CN212266692U

CN212266692U - 3D printing apparatus's filtration system and suitable 3D printing apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN212266692U
Application number: CN202020298586.5U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 荣左超
Original assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Current assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Priority date: 2020-03-11
Filing date: 2020-03-11
Publication date: 2021-01-01
Anticipated expiration: 2030-03-11

Abstract

The application discloses 3D printing apparatus's filtration system and suitable 3D printing apparatus. The filtration system includes: the suction device is arranged on one side of the resin tank and is used for sucking the light curing material in the resin tank; the liquid storage device is communicated with the suction device and is used for storing the light-cured material sucked from the resin tank; the filtering device is arranged between the suction device and the liquid storage device and/or in the liquid storage device and is used for filtering residues in the photocuring material output from the resin tank; and the scraping plate device is arranged adjacent to the resin groove and used for scraping and sweeping the light curing material at the bottom of the resin groove in a moving state so as to be beneficial to the absorption device to absorb the light curing material in the resin groove. The utility model relates to a filtration system is effectively with the residue filtering in the light cured material with the protection from type membrane, and can not influence its work at 3D printing apparatus's finished piece in-process, does benefit to the change in resin groove, provides the filterable automation mechanized operation solution of light cured material.

Description

3D printing apparatus's filtration system and suitable 3D printing apparatus

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of 3D printing, in particular to a filtering system of a 3D printing device and a suitable 3D printing device.

Background

In 3D printing apparatuses based on photocuring molding, a photocuring material is generally placed in a resin bath, and a release film is provided in the resin bath to facilitate separation of a cured layer from the resin bath in a printing job. However, in the printing process, resin residues appear in the liquid resin in the resin tank due to various reasons, and if the residues are not cleaned in time, the release film is damaged due to the influence on the release film, so that the production cost is increased. In some embodiments, the resin in the resin tank is led out and filtered at regular time manually, and then the filtered resin is poured back into the resin tank for continuous use, but the method is time-consuming and labor-consuming, and forms an obstacle to the automation of 3D printing.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the related art, an object of the present application is to provide a filtering system and method of a 3D printing apparatus, and a 3D printing apparatus suitable for the same, so as to maintain the cleanliness of the photo-curable material in the resin tank while protecting the release film and improving the molding accuracy.

To achieve the above and other related objects, the present application discloses a filter system of a 3D printing apparatus, the 3D printing apparatus including a resin tank, the filter system including: the suction device is arranged on one side of the resin tank and is used for sucking the light curing material in the resin tank; the liquid storage device is communicated with the suction device and is used for storing the light-cured material sucked from the resin tank; the filtering device is arranged between the suction device and the liquid storage device and/or in the liquid storage device and is used for filtering residues in the light-cured material output from the resin tank; and the scraping plate device is arranged adjacent to the resin groove and used for scraping the light curing material at the bottom of the resin groove in a moving state so as to facilitate the absorption device to absorb the light curing material in the resin groove.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the scraper device includes a scraper and a scraper control mechanism disposed adjacent to one side of the resin tank, and configured to drive the scraper to be disposed in or away from the resin tank in a turning state, and to drive the scraper to move from one side of the resin tank toward the opposite side in a scraping state to scrape the light-curable material at the bottom of the resin tank.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the squeegee includes a squeegee body having a width equal to a width of the resin reservoir, and a connecting arm for connecting the squeegee body to the squeegee control mechanism.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the squeegee control mechanism comprises: a blade control motor for outputting a driving force in a working state; the screw rod is arranged adjacent to one side of the resin groove, the near end of the screw rod is connected to a power output shaft of the scraper control motor, and the far end of the screw rod is connected to a support in a shaft mode; the displacement block is screwed on the screw rod and connected with a connecting arm of the scraper plate and is used for displacing between the near end and the far end of the screw rod when the screw rod rotates; the guide rail set up in on the lead screw, including upset section and intercommunication the linear displacement section of upset section, the upset section is including being used for the restriction the linking arm is followed the excessive rotatory spacing portion of displacement piece.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the suction device comprises: the absorbing mechanism is used for absorbing the light curing material in the resin groove; the first conveying pump is used for providing suction power; the first pipeline is communicated with the suction mechanism, the first delivery pump and the liquid storage device; the first pipeline is internally provided with the filtering device.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the suction mechanism comprises: the sucker is communicated with the first pipeline and is used for sucking the photocuring material scraped by the scraper device by the sucking power provided by the first conveying pump when the photocuring material is placed in the resin tank; the sucker swing arm is arranged on one side of the resin tank to fix the sucker and is used for driving the sucker to be placed in or away from the resin tank; and the sucker control motor is used for providing driving force for the sucker swing arm in a working state.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the suction opening width of the suction cup is equal to the width of the resin reservoir.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the apparatus further includes a delivery device in communication with the reservoir device, for delivering the photocurable material in the reservoir device into the resin tank, and a filtering device is disposed between the reservoir device and the delivery device.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the delivery device comprises: the conveying mechanism is used for conveying the light-cured material stored in the liquid storage device into the resin tank; the second delivery pump is used for providing suction power; the second pipeline is communicated with the second delivery pump and the liquid storage device; the second pipeline is internally provided with the filtering device.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the transport mechanism comprises: the delivery port is communicated with the second pipeline and is used for delivering the light-cured material stored in the liquid storage device to the resin tank; the conveying swing arm is arranged on one side of the resin tank to fix the conveying opening and is used for driving the conveying opening to be placed in or away from the resin tank; and the conveying control motor is used for providing driving force for the conveying swing arm in a working state.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the filter system further comprises a level sensor disposed in or adjacent to the resin tank to detect a remaining amount of the photocurable material in the resin tank.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the 3D printing device is a 3D printing device comprising a DLP system or a 3D printing device comprising an SLA system.

The second aspect of the present application also provides a 3D printing apparatus, including: a frame; the resin tank is used for containing a light curing material to be cured; the energy radiation device is arranged at a preset position on one side of the bottom of the resin tank and is configured to radiate energy to the bottom surface of the resin tank in a projection mode or a lattice scanning mode through a control program when a printing instruction is received so as to cure the liquid light curing material of a preset curing surface in the resin tank; the component platform is positioned in the resin groove in a printing state and used for attaching the pattern curing layer obtained after energy radiation so as to form a 3D component through accumulation of the pattern curing layer; a Z-axis driving mechanism connected with the component platform and configured to adjust the distance between the component platform and the bottom surface of the resin groove according to a printing instruction so as to fill the light-cured material to be cured; a filter system as described in embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, disposed adjacent to the resin tank, for filtering residues in the photocurable material in the resin tank; and the control device is electrically connected with the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system and is used for controlling the working states of the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system.

In certain embodiments of the second aspect of the present application, the 3D printing device is a 3D printing device comprising a DLP system or a 3D printing device comprising an SLA system.

One of the above technical solutions has the following advantages:

the utility model provides a filtration system can in time filter the photocuring material of resin inslot in the first aspect to avoid the residue in photocuring material to lead to the fact the damage from the type membrane, and absorbing the in-process, the lower surface of sucking disc is pasting resin tank bottom from the type membrane, and the cooperation of scraper means will remain the photocuring material of resin inslot and scrape and sweep the sucking disc edge, can be sucked completely with the photocuring material of guaranteeing the resin inslot. On the other hand, each device of the filtering system does not influence the normal work of the 3D printing equipment in a non-working state, does not interfere the workpiece making process and does not influence the replacement of the resin tank. Therefore, the filtering system effectively filters residues in the photocuring material to protect the release film and improve the printing precision, can not influence the work of the 3D printing equipment in the process of manufacturing the parts, is beneficial to the replacement of the resin tank, provides an automatic operation solution for filtering the photocuring material, and lays a foundation for the overall automatic operation of 3D printing.

Drawings

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

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a filter system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of a squeegee device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a squeegee in the squeegee device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of a guide rail of the squeegee control mechanism according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the suction mechanism of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the suction cup of the present application in one embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a filtration system according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a conveying mechanism in one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a filtration system of the present application in yet another embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a filtering system and a 3D printing apparatus suitable for use in the present application in one embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a filtering method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12a to 12c are schematic views showing the operation of the filtering system according to the present application in one embodiment.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

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

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that describe several embodiments of the application. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that mechanical, structural, electrical, and operational changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments of the present application is defined only by the claims of the issued patent. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. Spatially relative terms, such as "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "lower," "below," "lower," "above," "upper," and the like, may be used herein to facilitate describing one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures.

Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements or parameters in some instances, these elements or parameters should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element or parameter from another element or parameter. For example, a first threshold may be referred to as a second threshold, and similarly, a second threshold may be referred to as a first threshold, without departing from the scope of the various described embodiments. The first threshold and the second threshold are both described as one threshold, but they are not the same threshold unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Similar situations also include the first pipeline and the second pipeline, or the first delivery pump and the second delivery pump.

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

As described in the background art, in a 3D printing apparatus based on photocuring molding, a photocuring material is generally placed in a resin bath. Taking DLP (Digital Light processing, DLP for short) 3D printing equipment as an example, a first cured layer is formed after a Light-cured material at the bottom of a container is irradiated by an exposure device, the first cured layer is attached to a building plate, and the building plate is driven by a Z-axis driving mechanism to move upwards, so that the cured layer is separated from the bottom of the container. The greater adhesion force to be overcome in the operation of separating the solidified layer printed layer by layer from the bottom of the container, with the attendant risk of damage to the printed layer by separation. Therefore, a release film is generally provided in the resin bath to facilitate separation of the cured layer from the resin bath in the printing job. However, during the operation of the 3D printing apparatus, due to factors such as incomplete cleaning, residual light curing, and inappropriate apparatus parameters, impurities such as resin residues often appear in the resin tank during the printing process, and if the impurities are not removed in time, the release film is damaged during the pressing process of the component platform. To the structure that sets up from type membrane and resin tank integral type, can lead to whole resin tank to scrap even, increased manufacturing cost, production time.

In some embodiments, the filtering is performed manually, for example, after one component is printed each time or several components are printed, the resin in the resin tank is manually poured out for filtering, and then the filtered resin is poured back into the resin tank for continuous use, so that the filtering process is complicated, the time and labor cost are increased, and the automatic production is not facilitated.

In view of this, the present application provides a filtering system of a 3D printing apparatus, in the embodiments provided below, the filtering system of the present application includes: suction means, stock solution device, filter equipment, and scraper blade device.

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

In this application, the 3D printing device may be a bottom projection or bottom exposure 3D printing device, such as a DLP (Digital Light processing) device for performing surface exposure by a bottom projection optical machine, or may be an SLA (Stereo Light curing molding) device for performing laser spot scanning by a bottom laser, in other words, an optical system of the 3D printing device is located at and faces the bottom surface of a container (also referred to as a resin tank in some application scenarios) for irradiating layered images in the 3D component model onto a printing reference surface to cure the Light-curing material into corresponding pattern curing layers. When the 3D printing device is used for printing an object, the exposure device irradiates the light-cured material at the bottom of the container to form a first cured layer, the first cured layer is attached to the building plate, the building plate is driven by the Z-axis driving mechanism to move upwards so that the cured layer is separated from the bottom of the container, then the building plate is descended so that the light-cured material to be cured is filled between the bottom of the container and the first cured layer, the light-cured material is irradiated again to obtain a second cured layer attached to the first cured layer, and the like, and the cured layers are accumulated on the building plate through multiple filling, irradiating and separating operations to obtain the 3D object. For 3D printing equipment for manufacturing a 3D object by using a light-cured material in a bottom surface exposure mode, in the printing process, a layer-by-layer printing mode is adopted, and each printing layer is peeled from the bottom of a container after being cured. When a solidified layer is formed, the upper surface and the lower surface of the solidified layer are respectively attached to the bottom of the building plate and the bottom of the container, generally, the adhesive force between the 3D object and the bottom of the container is strong, and a large pulling force needs to be overcome in the process that the solidified layer is driven by the building plate to rise so as to realize stripping, and the risk that the solidified layer is damaged is also accompanied. Therefore, it is common to reduce the adhesive force to be overcome by coating a release film on the bottom of the resin tank.

The utility model relates to a filtration system carries out filterable system for being arranged in the photocuring material to 3D printing apparatus uses, utilize filtration system effectively with the residue filtering in the photocuring material promptly in order to protect from the type membrane and improve the printing precision, and can not influence its work at 3D printing apparatus's finished piece in-process, do benefit to the change in resin groove, the filterable automation mechanized operation solution of photocuring material is provided, and establish the basis for the whole automation mechanized operation of 3D printing.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic structural diagram of a filtering system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in the figure, the 3D printing apparatus includes a resin tank 2, and a suction device 11 of the filter system is disposed at one side of the resin tank for sucking the light-curable material in the resin tank. The suction device 11 is communicated with the liquid storage device 12 to store the light-curing material sucked from the resin tank by the liquid storage device 12.

Since the photocurable material in the resin tank is difficult to be effectively sucked out again when the amount of the photocurable material in the resin tank is less than a certain amount, the photocurable material is usually contained in a liquid form in the resin tank before being solidified, and the residue in the photocurable material is usually deposited in a solid form on the bottom of the resin tank, in order to more effectively suck the photocurable material at the bottom of the resin tank, the filter system of the present application further comprises a scraper device adjacent to the resin tank, wherein the scraper device can scrape the photocurable material at the bottom of the resin tank in a moving state, collect and sweep the photocurable material to the side where the suction device is located, so as to facilitate the suction device to suck the photocurable material in the resin tank.

In order to filter the residues in the light-curing material sucked out, a filter device is arranged between the suction device and the liquid storage device and/or in the liquid storage device. For example, in one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, a filtering device 13 may be disposed in the connecting pipeline between the suction device 11 and the storage device 12, and the light-curable material is filtered by the filtering device to be output to the storage device 12 for storage; in another embodiment, a filter device may be disposed at the inlet of the reservoir 12, and when the light curable material flows into the reservoir 12, the light curable material is filtered by the filter device, so as to filter out the residues, and the clean light curable material is stored in the reservoir 12; in another embodiment, a filter device may be disposed in the connecting pipeline between the suction device 11 and the liquid storage device 12 and at the inlet of the liquid storage device 12, so that on one hand, the light-curable material is output to the liquid storage device 12 after being filtered by the filter device in the connecting pipeline for the first time, and on the other hand, when being stored in the liquid storage device 12, the light-curable material is filtered by the filter device in the liquid storage device 12 for the second time, thereby ensuring the cleanliness of the light-curable material stored in the liquid storage device 12. The filtering means includes, but is not limited to, a screen having a pore size smaller than the thickness of the photocurable material layer, a filter element, or a filtering membrane that can allow the passage of the photocurable material but block the residue from the outside, etc.

The liquid storage device 12 includes, but is not limited to, various containers such as a liquid storage bottle, a liquid storage tank, and the like, which can be used for storing the photo-curing material. In some embodiments, the reservoir 12 may be selected based on the material properties of the photocurable material, such as by selecting a container that is less reactive with the photocurable material based on the chemical properties of the photocurable material; or, the liquid storage device can be also provided with a heat preservation device and the like according to the storage temperature requirement of the light-cured material.

It should be understood that the photo-curable material generally refers to a material that forms a cured layer upon irradiation with light (e.g., ultraviolet light, laser light, etc.), and includes but is not limited to: photosensitive resin, or a mixture of photosensitive resin and other materials. Such as ceramic powders, pigments, etc.

In one exemplary embodiment, the squeegee assembly includes a squeegee and a squeegee control mechanism. The scraper control mechanism can control the scraper to be placed in or away from the resin groove and drive the scraper to move from one side of the resin groove to the opposite side so as to sweep the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin groove.

Please refer to fig. 2, which is a schematic structural diagram of a squeegee apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown, in the present embodiment, the squeegee assembly 14 includes: a scraper 141 and a scraper control mechanism 142 adjacent to one side of the resin tank.

In order to enable the scraper device 14 to scrape the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin tank during the operation of the filter system so as to facilitate the absorption of the absorption device, the scraper device can also not affect the operation of other devices in the non-operation state, such as the 3D printing equipment performs printing tasks, or the resin tank is replaced. The squeegee assembly 14 is configured to move the squeegee in a flipped state into and out of the resin tank and in a sweeping state from one side of the resin tank toward the opposite side to sweep the photocurable material from the bottom of the resin tank.

In a possible embodiment, referring to fig. 3, which is a schematic structural view of a squeegee in the squeegee device of the present application in one embodiment, as shown in the figure, the squeegee 141 includes a squeegee body 1411 and a connecting arm 1412 for connecting the squeegee body 1411 to the squeegee control mechanism, and the width of the squeegee body is equal to the width of the resin groove, so that the photocurable material in the resin groove can be sufficiently wiped. In one embodiment, the connecting arms 1412 and the squeegee body 1411 can be integrally formed, for example, the connecting arms 1412 can be integrally formed on one side of the squeegee body 1411, and the squeegee body 1411 can be connected to the squeegee control mechanism via the connecting arms 1412; in another embodiment, the attachment arms 1412 may be attached to the squeegee body 1411 and squeegee control mechanism by fasteners, including but not limited to screws, bolts, etc., thereby attaching the squeegee body 1411 to the squeegee control mechanism.

In one embodiment, the connecting arms 1412 of the squeegee 141 and the squeegee body 1411 have a space therebetween, and the space is used for enabling the connecting arms 1412 of the squeegee 141 to be located outside the side walls of the resin tank in a state where the squeegee body 1411 is placed in the resin tank, in other words, in a state where the squeegee body 1411 is placed in the resin tank, the squeegee body 1411 and the connecting arms 1412 of the squeegee 141 are respectively located on the inner and outer sides of the side walls of the resin tank, so that the squeegee body 1411 can smoothly perform linear displacement motion during the wiping motion.

In one embodiment, in order to prevent the scraper from damaging the release film during the scraping process, the edge of the bottom (i.e., the portion in contact with the bottom of the resin tank) of the scraper main body 1411 is designed to be an arc-shaped edge; alternatively, the edge of the bottom of the scraper main body 1411 may be coated with a flexible material; or, the bottom of the scraper main body 1411 is made of a flexible material. The flexible material includes, but is not limited to, rubber, silicone, or the like.

Referring still to fig. 2, in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the squeegee control mechanism 142 includes: a squeegee control motor 1421, a lead screw 1422, a displacement block 1423, and a guide rail 1424.

The scraper control motor can output driving force in a working state, a power output shaft of the scraper control motor 1421 is connected with a near end (i.e., an end close to the scraper control motor 1421) of the lead screw 1422, a far end (i.e., an end far from the scraper control motor 1421) of the lead screw 1422 is connected with a support, and the lead screw 1422 is arranged adjacent to one side of the resin groove. The displacement block 1423 is connected to the connecting arm of the scraper, and a connecting hole matched and connected with the screw 1422 is formed in the center of the displacement block 1423, and the surface of the connecting hole is provided with a thread, so that the displacement block 1423 can drive the scraper to displace between the near end and the far end of the screw when the screw 1422 rotates. The guide rail 1424 is disposed on the screw 1422, and includes an overturning section and a linear displacement section communicated with the overturning section, so that the scraper stops overturning after contacting the bottom of the resin tank and moves in a translational manner in the resin tank to scrape the light-cured material on the bottom of the resin tank.

In an embodiment, please refer to fig. 4, which is a schematic structural diagram of a guide rail of a squeegee control mechanism in the present application in an embodiment, as shown in the figure, the guide rail includes two connected grooves, wherein the groove in the vertical direction is an overturning section 1424a, the groove in the horizontal direction is a linear displacement section 1424b, and a wall surface of the guide rail at the bottom of the overturning section 1424a forms a limiting portion, which can limit the connecting arm from over-rotating with the displacement block. With continued reference to fig. 2, one end of the connecting arm of the squeegee 141 is connected to the squeegee body, and the other end of the connecting arm passes through the turning section of the guide rail to connect to the displacement block. When the displacement block rotates on the screw 1422, the scraper is first driven to displace in the turning section so as to turn over relative to the resin tank, and when the connecting arm of the scraper 141 touches the limiting portion, the connecting arm is limited by the limiting portion, and only the scraper is allowed to move in the horizontal direction along the linear displacement section, and cannot be further turned over.

Based on the structure of the squeegee device in the above embodiment, when the squeegee control motor 1421 works, a rotational driving force is output to the lead screw 1422, the lead screw 1422 rotates and drives the displacement block 1423 disposed on the lead screw 1422 and the squeegee 141 on the displacement block 1423 to rotate synchronously, when the connecting arm of the squeegee 141 touches the limiting portion and/or the squeegee body touches the bottom surface of the resin groove, the squeegee 141 is limited by the limiting portion and/or the bottom surface of the resin groove and cannot be further turned over, and due to the continuous work of the squeegee control motor, the squeegee 141 moves in the horizontal direction along the linear displacement section of the guide rail, so that the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin groove can be scraped in a moving state. After the scraper device finishes working, the scraper main body can be retracted to the outside of the resin tank along the original path through the reverse rotation of the scraper control motor, and the printing work of the 3D printing equipment or the work of replacing the resin tank are not influenced.

It should be understood that the above embodiments are merely examples and not limitations of the squeegee control mechanism, and in practical applications, the squeegee control mechanism can be configured in other structures to move the squeegee from one side of the resin tank to the opposite side to sweep the light-curable material at the bottom of the resin tank under the sweeping condition. For example, the scraper can be connected with a linear motor and a rotary motor at the same time, so that the turnover is realized under the drive of the rotary motor, and the displacement in the horizontal direction is realized under the drive of the linear motor.

In an exemplary embodiment, the squeegee assembly can further include a bracket located on one side of the resin reservoir and adjacent to the suction device. The support is provided with a transverse guide rail, a vertical guide rail arranged on the transverse guide rail and motors respectively arranged on the vertical guide rail and the transverse guide rail. The scraper device comprises a scraper main body and a connecting arm used for connecting the scraper main body to the vertical guide rail. Through motor drive on the vertical guide rail can be adjusted the position of scraper blade in vertical direction to make the scraper blade put into or keep away from the resin tank, through motor drive on the transverse guide rail, can adjust the position of scraper blade on the horizontal direction, thereby make the scraper blade move in resin tank water translation in order to sweep the photocuring material of resin tank bottom. The width of the scraper main body is equal to that of the resin groove, so that the full scraping of the light-cured material in the resin groove can be facilitated.

In an exemplary embodiment, with continued reference to fig. 1, the suction device comprises: a suction mechanism (not shown), a first transfer pump 112, and a first pipe 113.

The first delivery pump is used for providing suction power, the suction mechanism is used for sucking the photocuring material in the resin tank under the suction power provided by the first delivery pump 112, and the first pipeline 113 is communicated with a suction port of the suction mechanism, the first delivery pump 112 and the liquid storage device. In the working state of the first delivery pump 112, the suction mechanism sucks the photo-curing material in the resin tank by virtue of the suction power provided by the first delivery pump 112, and the photo-curing material is delivered into the liquid storage device through the first pipeline 113. In one embodiment, the filter device 13 is disposed in the first pipe 113, and the light-curable material is filtered by the filter device 13 to be output to the storage device 12 for storage. The filtering device 13 includes, but is not limited to, a screen with a pore size smaller than the thickness of the photocurable material layer, a filter element, a filtering membrane that can allow the photocurable material to pass through but block the residue outside, and the like.

In an exemplary embodiment, in order for the suction device not to affect the normal printing work of the 3D printing apparatus in the non-operating state and to facilitate replacement of the resin vat, the suction device is configured to be placeable into or away from the resin vat under a driving force.

In a possible embodiment, please refer to fig. 5, which is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the suction mechanism in the present application, and as shown in the figure, the suction mechanism 111 includes: suction cup 1111, suction cup swing arm 1112, and suction cup control motor 1113. Wherein, sucking disc 1111 intercommunication first pipeline, sucking disc swing arm 1112 sets up one side of resin storage tank, the one end of sucking disc swing arm 1112 is fixed sucking disc 1111, the other end of sucking disc swing arm 1112 is connected the output of sucking disc control motor 1113 to can receive under the operating condition of sucking disc control motor 1113 the driving force effect of sucking disc control motor 1113, in order to drive sucking disc 1111 descends to put into the resin storage tank and rises and keep away from the resin storage tank.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 6, which is a schematic structural view of a suction cup of the present application in one embodiment, as shown in the drawing, a suction port 1111a is formed at a lower portion of the suction cup 1111, and an upper portion of the suction cup 1111 communicates with a first pipe. Suction port 1111a width of sucking disc 1111 equals with the inside width in resin groove, the main part width from the bottom up of sucking disc 1111 steadilys decrease to do benefit to the absorption of photocuring material, in the structure shown in figure 6, the sucking disc is duckbilled formula sucking disc structure. An upward notch is formed in the front side of the suction port, and during operation of the suction mechanism, the notch forms a suction path from which the light curable material is sucked into the suction port when the lower surface of the suction port 1111a reaches the bottom surface of the resin reservoir, and is delivered into the first conduit via the upper portion of the suction cup 1111. The upper portion of sucking disc 1111 still has a connecting seat 1111b, the connecting seat simultaneously with the upper portion of sucking disc 1111 and sucking disc swing arm is connected to drive sucking disc 1111 motion under the drive of sucking disc swing arm. In one embodiment, the suction cup 1111 is made of soft material such as rubber or silica gel to facilitate the absorption of the light-curable material and to prevent the release film from being damaged by the excessively hard material during the absorption.

In this embodiment, when the suction cup mechanism works, the suction cup control motor is firstly started to provide driving force for the suction cup swing arm, the suction cup swing arm drives the suction cup to be placed into the resin tank, when a suction port of the suction cup contacts the bottom surface of the resin tank, a gap allowing the light curing material to pass through is formed between a groove in the front side of the suction port and the bottom surface of the resin tank, and the first delivery pump forms negative pressure in the first pipeline to suck the light curing material in the resin tank. After the light-cured material enters the first pipeline, the light-cured material is filtered by the filtering device to filter residues in the light-cured material, and the clean light-cured material is conveyed to the liquid storage device to be stored. After the suction is finished, the suction cup control motor drives the suction cup swing arm to move in the opposite direction, so that the suction cup is lifted to be away from the resin groove.

In one embodiment, the filtered light-curable material in the liquid storage device can be recycled. For this purpose, the filter system further comprises a conveying device, wherein the conveying device is arranged adjacent to the resin tank and communicated with the liquid storage device, so that the light-curing material in the liquid storage device can be conveyed into the resin tank. And a filtering device can be arranged between the liquid storage device and the conveying device so as to carry out secondary filtration on the light-cured material output from the liquid storage device.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 7, which is a schematic structural diagram of a filtration system of the present application in another embodiment. As shown, the delivery device includes: a conveying mechanism (not shown), a second conveying pump 152, and a second pipe 153.

The conveying mechanism is configured to convey the light-curable material stored in the liquid storage device 12 to the resin tank 2, the second conveying pump 152 is configured to provide suction power, and the second pipe 153 communicates the second conveying pump 152 and the liquid storage device 12, so that the light-curable material in the liquid storage device 12 is conveyed to the resin tank 2 through the conveying mechanism under the suction power provided by the second conveying pump 152. A filter 13 is further disposed in the second pipe 153 to filter the light-curable material output from the liquid storage device for a second time.

In some cases, in order for the conveying device not to affect the normal printing work of the 3D printing apparatus in the non-operating state and to facilitate replacement of the resin vat, the conveying device is configured to be movable toward or away from the resin vat under a driving force.

In an exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 8, which is a schematic structural diagram of a conveying mechanism in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in the figure, the conveying mechanism 151 includes: a delivery port 1511, a delivery swing arm 1512, and a delivery control motor 1513.

The conveying control motor 1513 is used for providing a driving force for the conveying swing arm 1512 under the working state, the conveying swing arm 1512 is arranged on one side of the resin tank, one end of the conveying swing arm 1512 is connected with the output end of the conveying control motor 1513, the other end of the conveying swing arm 1512 is connected with the conveying port 1511, the conveying control motor 1513 drives the conveying swing arm 1512 to swing under the working state of the conveying control motor 1513, the conveying swing arm 1512 further drives the conveying port 1511 to move downwards to be placed in or close to the resin tank, and the conveying port 1511 is communicated with a second pipeline so as to convey the photocuring material stored in the liquid storage device to the resin tank. In an embodiment, the delivery port 1511 is, for example, a nozzle of a catheter.

The delivery port 1511 may be disposed in the resin tank and output the light-curable material to the resin tank, or may be close to the resin tank and output the light-curable material to the resin tank by hydraulic pressure or gravity. For example, the delivery port may be located in the resin tank under the action of the delivery swing arm 1512, and the light-curable material flowing out of the delivery port is accumulated in the resin tank; for another example, the delivery port may be located above the resin tank under the action of the delivery swing arm 1512, and the light-curable material flowing out of the delivery port flows downwards into the resin tank under the action of gravity; for another example, the delivery port may be located at one side of the resin tank under the action of the conveying swing arm 1512, and the liquid outlet of the delivery port faces the resin tank, and the light-curing material flowing out of the delivery port may flow out of the resin tank by the hydraulic pressure provided by the second conveying pump to accumulate in the resin tank.

In this embodiment, when the conveying device works, the conveying control motor is firstly started to provide driving force for the conveying swing arm, the conveying swing arm drives the conveying port to be close to or placed in the resin tank, and the light-cured material in the liquid storage device is conveyed into the resin tank after being filtered by the filtering device in the second pipeline by means of the suction power provided by the second conveying pump. After the conveying is finished, the conveying control motor drives the conveying swing arm to move in the opposite direction, so that the conveying opening is lifted and turned to be away from the resin tank.

In an exemplary embodiment, a level sensor is provided in or near the resin tank for real-time or timed detection of the remaining amount of the photocurable material in the resin tank.

In one embodiment, please refer to fig. 9, which is a schematic structural diagram of a filtration system of the present application in yet another embodiment. As shown, a level sensor 16 is provided above the resin tank 2, and the level sensor 16 may be configured to detect the remaining amount of the photo-curable material in the resin tank in real time or at regular time. For example, in the process of a printing operation of the 3D printing apparatus, in order to ensure the cleanliness of the light-cured material in the resin tank 2, the remaining light-cured material may be filtered after a certain amount of light-cured material is used, and for this reason, when the liquid level sensor 16 detects that the light-cured material in the resin tank 2 is smaller than the third threshold value, the suction mechanism of the filtering system may be started to suck the light-cured material in the resin tank 2, and the light-cured material may be filtered by the filtering device in the first pipe 113 and then stored in the liquid storage device 12. For another example, in the process of sucking the photo-curing material in the resin tank 2 by the sucking mechanism, in order to prevent the residue in the resin tank from being unable to be sucked up due to depositing on the bottom of the resin tank, when the liquid level sensor 16 detects that the photo-curing material in the resin tank 2 is less than the first threshold value, the scraper control mechanism is made to turn over the scraper device to place the scraper thereof in the resin tank 2 and scrape the photo-curing material at the bottom of the resin tank 2, so as to facilitate scraping the photo-curing material at the bottom of the resin tank 2 to the vicinity of the suction port of the sucking device 11 for sucking. For another example, when the level sensor 16 detects that the light curable material in the resin tank 2 is less than the fourth threshold, the conveying device may be further configured to input the clean light curable material into the resin tank 2. For example, during the process of feeding the clean light-curing material into the resin tank 2 by the feeding device, the feeding is stopped when the level sensor 16 detects that the light-curing material in the resin tank 2 is greater than the second threshold value. The values of the first threshold, the second threshold, the third threshold and the fourth threshold can be determined according to actual conditions. For example, the values of the first threshold and the fourth threshold may include, but are not limited to, 0% to 20% of the resin tank capacity, such as 0%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, 20%, etc.; the value of the second threshold may be determined according to the number and size of the members to be printed, or the expected amount of the photo-curable material required for printing, and includes, but is not limited to, 1% to 100% of the resin tank capacity, such as 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100%, etc. The value of the third threshold may be determined according to the amount of the photo-curing material in the resin tank before printing, the frequency of the photo-curing material required to be filtered in actual printing, the photo-curing material required to be consumed by each component in the printing process, and the like, for example, when the remaining amount of the photo-curing material in the resin tank before printing is 80% of the entire capacity of the resin tank, 10% of the photo-curing material is required to be consumed for printing the current component, and filtering is performed after one component is required to be printed, and filtering of the photo-curing material is required to be performed once after one component is printed, the liquid level sensor may start the suction mechanism of the filtering system to suck the photo-curing material in the resin tank to filter after detecting that the photo-curing material is reduced by 10%.

Wherein, the liquid level sensor can be selected according to the arrangement position or actual requirement, for example, when the liquid level sensor is arranged in the resin tank, the floating ball type liquid level sensor can be selected; also, for example, when the level sensor is disposed above the resin tank or in order to avoid the influence of the level sensor on the printing work, an electro-optical level sensor or the like may be selected.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 10, which is a schematic structural diagram of a filtering system and a 3D printing apparatus suitable for the filtering system in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in the figure, the 3D printing apparatus includes a resin tank 2, and a component platform 17 located above the resin tank, around the resin tank 2, a suction device 11, a squeegee device, a conveying device 15, and a liquid level sensor 16 are provided, respectively. The level sensor 16 is used to detect the remaining amount of the photo-curing material in the resin tank, so as to trigger different devices of the filtering system to perform work tasks according to the detection result of the unused remaining amount. When the light-cured materials in the resin tank need to be filtered, the sucker control motor is started to provide driving force for the sucker swing arm, the sucker swing arm drives the sucker to be placed into the resin tank, when the suction port of the sucker is contacted with the bottom surface of the resin tank, a gap allowing the light-cured materials to pass through is formed between the notch on the front side of the suction port and the bottom surface of the resin tank, and the first delivery pump forms negative pressure in the first pipeline to absorb the light-cured materials in the resin tank. After the light-cured material enters the first pipeline, the light-cured material is filtered by the filtering device to filter residues in the light-cured material, and the clean light-cured material is conveyed to the liquid storage device to be stored. When the light-cured material in the resin tank 2 is smaller than a first threshold value, the scraper device is driven to work to scrape the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin tank 2, the scraper control motor outputs a rotary driving force to the screw rod, the screw rod rotates and drives the displacement block arranged on the screw rod and the scraper on the displacement block to synchronously rotate, when the connecting arm of the scraper touches the limiting part and/or the scraper main body touches the bottom of the resin tank, the scraper cannot be further overturned under the limitation of the limiting part and/or the bottom of the resin tank, and the scraper moves in the horizontal direction along the linear displacement section of the guide rail due to the continuous work of the scraper control motor, so that the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin tank can be scraped under the motion state, the scraped light-cured material is accumulated at one side close to the sucker, and then the scraped light-cured material is sucked by the suction device 11, thereby leading the light-cured material remained in the resin groove to be sucked and cleaned. After the suction is finished, the suction disc control motor drives the suction disc swing arm to move in the opposite direction, so that the suction disc is lifted to be away from the resin groove, and the scraper device is reset through the reverse rotation of the screw rod. When the light-cured material needs to be added into the resin tank 2, the conveying control motor is started to provide driving force for the conveying swing arm, the conveying swing arm drives the conveying opening to be close to or placed into the resin tank, and the light-cured material in the liquid storage device is conveyed into the resin tank after being filtered by the filtering device in the second pipeline through the suction power provided by the second conveying pump. When the liquid level sensor detects that the residual quantity of the light-cured material in the resin tank is larger than a second threshold value, the conveying is prompted to be completed, and the conveying control motor drives the conveying swing arm to move in the opposite direction, so that the conveying opening is lifted and turned to be far away from the resin tank.

To sum up, the filtration system of this application can in time filter the photocuring material of resin inslot in the first aspect to improve the printing precision when avoiding the residue in the photocuring material to causing the damage from the type membrane, and, absorbing the in-process, the lower surface of sucking disc is pasting resin tank bottom from the type membrane, and the cooperation of scraper means will remain the photocuring material of resin inslot and scrape the sucking disc edge, can be inhaled completely with the photocuring material of guaranteeing the resin inslot. On the other hand, each device of the filtering system does not influence the normal work of the 3D printing equipment in a non-working state, does not interfere the workpiece making process and does not influence the replacement of the resin tank.

The present application also provides a filtering method that may be performed by a computer system implemented by a combination of its hardware and software.

The computer system includes at least: one or more memories, one or more processors, I/O interfaces, network interfaces, input structures, and the like.

Wherein the memory contains a program. The types of the memory include: high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state storage devices.

In certain embodiments, the memory may also include memory that is remote from the one or more processors, such as network-attached memory accessed via RF circuitry or external ports and a communication network, which may be the internet, one or more intranets, Local Area Networks (LANs), wide area networks (WLANs), Storage Area Networks (SANs), and the like, or suitable combinations thereof. A controller of the memory may control access to the memory by other components of the device, such as the CPU and peripheral interfaces. The one or more processors are operatively coupled with the network interface to communicatively couple the computing device to a network. For example, the network interface may connect the computing device to a local area network (e.g., a LAN), and/or a wide area network (e.g., a WAN). The processor is also operatively coupled with an I/O port connecting the 3D printing device, the level sensor, the suction device, the squeegee device, or the transport device, etc., enabling the computing device to interact with the 3D printing device, the level sensor, the suction device, the squeegee device, or the transport device, etc., and an input structure enabling a user to interact with the computing device. Optionally, the input structure may include a button, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pad, and the like. Further optionally, the electronic display may include a touch component that facilitates user input by detecting the occurrence and/or location of an object touching its screen.

The filtering method can be applied to 3D printing equipment with the resin tank, so that the photocuring materials in the resin tank of the 3D printing equipment are filtered, residues in the photocuring materials are filtered, the cleanliness of the photocuring materials in the resin tank is guaranteed, and the printing precision is improved while the release film is protected.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 11, which is a schematic diagram of a filtering method of the present application in one embodiment.

In step S110, a suction device is used to suck the light-curing material in the resin tank into a liquid storage device, and a filter device is disposed between the suction device and the liquid storage device and/or in the liquid storage device, and the filter device filters residues in the sucked light-curing material.

Wherein the suction device may include a suction mechanism, a first delivery pump, and a first conduit. The first conveying pump is used for providing suction power, the suction mechanism is used for sucking the photocuring material in the resin tank under the suction power provided by the first conveying pump, and the first pipeline is communicated with a suction port of the suction mechanism, the first conveying pump and the liquid storage device. Under the working state of the first delivery pump, the suction mechanism sucks the light-cured material in the resin tank by virtue of suction power provided by the first delivery pump, and the light-cured material is delivered into the liquid storage device through the first pipeline.

In one embodiment, a filter device may be disposed in the connecting pipeline between the suction device and the liquid storage device, and the photocurable material is filtered by the filter device to remove residues and then is output to the liquid storage device for storage; in another embodiment, a filtering device may be disposed at an inlet of the liquid storage device, and when the light-curable material flows into the liquid storage device, the light-curable material is filtered by the filtering device, so as to filter the residue, and the clean light-curable material is stored in the liquid storage device; in another embodiment, a filter device may be disposed in the connecting pipeline between the suction device and the liquid storage device and at the inlet of the liquid storage device, so that on one hand, the light-curable material is output to the liquid storage device after being filtered by the filter device in the connecting pipeline for the first time, and on the other hand, when being stored in the liquid storage device, the light-curable material is filtered by the filter device in the liquid storage device for the second time, thereby ensuring the cleanliness of the light-curable material stored in the liquid storage device. The filtering means includes, but is not limited to, a screen having a pore size smaller than the thickness of the photocurable material layer, a filter element, or a filtering membrane that can allow the passage of the photocurable material but block the residue from the outside, etc.

In step S120, when it is detected that the liquid level of the light-cured material in the resin tank is lower than a threshold value, a scraper device is used to scrape the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin tank so as to facilitate the absorption device to continuously absorb the light-cured material in the resin tank.

It should be understood that when the amount of the photo-setting material in the resin tank is large, the liquid level of the photo-setting material is higher than the suction port of the suction means, and the photo-setting material is more easily sucked by the suction means, but when the amount of the photo-setting material in the resin tank is small, the photo-setting material deposited on the bottom of the resin tank is difficult to be directly sucked by the suction means, and therefore, a detecting means such as a liquid level sensor may be provided to detect the remaining amount of the photo-setting material in the resin tank, and when the detected liquid level of the photo-setting material is lower than a threshold value, the photo-setting material on the bottom of the resin tank is scraped by a scraping means to thereby sweep the photo-setting material to a side close to the suction means so that the suction means continues to suck the photo-setting material.

The scraper device comprises a scraper and a scraper control mechanism. The scraper control mechanism can control the scraper to be placed in or away from the resin groove and drive the scraper to move from one side of the resin groove to the opposite side so as to sweep the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin groove.

In a possible embodiment, when it is detected that the light-curing material level in the resin tank is lower than the first threshold value, the scraper control mechanism may be made to turn over the scraper device to place the scraper thereof in the resin tank, make the lower edge of the scraper contact the bottom of the resin tank, and make the scraper control mechanism drive the scraper to move from the side of the resin tank toward the side of the suction device to sweep the light-curing material at the bottom of the resin tank.

It should be understood that the resin tank is generally rectangular in configuration, the suction means is provided on one side of the resin tank, and the squeegee is configured to sweep from the direction of the opposite side of the suction means toward the direction in which the suction means is provided, in order to allow the photocurable material to be sufficiently swept.

The value of the first threshold may be determined according to actual conditions, and includes, but is not limited to, 0% to 20% of the resin tank capacity, such as 0%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, 20%, and the like.

In one embodiment, the squeegee includes a squeegee main body having a width equal to that of the resin tank, and a connecting arm for connecting the squeegee main body to the squeegee control mechanism, so that the photocurable material in the resin tank can be sufficiently wiped. The squeegee control mechanism includes: the scraper control motor, the screw rod, the displacement block and the guide rail. The scraper control motor can output driving force under the working state, the power output shaft of the scraper control motor is connected with the near end (close to one end of the scraper control motor) of the screw rod, the far end (far from one end of the scraper control motor) of the screw rod is connected on a support, and the screw rod is arranged on one side of the resin groove in an adjacent mode. The displacement block is connected with the connecting arm of the scraper, the center of the displacement block is provided with a connecting hole which is matched and connected with the screw rod, and the surface of the connecting hole is provided with threads, so that the displacement block can drive the scraper to displace between the near end and the far end of the screw rod when the screw rod rotates. The guide rail sets up on the lead screw, for the messenger the scraper blade stops the upset after contacting the resin tank bottom and in the photocuring material of resin tank bottom portion is swept in order to scrape in the translational motion of resin tank, the guide rail includes the turning section and communicates the linear displacement section of turning section. When scraper control motor during operation, to lead screw output rotary driving power, the lead screw is rotatory and drive the displacement piece that sets up on the lead screw and scraper blade synchronous revolution on the displacement piece works as the linking arm of scraper blade touches when spacing portion and/or scraper blade main part touch the bottom surface of the resin tank, the scraper blade receives the unable further upset of restriction of spacing portion and/or resin tank bottom surface, and because scraper control motor's continuous work, the straight line displacement section of scraper blade along the guide rail moves on the horizontal direction, can scrape under the motion state from this and sweep the photocuring material of resin tank bottom portion.

With reference to fig. 11, in step S130, the suction device is made to suck the photo-curing material scraped by the scraper device.

Here, since the scraper moves from the side of the resin tank toward the side of the suction device, the photocurable material is collected in the resin tank near the side of the suction device, and thus the photocurable material scraped by the scraper device is sucked up by the suction device, so that the photocurable material in the resin tank can be completely sucked up. In some embodiments, the steps S120 and S130 can be repeated to achieve better sweeping and sucking effects.

In one embodiment, after receiving a signal that the suction device is finished, controlling the suction cup of the suction device to be lifted away from the resin tank; and the scraper control mechanism is controlled to turn over the scraper device to be away from the resin groove, so that the printing work of the 3D printing equipment is not influenced, the replacement of the resin groove is not influenced, and the like.

In an exemplary embodiment, the filtering method further comprises the step of adding clean light curable material to the resin tank, and for this purpose, a conveying device is caused to convey the light curable material in the liquid storage device to the resin tank when receiving an instruction for adding the light curable material, and the conveying device is caused to stop working when detecting that the liquid level of the light curable material in the resin tank is higher than a second threshold value.

In a possible embodiment, the conveying device comprises: the conveying mechanism, the second conveying pump and the second pipeline. The conveying mechanism is used for conveying the light-cured materials stored in the liquid storage device to the resin tank, the second conveying pump is used for providing suction power, and the second pipeline is communicated with the second conveying pump and the liquid storage device, so that the light-cured materials in the liquid storage device are conveyed to the resin tank through the conveying mechanism under the suction power provided by the second conveying pump. In some embodiments, a filtering device is further disposed between the liquid storage device and the conveying device to perform a secondary filtering on the light-curable material output from the liquid storage device.

Wherein the instruction can be issued based on the detection result of the liquid level sensor or based on the operation instruction of the user. For example, when the liquid level sensor detects that the residual quantity of the light-cured material in the resin tank is too small and needs to be added, the liquid level sensor sends out a command of adding the light-cured material; as another example, the user selects the light-curing material to be added so as to drive the conveying device to work; for another example, when the liquid level sensor detects that the residual quantity of the light-cured material in the resin tank is too small and needs to be added, the computer device executing the filtering method is communicated with the 3D printing device, and the conveying device is driven to work after the 3D printing device is determined not to execute a printing task or receives a signal that the 3D printing device completes printing.

Here, the value of the second threshold may be determined according to the number and size of the members to be printed, or the expected amount of the photo-curable material required for printing, and includes, but is not limited to, 1% to 100% of the resin tank capacity, such as 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100%, and the like.

In one embodiment, after receiving the signal that the operation of the conveying device is completed, the conveying device is controlled to be away from the resin tank, so that the printing operation of the 3D printing device is not influenced, the replacement of the resin tank is not influenced, and the like.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 12 a-12 c, which are schematic structural diagrams of an operation process of the filtering system of the present application in one embodiment. As shown in fig. 12a, the liquid level sensor 16 is used to detect the remaining amount of the photo-curable material in the resin tank 2. When the light-curing material in the resin tank needs to be filtered, the suction device is placed into the resin tank in the direction of the arrow in fig. 12a, and the first delivery pump forms negative pressure in the first pipeline to suck the light-curing material in the resin tank. As shown in fig. 12b and 12c, when the light-cured material in the resin tank 2 is smaller than the first threshold, the scraper device is driven to work and sweep the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin tank 2 in the direction of the arrow in fig. 12b, so that the swept light-cured material is deposited on one side close to the suction device, and then the suction device sucks the swept light-cured material, so that the light-cured material remained in the resin tank is sucked clean. After the light-cured material enters the first pipeline, the light-cured material is filtered by the filtering device to filter residues in the light-cured material, and the clean light-cured material is conveyed to the liquid storage device to be stored. After the suction is finished, the suction disc control motor drives the suction disc swing arm to move in the opposite direction, so that the suction device is lifted to be away from the resin groove, and the scraper device is reset, and therefore the printing work of the 3D printing equipment is not affected. When the light-cured material needs to be added into the resin tank 2, the conveying mechanism of the conveying device is close to or placed in the resin tank, and the light-cured material in the liquid storage device is conveyed into the resin tank after being filtered by the filtering device in the second pipeline by means of the suction power provided by the second conveying pump. When the liquid level sensor detects that the residual amount of the light-cured material in the resin tank is larger than a second threshold value, the conveying is prompted to be completed, and the conveying mechanism is lifted to be away from the resin tank so as to avoid influencing the printing work of the 3D printing equipment.

In summary, the filtering method in the present application can fully and effectively filter the photo-curing material in the resin tank through the cooperation of the suction device and the scraper device, and realize the automation of the photo-curing material filtering.

The specific structures of the suction device, the liquid storage device, the scraper device and the conveying device related to the filtering method in the present application can refer to the structures of the corresponding embodiments in fig. 1 to 10, and will not be repeated here.

The application also provides a 3D printing device.

The 3D printing Apparatus may be a bottom projection or bottom exposure 3D printing Apparatus, such as a DLP (Digital Light processing) Apparatus that performs surface exposure by a bottom projection optical machine, or may be an SLA (Stereo Light curing molding) Apparatus that performs laser spot scanning by a bottom laser, in other words, an optical system of the 3D printing Apparatus is located at and faces the bottom surface of a container (also referred to as a resin tank in some application scenarios) for irradiating a layered image in a 3D member model to a printing reference surface to cure a Light curing material into a corresponding pattern cured layer. When the 3D printing device is used for printing an object, the exposure device irradiates the light-cured material at the bottom of the container to form a first cured layer, the first cured layer is attached to the building plate, the building plate is driven by the Z-axis driving mechanism to move upwards so that the cured layer is separated from the bottom of the container, then the building plate is descended so that the light-cured material to be cured is filled between the bottom of the container and the first cured layer, the light-cured material is irradiated again to obtain a second cured layer attached to the first cured layer, and the like, and the cured layers are accumulated on the building plate through multiple filling, irradiating and separating operations to obtain the 3D object. For 3D printing equipment for manufacturing a 3D object by using a light-cured material in a bottom surface exposure mode, in the printing process, a layer-by-layer printing mode is adopted, and each printing layer is peeled from the bottom of a container after being cured. When a solidified layer is formed, the upper surface and the lower surface of the solidified layer are respectively attached to the bottom of the building plate and the bottom of the container, generally, the adhesive force between the 3D object and the bottom of the container is strong, and a large pulling force needs to be overcome in the process that the solidified layer is driven by the building plate to rise so as to realize stripping, and the risk that the solidified layer is damaged is also accompanied. Therefore, it is common to reduce the adhesive force to be overcome by coating a release film on the bottom of the resin tank.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 13, which is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the 3D printing apparatus includes: a frame (not shown), a resin tank 2, an energy radiation device (not shown), a member table 17, a Z-axis drive mechanism (not shown), a filter system, and a control device (not shown).

The frame is used to carry the resin tank 2, the energy radiation device, the member platform 17, and the Z-axis drive mechanism. The resin tank is used for containing a light curing material to be cured. The photo-curable material generally refers to a material that forms a cured layer after being irradiated by light (e.g., ultraviolet light, laser light, etc.), and includes, but is not limited to: photosensitive resin, or a mixture of photosensitive resin and other materials. Such as ceramic powders, pigments, etc. The Z-axis driving mechanism is connected with the component platform and is configured to adjust the distance between the component platform and the bottom surface of the resin groove according to a printing instruction so as to fill the light curing material to be cured. The component platform is positioned in the resin groove in a printing state and used for attaching the pattern curing layer obtained after energy radiation, so that the 3D component is formed through accumulation of the pattern curing layer. In the printing process, the Z-axis driving mechanism drives the component platform to descend into the resin groove, the photocuring material passing through the energy radiation device forms a pattern curing layer, and the pattern curing layer is accumulated layer by layer to form the 3D component.

The energy radiation device is arranged at a preset position on one side of the bottom of the resin tank, and is configured to radiate energy to the bottom surface of the resin tank in a projection mode or a lattice scanning mode through a control program when receiving a printing instruction so as to cure the liquid photocuring material with a preset curing surface in the resin tank.

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

For the SLA device, the energy radiation device includes a laser emitter, a lens group located on an outgoing light path of the laser emitter, and a vibration lens group located on an outgoing light side of the lens group, where the laser emitter is controlled to adjust energy of an output laser beam, for example, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam with a preset power and stop emitting the laser beam, and for example, the laser emitter is controlled to increase power of the laser beam and decrease power of the laser beam. The lens group is used for adjusting the focusing position of the laser beam, the galvanometer group is used for controllably scanning the laser beam in a two-dimensional space on the component platform, and the light-cured material scanned by the light beam is cured into a corresponding pattern cured layer.

The filtering system is arranged adjacent to the resin tank and used for filtering residues in the light-cured materials in the resin tank. The specific structure of the filtering system is as described in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 1 to 10, and will not be repeated here. When the light-cured material in the resin tank needs to be filtered, the suction device is placed in the resin tank, and the first delivery pump forms negative pressure in the first pipeline to suck the light-cured material in the resin tank. And when the light-cured material in the resin tank is smaller than the first threshold value, driving the scraper device to work and scraping the light-cured material at the bottom of the resin tank so as to facilitate the suction device to continuously suck. After the light-cured material enters the first pipeline, the light-cured material is filtered by the filtering device to filter residues in the light-cured material, and the clean light-cured material is conveyed to the liquid storage device to be stored. After the suction is finished, the suction disc control motor drives the suction disc swing arm to move in the opposite direction, so that the suction device is lifted to be away from the resin groove, and the scraper device is reset, and therefore the printing work of the 3D printing equipment is not affected. When the light-cured material is required to be added into the resin tank, the conveying mechanism of the conveying device is close to or placed into the resin tank, and the light-cured material in the liquid storage device is conveyed into the resin tank after being filtered by the filtering device in the second pipeline by means of the suction power provided by the second conveying pump. When the liquid level sensor detects that the residual amount of the light-cured material in the resin tank is larger than a second threshold value, the conveying is prompted to be completed, and the conveying mechanism is lifted to be away from the resin tank so as to avoid influencing the printing work of the 3D printing equipment.

Wherein the scraper in the filtering device may be configured to: when the 3D printing equipment is used for filtering, the light curing material at the bottom of the resin tank is swept under the motion state, so that the light curing material in the resin tank is absorbed by the absorption device; and during the printing work of the 3D printing equipment, the light-cured material is uniformly distributed by scraping after each layer of the pattern cured layer is printed, so that the continuity, the integrity and the thickness uniformity of the coating are ensured.

The control device is electrically connected with the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system and is used for controlling the working states of the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system.

The control device is, for example, a control board card (a circuit board on which electronic devices are arranged), and the control board card includes a storage unit, a processing unit, and a drive reservation interface unit. Wherein, the memory unit comprises nonvolatile memory, volatile memory and the like. The nonvolatile memory is, for example, a solid state disk or a usb disk. The storage unit is connected with the processing unit through a system bus. The processing unit comprises at least one of a CPU or a chip integrated with the CPU, a programmable logic device (FPGA) and a multi-core processor. The driving reserved interface unit comprises a plurality of driving reserved interfaces, and each driving reserved interface is electrically connected with an energy radiation device, a Z-axis driving mechanism and a filtering system respectively and is used for controlling devices which are independently packaged in 3D printing equipment such as the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system and transmit data or drive work through interfaces. The apparatus further comprises at least one of: a prompting device, a human-computer interaction device and the like. The driving reservation interface unit determines its interface type according to the connected device, which includes but is not limited to: universal serial interface, video interface, industrial control interface, etc. For example, the drive reservation interface includes: USB interface, HDMI interface and RS232 interface, wherein, USB interface and RS232 interface all have a plurality ofly, and the USB interface can connect human-computer interaction device etc. and RS232 interface connection energy radiation device, Z axle actuating mechanism and filtration system are used for controlling energy radiation device, Z axle actuating mechanism and filtration system etc..

In an exemplary embodiment, the 3D printing device includes a printing state and a filtering state. The control device can comprise control programs for the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system, so that the corresponding device or mechanism can be started to execute corresponding work according to the control programs. For example, in a printing state, the control device drives the Z-axis driving mechanism to drive the component platform to descend into the resin tank, and sends a printing instruction to the energy radiation device, and the control device radiates energy to the bottom surface of the resin tank in a projection manner or a dot matrix scanning manner through a control program so as to cure the liquid photo-curing material with a preset curing surface in the resin tank. And adhering the pattern curing layer obtained after the energy radiation to the lower surface of the component platform, and accumulating to form the 3D component through the pattern curing layer. For another example, in a filtering state, when the filtering light-cured material in the resin tank is required, the control device drives the Z-axis driving mechanism to drive the component platform to ascend, and sends a filtering instruction to the suction filtering device. The suction device in the filtering system is placed in the resin tank to suck the light-cured material, and when the quantity of the light-cured material in the resin tank is smaller than a first threshold value, the control device drives the scraper device to be placed in the resin tank and scrapes the light-cured material towards the suction device so as to be beneficial to the suction device to completely suck the light-cured material in the resin tank. The light-cured material absorbed by the absorption device is filtered by the filter device and then stored in the liquid storage device. After the suction device and the scraper device are operated, the suction device and the scraper device are respectively controlled to be away from the resin tank. When the light-cured material needs to be added into the resin tank, the control device drives the conveying device to extract the light-cured material from the liquid storage device into the resin tank. And when the quantity of the light-cured material in the resin tank is larger than a second threshold value, controlling the conveying device to stop adding the light-cured material into the resin tank and to be far away from the resin tank. In an embodiment, the control device may further be configured to drive the filtering device to work after the 1 or more printing members have finished printing so as to filter the light-cured material in the resin tank, so as to prevent residues in the light-cured material from damaging the release film.

To sum up, the 3D printing apparatus of this application can filter the photocuring material of resin inslot to residue in avoiding the photocuring material improves the printing precision when causing the damage from the type membrane, and, at the in-process of filtration system absorption photocuring material, scraper means cooperation will remain the photocuring material of resin inslot and scrape the sucking disc edge of sweeping suction means, can be sucked completely with the photocuring material of guaranteeing the resin inslot. On the other hand, each device of the filtering system in the 3D printing equipment does not influence the normal operation of the printing system of the 3D printing equipment in a non-working state, does not interfere the workpiece making process and does not influence the replacement of the resin tank.

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

Claims

1. A filter system of a 3D printing apparatus, the 3D printing apparatus including a resin tank, the filter system comprising:

the suction device is arranged on one side of the resin tank and is used for sucking the light curing material in the resin tank;

the liquid storage device is communicated with the suction device and is used for storing the light-cured material sucked from the resin tank;

the filtering device is arranged between the suction device and the liquid storage device and/or in the liquid storage device and is used for filtering residues in the light-cured material output from the resin tank;

and the scraping plate device is adjacently arranged on the resin groove and used for scraping and sweeping the light curing material at the bottom of the resin groove in a motion state so as to be beneficial to the absorption device for absorbing the light curing material in the resin groove.

2. The filtering system of the 3D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the squeegee device comprises a squeegee and a squeegee control mechanism adjacent to one side of the resin tank for driving the squeegee into or away from the resin tank in a flip state and driving the squeegee from one side of the resin tank toward an opposite side in a sweep state to sweep the photocurable material at the bottom of the resin tank.

3. The filtering system of the 3D printing device according to claim 2, wherein the squeegee comprises a squeegee body and a connecting arm for connecting the squeegee body to the squeegee control mechanism, the squeegee body having a width equal to a width of the resin tank.

4. The filtering system of the 3D printing device of claim 3, wherein the squeegee control mechanism comprises:

a blade control motor for outputting a driving force in a working state;

the screw rod is arranged adjacent to one side of the resin groove, the near end of the screw rod is connected to a power output shaft of the scraper control motor, and the far end of the screw rod is connected to a support in a shaft mode;

the displacement block is screwed on the screw rod and connected with a connecting arm of the scraper plate and is used for displacing between the near end and the far end of the screw rod when the screw rod rotates;

the guide rail set up in on the lead screw, including upset section and intercommunication the linear displacement section of upset section, the upset section is including being used for the restriction the linking arm is followed the excessive rotatory spacing portion of displacement piece.

5. The filtering system of the 3D printing device according to claim 1, wherein the suction means comprises:

the absorbing mechanism is used for absorbing the light curing material in the resin groove;

the first conveying pump is used for providing suction power;

the first pipeline is communicated with the suction mechanism, the first delivery pump and the liquid storage device; the first pipeline is internally provided with the filtering device.

6. The filtering system of the 3D printing device according to claim 5, wherein the suction mechanism comprises:

the sucker is communicated with the first pipeline and is used for sucking the photocuring material scraped by the scraper device by the sucking power provided by the first conveying pump when the photocuring material is placed in the resin tank;

the sucker swing arm is arranged on one side of the resin tank to fix the sucker and is used for driving the sucker to be placed in or away from the resin tank;

and the sucker control motor is used for providing driving force for the sucker swing arm in a working state.

7. The filtering system of the 3D printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a suction opening width of the suction cup is equal to a width of the resin tank.

8. The filtering system of the 3D printing device according to claim 1, further comprising a conveying device communicated with the liquid storage device and used for conveying the light-curing material in the liquid storage device into the resin tank, wherein a filtering device is arranged between the liquid storage device and the conveying device.

9. The filtering system of the 3D printing device according to claim 8, wherein the conveying means comprises:

the conveying mechanism is used for conveying the light-cured material stored in the liquid storage device into the resin tank;

the second delivery pump is used for providing suction power;

the second pipeline is communicated with the second delivery pump and the liquid storage device; the second pipeline is internally provided with the filtering device.

10. The filtering system of the 3D printing device according to claim 9, wherein the transport mechanism comprises:

the delivery port is communicated with the second pipeline and is used for delivering the light-cured material stored in the liquid storage device to the resin tank;

the conveying swing arm is arranged on one side of the resin tank to fix the conveying opening and is used for driving the conveying opening to be placed in or away from the resin tank;

and the conveying control motor is used for providing driving force for the conveying swing arm in a working state.

11. The filtering system of the 3D printing device according to claim 1, further comprising a liquid level sensor disposed in or adjacent to the resin tank for detecting a remaining amount of the photo-curable material in the resin tank.

12. The filtering system of a 3D printing device according to claim 1, wherein the 3D printing device is a 3D printing device comprising a DLP system or a 3D printing device comprising an SLA system.

13. A3D printing apparatus, comprising:

a frame;

the resin tank is used for containing a light curing material to be cured;

the energy radiation device is arranged at a preset position on one side of the bottom of the resin tank and is configured to radiate energy to the bottom surface of the resin tank in a projection mode or a lattice scanning mode through a control program when a printing instruction is received so as to cure the liquid light curing material of a preset curing surface in the resin tank;

the component platform is positioned in the resin groove in a printing state and used for attaching the pattern curing layer obtained after energy radiation so as to form a 3D component through accumulation of the pattern curing layer;

a Z-axis driving mechanism connected with the component platform and configured to adjust the distance between the component platform and the bottom surface of the resin groove according to a printing instruction so as to fill the light-cured material to be cured;

the filter system according to claim 1 to 12, disposed adjacent to the resin tank, for filtering the residue in the photo-curable material in the resin tank;

and the control device is electrically connected with the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system and is used for controlling the working states of the energy radiation device, the Z-axis driving mechanism and the filtering system.

14. The 3D printing device according to claim 13, wherein the 3D printing device is a 3D printing device comprising a DLP system or a 3D printing device comprising an SLA system.