CN118386550A

CN118386550A - 3D printer material changing processing method and related equipment thereof

Info

Publication number: CN118386550A
Application number: CN202410463585.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴一凡; 曾智敏
Original assignee: Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-04-16
Filing date: 2024-04-16
Publication date: 2024-07-26

Abstract

The application provides a method for processing a material change of a 3D printer and related equipment, wherein the 3D printer comprises at least two spray heads, each spray head in the at least two spray heads is provided with at least one corresponding trough, and the method for processing the material change comprises the following steps: acquiring material parameters of materials used by each slice layer in a plurality of slice layers included in a multicolor model to be printed; the material parameters comprise N material colors, wherein N is a positive integer; according to the number of the spray heads and the material parameters included in the 3D printer, grouping M materials to obtain target material combinations corresponding to each spray head; m is the color type number of the materials used in the slice layers, and each material in the target material combination is used for being placed in a trough corresponding to a spray head corresponding to the combination. By implementing the application, the number of times of changing materials when the spray head prints the multicolor model in the follow-up process is optimized based on reasonable placement of the materials in the trough.

Description

3D printer material changing processing method and related equipment thereof

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of 3D printing, in particular to a method for processing reloading of a 3D printer and related equipment thereof.

Background

The 3D printer can relate to the reloading in the in-process of printing polychrome model, and certain consumptive material and time are spent to the reloading at every turn to wash out the shower nozzle of 3D printer to guarantee that the colour that the shower nozzle back of reloading printed does not receive the influence of colour before the reloading. I.e. the more times the charge is changed, the more material is consumed for the charge change and the longer the printing duration of the 3D printer. Therefore, how to reduce the number of times of changing materials in the process of printing the multicolor model by the 3D printer is a problem to be studied.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a material changing processing method of a 3D printer and related equipment, and the material changing times of the 3D printer in the process of printing a multicolor model can be reduced by reasonably placing the material in a trough.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for processing a 3D printer, where the 3D printer includes at least two spray heads, each of the at least two spray heads has at least one corresponding trough, and the method for processing a 3D printer includes:

Acquiring material parameters of materials used by each slice layer in a plurality of slice layers included in a multicolor model to be printed; the material parameters comprise N material colors, wherein N is a positive integer;

According to the number of the spray heads included in the 3D printer and the material parameters, grouping M materials to obtain target material combinations corresponding to each spray head; and M is the number of color types of materials used in the plurality of slice layers, and each material in the target material combination is used for being placed in a trough corresponding to a spray head corresponding to the combination.

According to the application, materials of all color types used in a plurality of slicing layers are grouped according to the number of the spray heads included in the 3D printer and the material colors of the materials used in each slicing layer, so that target material combinations corresponding to each spray head are obtained, the materials in the target material combinations can be respectively placed in the trough of the corresponding spray head by a user or the materials in the target material combinations can be placed in the trough of the corresponding spray head by the 3D printer, and the number of times of material changing of the 3D printer in the process of printing the multicolor model can be reduced in a scene that the 3D printer is provided with at least two spray heads through reasonably placing a plurality of materials used in the multicolor model in the trough.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, each material in the target material combination is a material used in the plurality of slice layers.

In the application, each material in the target material combination can be mainly placed in the trough of the corresponding spray head of the combination, and each material in the target material combination can be a material used in a plurality of slice layers, namely, the materials used in the plurality of slice layers can be correspondingly placed in the trough of the corresponding spray head, and the reasonable placement of various materials used in the multicolor model in the trough is realized.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the grouping M materials according to the number of nozzles included in the 3D printer and the material parameter to obtain a target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

And grouping M materials according to the number of the spray heads included in the 3D printer, the material parameters and the corresponding relation between each spray head and the trough to obtain a target material combination corresponding to each spray head.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the grouping M materials according to the number of nozzles included in the 3D printer and the material parameter to obtain a target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

And grouping M materials according to the number of the spray heads included in the 3D printer, the material parameters and the number of the material grooves corresponding to each spray head, so as to obtain a target material combination corresponding to each spray head.

In the application, when materials of various colors used in a plurality of slice layers are grouped, the grouping can be mainly expressed by the number of the spray heads, the material color types of the materials used in each slice layer in the plurality of slice layers and the corresponding relation between each spray head and a trough, and the grouping can also be expressed by the number of the spray heads, the material color types of the materials used in each slice layer in the plurality of slice layers and the corresponding trough number of each spray head, so that the target material combination for indicating the reasonable placement of the materials is obtained.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the number of the material tanks is greater than the number of the spray heads.

In the application, the number of the material tanks corresponds to the number of the spray heads one by one, and the material changing processing method provided by the application can be suitable for scenes in which the number of the material tanks is larger than the number of the spray heads.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, a number of color types of materials used in the plurality of slice layers is greater than a number of the spray heads, and the number of color types is less than or equal to a number of the material tanks.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the method for processing a reload further includes:

and displaying the target material combination corresponding to each spray head.

In the application, after the target material combination corresponding to each spray head is obtained, the target material combination can be displayed so as to inform a user of the material placement combination capable of reducing the material changing times in the process of printing the multicolor model, so that the user can place the materials in the combination in the trough of the corresponding spray head according to the target material combination.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the method for processing a reload further includes:

and displaying the target material combination corresponding to each spray head on the interface for displaying the sending printing.

In the present application, the target material combinations corresponding to each head may be displayed on the interface where printing is transmitted to inform the user of the material placement combinations capable of reducing the number of material changes in printing the multicolor model before starting printing.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the plurality of slice layers includes a multi-color slice layer;

The grouping of M materials includes:

And separating the materials with at least two colors used by the multicolor slicing layer into target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads. For example, if the number of materials used for one multi-color slice layer is less than or equal to the number of spray heads, all the materials used for the multi-color slice layer are respectively arranged in the target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads. If the number of the color types of the materials used by one slice layer is larger than the number of the spray heads, at least two materials used by the slice layer are respectively arranged in the target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads.

In the application, the multicolor slice layer can be a slice layer using at least two colors of materials, when the materials used in a plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed are grouped, the at least two colors of materials used in the multicolor slice layer can be separated into target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads, so that at least two materials used in one slice layer in the multicolor model can be realized, and the at least two materials can be arranged in the trough corresponding to different spray heads. At the moment, the materials with two colors used in the same multicolor slicing layer are simultaneously placed in two material tanks corresponding to one spray nozzle, and the printing of the slicing layer can be completed only by changing the materials with two colors used in the same multicolor slicing layer in the material tanks corresponding to different spray nozzles.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the method for processing a reload further includes:

Monitoring the material actually placed in each trough corresponding to each spray head;

And if the material actually placed in each material groove corresponding to each spray head does not belong to the material in the target material combination corresponding to each spray head, displaying early warning information.

In the application, after the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle is obtained, the target material combination is mainly used for indicating the relation of the materials corresponding to each nozzle, and when the materials actually placed in each material groove corresponding to each nozzle do not belong to the materials in the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle, the early warning information can be displayed so as to remind a user that the placement of the materials in the current material groove does not accord with the material combination with less or even least material changing times.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner, the grouping M materials to obtain a target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

Marking all materials used simultaneously in the same slice layer and positioned in the same initial material combination based on a plurality of preset initial material combinations;

And counting the marking times of the materials used by each slice layer, and obtaining a target material combination corresponding to each spray head from the preset first initial material combinations.

With reference to the tenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eleventh possible implementation manner, the target material combination is a material combination with a minimum number of marks of materials used by the plurality of slice layers in the preset plurality of first initial material combinations.

In the present application, the number of marks characterizes the number of reloads. And (3) based on the marking times of the materials used by all slice layers in the multicolor model to be printed, taking the material combination with the least marking times in a preset plurality of first initial material combinations as a target material combination, wherein the target material combination is the material combination with the least material changing times.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to ninth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, grouping the M materials to obtain the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

Calculating the material changing times of each slice layer based on a plurality of preset second initial material combinations;

and obtaining a target material combination corresponding to each spray head from the preset second initial material combinations according to the number of times of changing the material of each slice layer.

With reference to the twelfth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a thirteenth possible implementation manner, the target material combination is a material combination with a minimum number of material changes of each slice layer in the preset second initial material combinations.

In the application, all materials used in the multicolor model are grouped in advance to obtain a plurality of second initial material combinations, one of the second initial material combinations is selected, all slice layers in the multicolor model to be printed are traversed, the number of times of changing materials of all slice layers in the multicolor model to be printed is obtained under the second initial material combination, and the material combination with the least number of times of changing materials in the preset plurality of second initial material combinations is used as a target material combination, so that the determination of the target material combination is realized.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the foregoing first to ninth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourteenth possible implementation manner, the grouping M materials to obtain the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

marking all materials used simultaneously in the same slice layer in the multicolor model to be printed based on a plurality of preset third initial material combinations, wherein the materials are positioned in the same initial material combination;

counting the marking times of the materials used by each slice layer in the multicolor model to be printed, and respectively setting various materials corresponding to the marking times in target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads according to the sequence of the marking times.

In the application, the marking times represent the number of reloading times, and the application adopts a maximum removing method, namely K materials with larger marking times are respectively arranged in target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads, and the number of the spray heads is corresponding to K. After the K materials are arranged in different spray heads, the materials with larger marking times are continuously arranged in the target material combinations corresponding to the different spray heads respectively until all the materials are arranged in the target material combinations corresponding to the different spray heads. All materials placed in the same spray head are all elements in one target material combination.

In a second aspect, the present application discloses a terminal device, where the terminal device includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is configured to store instructions, and the processor is configured to invoke the instructions in the memory, so that the terminal device performs the method for processing a reload according to the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners described in connection with the first aspect.

In a third aspect, the present application discloses a computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions, comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of reloading as described in the first aspect or in combination with any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application discloses a computer program product comprising program code for performing the method of reloading according to the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations described above in connection with the first aspect when said program code is run by said computer.

It should be understood that the implementation and advantages of the various aspects of the application described above may be referenced to one another.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a step of a method for processing a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3a is a schematic diagram of a correspondence between a nozzle and a trough according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 3b is a schematic diagram of another correspondence between a nozzle and a trough according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3c is a schematic diagram of another correspondence between a nozzle and a trough according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a multicolor model according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a slice layer of a multicolor model according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a graphical user interface of a print request according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

In order to facilitate understanding of the present application, first, technical features possibly related to the technical solution provided by the present application will be described.

The 3D printing process generally includes: 1) Acquiring a 3D model; 2) Slicing the 3D model using slicing software; 3) The 3D printer completes printing of the 3D model based on the result of the slicing.

The slicing software is usually run on a terminal in communication connection with the printer, the terminal can be a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a smart screen or a mobile phone terminal, the slicing software can also run on a 3D printer with a controllable screen, the terminal can also comprise a 3D printer with a controllable screen, and specifically, the terminal can comprise a 3D printer with a controllable screen, in which the slicing software is run. That is, the terminal device according to the present application may include a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a smart screen, a mobile phone terminal, a 3D printer, or the like, and each terminal device may have a processor and a memory, where the processor is configured to invoke instructions in the memory.

Illustratively, the process of slicing the 3D model using slicing software includes the steps of:

Step one: model loading. The slicing software reads in model data from outside, and converts the 3D model into triangle combinations represented by data structures inside the slicing software.

Step two: and (5) swinging plate. In slicing software, the swaying refers to placing the 3D model at a specified position on the virtual printing platform in a certain direction, so that the direction and the placing position of the 3D model need to be determined in the swaying process. The swaying disc can be used for swaying one 3D model and can also be used for swaying a plurality of 3D models, wherein each 3D model can comprise a plurality of parts or a plurality of submodels in one 3D model, and a subsequent 3D printer prints the 3D model according to the layout during swaying. The multicolor model in the application can comprise a 3D model with multiple colors; or the multicolor model may further comprise a plurality of monochromatic submodels disposed in a tray, wherein at least two submodels differ in color; or the multicolor model may further comprise a plurality of differently colored sub-models disposed in a tray; or the multicolor model may further include a plurality of single-color parts provided in one tray, wherein at least two single-color parts differ in color; or the multicolor model may also include a plurality of differently colored parts disposed in a tray.

Step three: layering. The layering is that a plurality of slice layers stacked on each other are formed by intersecting the 3D model with an XY plane at regular intervals, and the distance between two adjacent slice layers is called the layer height. Layering is essentially a process of transforming a 3D model into a series of 2D planes.

Step four: and (5) generating a path. At this step, the movement path of the head is planned.

Step five: gcode. After the movement path is generated, the movement path of the spray head needs to be translated into gcode codes executable by the processor of the 3D printer. To this end, the 3D printer may further comprise at least one memory for storing instructions and/or data, the processor may call the instructions of the memory.

In some possible implementations, referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, 3D printer 102 includes at least two nozzles, such as nozzle 1021 and nozzle 1022. Wherein each spray head has a corresponding at least one trough 103.

Illustratively, a feeding device may include at least one trough for placing material, which is the printing material of a 3D printer, also referred to as consumable. The feeding device may supply the material placed in the chute to the 3D printer. The inclusion of four feed slots 103 in the one feed device shown in fig. 1 is only an example and should not be construed as limiting, i.e., the number of feed slots included in the feed device is not limiting in accordance with embodiments of the present application.

In some possible embodiments, the nozzle may be understood as a printhead in a3D printer, i.e. as shown in fig. 1, where the nozzle 1021 may comprise a hot end comprising a heating element and a nozzle a, both communicating with each other; similarly, the spray head 1022 may include a hot end that includes a heating element and a nozzle b. Wherein the heating component can heat the printing material to a molten state, and the nozzle extrudes the printing material in the molten state from the outlet of the nozzle onto the printing platform.

Alternatively, the spray head 1021 and the spray head 1022 may correspond to different tanks in one supply device, or the spray head 1021 and the spray head 1022 may correspond to different tanks in different supply devices.

Alternatively, in some possible embodiments, a spray head may be understood as a nozzle in a printhead. Alternatively, a 3D printer may include one printhead, which may include at least two nozzles. Wherein the at least two nozzles may have different feed channels. For example, a printhead may include two nozzles, where two nozzles in the same printhead correspond to different reservoirs in a supply device. Or two or more printheads may be included in the 3D printer, each printhead may include one or more nozzles, where the nozzles in each printhead may have the same feed channel or different feed channels. That is, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of printheads in a 3D printer nor the number of nozzles included in a printhead.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, the 3D printer further includes a display screen, which may display a graphical user interface or a bullet box of the 3D printer, etc. For example, the display screen may display a send print interface on which send print controls may be displayed, and target material combinations corresponding to each spray head may be displayed.

According to the embodiment of the application, according to the number of the spray heads included in the 3D printer and N material colors used by each of a plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed, the materials of M color types used in the plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed are grouped to obtain target material combinations corresponding to each spray head in the 3D printer, specifically, the target material combinations can be obtained based on the material parameters of the materials used by each slice layer in the plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed and the number of the spray heads through slice software of the terminal equipment, after the target material combinations are obtained, a corresponding printing file can be generated, the target material combinations corresponding to each spray head are displayed on slice software of the 3D printer or the terminal equipment, specifically, the target material combinations corresponding to each spray head can be displayed on a printing sending interface, and then a printing request is generated based on a touch instruction for sending a printing control, and the 3D printer is requested to perform subsequent printing according to the target material combinations displayed on the printing interface. Wherein each material in the target material combination can be used for being placed in a trough corresponding to a spray head corresponding to the combination.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a step of a method for processing a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present application. The method for processing the reloading can be executed by the terminal equipment, as shown in fig. 2, and specifically can comprise the following steps:

in step 201, material parameters of materials used for each slice layer in a plurality of slice layers included in a multicolor model to be printed are obtained.

Illustratively, the multicolor model to be printed is sliced prior to performing step 201. In the process of slicing the multicolor model to be printed, material parameters of materials used for each slice layer in a plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed are obtained. For example, the material parameters of the materials used for each slice layer may be obtained during the slice layering stage.

Wherein the material parameters include N material colors, N being a positive integer. Optionally, the material parameters may also include, but are not limited to, color or color, gloss, material type, etc., which the embodiments of the present application are not limited to.

In the process of printing the multicolor model, if a corresponding relation shown in fig. 3a is adopted, one spray head is correspondingly connected with a plurality of material tanks, different materials are printed by one spray head, and although the number of single spray heads only needs one set of extruder, the cost of the 3D printer can be reduced; in another exemplary case, if a correspondence relationship is adopted as shown in fig. 3b, one nozzle corresponds to one tank, different materials are printed by different nozzles, and in the process of printing the multicolor model, as a plurality of nozzles are involved, each nozzle corresponds to a single tank, that is, each nozzle can be respectively and correspondingly placed with one material, which can be realized by replacing the nozzle when the material is changed, at this time, the time of flushing the nozzles can be saved, but the number of materials is strictly limited by the number of the nozzles, and each nozzle is usually located on an independent tool head, which increases the cost of the 3D printer.

In order to avoid that the number of printing materials is limited by the number of the spray heads, the embodiment of the application can adopt the mode that the materials can be replaced by replacing the spray heads, and the corresponding relation shown in fig. 3c can be adopted, and the 3D printer comprises at least two spray heads, wherein each spray head in the at least two spray heads is used for corresponding to at least one trough. Alternatively, in some possible embodiments, the trough may be a different trough in the same feeding device, or may be a different trough in a different feeding device, which is not limited in this regard.

Fig. 3a to 3c above illustrate an example in which one of the nozzles is a printhead of a 3D printer, the printhead including one nozzle. In some other possible embodiments, the spray head may be a nozzle and one printhead may include a plurality of nozzles. The embodiment of the application is suitable for scenes in which the number of the material tanks is larger than that of the spray heads.

Optionally, the 3D printer may print the multicolor model, where multiple colors of materials are required in the process of printing the multicolor model, for example, M materials are used in multiple slice layers, where M is greater than 1; wherein each slice layer in the plurality of slice layers uses N materials, and N is a positive integer. If the used multiple materials are randomly placed in the material tanks corresponding to any spray head, the minimum total material changing times in the subsequent printing process cannot be ensured, so that the printing cost cannot be reduced, for example, assuming that a total of 100 layers of multicolor models to be printed exist, wherein the 1-50 layers are made of two materials, namely No.3 and No. 4, the 51-100 layers are made of two materials, namely No.1 and No.2, and if the two materials, namely No.1 and No.2, are placed in different material tanks corresponding to the same spray head, the two materials, namely No.3 and No. 4, are respectively placed in the material tanks corresponding to the other spray head, and 101 material changing processes are needed in the whole printing process when the multicolor models are printed; and if the two materials 1 and 3 are placed in different material tanks corresponding to the same spray head, the two materials 2 and 4 are respectively placed in the material tank corresponding to the other spray head, the whole printing process only needs to be carried out for 2 times of material changing, and compared with the prior material placing mode, the material changing times can be greatly reduced, so that the material placing mode can greatly influence the material changing times when the multicolor model is printed, and the printing cost and the printing time are influenced.

The embodiment of the application can acquire the material parameters of various materials used in the multicolor model to be printed so as to determine the placement mode of the various materials required to be used in the trough corresponding to the spray head. The material used for each slice layer in the acquired plurality of slice layers may be a material part used for a part of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed or all slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

For example, assuming that the multicolor model to be printed is shown in fig. 4, the sliced model may be shown in fig. 5, where material parameters of materials used for a plurality of sliced layers thereof, such as materials No. 1-5, may be obtained.

And 202, grouping M materials according to the number of the spray heads and the material parameters included in the 3D printer to obtain target material combinations corresponding to each spray head.

In some possible embodiments, a print file is generated based on the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle, and the print file is used for instructing the 3D printer to perform reloading printing according to the material placed in the trough corresponding to the nozzle corresponding to the combination. The print file may be gcode files, for example.

The material placement mode is affected by the number of spray heads included in the 3D printer and the color types of materials used by each of the plurality of slice layers, such as N, for example, taking 2 spray heads as an example, assuming that 3 slice layers exist, the color types of materials used by the first slice layer are black, red and white, the color types of materials used by the second slice layer are yellow and red, and the color types of materials used by the third slice layer are blue and green, when the above 6 materials used by the plurality of slice layers are grouped, in order to reduce the number of times of material changing in the process of printing the multicolor model of the 3D printer, only different spray heads need to be switched to print under the condition that no material changing is needed as much as possible. For example, black, red, white and Huang Fangzhi are placed in the trough corresponding to the first spray head, and blue and green are placed in the trough corresponding to the second spray head, so that the material needs to be changed twice when the first slice layer is printed, the material needs to be changed once when the second slice layer is printed, and the material needs to be changed once when the third slice layer is printed, and the total material needs to be changed four times. In the embodiment of the application, the plurality of slice layers comprise a multi-color slice layer, and materials with at least two colors used in the multi-color slice layer are separated into target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads, so that the number of material changing times can be reduced, for example, black, red and blue are used as a target material combination and are placed in a trough corresponding to a first spray head; the white, yellow and green are used as another target material combination and are placed in the trough corresponding to the second spray head, so that the material needs to be replaced once when the first slice layer is printed, the material does not need to be replaced when the second slice layer is printed, and the material does not need to be replaced when the third slice layer is printed, and the material replacement times are greatly reduced.

Optionally, when the M materials used in the plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor printing model are grouped, the method is specifically further affected by the correspondence between each nozzle and the trough, and as an example, the method may be represented by grouping the M materials according to the number of nozzles, the material parameters, and the correspondence between each nozzle and the trough. The correspondence between the spray heads and the trough may be set by default, for example, a spray head default correspondence trough A, B, C, D, where the spray heads and each trough are physically connected, for example, through a pipe, that is, the correspondence between the spray heads and the trough is configured fixedly, and at this time, M materials may be grouped according to the number of spray heads, the material parameters, and the correspondence between each spray head and the trough, where the material types in each group are determined by the correspondence between the spray heads and the trough, and in which spray head corresponding trough, which material is placed is determined by the material parameters of the material used by the slice layer where the material is located.

As another example, M materials may be grouped according to the number of nozzles, material parameters, and the number of bins for each nozzle. In the embodiment of the application, the corresponding relation between the spray heads and the material tanks can be set by default, the corresponding relation between the spray heads and the material tanks can be omitted, M materials can be grouped under the condition that the number of the material tanks corresponding to each spray head is known, for example, each spray head corresponds to four material tanks by default, at this time, the M materials can be grouped according to the number of the spray heads, the types of the materials in each group are smaller than the number of the material tanks corresponding to the spray heads, and the specific material is placed in the material tank corresponding to the spray head and is determined by the material parameters of the materials used by the slice layer where the material is positioned.

Or in some possible embodiments, the correspondence between the spray heads and the material tanks is not fixed, and then the M materials are grouped according to the number of the spray heads and the material parameters to obtain target material combinations corresponding to each spray head, and at this time, physical connection can be established between the material tanks with corresponding numbers and corresponding spray heads according to the number of the materials in the target material combinations. For example, the physical connection relationship between the trough and the spray heads may be prompted while displaying the target material combinations corresponding to each spray head.

Optionally, the number of color types of the material used in the plurality of slice layers is greater than the number of spray heads, and the number of color types is less than or equal to the number of the material tanks.

The plurality of slice layers may include a multi-color slice layer, where the multi-color slice layer may be a slice layer having at least two colors, that is, one slice layer in the multi-color model to be printed may use at least two colors of materials, at this time, at least two colors of materials used for one slice layer in the multi-color model to be printed may be separated into target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads, and each material in the target material combination may be used to be placed in a trough corresponding to a spray head corresponding to the combination, that is, the separated target material combination corresponding to each spray head is a material placement combination capable of optimizing the number of material changes of the spray heads when the multi-color model is printed as much as possible.

Optionally, in the process of grouping M materials used for a plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed, a grouping recommendation algorithm may be used to determine the target material combination.

Alternatively, in some possible embodiments, all materials used simultaneously in the same slice layer and materials in the same initial material combination may be marked based on a preset plurality of first initial material combinations, and then the number of marking times of the materials used in each slice layer may be counted, so that a target material combination corresponding to each nozzle is obtained from the preset plurality of first initial material combinations. Specifically, the target material combination may be a material combination with the least number of marking of the materials used by each slice layer among a plurality of preset first initial material combinations.

For example, in some possible embodiments, the preset first plurality of initial material combinations may refer to obtaining all grouping cases by calculating the number of combinations, where each combination includes grouping cases of at least one material according to the number of nozzles as the number of combinations in a single division, for example, if there are M printing materials, if the number of nozzles is 2, the number of combinations in a single division is 2, and when the M printing materials are divided into 2 combinations at a time, each combination may include at least one printing material, so as to obtain a plurality of single division obtaining combination cases; the marks may be represented by marks of repetition of different materials in the same slice layer, for example, marks with a repetition degree of 0 or 1.

For example, firstly, materials used in each slice layer of the multicolor model to be printed after slicing can be traversed, and at this time, the repetition degree between every two materials can be accumulated, and the repetition degree can be used for indicating whether the materials used simultaneously exist in the same slice layer, and if multiple materials are used in the same slice layer, the repetition degree between every two materials can be marked as 1; if only one material is used in the same slice layer, the degree of repetition between all materials of that layer can be marked as 0. For example, if material a and material B are used in the same slice layer, the degree of repetition between material a and material B may be marked as 1; if materials A, B, C are used in the same slice layer, the repetition degree between materials A, B can be marked as 1, the repetition degree between b and C can be marked as 1, and the repetition degree between A, C can be marked as 1; if only material a is used in the same slice, not only the repetition degree between material a and other materials may be marked as 0, but also the repetition degree between other materials, for example, material B and material C, may be marked as 0, and the above-mentioned marked repetition degree may be recorded in an initial repetition degree table, for example, assuming that M materials exist, the repetition degree between each two materials in M materials may be recorded using a corresponding m×m table, so that the repetition degree between each two materials in each slice may be summed to obtain the total repetition degree between the two materials for grouping the materials. It should be noted that, the different slice layers all need to be traversed, and for the different slice layers, the repeatability between some two materials can be overlapped.

In this example, the preset first plurality of initial material combinations may refer to all grouping cases where the listed M materials are divided into two groups, and at this time, one of the groupings may be taken, and the initial repetition table obtained above is modified based on a modification policy that modifies the repetition degree corresponding to two materials in different groups to 0, so as to obtain a new repetition degree table, and a new total repetition degree is calculated. It should be noted that, the traversal extraction may be performed on all the packet cases, and the modification of the repetition degree in the initial repetition degree table may be performed according to the modification policy, so as to obtain a plurality of new repetition degree tables and a plurality of corresponding new total repetition degrees, and at this time, the calculated new total repetition degrees may be compared with all the packet cases, and the packet with the smallest total repetition degree may be selected as the optimal packet.

Taking the example that the number of the spray heads of the 3D printer is 2, one spray head corresponds to 2 material tanks, the other spray head corresponds to 3 material tanks, assuming that the 3D printer prints the multicolor model shown in fig. 4, the used materials include materials No. 1-5, namely m=5, when the multicolor model is sliced, the materials used for each slice layer can be traversed to obtain the repeatability between every two materials, and the repeatability is recorded in a 5×5 repeatability table, specifically as shown in the following table 1:

for all the grouping cases where the 5 materials are divided into two groups, the enumeration ：(1,2)(3,4,5)、(1,3)(2,4,5)、(1,4)(2,3,5)、(1,5)(2,3,4)、(2,3)(1,4,5)、(2,4)(1,3,5)、(2,5)(1,3,4)、(3,4)(1,2,5)、(3,5)(1,2,4)、(4,5)(1,2,3)、(1)(2,3,4,5)、(2)(1,3,4,5)、(3)(1,2,4,5)、(4)(1,2,3,5)、(5)(1,2,3,4) may be performed according to a manner of violent enumeration, where each grouping may be extracted and then the repetition degree in the table 1 may be modified, a new repetition degree table may be obtained and then a new total repetition degree may be calculated, after the total repetition degree corresponding to all the grouping cases is calculated, a grouping with the smallest total repetition degree may be taken as an optimal solution, for example, in the result obtained by performing the calculation according to the grouping cases and the table 1, there is a grouping 1: (1, 2) (3, 4, 5) and packet 2: the total repetition of (2, 3) (1, 4, 5) is 107, the above-mentioned group 1 and group 2 are the combination with the minimum total repetition, at this time, any one group can be recommended as the optimal group, that is, the determined target material combination can be (1, 2) (3, 4, 5) or (2, 3) (1, 4, 5), and the material placement is performed according to the above-mentioned target material combination, so that the number of times of changing the material of the nozzle in the subsequent printing of the multicolor model can be optimized as much as possible.

Alternatively, in some possible embodiments, a violence solution may be used to determine the target material combination during the grouping of the M materials used for the plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed.

Alternatively, in some possible embodiments, the number of times of material changing of each slice layer may be calculated based on a preset plurality of second initial material combinations, and the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle may be obtained from the preset plurality of second initial material combinations according to the number of times of material changing of each slice layer. Specifically, the target material combination may be a material combination with the least number of material changes of all slice layers among the preset second initial material combinations.

For example, in some possible embodiments, the preset second plurality of initial material combinations may refer to all grouping situations obtained by calculating the number of combinations, where all materials are divided according to the number of combinations when the number of nozzles is used as a single division, and each combination includes at least one grouping situation of materials; at this time, one of the groups can be taken, each slice layer is traversed, the number of times of material replacement of each slice layer under the grouping condition is directly calculated, then the total number of times of material replacement is accumulated, traversing extraction is carried out on all the grouping conditions, and after the total number of times of material replacement under the corresponding grouping condition is calculated, the group with the smallest total number of times of material replacement in the grouping condition can be selected as the optimal group.

Alternatively, in the process of grouping M materials used for a plurality of slice layers included in the multicolor model to be printed, a maximum removal method may be used to determine the target material combination.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, all materials used in the same slice layer at the same time and materials in the same initial material combination may be marked based on a preset plurality of third initial material combinations, the marking times of the materials used in each slice layer are counted, and according to the order of the marking times, various materials corresponding to the marking times are respectively set in target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads.

For example, in some possible embodiments, the preset plurality of third initial material combinations may also refer to all the grouping cases obtained by calculating the number of combinations, where all the materials are divided according to the number of combinations when the number of nozzles is used as a single division, and each combination includes at least one grouping case of materials; at this time, the steps of traversing all slice layers to obtain the repetition degree between every two materials and establishing an initial repetition degree table can be performed by referring to the above-mentioned grouping recommendation algorithm, then obtaining the row number and the column number (the arrangement sequence number except the material number) corresponding to the maximum repetition degree according to the repetition degree table, for example, the row number and the column number corresponding to the maximum value of the repetition degree in table 1 are divided into the row 4 columns, at this time, the materials corresponding to the row number and the column number, namely, the number 2 and the number 4, can be divided into the material grooves corresponding to different spray heads, after grouping, the corresponding maximum repetition degree can be set to 0 in table 1 to obtain a new repetition degree table, then the new repetition degree table can be adopted to continue to group the materials corresponding to the row number and the column number corresponding to the maximum repetition degree according to the above-mentioned obtaining of the maximum repetition degree, and after grouping, the step of setting the maximum repetition degree to 0 in the repetition table can be performed until all the materials have been grouped, at this time, and the grouping result can be output. The grouping step based on belongs to an iterative step, and when the grouping is performed, as an example, there may be a case that neither material is grouped, and at this time, all grouping cases may be combined, and grouping with the minimum total repetition calculated when the materials No. 2 and No. 4 are grouped is taken; as another example, there may be a case where one material has been grouped and another material has not, at which time the materials that have not been grouped may be allocated in a grouping condition that can minimize total repetition; as yet another example, there may be a case where both materials have been grouped, at which time the next step of setting the maximum repetition degree of this time to 0, and the next round of grouping the steps, may be directly performed until all materials have been grouped.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, color separation may be further performed in a 3D interval to roughly estimate the distribution of the material in the trough corresponding to each nozzle, which is not described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, after obtaining the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle, the foregoing target material combination may be displayed, that is, the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle is displayed, so as to inform the user of the target material combination capable of optimizing the number of times of changing the nozzle when printing the multicolor model, where the target material combination may indicate that the material is placed in the trough corresponding to the nozzle.

For example, as shown in fig. 6, the target material combinations corresponding to each head may be displayed simultaneously on the interface where the transmission print is displayed, for example: the nozzle 1 corresponds to materials 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8, and the nozzle 2 corresponds to materials 2, 4 and 6, and can inform the user of the target material combination that can optimize the number of subsequent nozzle reloads when printing a multicolor model as much as possible. Or may further confirm whether the user agrees with the aforementioned material placement to confirm whether the material placement is to be performed in accordance with the aforementioned target material combination. In addition, the target material combinations corresponding to each of the heads are simultaneously displayed on the interface on which the printing is transmitted, and in the present application, the target material combinations corresponding to each of the heads may be displayed on the interface on which the printing is transmitted to inform the user of the material placement combinations capable of reducing the number of times of changing materials in printing the multicolor model before starting the printing. The function of adjusting the material combination corresponding to each nozzle under the condition that the material placement combination is not agreed to can also be provided for the user, so that the placement of the printing material in the trough corresponding to each nozzle is adjusted.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, the target material combination is mainly used to indicate the placement of the material in the material groove corresponding to each nozzle, at this time, the material actually placed in the material groove corresponding to each nozzle may be monitored, and if the material actually placed in the material groove corresponding to each nozzle does not belong to the material in the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle, early warning information may be displayed to inform the user that the placement of the material in the current material groove does not conform to the optimal material combination.

The application also provides a terminal device comprising a processor and a memory for storing instructions, the processor for invoking the instructions in the memory to cause the terminal device to perform the embodiments as described hereinbefore in connection with figures 1 to 6.

The application also provides a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the embodiments as described hereinbefore in connection with fig. 1 to 6.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the embodiments as described hereinbefore in connection with fig. 1 to 6. It should be noted that the computer program used for execution may be located on software, a storage medium, or a printer, which is not limited to the embodiment of the present application.

Wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions, such as Read-Only Memory (ROM), random access Memory (Random Access Memory RAM), magnetic or optical disk, etc.

It should be noted that the above-described terms "first," "second," and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the above method embodiments may be implemented by hardware associated with program instructions, where the foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs steps including the above method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a mobile storage device, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (RAM, random Access Memory), a magnetic disk or optical disk, or the like, which can store program codes.

Or the above-described integrated units of the application may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as separate products. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be embodied in essence or a part contributing to the prior art in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disk, or other medium capable of storing program code.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of reloading a 3D printer, the 3D printer comprising at least two spray heads, each of the at least two spray heads having a corresponding at least one trough, the method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each material in the target material combination is a material used in the plurality of sliced layers.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the grouping M materials according to the number of nozzles included in the 3D printer and the material parameter to obtain the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the grouping M materials according to the number of nozzles included in the 3D printer and the material parameter to obtain the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the number of the material tanks is larger than the number of the shower heads.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the number of color types of the material used in the plurality of sliced layers is larger than the number of the nozzles, and the number of the color types is smaller than or equal to the number of the material tanks.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:

9. The method of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the plurality of slice layers comprises a multi-color slice layer;

The grouping of M materials includes:

And separating the materials with at least two colors used in the multicolor slicing layer into target material combinations corresponding to different spray heads.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

11. The method of any one of claims 1-10, wherein grouping M materials to obtain a target material combination for each nozzle comprises:

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the target material combination is a material combination having a smallest number of marks of the material used by the respective sliced layers among the preset plurality of first initial material combinations.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein grouping the plurality of materials used for M to obtain the target material combination corresponding to each nozzle includes:

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the target material combination is a material combination having a minimum number of material changes for each slice layer among the preset plurality of second initial material combinations.

15. The method of any one of claims 1-10, wherein grouping M materials to obtain a target material combination for each nozzle comprises:

16. A terminal device, characterized in that the terminal device comprises a processor and a memory for storing instructions, the processor being adapted to invoke the instructions in the memory, so that the terminal device performs the method of refuelling according to any of claims 1-15.

17. A computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of reloading a batch of material as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 15.

18. A computer program product comprising program code for performing a method of refuelling according to any one of claims 1 to 15 when said program code is run by said computer.