the present application are illustrative only and not limiting.

Drawings

The specific features of the invention to which this application relates are set forth in the appended claims. The features and advantages of the invention to which this application relates will be better understood by reference to the exemplary embodiments described in detail below and the accompanying drawings. The brief description of the drawings is as follows:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a calibration system of the present application in one embodiment;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a Z-axis system of the present application in one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the Z-axis system of the present application with a component plate installed in one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a bezel of the present application in one embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a carrier frame according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a mounting frame according to one embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9a and 9b are schematic structural views of the Z-axis mechanism and the carriage in one embodiment after being mounted integrally in the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a calibration plate according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIGS. 11a and 11b are schematic views showing the structure of a calibration plate according to the present application in a further embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a calibration plate according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a calibration method of the present application in one embodiment;

FIG. 14 shows a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device of one embodiment of the present application during calibration operation;

FIG. 15a is a schematic view of a first calibration image of the present application in one embodiment;

FIG. 15b is a schematic diagram of a second calibration image of the present application in one embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a reference image in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of an image taken of an image of a calibration image projected on a calibration plate in one embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of the connection relationship of the control device in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the connection relationship of the control device of the present application;

fig. 20 is a schematic diagram showing a connection relationship of the control device according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present application is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and capabilities of the present application will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure.

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that describe several embodiments of the application. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes in the module or unit composition, electrical, and operation may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments of the present application is defined only by the claims of the issued patent. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application.

Although the terms first, second, etc. are used herein in some instances to describe various calibration points, information or parameters, these calibration points or parameters should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one index point or parameter from another index point or parameter. For example, a first index point may be referred to as a second index point, and similarly, a second index point may be referred to as a first index point, without departing from the scope of the various described embodiments. The first and second index points are each describing one index point, but they are not the same index point unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Similar situations also include the first projection point and the second projection point, and the first calibration image and the second calibration image.

Also, as used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, species, and/or groups, but do not preclude the presence, or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, species, and/or groups thereof. The terms "or" and/or "as used herein are to be construed as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Thus, "A, B or C" or "A, B and/or C" means "any of the following: a; b; c; a and B; a and C; b and C; A. b and C ". An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or operations are inherently mutually exclusive in some way.

As described in the background art, in the optical calibration process of the current 3D printing apparatus, the calibration plate made of glass is located on the lower component plate, the camera and the optical machine for calibration are both located above, and the position of the camera is located between the optical machine and the calibration plate in the calibration process. Therefore, in the calibration process, on one hand, in the process of optical machine projection, light rays can generate serious reflection on the glass surface of the calibration plate, so that the calibration point is polluted, and the calibration precision is influenced; on the other hand, the camera blocks the light projected by the light machine during the shooting process, and the position and the angle of the camera need to be frequently adjusted, so that the operation of the calibration process becomes complicated.

In view of the above, the present application provides a calibration method of a 3D printing apparatus, which may be performed by a calibration system. The calibration system calibrates the energy radiation device based on a reference image provided by the camera device, imaging of a calibration image, and the like, wherein the calibration system is realized by software and hardware in the computer equipment.

The calibration system is used before the 3D printing equipment executes a printing task and is used for executing the calibration method, namely calibration points on a calibration plate in a calibration mechanism and the breadth projected by an energy radiation device in the 3D printing equipment are utilized to calibrate the energy radiation device, so that the breadth of the energy radiation device can be projected to an ideal position in the working process, the distortion of the breadth is reduced, and the printing precision and the printing quality are improved.

In an exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of the calibration system of the present application in one embodiment, as shown, the calibration system 2 includes an interface unit 21 and a processing unit 22. The interface unit 21 determines its interface type according to the connected device, which includes but is not limited to: universal serial interface, video interface, industrial control interface, etc. For example, the interface unit 21 may include a USB interface, an HDMI interface, an RS232 interface, and the like. The interface unit is connected to the camera device for obtaining the reference image, the imaging of the calibration image, etc., and the interface unit is further connected to the processing unit 22 for sending the obtained reference image, the imaging of the calibration image, etc., to the processing unit. The processing unit 22 includes: a CPU or a chip integrated with a CPU, a programmable logic device (FPGA), and a multi-core processor. The processing unit 22 also includes memory, registers, etc. for temporarily storing data.

The calibration system may be integrated in the 3D printing apparatus and thus connected to other devices of the 3D printing apparatus through the interface unit, or the calibration system may be independent of the 3D printing apparatus and connected to other devices of the 3D printing apparatus through the interface unit.

It should be understood that the 3D printing is one of the rapid prototyping techniques, which is a technique for constructing an object by layer-by-layer printing using a bondable material, such as powdered metal or plastic, based on a digital model file. When printing, the digital model file is firstly processed to realize the import of the 3D component model to be printed to the 3D printing device. Here, the 3D component model includes, but is not limited to, a 3D component model based on a CAD component, which is, for example, an STL file, and the control device performs layout and layer cutting processing on the imported STL file. The 3D component model can be imported into the control device via a data interface or a network interface. The solid portion in the introduced 3D member model may be any shape, for example, the solid portion may include a tooth shape, a sphere shape, a house shape, a tooth shape, or any shape with a predetermined structure. Wherein the preset structure includes but is not limited to at least one of the following: cavity structures, structures containing abrupt shape changes, and structures with preset requirements for profile accuracy in solid parts, etc.

3D printing apparatus carries out the mode of layer by layer exposure solidification and the accumulation each solidified layer to photocuring material through energy radiation device and prints the 3D component, and concrete photocuring rapid prototyping technique's theory of operation does: the light-cured material is used as raw material, under the control of computer, the energy radiation device irradiates to expose or scan layer by layer according to each layered section or contour, and the light-cured material and the resin thin layer in the radiation area are cured after photopolymerization reaction, so that a thin layer section of the workpiece is formed. After one layer is cured, the stage is moved down one layer thick and a new layer of light-curable material is applied to the just-cured resin surface for cyclic exposure or scanning. The newly solidified layer is firmly adhered to the previous layer, and the steps are repeated in this way, and the whole product prototype is finally formed by stacking layer by layer. The photo-curable material generally refers to a material that forms a cured layer after being irradiated by light (such as ultraviolet light, laser light, etc.), and includes but is not limited to: photosensitive resin, or a mixture of photosensitive resin and other materials. Such as ceramic powders, pigments, etc.

In some embodiments, the 3D printing apparatus may be a top-projection (exposure) 3D printing apparatus, such as a DLP (Digital Light processing) apparatus in which a Light engine performs surface exposure on top projection, where an optical system of the 3D printing apparatus is located on a top surface of a container (also referred to as a resin tank in some application scenarios) and irradiates Light facing the top surface of the container for irradiating a layered image in the 3D member model to a printing reference surface to cure the Light curable material into a corresponding pattern cured layer. In a top-projection 3D printing apparatus, the printing reference surface is usually located at the level of the resin liquid contained in the container. Referring to fig. 2, which is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in the figure, the 3D printing apparatus includes: a frame (not shown), a container 15 for holding the photocurable material, a Z-axis system 12, an energy radiation device 11, and an imaging device 14. The energy radiation device 11 is located above the container 15, and the camera device 14 is located below the container 15. Examples of the image capturing device include, but are not limited to: a camera or a video camera, etc.

In other embodiments, the 3D printing device may also be a bottom projection 3D printing device, for example, a DLP device that performs surface exposure by a bottom projection optical machine, that is, an optical system of the 3D printing device is located at and faces the bottom surface of the container (also referred to as a resin tank in some application scenarios) for irradiating the layered image in the 3D member model to the printing reference surface to cure the light curable material into the corresponding pattern cured layer. In a bottom-projected 3D printing apparatus, the printing reference plane is generally a position between the bottom of the resin tank and the lower surface of the member table at the time of printing. Referring to fig. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application, as shown in the figure, the 3D printing apparatus includes: a frame (not shown), a container 15 for holding the photocurable material, a Z-axis system 12, an energy radiation device 11, and an imaging device 14. The energy radiation device 11 is located below the container 15, and the camera 14 is located above the container 15. Examples of the image capturing device include, but are not limited to: a camera or a video camera, etc.

It should be understood that the printing reference plane refers to a curable surface of the material to be shaped. In the 3D printing device based on the DLP, the distance of the emergence position of the DLP light machine converged by the printing reference surface is determined based on the focal length of the DLP light machine.

In the DLP device, the energy radiation device includes a DMD chip, a controller, and a memory module, for example. Wherein the storage module stores therein a layered image layering the 3D component model. And the DMD chip irradiates the light source of each pixel on the corresponding layered image to the top surface of the container after receiving the control signal of the controller. In fact, the mirror is composed of hundreds of thousands or even millions of micromirrors, each micromirror represents a pixel, and the projected image is composed of these pixels. The DMD chip may be simply described as a semiconductor light switch and a micromirror plate corresponding to the pixel points, and the controller allows/prohibits the light reflected from each of the micromirrors by controlling each of the light switches in the DMD chip, thereby irradiating the corresponding layered image onto the photo-curable material through the transparent top of the container so that the photo-curable material corresponding to the shape of the image is cured to obtain the patterned cured layer.

It should be noted that, since the energy radiation device in the present application can be located above the printing reference plane or below the printing reference plane, for convenience of description and avoidance of ambiguity, a side of the printing reference plane close to the energy radiation device is defined as a first side, and a side of the printing reference plane far from the energy radiation device is defined as a second side. That is, in the top-projection 3D printing apparatus, the energy radiation device is located above the printing reference plane, and thus the first side of the printing reference plane refers to the upper side of the printing reference plane; in contrast, in the bottom-projection 3D printing apparatus, the energy radiation device is located below the printing reference plane, and thus the first side of the printing reference plane refers to a side below the printing reference plane.

In addition, although the DLP light machine is taken as an example in the present application, in practical applications, the energy radiation device may also include an LCD light source. For example, in an LCD printing apparatus, the energy radiation device is an LCD panel light source system, taking a liquid crystal panel light source curing LCD as an example. The LCD printing device comprises an LCD liquid crystal screen and a light source, wherein the LCD liquid crystal screen is positioned above the container, and the light source is aligned above the LCD liquid crystal screen. And a control chip in the energy radiation device projects the layered image of the slice to be printed to a printing surface through an LCD (liquid crystal display), and the material to be solidified in the container is solidified into a corresponding pattern solidified layer by using a pattern radiation surface provided by the LCD.

In some embodiments, the number of the energy radiation devices may be plural. For example, in some large format splicing printing apparatuses, a plurality of energy radiation devices together form a spliced projection surface. With continued reference to fig. 3, in fig. 3, the number of the energy radiation devices is 2, and the webs of 2 energy radiation devices together form a spliced projection surface, so as to solidify the printing material on the printing reference surface to form a solidified layer. Of course, in practical applications, the number of the energy radiation devices may be 3, 4 or more to achieve a larger exposure.

In some cases, when the total breadth size of each energy radiation device exceeds the shooting range of the camera device, different areas in the breadth of the energy radiation device can be respectively calibrated by moving the camera device, so that the calibration of the whole breadth is completed.

In an exemplary embodiment, when the camera device is located below the printing reference surface, in order to avoid contamination of the camera device by the light curable material in the container during non-calibration operation and/or to avoid visual influence of the container on the camera device during calibration operation, the rack may further have a common receiving space for receiving the container during non-calibration operation and for receiving the camera device during calibration operation.

In an exemplary embodiment, the Z-axis system is provided in the frame for lifting movement in the Z-direction (i.e., a generally understood vertical direction) during a print job to stack solidified layers on its component plates to achieve the formation of a 3D article.

In a possible embodiment, the Z-axis system comprises: the Z-axis component, the bearing frame connected with the Z-axis component and the driving device used for driving the Z-axis component to move up and down are arranged on the bearing frame.

The driving device is arranged in the frame, is connected with the Z shaft component and is used for driving the Z shaft component to move up and down in a printing operation, and is a driving motor and the like. The Z-axis component is connected to the frame of the bearing frame and used for driving the bearing frame to move up and down in the printing operation. The bearing frame is used for installing the calibration plate or the component plate, in other words, the calibration plate and the component plate share one bearing structure at a time, and different plates (calibration plates or component plates) are borne and fixed under different requirements.

In an embodiment, please refer to fig. 4, which is a schematic structural diagram of the Z-axis system in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in the figure, the Z-axis system 12 includes a Z-axis member 121, a carrying frame 122 connected to the Z-axis member, and a driving device (not shown) for driving the Z-axis member to move up and down.

The bearing frame is used for installing the calibration plate or the component plate, in other words, the calibration plate and the component plate share one bearing structure in a time sharing mode (share in a time sharing mode), and different plates (calibration plates or component plates) are borne and fixed under different requirements; the Z-axis component is connected to the frame of the bearing frame and is used for driving the bearing frame to move up and down in printing operation; the driving device is arranged in the frame, is connected with the Z shaft component and is used for driving the Z shaft component to move up and down in a printing operation, and is a driving motor and the like.

In an exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 4 in combination with fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic view of the Z-axis system of the present application when a component board is installed in an embodiment, and the carrying frame 122 is used for carrying the calibration board 13 (shown in fig. 4) in a calibration operation and the component board 16 (shown in fig. 5) of the 3D object in a 3D printing operation. That is, in the case of needing calibration, the bearing frame 122 is used for installing the calibration board; in the case of printing, the carrying frame 122 is used for installing a component board for carrying a 3D object in a 3D printing job.

In a possible embodiment, the carrying frame is a rectangular hollow structure, and the carrying frame of the rectangular hollow structure can expose the calibration plate or the component plate through the hollow structure while installing the calibration plate or the component plate. In the calibration operation, the lower surface of the calibration plate is not shielded when the lower surface of the calibration plate is shot by the camera device, so that the lower surface of the calibration plate is completely framed, and the calibration efficiency is ensured; meanwhile, in the printing operation, the light-curing material can flow to the component plate through the hollow structure, so that the forming of the 3D component is not affected. The bearing frame is connected with the Z-axis mechanism through the outer side of the frame body. In one embodiment, the calibration plate or the component plate can be mounted on the upper surface of the peripheral frame of the carrying frame.

In an exemplary embodiment, the inner side of the carrying frame has a step structure for mounting the calibration board or the component board.

In some embodiments, the step structure is a ring of raised structures formed on the inner wall of the circumference of the frame body of the bearing frame, and the area enclosed by the frame body formed by the raised structures is smaller than the areas of the calibration plate and the component plate, so that the calibration plate or the component plate can be borne. In other embodiments, the step structure is a plurality of protrusions (i.e. a structure formed by a plurality of protrusions arranged in a circle on the inner wall of the carrying frame instead of a continuous strip) formed on the inner wall of the circumference of the frame body of the carrying frame, so that the calibration plate or the component plate can be limited in the carrying frame.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 6, which is a schematic structural diagram of a carrier frame in an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the inner side of the carrying frame has a first step 1221 structure for installing the calibration board or the component board. In the calibration operation, the first step structure can be used for installing a calibration plate; in non-indexing operations, the indexing plate may be removed and the component plate installed.

In an exemplary embodiment, the calibration board and the component board are not of the same size and cannot be installed at the same position, and for this reason, please refer to fig. 7, which is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the carrier frame in the present application. As shown in the figure, the inner side of the bearing frame has a step structure for compatibly installing the calibration plate and the component plate, that is: a first step 1221 and a second step 1222. The second step 1222 is located lower than the first step 1221, that is, the first step 1221 is an upper step, the second step 1222 is a lower step, the first step 1221 is used for placing the calibration board, and the second step 1222 is used for placing the component board, so that the component board and the calibration board can be installed in the carrying frame at the same time. In the calibration operation, the component plate can be taken out, and the calibration plate is only arranged at the first step 1221, so that the component plate is prevented from shielding the calibration plate to influence the calibration precision; in a non-indexing operation, the index plate may be removed and the component plate is mounted only at the second step 1222 to mold a printed 3D object thereon.

It should be understood that the above embodiments are only used for illustration of the step structure of the carrying frame in the present application, and not for limitation, in practical applications, the shape of the step structure and the positions of the first step and the second step may be configured according to practical requirements.

In an exemplary embodiment, in order to keep the calibration board and the component board horizontal in the calibration operation and the printing operation, at least two side frames of the carrier frame are provided with leveling mechanisms for leveling the calibration board or the component board mounted in the carrier frame, and in a specific embodiment, the number of the leveling mechanisms is at least three, so as to ensure that one leveling is performed on a plane.

In a possible embodiment, first screw holes are provided on both sides of the frame body of the carriage frame, and correspondingly, second screw holes are also provided on both sides of the calibration plate and the component plate. When the calibration plate or the component plate is arranged on the bearing frame, the position of each first screw hole corresponds to the position of each second screw hole, so that a locking bolt can pass through the first screw holes and the second screw holes, the height of the calibration plate or the component plate relative to the bearing frame is adjusted, and the levelness of the calibration plate or the component plate is adjusted. For example, when one side of the calibration or component plate is high and the other side is low, the height of the high side may be adjusted to lower the side to lower the horizontal position. In some embodiments, a level may also be placed on the top surface of the carrier frame during leveling to assist in leveling the calibration or component plate. After the leveling operation is completed, the calibration board or the component board is fixed on the bearing frame by another fixing means, for example, by a screw locking method with additional bolt screw holes, or by an additional fastening device with a fastening structure.

It should be understood that, in the above embodiments, two sides of the frame body are taken as an example, and in practical applications, based on the above solution, three sides and four sides of the frame body may also be provided with the first screw holes to perform leveling operations on the calibration board or the component board in the bearing frame, and the principle is similar, so detailed descriptions are not needed here.

In an exemplary embodiment, the Z-axis member includes two symmetrical L-shaped cantilevers, ends of the two symmetrical L-shaped cantilevers have screw holes for connecting with the carrying frame, and ends of the L-shaped cantilevers are connected with one side frame of the carrying frame by bolts. In other embodiments, the two L-shaped cantilevers of the L-shaped cantilever Z-axis member may be further configured to be respectively connected to one side frame of the bezel, so that the Z-axis structure is connected to both side frames of the bezel.

In an exemplary embodiment, the Z-axis member is further provided with a leveling mechanism for leveling the carrying frame.

In a possible embodiment, the Z-axis member is fixedly connected to the carriage frame. The Z-axis component comprises two L-shaped cantilevers which are independent of each other, and the levelness of the bearing frame can be adjusted by adjusting the relative heights of the two L-shaped cantilevers.

In an exemplary embodiment, the Z-axis member 121 further includes a mounting frame, and an upper surface of the mounting frame is used for mounting the carrying frame. Please refer to fig. 8, which is a schematic structural diagram of an installation frame according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the top surface of the mounting frame 123 has leveling holes 1233 and mounting holes 1234. The mounting holes 1234 are uniformly distributed on the upper surface of the periphery of the carrying frame and are used for being connected with the carrying frame through bolts; the leveling holes 1233 are arranged at four corners of the bearing frame and used for leveling the bearing frame through the thread screwing degree of the locking bolt. The side of the installation frame body 123 has an installation groove 1231 for connecting with the L-shaped cantilever 1212, a locking hole 1232 is further formed in the installation groove 1231, and the locking hole 1232 of the installation frame body 123 is connected with the L-shaped cantilever 1212 through a locking bolt. In some embodiments, the shape of the mounting groove 1231 is the same as the shape of the end surface of the L-shaped cantilever 1212 so that the end of the L-shaped cantilever 1212 can be partially received in the mounting groove 1231, thereby increasing the connection strength. In this embodiment, please refer to fig. 9a and 9b, which are schematic structural diagrams of an embodiment of the present application after the Z-axis mechanism and the carriage are integrally installed, as shown in the figure, the L-shaped cantilever 1212 is connected to a side of the installation frame 123, the carriage 122 is connected to an upper surface of the installation frame 123, and the carriage is leveled by adjusting the locking bolt, so as to adjust the levelness of the component plate or the calibration plate in the carriage.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 10, which is a schematic structural diagram of a calibration plate in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, the calibration plate 13 includes an upper surface 1302 and a lower surface 1303 opposite to the upper surface 1302. The top surface 1302 has a plurality of index points 1301 that are mirrored to the bottom surface 1303. The plurality of calibration points 1301 in the reflective representation upper surface 1302 are visible on the lower surface 1303, that is, when the camera device is shooting the lower surface 1303 of the calibration board 13, the calibration points 1301 on the calibration board upper surface 1302 or the images of the calibration points 1301 passing through the calibration board can be shot, and thus the images of the calibration points are shot.

When the calibration points on the calibration board are all the same size, the calibration system may mistake the calibration points in some cases, for example, mistake the calibration point at row 1, column 5 on the calibration board for the calibration point at row 1, column 6, etc., thereby causing a calibration error. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment, to facilitate the calibration system to accurately identify the calibration points, the calibration points in each calibration region include a plurality of first calibration points and second calibration points, respectively. Wherein the first and second calibration points are different in visual effect, such that the calibration system distinguishes between the first and second calibration points based on the identified differences, including but not limited to different sizes, different shapes, different colors, etc. The first calibration point and the second calibration point are arranged according to a certain rule, so that the calibration system can clearly distinguish the position of each calibration point to reduce errors.

For example, with continued reference to fig. 10, the calibration points 1301 include a first calibration point 1301a and a second calibration point 1301b, the first calibration point 1301a and the second calibration point 1301b being different in size; for another example, please refer to fig. 12, which is a schematic structural diagram of a calibration plate in another embodiment of the present application. As shown, the shape of the first index point 1301a is different from the shape of the second index point 1301 b; in the example of fig. 10 and 12, the first calibration point is set in the first row and the last row of calibration points, and every 5 second calibration points are set, so that when the calibration system identifies the position of each first calibration point, each calibration point can be clearly distinguished.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, since a top-projection printing apparatus is used, the first side surface of the calibration board is defined as an upper surface, and the second side surface is defined as a lower surface. However, in another embodiment, when the printing apparatus is a bottom projection apparatus, the first side surface of the calibration plate is a lower surface, the second side surface is an upper surface, the lower surface of the calibration plate has a plurality of calibration points that can be reflected to the upper surface, and when the imaging device is used for imaging the upper surface of the calibration plate, the calibration points on the lower surface of the calibration plate or the images of the calibration points that penetrate through the calibration plate can be imaged.

In addition, in some embodiments, for example, in a large format printing apparatus, in order to ensure calibration of the entire large format, the calibration plate may further include a plurality of calibration areas, so that the calibration system can complete calibration of the entire large format through calibration of each calibration area. Of course, if the camera device can capture the entire large width, there may be only one calibration area.

When the calibration plate includes a plurality of calibration regions, one row or one column of calibration points may be shared between adjacent calibration regions, or calibration points may not be shared between adjacent calibration regions independently, or a plurality of rows or a plurality of columns of calibration points may be shared.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 11a and 11b, which are schematic structural diagrams of a calibration plate in the present application in another embodiment. As shown, a plurality of calibration regions are included on the calibration plate: the calibration region comprises a calibration region M1, a calibration region M2, a calibration region M3 and a calibration region M4, wherein a column of calibration points is shared between the calibration region M1 and the calibration region M2, a column of calibration points is shared between the calibration region M3 and the calibration region M4, a row of calibration points is shared between the calibration region M1 and the calibration region M3, and a row of calibration points is shared between the calibration region M2 and the calibration region M4.

During calibration, the calibration plate is disposed on the printing reference surface so as to calibrate the energy radiation device by the positional relationship between the position of each of the first calibration point and the second calibration point on the calibration plate and the position of the image of the first projection point and the image of the second projection point in the image of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device, and a specific calibration method will be described in detail later.

In one embodiment, the calibration plate is made of a light-transmitting material, and a plurality of holes are engraved on the first side surface of the calibration plate to form a first calibration point and a second calibration point. Or in another embodiment, the first and second index points may be further formed by coating a plurality of dot patterns on the first side surface of the index plate. Wherein, the light-transmitting material includes but is not limited to: glass, Polycarbonate (PC) or Polystyrene (PS), or acrylonitrile-styrene resin (AS), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).

The first side surface of the calibration plate is covered with a semi-light-transmitting film, so that a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device in calibration operation can be presented. Wherein, the material of the semi-transparent film includes but is not limited to: white paper, or a material having a diffuse reflection function, such as a plastic plate, or the like.

In some embodiments, the calibration points (i.e., the first calibration point and the second calibration point) on the first side surface of the calibration plate and the projected points (i.e., the first projected point and the second projected point) in the calibration image may be displayed in different colors, thereby facilitating comparison of the calibration points and the projected points for calibration of the energy radiation device. In a possible embodiment, the color of the first and second calibration points on the calibration plate is dark. For example, when a black calibration point is coated on the first side surface of the calibration board and the energy radiation device and/or the external light source projects a white (or other colors with high contrast relative to black) pure color picture onto the calibration board, the image capturing device may capture an image of a black dot with white from the second side surface of the calibration board; when shooting the imaging of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device, the energy radiation device is enabled to project the calibration image of a black background white dot (the white dot is a projection point), and the calibration image of the black background white dot can be presented on the semi-transparent film, so that the imaging device can shoot the imaging of the calibration image on the semi-transparent film.

In an exemplary embodiment, when the calibration plate includes a plurality of calibration areas thereon, the calibration mechanism further includes a moving device for clearly photographing the images of the calibration areas, respectively. The moving device is arranged at a preset position on the second side of the calibration plate, namely, the moving device and the energy radiation device are positioned at different sides of the calibration plate, so that the camera device is arranged to drive the camera device to move along a preset path in calibration operation so as to respectively shoot different calibration areas on the calibration plate.

In an embodiment, taking a top-projection 3D printing apparatus as an example, the rack has a container straddling the upper portion of the mobile device. During calibration operation, the container can be detached, and the camera device is arranged in the reserved mounting position of the mobile device, so that the visual influence of the container on the camera device in the calibration operation is avoided; in a non-calibration job (such as a print job), the image pickup device is detached and the container is mounted so as to contain a light-curable material in the container.

In one exemplary embodiment, the moving device comprises an X-axis moving mechanism, a Y-axis moving mechanism and a reserved mounting position.

Y axle moving mechanism sets up the preset position in frame bottom one side, Y axle moving mechanism contains Y to guide rail, Y to slider and Y axle driving motor, Y is to the slider setting thereby can move on Y is to the guide rail to Y on. The Y-direction guide rail is a rail arranged in the Y direction for example, the Y-direction sliding block is a sliding block arranged on the rail for example correspondingly, and the sliding block is controlled by a Y-axis driving motor to move on the Y-direction guide rail. Wherein the driving motor includes but is not limited to: a stepping motor, a servo motor, a linear motor, etc., and in different embodiments, a telescopic cylinder can be used to control the slider to move on the corresponding guide rail.

The X-axis moving mechanism is provided on the Y-axis moving mechanism, and more specifically, the X-axis moving mechanism is provided on a Y-direction slider of the Y-axis moving mechanism, whereby the position of the X-axis moving mechanism in the Y-axis direction is adjusted by the Y-axis moving mechanism. The X-axis moving mechanism comprises an X-direction guide rail, an X-direction slide block and an X-axis driving motor, wherein the X-direction slide block is arranged on the X-direction guide rail and can move on the X-direction guide rail. The X-direction guide rail is a rail arranged in the X direction, the X-direction sliding block is a sliding block arranged on the rail correspondingly, and the sliding block is controlled by an X-axis driving motor to move on the X-direction guide rail. Wherein the driving motor includes but is not limited to: a stepping motor, a servo motor, a linear motor, etc., and certainly, in different embodiments, a telescopic cylinder can also be used to control the driving slide block to move on the corresponding guide rail.

The reserved mounting positions are used for mounting a camera device so that the camera device and the X-axis moving mechanism can keep synchronous motion in the calibration operation, the Y-axis moving mechanism is used for controlling the position of the camera device in the Y direction, the X-axis moving mechanism is used for controlling the position of the camera device in the X direction, and the camera device can move to the corresponding position of each calibration area to respectively shoot the lower surface of the calibration plate corresponding to each calibration area. The reserved installation sites include, but are not limited to: and the mounting hole is formed on the X-direction sliding block, or the mounting seat is arranged on the X-direction sliding block.

In the above embodiment, the X-axis moving mechanism and the Y-axis moving mechanism each include a guide rail, a slider, and a driving motor, respectively, and thereby realize the movement in the corresponding directions. In another embodiment, the X-axis moving mechanism and the Y-axis moving mechanism may further include a guide rail, a timing belt mechanism, and a driving motor, respectively. The mobile device is driven by the synchronous belt mechanism to slide along the guide rail, and in addition, the mobile device can be externally connected with a magnetic grid ruler to serve as a position sensor to provide more accurate position information of the light sensing device in the printing reference surface. The driving motor includes but is not limited to: step motor, servo motor. In a further embodiment, the moving means may also for example comprise a screw, a nut which is movable on the screw, and a mounting beam which spans the bottom of the frame and is provided at both ends on the respective moving parts. The screw rods are controlled by the driving motor to rotate so that the nuts linearly move on the corresponding screw rods. The driving motor includes, but is not limited to, a stepping motor, a servo motor, or the like. The screw is, for example, a ball screw.

In an exemplary embodiment, the moving device includes a plate body or a frame body provided with a preset movement path, and a reserved mounting position which can move along the preset movement path is provided on the plate body or the frame body, and the reserved mounting position is used for mounting the camera device, so that the camera device can travel to a corresponding position of each calibration area in the calibration operation to respectively shoot the lower surface of the calibration plate corresponding to each calibration area.

For example, in an exemplary embodiment, a preset sliding groove is formed in the plate body, a sliding block is arranged in the sliding groove, the sliding block can move along the sliding groove to a position corresponding to each calibration area on the calibration plate, and the reserved mounting position is configured on the sliding block and used for driving the camera device to slide to each calibration area to perform corresponding shooting when the camera device is mounted; certainly, in order to facilitate the camera device to realize accurate shooting at a proper position of each calibration area, a positioning portion is arranged at a position of the chute corresponding to each calibration area, and the positioning portion is, for example, a structure capable of realizing positioning or limiting, such as a clamping groove or a protrusion.

As another exemplary embodiment, in a frame body formed by overlapping a plurality of rod bodies, a plurality of tracks formed by the longitudinal and transverse arrangement of the rod bodies are provided, a sliding block is arranged in each track, the sliding block can move along the tracks to the position corresponding to each calibration area on the calibration plate, and the reserved mounting positions are arranged on the sliding blocks. In this embodiment, the reserved installation bits include, but are not limited to: the mounting holes formed on the sliding block or the mounting seats arranged on the sliding block are used for driving the camera shooting device to slide to each calibration area to correspondingly shoot under the condition that the camera shooting device is arranged; certainly, in order to facilitate the camera device to realize accurate shooting at a proper position of each calibration area, a positioning portion is arranged at a position of the slider corresponding to each calibration area, and the positioning portion is, for example, a structure capable of realizing positioning or limiting, such as a clamping groove or a protrusion.

In an exemplary embodiment, in order to ensure the distance between the lens of the camera device and the calibration plate so that the image shot by the camera device has higher definition, a Z-direction slider capable of adjusting the focal length of the camera device in the Z-axis direction is arranged at the reserved installation position. In one embodiment, the Z-slide comprises: a telescopic device for adjusting the height in the Z-direction (i.e. the generally understood vertical direction), and a mounting for mounting the camera device. The bottom of the telescopic device is connected with the moving device, for example, the mounting surface of the bottom of the telescopic device can be fixedly connected with the top of an X-direction sliding block of an X-axis moving mechanism of the moving device through bolts or welding, and the like. The top of the telescopic device is connected with the mounting seat, so that the camera device can be arranged on the mounting seat and can move in the Z direction through the telescopic device. The telescoping devices include, but are not limited to: screw telescopic link, telescopic hydraulic cylinder.

In a possible embodiment, the mounting base has a clamping mechanism for detachably fixing the image pickup device to the mounting base. Therefore, the camera device can be detached in the non-calibration operation process; in the calibration process, the camera device is fixed on the mounting seat through the clamping mechanism, so that the position of the camera device in the X direction and the Y direction is adjusted through the moving device, and the lower surface of the calibration plate where each calibration area is located is shot.

In an exemplary embodiment, the energy radiation device may not need to be calibrated each time a printing operation is performed. For example, in a calibration operation of a 3D printing apparatus when it leaves a factory, the energy radiation device can be calibrated by using the calibration plate and the camera device, and in the printing task, the calibration plate and the camera device are used only when calibration is needed without involvement of the calibration plate and the camera device. Based on such understanding, the calibration plate and the mobile device can also be independent of the 3D printing apparatus, and thus the present application also provides a calibration mechanism.

In an embodiment, the calibration mechanism may include a calibration plate and a camera device as described above; in another embodiment, when the calibration board includes a plurality of calibration areas and the camera needs to be moved to capture all the calibration areas of the calibration board, the calibration mechanism may further include a moving device as described above. Since the calibration board, the camera device and the moving device have been described in detail in the foregoing embodiments, they are not described in detail herein.

Here, for convenience of description, the case where the calibration plate includes a plurality of calibration regions and the printing apparatus is an up-projection printing apparatus will be described as an example. However, the description of the parts of the present application should directly suggest that the embodiment of the present invention is applicable to a lower projection printing device and/or a calibration plate having only one calibration area.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 13, which is a schematic diagram of a calibration method of the present application in one embodiment. As shown in the figure, in step S110, a reference image of each calibration region of the calibration plate is acquired. The reference image refers to an image captured by the imaging device on a calibration plate on the printing reference surface. When the reference image is shot, in order to clearly obtain the reference position of each first calibration point image and each second calibration point image on the calibration plate, the energy radiation device is enabled to project a pure-color pattern to the printing reference surface. The calibration board may adopt the structure in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 10, fig. 11a, and fig. 11b, which is not described herein again. Since the calibration points on the upper surface of the calibration plate are transmitted (visualized) or reflected to the lower surface to be photographed by the image pickup device, the photographed image is a reference image in which reference positions where the respective calibration points are imaged are displayed. It should be understood that the reference positions of the imaging of the first calibration points and the imaging of the second calibration points reflect the positions of the first projection points and the second projection points in the calibration image which are expected to be imaged after calibration.

In some embodiments, the reference image may be obtained by directly photographing the calibration plate; in other embodiments, light can be supplemented by a light source to make the shooting more clear.

Here, the supplementary lighting may be implemented by projecting illumination or a picture with a preset brightness to the upper surface of the calibration plate, wherein the illumination or the picture with the preset brightness may be implemented by an energy radiation device or an external light source.

In one embodiment, for example, a pure color picture with a preset brightness is projected onto the upper surface of the calibration board by the energy radiation device, for example, a DLP optical engine is made to project a white pure color picture onto the upper surface of the calibration board, so that the upper surface of the calibration board is illuminated, and then the calibration point on the upper surface of the calibration board can be transmitted or reflected to the lower surface to be captured by the camera device; of course, based on different implementation states, the pure color picture projected by the DLP optical machine to the upper surface of the calibration plate may also be yellow, red, blue, etc. with preset brightness.

In another embodiment, for example, an external light source projects light with a preset brightness to the upper surface of the calibration plate, where the external light source includes a fluorescent lamp, a flashlight, a desk lamp, and the like, which can irradiate the light source on the upper surface of the calibration plate, so that the upper surface of the calibration plate is illuminated, and the calibration point on the upper surface of the calibration plate can be transmitted or reflected to the lower surface of the calibration plate, so as to be photographed by the camera device. Of course, in the case of good lighting conditions, there may be a case where an external light source is not required.

Referring to fig. 13, in step S120, an image of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device onto each calibration area is obtained.

In an exemplary embodiment, the energy radiation device projects a calibration image onto a calibration plate located on a printing reference surface, wherein the calibration image includes a plurality of first projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the first calibration points, and a plurality of second projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the second calibration points, and therefore the imaging of the first projection points and the imaging of the second projection points are included in the imaging of the calibration image. The calibration image is an image projected by the energy radiation device in the calibration process, and the calibration image is used for imaging on the first side surface of the calibration plate after projection so as to be shot by the camera device, so that the energy radiation device is calibrated through the imaging of the calibration image and the reference image.

Here, the energy radiation device may be caused to project an image corresponding to a pattern on the calibration plate including a pattern formed by the respective first and second calibration points toward the printing reference surface as the calibration image. For example, the drawing of the calibration plate has parameters such as the position, shape, size, etc. of each of the first calibration point and the second calibration point, the energy radiation device may be caused to project an image corresponding to the drawing of the calibration plate as a calibration image, and then the image pickup device may be caused to take an image of the calibration image on the calibration plate.

Here, the upper surface of the calibration plate is used to present a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device in a calibration operation, the calibration image having a plurality of projection points (first projection points and second projection points) which are expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the respective calibration points (first calibration points and second calibration points).

It should be understood that when the energy radiation device projects the calibration image onto the calibration plate, an image of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device appears on the calibration plate. Therefore, when the calibration plate is photographed by the image pickup device, an image of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device on the calibration plate is photographed, and the image of the calibration image includes an image of each first projection point and an image of each second projection point.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 14, which shows a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device in an embodiment of the present application during a calibration operation, as shown in the figure, white bright spots displayed in a black background in the image are projection spots, in the calibration operation, the projection spots are expected to be imaged adjacent to the calibration spots, i.e., each projection spot is set to have a unique corresponding relationship with the calibration spot on the calibration plate. Referring to fig. 16, which is a schematic diagram of the reference image in the present application in an embodiment, each first projection point in the calibration image shown in fig. 14 corresponds to each first calibration point in the reference image shown in fig. 16, and each second projection point corresponds to each second calibration point.

In the projected dots shown in fig. 14, a first projected dot 201 and a second projected dot 202 are included, and the diameter of the first projected dot 201 is larger than that of the second projected dot 202. The index points shown in fig. 16 include a first index point and a second index point, the first index point having a diameter greater than the second index point.

In an exemplary embodiment, in order to clearly distinguish the positions of the respective calibration points (i.e., the first calibration point and the second calibration point) and the respective projected points (i.e., the first projected point and the second projected point) during the calibration process, the imaging of the first projected point in the imaging of the calibration image may be made adjacent to the corresponding first calibration point and the imaging of the respective second projected point may be made adjacent to the corresponding second calibration point during the calibration process.

Here, the corresponding adjacency means that there is a one-to-one correspondence in position, and adjacency is made between the corresponding projection point image and the index point. Specifically, each projection point in the calibration image can find a unique corresponding calibration point in the reference image according to the position correspondence relationship, so that each projection point image corresponds to a calibration point, and the projection point image with the correspondence relationship is adjacent to the calibration point.

In an embodiment, please refer to fig. 17, which is a schematic diagram of an image obtained by capturing an image of a calibration image projected on a calibration plate in an embodiment, wherein black solid points are the images of the calibration points, hollow points are the images of the projected points, solid points with a larger diameter are the images of the first calibration points, solid points with a smaller diameter are the images of the second calibration points, hollow points with a larger diameter are the images of the first projected points, and hollow points with a smaller diameter are the images of the second projected points. As shown in the figure, the images of each first calibration point have the images of the first projection points corresponding to each other on the basis of the position relationship, the images of each second calibration point also have the images of the second projection points corresponding to each other on the basis of the position relationship, and the images of the corresponding calibration points and the images of the projection points are adjacent to each other. It should be noted that although there is a partial overlapping relationship between the first calibration point image and the first projection point image in fig. 17, the calibration system can still clearly determine the positions of the first calibration point image and the first projection point image because the overlapping area is not large.

In some cases, when the energy radiation device projects the calibration image, the imaging of each projected point and the imaging of each corresponding calibration point in the picture presented on the calibration plate are already in an adjacent positional relationship. In some cases, there may be a case where the energy radiation device projects the calibration image, and the images of the respective projected points in the image presented on the calibration plate are not adjacent to the images of the respective corresponding calibration points, and the image pickup device further includes a step of adjusting the energy radiation device so that the respective calibration points are adjacent to the respective images of the respective projected points before taking the images of the calibration image.

It should be understood that for ease of description, in various embodiments, the first and second calibration points may be referred to by the calibration points and the first and second projection points may be referred to by the projection points. For example, each calibration point is adjacent to each corresponding projection point, meaning that each first calibration point is adjacent to each corresponding first projection point and each second calibration point is adjacent to each corresponding second projection point. Those skilled in the art should understand that the calibration points referred to in the present application include a first calibration point and a second calibration point, and the projection points include a first projection point and a second projection point, which will not be described in detail later.

In a possible embodiment, this can be achieved by adjusting the physical position of the energy radiation device. For example, the energy radiation device may be mounted on a frame of the 3D printing apparatus by a position adjustment mechanism, and an angle, a distance, or the like of the energy radiation device in a horizontal or vertical direction may be adjusted by the position adjustment mechanism, so that an image of a first projection point in an image of a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device is made adjacent to a corresponding first calibration point, and an image of each second projection point is made adjacent to a corresponding second calibration point by the position adjustment mechanism.

In other embodiments, the calibration image may be adjusted by software, including adjusting the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device such that the image of each first projection point is adjacent to the corresponding first calibration point, and the image of each second projection point is adjacent to the corresponding second calibration point. For example, as mentioned above, each micromirror of the DMD chip in the energy radiation device represents a pixel, and the projected image is composed of these pixels, so that the DMD chip can be controlled to change the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device so that the image of each first projection point is adjacent to the corresponding first calibration point and the image of each second projection point is adjacent to the corresponding second calibration point.

In an exemplary embodiment, the calibration images may also be projected separately, specifically, during the calibration of a calibration area, the energy radiation device may be caused to project a first calibration image and a second calibration image, respectively, where the first calibration image includes only the first projection points and the second calibration image includes only the second projection points, so as to determine the area needing to be calibrated currently by the position of each first projection point in the first calibration image, and calibrate the energy radiation device by the position of each second projection point in the second calibration image.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 15a, which is a schematic diagram of a first calibration image in the present application in an embodiment, as shown in fig. 15a, the first calibration image includes a first projection point 201. Please refer to fig. 15b, which is a schematic diagram of a second calibration image in the present application in an embodiment, as shown in fig. 15b, the second calibration image includes a second projection point 202. The range of the currently located calibration area can be determined by imaging the first projection point with the larger diameter in the imaging of the first calibration image, and then the energy radiation device can be calibrated by imaging the second projection point in the imaging of the finer second calibration image.

In some embodiments, the position of the first projection point in the first calibration image corresponds to the position of the second projection point at the vertex angle in the second calibration image, so that the calibration area range determined by the four vertex angles can be obtained by identifying the position of the first projection point. For example, as shown in fig. 15a and 15b, the first projection point position in fig. 15a corresponds to the second projection point position at four vertex angles in fig. 15b, so that the range of the current calibration area can be determined by each first projection point. It should be noted that, in some embodiments, each first projection point in the first calibration image can also find a corresponding second projection point in the second calibration image, for example, a vertex angle in fig. 15b includes a second projection point corresponding to the position of the first projection point in fig. 15 a.

In an exemplary embodiment, the size of the first calibration point is smaller than the size of the image of the first projection point, so that the calibration system more clearly identifies the location of the image of each first projection point in the image of the calibration image.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first and second projected points in the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device may be light in color, since the brighter the intensity projected by the energy radiation device, the stronger the corresponding light energy. In contrast, the first calibration point and the second calibration point on the calibration board are dark in color, so that the calibration system can better distinguish the calibration point from the projection point.

With continued reference to fig. 13, in step S130, the calibration system calibrates the energy radiation device based on the positional relationship between the imaging of the first projection point and the imaging of the first calibration point in the imaging of the reference image and the calibration image, and the positional relationship between the imaging of the second projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point in the imaging of the reference image and the calibration image.

Here, since the calibration system knows the target position of each projection point image in the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device (i.e. each corresponding calibration point position on the calibration plate), the energy radiation device can be adjusted based on the target position and the current projection imaging position.

In an exemplary embodiment, since the second calibration points are similar in shape and arranged in an array, in order to reduce the calibration error of the calibration system, the actual position of the imaging of the second calibration points can be estimated according to the position of the imaging of the first calibration point. Specifically, because the theoretical physical position relationship between each first calibration point and each second calibration point is known, the calibration system can calculate the theoretical position of each second calibration point image according to the actual position of each first calibration point image in the reference image, and then determine the actual position of each second calibration point image in the reference image based on the theoretical position of each second calibration point image, thereby avoiding errors such as finding wrong points. Similarly, in the calibration image, the theoretical position of the image of each second projection point can be determined according to the actual position of the image of each first projection point, and the actual position of the image of each second projection point can be determined according to the theoretical position of the image of each second projection point. After the actual positions of the second calibration point image and the second projection point image are obtained, the energy radiation device can be calibrated through the position difference between the second projection point image and the second calibration point image. In the embodiment that the calibration image comprises the first calibration image and the second calibration image, the theoretical position of each second projection point image in the second calibration image can be calculated according to the actual position of each first projection point image in the first calibration image, and then the actual position of each second projection point image can be determined according to the theoretical position of each second projection point image.

In an exemplary embodiment, the actual coordinates of each second projection point image can be determined by calculating theoretical coordinates of each second projection point image in the second calibration image based on the actual coordinates of each first projection point image in the first calibration image, and then identifying each second projection point image in the second calibration image based on the theoretical coordinates of each second projection point image. And the calibration system calculates theoretical coordinates of each second calibration point image based on actual coordinates of each first calibration point image in the reference image, identifies each second calibration point image in the reference image based on the theoretical coordinates of each second calibration point image, thereby determining actual coordinates of each second calibration point image, and finally calibrates the energy radiation device according to the difference between the actual coordinates of each second calibration point image and the actual coordinates of each corresponding second projection point image.

It should be understood that each calibration area on the calibration plate corresponds to each radiation area in the energy radiation device panel.

In an exemplary embodiment, the calibration system may perform steps S110 to S130 on each calibration area on the calibration board one by one, and after capturing the imaging of the calibration image and the reference image of each calibration area, complete calibration on the radiation area on the energy radiation device corresponding to the calibration area, and move to the next calibration area. After a calibration area is calibrated, the next calibration area is calibrated, and therefore the calibration of the whole radiation area (breadth) of the energy radiation device is completed. In another exemplary embodiment, the calibration system may also perform calibration of the entire radiation area (breadth) of the energy radiation device by uniformly calibrating each radiation area in the energy radiation device corresponding to each calibration area after the imaging device captures the imaging and reference images of the calibration image corresponding to each calibration area.

It should be understood that the sequence does not necessarily represent that the steps S110 to S130 are performed for each calibration region randomly, and may be performed for each calibration region S110 to S130 in sequence, as long as all calibration regions can be calibrated.

In an exemplary embodiment, the calibration system of the 3D printing apparatus further comprises a control device. In one embodiment, please refer to fig. 18, which is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection relationship of a control device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Here, the control device is, for example, a control board (circuit board on which electronic components are arranged) including a memory unit, a processing unit, and a drive reservation interface unit 19. The storage unit comprises a nonvolatile memory, a volatile memory and the like, and a calibration program is stored in the storage unit and can execute the calibration method when running. The nonvolatile memory is, for example, a solid state disk or a usb disk. The storage unit is connected with the processing unit through a system bus. The processing unit comprises at least one of a CPU or a chip integrated with the CPU, a programmable logic device (FPGA) and a multi-core processor. The driving reservation interface unit 19 includes a plurality of driving reservation interfaces, each of the driving reservation interfaces is electrically connected to a device which is independently packaged in a 3D printing apparatus such as a camera device and an energy radiation device and transmits data or drives work through the interface, and in an embodiment in which a calibration board has a plurality of calibration areas, the driving reservation interfaces are further electrically connected to a Y-axis driving motor 1723 and an X-axis driving motor 1713. The apparatus further comprises at least one of: a prompting device, a human-computer interaction device and the like. The drive reservation interface unit 19 determines its interface type according to the connected device, which includes but is not limited to: universal serial interface, video interface, industrial control interface, etc. For example, the drive reservation interface includes: USB interface, HDMI interface, Ethernet interface and RS232 interface, wherein, USB interface and RS232 interface all have a plurality ofly, and the human-computer interaction device etc. can be connected to the USB interface, and the Ethernet interface is used for connecting the camera, carries out communication and data transmission, and Y axle driving motor 1723 and X axle driving motor 1713 are connected to the RS232 interface, and HDMI interface connection energy radiation device etc.. The control device may be provided independently of the calibration system of the 3D printing apparatus, and is connected to each device through each driving reservation interface, so that the control device 18 is not necessarily provided on the 3D printing apparatus in a normal state, and may be electrically connected to the 3D printing apparatus through each driving reservation interface unit when the energy radiation device needs to be calibrated.

In another embodiment, please refer to fig. 19, which is a schematic diagram illustrating the connection relationship of the control device in the present application, wherein the memory unit of the control device stores a calibration program. The calibration program comprises a control program for the camera device, and the control device 18 is connected with the camera device 14 through a driving reserved interface unit 19 so that the camera device installed on the reserved installation position shoots the lower surface of the calibration plate according to the program setting. In an embodiment where the calibration board includes a plurality of calibration areas, the calibration program includes control programs for the Y-axis driving motor, the X-axis driving motor, and the camera device, and the control device 18 is connected to the X-axis driving motor 1713, the Y-axis driving motor 1723, and the camera device 14 through the driving reserved interface unit 19, respectively, so that the camera device installed on the reserved installation site moves along the calibration path under the driving of the Y-axis driving motor and the X-axis driving motor, and shoots the lower surface of the calibration board corresponding to each calibration area according to the program setting.

In another embodiment, please refer to fig. 20, which is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection relationship between the control devices in the present application in another embodiment, the calibration procedure may further include control procedures for the image capturing device and the energy radiation device, and the control device 18 respectively connects the image capturing device 14 and the energy radiation device 11 through driving the reserved interface unit 19 to enable the image capturing device installed on the reserved installation position to capture the lower surface of the calibration plate, and controls the energy radiation device to project the calibration image according to the control procedures during the calibration operation. In an embodiment that the calibration board includes a plurality of calibration areas, the calibration program may further include control programs for the Y-axis driving motor, the X-axis driving motor, the image capturing device, and the energy radiation device, and the control device 18 is connected to the X-axis driving motor 1713, the Y-axis driving motor 1723, the image capturing device 14, and the energy radiation device 11 through the driving reserved interface unit 19, so that the image capturing device installed on the reserved installation position moves along the calibration path under the driving of the Y-axis driving motor and the X-axis driving motor, captures the lower surface of the calibration board corresponding to each calibration area according to the program setting, and controls the energy radiation device to project the calibration image according to the program control in the calibration operation. It should be understood that, for capturing each calibration area, in some embodiments, the calibration program includes a capturing sequence of each calibration area, and further, for capturing each calibration area according to the capturing sequence, the control device controls the Y-axis driving motor and the X-axis driving motor to work in coordination, so as to determine driving timings of the Y-axis driving motor and the X-axis driving motor in each capturing step, such as sequential or simultaneous driving of the driving, and a required travel distance between the Y direction and the X direction in each capturing step (the required travel distances between the Y direction and the X direction are implemented by the Y-axis driving motor and the X-axis driving motor, respectively), so as to generate the calibration path. And the control device further determines the control sequence of the energy radiation device and the camera device when shooting the lower surface of the calibration plate corresponding to each calibration area.

In an exemplary embodiment, the 3D printing device is a top-projection printing device. A calibration plate having a first calibration point and a second calibration point is placed on a printing reference surface of a printing apparatus. In the calibration process, the camera device is moved to the position below a calibration area of the calibration plate by the calibration system through the moving device. And then, projecting a pure white pattern by the energy radiation device to supplement light, and shooting the calibration area by the camera device to obtain a reference image.

Then the calibration system enables the energy radiation device to project a first calibration image to the calibration area on the calibration plate, the first calibration image comprises a first projection point corresponding to a first calibration point, and the camera device is enabled to shoot an image of the first calibration image on the calibration plate. Then, the energy radiation device projects a second calibration image to the calibration area on the calibration plate, the second calibration image comprises a second projection point corresponding to a second calibration point, and the camera device shoots an image of the second calibration image on the calibration plate. In this case, if it is found during the projection that the corresponding calibration point is not adjacent to the projection point image, the energy radiation device can also be adjusted such that the respective first calibration point is adjacent to the first projection point image and the second calibration point is adjacent to the second projection point image.

After the reference image, the first calibration image and the second calibration image are obtained, the theoretical coordinates of the second projection point images can be calculated based on the coordinates of the first projection point images in the first calibration image, and the actual coordinates of the second projection point images in the second calibration image are determined according to the theoretical coordinates of the second projection point images. Similarly, the theoretical coordinates of the imaging of each second calibration point are determined based on the actual coordinates of the imaging of the first calibration point in the reference image, and then the actual coordinates of the imaging of each second calibration point in the reference image are determined according to the theoretical coordinates of the imaging of each second calibration point. After the actual coordinates of the second projection point images and the actual coordinates of the second calibration point images are determined, the breadth of the energy radiation device corresponding to the calibration area can be calibrated according to the position difference between the corresponding second projection point images and the second calibration point images.

And then the calibration system enables the mobile device to move the camera device to the next calibration area, and continues to execute the calibration work, wherein the calibration method of each calibration area is similar to that described above, so that the details are not repeated. Since each calibration area corresponds to each radiation area in the breadth of the energy radiation device, calibration of the whole breadth of the energy radiation device can be completed after traversing each calibration area and executing calibration work.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

For convenience of description, when describing "imaging of the first calibration point", it is sometimes omitted "imaging of the first calibration point", and it should be understood by those skilled in the art that "imaging of the first calibration point" and "imaging of the first calibration point" are the same meaning, and are both imaging of the first calibration point on the calibration plate when the imaging device is used for shooting the calibration plate. Similar cases also include "imaging of the second index point" with "imaging of the second index point", "imaging of the first projection point" with "imaging of the first projection point", "imaging of the second projection point" with "imaging of the second projection point", "imaging of the index point" with "imaging of the index point", and the like.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

Furthermore, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

Additionally, the flowcharts and system block diagrams in the figures described above illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present application. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

It should be noted that, through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that part or all of the present application can be implemented by software and combined with necessary general hardware platform. Based on the understanding, the technical solutions of the present application may be embodied in the form of software products, and based on this, the present application further provides a computer readable and writable storage medium on which a computer program of a calibration method of a 3D printing apparatus is stored, where the computer program of the calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus is executed by a processor to implement the steps of the calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiments provided herein, the computer readable and writable storage medium may include Read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, flash memory, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the instructions are transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. It should be understood, however, that computer-readable-writable storage media and data storage media do not include connections, carrier waves, signals, or other transitory media, but are intended to be non-transitory, tangible storage media. Disk and disc, as used in this application, includes Compact Disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.

The application is operational with numerous general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. For example: personal computers, server computers, hand-held or portable devices, tablet-type devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

The application may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The application may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer-readable storage media including memory storage devices.

The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and utilities of the present application and are not intended to limit the application. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical concepts disclosed in the present application shall be covered by the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A calibration method of a 3D printing device is characterized in that the 3D printing device comprises the following steps: the calibration method comprises the following steps of:

acquiring a reference image of each calibration area of the calibration plate; the calibration plate comprises a calibration plate body, a first side surface and a second side surface, wherein each calibration area of the calibration plate body comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate body and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate body, and the reference positions of the imaging of the first calibration points and the imaging of the second calibration points are displayed in the reference image;

acquiring images of calibration images of the energy radiation device projected in each calibration area; the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points, and the imaging of the calibration image comprises the imaging of the first projection points and the imaging of the second projection points;

and calibrating the energy radiation device based on the position relation between the imaging of the calibration image and the imaging of the first calibration point corresponding to each imaging of the first projection point in the reference image and the position relation between the imaging of the second calibration point corresponding to each imaging of the second projection point and the second calibration point.

2. The method of calibrating a 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising adjusting the imaging of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device such that the imaging of each first projected point is adjacent to a corresponding first calibration point and the imaging of each second projected point is adjacent to a corresponding second calibration point.

3. The calibration method for a 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the step of calibrating the energy radiation device based on the positional relationship between the imaging of the calibration image and the imaging of the first calibration point and the positional relationship between the imaging of the first projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point in each of the corresponding imaging of the first projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point in the reference image comprises:

determining the actual imaging position of each second calibration point in the reference image according to the theoretical imaging position of each second calibration point; wherein the theoretical position of the imaging of each second index point is determined based on the actual position of the imaging of each first index point;

determining the actual imaging position of each second projection point in the calibration image according to the theoretical imaging position of each second projection point; wherein the theoretical position of the image of each second projection point is determined based on the actual position of the image of each first projection point;

calibrating the energy radiation device based on a difference in position between the imaging of the second projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point.

4. The method for calibrating the 3D printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the calibration image comprises a first calibration image and a second calibration image, the first calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be adjacent to each first calibration point, and the second calibration image comprises a plurality of second projection points expected to be adjacent to each second calibration point.

5. The calibration method for 3D printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the position of each first projected point in the first calibration image corresponds to the position of a second projected point at a vertex angle in the second calibration image.

6. The calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calibration of the energy radiation devices is performed by calibrating the corresponding radiation regions of the energy radiation devices one by one based on each calibration region on the calibration plate.

7. The calibration method for a 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the first calibration point is smaller than the imaging size of the first projected point.

8. The calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the reference image of each calibration area of the calibration plate comprises:

enabling the energy radiation device to project a pure-color image to the printing reference surface, and/or enabling a light source to irradiate the printing reference surface;

and enabling the camera device to shoot the calibration plate to obtain the reference image.

9. The calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calibration plate is made of a light-transmitting material.

10. The calibration method for a 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color of the first calibration point and the second calibration point on the calibration plate is a dark color, and the color of the first projection point and the second projection point in the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device is a light color.

11. The calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first side surface of the calibration plate is engraved with a plurality of holes or coated with a plurality of dot patterns to constitute the first calibration point and the second calibration point.

12. Calibration method for a 3D printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the energy radiation device comprises a DLP optical machine device or an LCD light source.

13. A calibration system of a 3D printing device, comprising:

the interface unit is used for acquiring a reference image of each calibration area of the calibration plate and acquiring an image of the calibration image projected to each calibration area by the energy radiation device; the calibration plate comprises a calibration plate body, a first side surface and a second side surface, wherein each calibration area of the calibration plate body comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate body and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate body, and the reference positions of the imaging of the first calibration points and the imaging of the second calibration points are displayed in the reference image; the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points, and the imaging of the calibration image comprises the imaging of the first projection points and the imaging of the second projection points;

and the processing unit is used for calibrating the energy radiation device based on the position relation between the imaging of the calibration image and the imaging of the first calibration point and the position relation between the imaging of the second corresponding projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point in the reference image.

14. Calibration system for a 3D printing device according to claim 13, wherein the processing unit further adjusts the imaging of the calibration image projected by the energy radiation means such that the imaging of each first projected point is adjacent to the corresponding first calibration point and the imaging of each second projected point is adjacent to the corresponding second calibration point.

15. The calibration system of the 3D printing device according to claim 13, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine an actual position of the image of each second calibration point in the reference image according to the theoretical position of the image of each second calibration point; wherein the theoretical position of the imaging of each second index point is determined based on the actual position of the imaging of each first index point; the processing unit determines the actual positions of the images of the second projection points in the calibration image according to the theoretical positions of the images of the second projection points; wherein the theoretical position of the image of each second projection point is determined based on the actual position of the image of each first projection point; the processing unit calibrates the energy radiation device based on a difference in position between the imaging of the second projection point and the imaging of the second calibration point.

16. The calibration system of the 3D printing apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the calibration image comprises a first calibration image and a second calibration image, the first calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the first calibration points, and the second calibration image comprises a plurality of second projection points expected to be adjacent to each of the second calibration points.

17. The calibration system of the 3D printing device according to claim 16, wherein the position of each first projected point in the first calibration image corresponds to the position of a second projected point at a vertex angle in the second calibration image.

18. The calibration system of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the interface unit acquires the reference image and the calibration image corresponding to each calibration region one by one, and the processing unit performs calibration of the energy radiation device by calibrating the corresponding radiation region of the energy radiation device one by one based on each calibration region on the calibration board.

19. The calibration system of the 3D printing device according to claim 13, wherein the first calibration point has a size smaller than an imaging size of the first projected point.

20. The calibration system of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the reference image obtained by the interface unit is obtained by causing the energy radiation device to project a solid image onto the printing reference surface and/or causing a light source to illuminate the printing reference surface, and causing the camera device to shoot the calibration plate.

21. The calibration system of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the calibration plate is made of a light-transmissive material.

22. The calibration system of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the color of the first calibration point and the second calibration point on the calibration plate is a dark color, and the color of the first projection point and the second projection point in the calibration image projected by the energy radiation device is a light color.

23. The calibration system of the 3D printing device according to claim 13, wherein the first side surface of the calibration plate is engraved with a plurality of holes or coated with a plurality of dot patterns to constitute the first and second calibration points.

24. Calibration system for a 3D printing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the energy radiation device comprises a DLP light machine device or an LCD light source.

25. The calibration mechanism of 3D printing apparatus, characterized in that, 3D printing apparatus includes: the frame and be located in the frame and set up in the energy radiation device of a printing reference surface first side preset position, calibration mechanism includes: the calibration plate is arranged on the printing reference surface and comprises at least one calibration area, each calibration area of the calibration plate respectively comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, and the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate; the first side surface of the calibration plate is further used for presenting a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device in calibration operation, and the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points; and the number of the first and second groups,

and the camera device is positioned on the second side of the calibration plate and used for shooting images on the calibration plate in the calibration operation.

26. The calibration mechanism of the 3D printing device according to claim 25, wherein the first and second calibration points on the calibration plate are dark colored.

27. The calibration mechanism of the 3D printing device according to claim 25, wherein the first side surface of the calibration plate is engraved with a plurality of holes or coated with a plurality of dot patterns to constitute the first and second calibration points.

28. The calibration mechanism of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the calibration plate is made of a light-transmissive material, and a semi-light-transmissive film is coated on a first side surface of the calibration plate.

29. Calibration mechanism for a 3D printing device according to claim 25, wherein the calibration plate comprises a plurality of calibration areas, the calibration mechanism further comprising a moving means arranged at a predetermined position on the second side of the calibration plate for mounting the camera means for driving the camera means along a predetermined path during calibration for capturing different calibration areas on the calibration plate, respectively.

30. The calibration mechanism of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the moving device includes a plate body or a frame body having a preset movement path, the plate body or the frame body is provided with a reserved installation position capable of moving along the preset movement path, and the reserved installation position is used for installing the camera device.

31. Calibration mechanism of a 3D printing device according to claim 29, wherein the moving means comprises:

the Y-axis moving mechanism is arranged on the rack, is positioned on the second side of the calibration plate, and comprises a Y-direction guide rail, a Y-direction sliding block arranged on the Y-direction guide rail and a Y-axis driving motor for driving the sliding block;

the X-axis moving mechanism is arranged on the Y-axis moving mechanism and comprises an X-direction guide rail, an X-direction sliding block arranged on the X-direction guide rail and an X-axis driving motor used for driving the sliding block;

and the reserved mounting position is arranged on the X-direction sliding block and used for mounting the camera device and driving the camera device to move in the Y-axis direction or the X-axis direction under the driving of the Y-axis driving motor or the X-axis driving motor in the calibration operation so as to shoot the calibration plate.

32. A3D printing apparatus, comprising:

a frame;

the container is detachably arranged in the rack and is used for containing the light curing material;

the Z-axis system is arranged in the rack and comprises a Z-axis component, a bearing frame connected with the Z-axis component and a driving device used for driving the Z-axis component to move up and down, and the bearing frame is used for compatibly installing a calibration plate used in calibration operation and a component plate bearing a 3D object in 3D printing operation; the calibration plate comprises at least one calibration area, each calibration area of the calibration plate comprises a plurality of first calibration points for identifying the calibration area and a plurality of second calibration points different from the first calibration points, and the first calibration points and the second calibration points are arranged on the first side surface of the calibration plate and can be reflected to the second side surface of the calibration plate;

the energy radiation device is arranged at a preset position on one side of the container and is configured to radiate energy to a printing reference surface in the container through a control program when a printing instruction is received in a printing operation so as to cure the light-cured material on the printing reference surface; or in the calibration operation, a calibration image is projected to the printing reference surface through a control program, wherein the calibration image comprises a plurality of first projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the first calibration points and a plurality of second projection points expected to be correspondingly adjacent to the second calibration points;

33. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the calibration plate comprises a plurality of calibration areas, and the calibration mechanism further comprises a moving device disposed at a predetermined position on the second side of the calibration plate for mounting the camera device to move along a predetermined path during the calibration operation to respectively photograph different calibration areas on the calibration plate.

34. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the camera is arranged at the bottom of the container.

35. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the frame has a common accommodating space for mounting the image pickup device at calibration operation and the container at non-calibration operation.

36. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the energy radiation device comprises a DLP light engine device or an LCD light source.

37. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the energy radiation device is mounted on a frame of the 3D printing apparatus by a position adjustment mechanism to adjust a physical position of the energy radiation device by the position adjustment mechanism to cause an image of a first projected dot in an image of a calibration image projected by the energy radiation device to be adjacent to a corresponding first calibration point and to cause an image of each second projected dot to be adjacent to a corresponding second calibration point.

38. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising a stored computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, controls an apparatus in which the storage medium is located to perform the calibration method of the 3D printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12.