CN113895037A

CN113895037A - 3D printer and method for 3D printer

Info

Publication number: CN113895037A
Application number: CN202111248185.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄宏升; 陈子寒
Original assignee: Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-26
Filing date: 2021-10-26
Publication date: 2022-01-07

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a 3D printer. The 3D printer includes: a printing platform comprising a printing plane for carrying a printed object; a printhead configured to translate relative to the printing plane; a vibration actuator configured to provide a vibratory motion to the printhead; and a processor configured to: controlling the print head to translate along a base path to form at least a portion of an outer surface of the printed object; and controlling the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in a direction different from the base path while the print head is translated along the base path to form a texture on the at least a portion of the exterior surface of the printed object.

Description

3D printer and method for 3D printer

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of 3D printing technology, and more particularly, to a 3D printer and a method for the 3D printer for forming a surface texture or pattern on a surface of a printed object.

Background

3D printers (also known as three-dimensional printers, stereoprinters) build three-dimensional objects by accumulating material. In the related art, a 3D printer includes a print head for dispensing a printing material and a printing platform for receiving the printing material and carrying a printing object. By controlling the print head to move in a predetermined path relative to the printing platform and dispense printing material to the printing platform while moving, the printing material can be gradually accumulated on the printing platform to form a three-dimensional object.

In some application scenarios, it is desirable to print out a surface texture or pattern on the surface of a printed object in order to obtain desired surface parameters and performance. For example, a predetermined pattern is printed on the surface of the printed object to obtain a desired surface strength and roughness.

For 3D printing techniques, the surface topography of the printed object is determined by the predetermined path along which the print head moves. In the related art, the predetermined path along which the print head moves is generated by the associated slicing software according to the geometry of the object desired to be printed. If it is desired to print a surface texture or pattern on the surface of the object to be printed, the slicing software needs to generate a new texture path according to the desired surface texture or pattern in addition to the base path according to the base shape of the object, and synthesize the base path and the texture path to determine the predetermined path along which the print head moves.

Adding a surface texture or pattern to the surface of the printed object would significantly increase the complexity of the predetermined path along which the print head moves, thereby reducing printing efficiency and affecting printing accuracy. Therefore, there is a need for further improvement in techniques for forming surface textures or patterns on the surface of printed objects.

The approaches described in this section are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, unless otherwise indicated, the problems mentioned in this section should not be considered as having been acknowledged in any prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

The disclosed embodiments provide a 3D printer, a method for the 3D printer, a computer readable storage medium, and a computer program product.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a 3D printer is provided. The 3D printer includes: a printing platform comprising a printing plane for carrying a printed object; a printhead configured to translate relative to the printing plane; a vibration actuator configured to provide a vibratory motion to the printhead; and a processor configured to: controlling the print head to translate along a base path to form at least a portion of an outer surface of the printed object; and controlling the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in a direction different from the base path while the print head is translated along the base path to form a texture on the at least a portion of the exterior surface of the printed object.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for a 3D printer, the 3D printer comprising: a printing platform comprising a printing plane for carrying a printed object; a printhead configured to translate relative to the printing plane; a vibration actuator configured to provide a vibratory motion to the printhead; and a processor, the method comprising: controlling, by the processor, the print head to translate along a base path to form at least a portion of an outer surface of the printed object; and controlling, by the processor, the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in a direction different from the base path while the print head is translated along the base path to form a texture on the at least a portion of the exterior surface of the printed object.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer, causes the processor to perform a method according to the present disclosure.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer, causes the processor to perform a method according to the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the statements in this section do not necessarily identify key or critical features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor do they limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to the same or similar parts or elements throughout the several views unless otherwise specified. The figures are not necessarily to scale. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only some embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are not to be considered limiting of its scope.

Fig. 1 shows a flow chart of forming a surface texture or pattern on a surface of a printed object in the prior art.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic layout of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure with respect to a vibration actuator.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flow chart for forming a surface texture or pattern on a surface of a printed object according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of a vibration actuator of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a vibration actuator of a 3D printer according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example of a base path of a print head of a 3D printer generated by slicing software according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

7a-7c illustrate examples of print paths generated by slicing software after providing a vibrational motion to a print head of a 3D printer according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 shows a flow diagram of a method for a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various details of the embodiments of the disclosure are included to assist understanding, and which are to be considered as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted in the following description for clarity and conciseness.

In the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the use of the terms "first", "second", etc. to describe various elements is not intended to limit the positional relationship, the timing relationship, or the importance relationship of the elements, and such terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. In some examples, a first element and a second element may refer to the same instance of the element, and in some cases, based on the context, they may also refer to different instances.

The terminology used in the description of the various described examples in this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, if the number of elements is not specifically limited, the elements may be one or more. Furthermore, the term "and/or" as used in this disclosure is intended to encompass any and all possible combinations of the listed items.

In extrusion-based (e.g., fused deposition modeling) 3D printing techniques, the surface topography of the printed object is determined by the predetermined path along which the print head moves. In the related art, the predetermined path along which the print head moves is generated by the associated slicing software according to the geometry of the object desired to be printed.

Fig. 1 shows an example of a flow of forming a surface texture or pattern on a surface of a printed object in the related art. First, the slicing software acquires a three-dimensional model file of an object desired to be printed. The three-dimensional model file can be made by any commercially available three-dimensional modeling software or a file expressing three-dimensional information of the object made by a modeling module embedded in slicing software. The file format may, for example, be in the common ". stl" format. After obtaining the three-dimensional model file of the object, the slicing software generates the movement path of the print head according to the three-dimensional model and the surface texture added by the user's designation. In the generation process, the slicing software can obtain a basic path and a new texture path according to the three-dimensional model of the object and the added surface texture respectively, and synthesize the basic path and the new texture path to obtain the moving path of the printing head. In the alternative, the slicing software may also generate the path of movement of the print head directly from the textured three-dimensional model. However, both schemes require solutions for increased surface texture, thus significantly increasing the complexity of modeling, slicing, path solution. Moreover, the complexity of the generated movement path also increases significantly. Therefore, in the subsequent step of controlling the movement of the print head, the difficulty of controlling the print head to move strictly along the predetermined path becomes large. Even the printing head cannot move along the predetermined path due to the fact that the 3D printer cannot meet the control accuracy requirement, and printing failure may be caused.

The disclosed embodiments provide an improved 3D printer so that at least one of the above problems can be overcome.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The 3D printer according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a printing platform and a printing head. The printing platform comprises a printing plane for carrying a printed object. The printhead is configured to translate relative to a printing plane. The 3D printer further includes a vibration actuator. The vibration actuator is configured to provide a vibratory motion to the printhead. The printing head of the 3D printer according to the embodiment of the disclosure can make translational motion and vibration motion at the same time. In particular, while performing the print job, the processor of the 3D printer may control the printhead to translate along the base path to form at least a portion of the outer surface of the printed object. The processor of the 3D printer may also control the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in a direction different from the base path while the print head is translated along the base path. Since the direction of the oscillating movement is different from the direction of the basic path of the translational movement, the oscillating path is superimposed on the basic path, thereby forming a textured path. Thus, a texture or pattern is formed on at least a portion of the outer surface of the printed object. Examples of base paths and textured paths are shown in fig. 6, 7a-7 c. As shown in fig. 6, the base path may be, for example, a circular path. After superimposing the shaking motion, a textured path is formed, for example the 3 differently textured paths shown in fig. 7a-7 c.

The workflow of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure forming a texture or pattern on at least a portion of an outer surface of a printed object is illustrated in fig. 2. First, the slicing software acquires a three-dimensional model file of an object desired to be printed. The slicing software may run locally or remotely from the 3D printer. The slicing software then slices the three-dimensional model and generates a base path for forming the outer surface of the printed object. After obtaining the base path, the slicing software may determine the vibration motion that the vibration actuator needs to perform based on the texture or pattern selected by the user. Finally, the processor of the 3D printer controls the print head to translate along the base path and simultaneously controls the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in accordance with instructions of the slicing software, thereby forming a printed object with a texture or pattern. Since the above described process of modeling, slicing, and generating paths does not include any processing of surface texture or pattern information, higher processing and computational efficiencies are maintained. Also, the inertia of the vibration actuator is small, and high-speed and precise vibration can be generated, thereby forming fine or spatially high-frequency surface textures or patterns. In some embodiments, the base path may be oriented parallel to the print plane and the vibratory motion may be oriented in a direction parallel to the print plane to further facilitate computation and control.

Fig. 3 further illustrates a specific arrangement of a vibration actuator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The printhead 300 further includes an extrusion head 310. The extrusion head 310 includes nozzles for extruding the printing material. The extrusion head is also called a tool head. In some embodiments, the extrusion head includes a plurality of different types of nozzles and a nozzle switching mechanism to switch the appropriate nozzle depending on the material desired to be extruded. The printhead 300 also includes a mounting structure 320. The printhead 300 is mounted to the 3D printer via a mounting structure 320 for translation by the processor in a base path relative to the printing plane. The vibration actuator 330 is located between the mounting structure 320 and the extrusion head 310.

A specific structure of the vibration actuator according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 4. The vibration actuator 200 includes: an X-direction vibration actuator 330, the X-direction vibration actuator 410 being configured to provide a vibration motion in the X-direction to the print head 300; and a Y-direction vibration actuator 420, the Y-direction vibration actuator 220 being configured to provide a vibration motion in the Y-direction to the print head 300. The X-direction and the Y-direction are parallel to the printing plane and orthogonal to each other, and the X-direction vibration actuator 410 and the Y-direction vibration actuator 420 are configured such that the vibration motion in the X-direction and the vibration motion in the Y-direction are synthesized into the vibration motion of the print head 300.

The X-direction vibration actuator 410 further includes an X-direction vibration driver 411, the X-direction vibration driver 411 being configured to be capable of generating vibration; and an X-direction vibration guide 412, the X-direction vibration guide 412 being configured to limit vibration generated by the X-direction vibration driver 411 to be in the X direction so as to provide the print head 300 with a vibration motion in the X direction. Depending on the surface texture or pattern desired to be formed, the processor may control the X-direction vibration driver 411 to vibrate at an X-direction predetermined vibration frequency and/or an X-direction predetermined vibration amplitude.

Similarly, the Y-direction vibration actuator 420 further includes a Y-direction vibration driver 421, the Y-direction vibration driver 421 being configured to be able to generate vibrations; and a Y-direction vibration guide 422, the Y-direction vibration guide 422 being configured to limit vibration generated by the Y-direction vibration driver 421 to be in the Y direction so as to provide the printing head 300 with a vibration motion in the Y direction. The processor may control the Y-direction vibration driver 421 to vibrate at a Y-direction predetermined vibration frequency and/or a Y-direction predetermined vibration amplitude, depending on the surface texture or pattern desired to be formed.

In some embodiments, the processor may control the X-direction vibration driver 411 such that the X-direction predetermined vibration frequency and/or the X-direction predetermined vibration amplitude vary with time, and/or may control the Y-direction vibration driver 421 such that the Y-direction predetermined vibration frequency and/or the Y-direction predetermined vibration amplitude vary with time. Different textures or patterns can thus be formed on different surfaces of the printed object or on different portions of one surface. The richness of the texture that can be formed is significantly improved.

The X-direction vibration driver 411 and the Y-direction vibration driver 421 may be any type of vibration driver. In some embodiments, the X-direction vibration driver 411 and the Y-direction vibration driver 421 may be piezoelectric drivers, electromagnetic drivers, or memory alloy drivers.

A specific structure of a vibration actuator according to another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 5. The vibration actuator 330 ' is mounted between the extrusion head 310 ' and the mounting structure 320 '. The vibration actuator 330' includes: a first-direction vibration actuator 510, the first-direction vibration actuator 510 configured to provide a vibration motion in a first direction to the printhead 300; and a second-direction vibration actuator 520, the second-direction vibration actuator 520 configured to provide a vibration motion in a second direction to the printhead 300. The first-direction vibration actuator 510 and the second-direction vibration actuator 520 are configured such that the vibration motion in the first direction and the vibration motion in the second direction are synthesized into the vibration motion of the print head 300.

The first-direction vibration actuator 510 further includes a first-direction vibration driver 511, the first-direction vibration driver 511 being configured to generate vibration; and a first-direction vibration guide 512, the first-direction vibration guide 512 being configured to limit vibration generated by the first-direction vibration driver 511 to a first direction so as to provide a vibration motion in the first direction to the print head 300. The processor may control the first direction vibration driver 511 to vibrate at a first direction predetermined vibration frequency and/or a first direction predetermined vibration amplitude, depending on the surface texture or pattern desired to be formed.

Similarly, the second directional vibration actuator 520 further includes a second directional vibration driver 521, the second directional vibration driver 521 being configured to be capable of generating vibration; and a second-direction vibration guide 522, the second-direction vibration guide 522 being configured to limit vibration generated by the second-direction vibration driver 521 to be in the second direction so as to provide a vibrating motion in the second direction to the print head 300. The processor may control the second directional vibration driver 521 to vibrate at a second directional predetermined vibration frequency and/or a second directional predetermined vibration amplitude, depending on the surface texture or pattern desired to be formed.

In some embodiments, the processor may control the first directional vibration driver 511 to cause the first directional predetermined vibration frequency and/or the first directional predetermined vibration amplitude to vary with time, and/or may control the second directional vibration driver 521 to cause the second directional predetermined vibration frequency and/or the second directional predetermined vibration amplitude to vary with time. Different textures or patterns can thus be formed on different surfaces of the printed object or on different portions of one surface. The richness of the texture that can be formed is significantly improved.

The first-direction vibration driver 511 and the second-direction vibration driver 521 may be any type of vibration driver. In some embodiments, the first and second

directional vibration drivers

511 and 521 may be piezoelectric drivers, electromagnetic drivers, or memory alloy drivers. Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a method for a 3D printer to enable forming a surface texture or pattern on a surface of a printed object. Fig. 8 shows a flow diagram of a method 800 for a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 8, the method 800 includes steps 810 through 820. In step 810, the print head is controlled by the processor to translate along the base path to form at least a portion of an outer surface of the printed object. In step 820, controlling, by the processor, the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in a direction different from the base path while the print head is translated along the base path to form a texture on at least a portion of an outer surface of the printed object.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer, causes the processor to perform a method according to the present disclosure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer, causes the processor to perform a method according to the present disclosure.

It will be understood that in this specification, the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," "circumferential," and the like, indicate an orientation or positional relationship or dimension based on that shown in the drawings, which terms are used for convenience of description only and do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore should not be considered limiting to the scope of the disclosure.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," "third," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicit to a number of indicated technical features. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", "third" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present disclosure, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the present disclosure, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and can, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integral; the connection can be mechanical connection, electrical connection or communication; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

In the present disclosure, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may comprise the first and second features being in direct contact, or may comprise the first and second features being in contact, not directly, but via another feature in between. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply meaning that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

This description provides many different embodiments or examples that can be used to implement the present disclosure. It should be understood that these various embodiments or examples are purely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. Those skilled in the art can conceive of various changes or substitutions based on the disclosure of the specification of the present disclosure, which are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be subject to the protection scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A 3D printer, comprising:

a printing platform comprising a printing plane for carrying a printed object;

a printhead configured to translate relative to the printing plane;

a vibration actuator configured to provide a vibratory motion to the printhead; and

a processor configured to:

controlling the print head to translate along a base path to form at least a portion of an outer surface of the printed object; and

controlling the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in a direction different from the base path while the print head is translated along the base path to form a texture on the at least a portion of the exterior surface of the printed object.

2. The 3D printer of claim 1, wherein the base path is in a direction parallel to the printing plane and the vibratory motion is in a direction parallel to the printing plane.

3. The 3D printer of claim 2, wherein the printhead further comprises:

a mounting structure via which the print head is mounted to the 3D printer for translation by the processor in the base path relative to the printing plane; and

an extrusion head configured to extrude the printing material; and is

Wherein the vibration actuator is located between the mounting structure and the extrusion head.

4. The 3D printer of claim 3, the vibration actuator configured to further comprise:

a first direction vibration actuator configured to provide a vibrational motion in a first direction to the printhead; and

a second directional vibration actuator configured to provide a vibratory motion in a second direction to the printhead; and is

Wherein the first-direction vibration actuator and the second-direction vibration actuator are configured such that the vibration motion in the first direction and the vibration motion in the second direction are synthesized into the vibration motion of the print head.

5. The 3D printer of claim 4, wherein the first direction vibration actuator is configured to further comprise:

a first directional vibration driver configured to generate vibration; and

a first direction vibration guide configured to limit vibration generated by the first direction vibration driver to a first direction so as to provide a vibrating motion in the first direction to the print head.

6. The 3D printer of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to: and controlling the first-direction vibration driver to vibrate at a first-direction preset vibration frequency and/or a first-direction preset vibration amplitude.

7. The 3D printer of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to: controlling the first direction vibration driver to make the first direction preset vibration frequency and/or the first direction preset vibration amplitude change along with time.

8. The 3D printer of any of claims 5-7, wherein the first directional vibration driver is a piezoelectric driver, an electromagnetic driver, or a memory alloy driver.

9. The 3D printer of claim 4, wherein the second directional vibration actuator is configured to further comprise:

a second directional vibration driver configured to generate vibration; and

a second direction vibration guide configured to restrict vibration of the second direction vibration driver to be in a second direction to provide vibration in the second direction to the print head.

10. The 3D printer of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: and controlling the second direction vibration driver to vibrate at a second direction preset vibration frequency and/or a second direction preset vibration amplitude.

11. The 3D printer of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: controlling the second directional vibration driver such that the second directional predetermined vibration frequency and/or the second directional predetermined vibration amplitude vary with time.

12. The 3D printer of any of claims 9-11, wherein the second directional vibration driver is a piezoelectric driver, an electromagnetic driver, or a memory alloy driver.

13. The 3D printer of claim 4, wherein the first direction is an X direction and the second direction is a Y direction, the X direction and the Y direction being parallel to the printing plane and orthogonal to each other.

14. A method for a 3D printer, the 3D printer comprising: a printing platform comprising a printing plane for carrying a printed object; a printhead configured to translate relative to the printing plane; a vibration actuator configured to provide a vibratory motion to the printhead; and a processor, the method comprising:

controlling, by the processor, the print head to translate along a base path to form at least a portion of an outer surface of the printed object; and

controlling, by the processor, the vibration actuator to provide a vibratory motion to the print head in a direction different from the base path while the print head is translated along the base path to form a texture on the at least a portion of the exterior surface of the printed object.

15. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer, causes the processor to perform the method of claim 14.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer, causes the processor to perform the method of claim 14.