JP2018130836A - Three-dimensional molding apparatus and purge device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a three-dimensional molding apparatus capable of suppressing wasteful purging of a molding material without being restricted by a shape of a three-dimensional mold article to be molded.SOLUTION: A three-dimensional molding apparatus 1 molds a mold article 90 by ejecting a fluidized molding material from a nozzle 111 of a molding head 110 and includes a purge device 50 that collects the molding material ejected from the molding head 110. The purge device 50 includes: an adherent surface 51 formed on an outer circumferential surface, etc., of a purge roller 52a to which the molding material adheres and transferring means composed of a stepping motor 53, etc., that transfers the adherent surface 51. And the transferring means composed of the stepping motor 53, etc., transfers the adherent surface 51 in a state in which the molding material ejected from the nozzle 111 adheres to the adherent surface 51 while the molding material is ejected from the nozzle 111.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

  The present invention relates to a three-dimensional modeling apparatus and a purge apparatus.

  Conventionally, a three-dimensional modeling apparatus that forms a three-dimensional model by discharging a modeling material that has been melted and fluidized from a nozzle of a modeling head, and purges and collects the modeling material from the inside of the modeling head It has been known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that, apart from a three-dimensional structure, a modeling material is discharged from a nozzle of a modeling head onto a placement unit such as a stage on which a three-dimensional structure is placed according to a predetermined route. The formation of a layer is described.

  However, in the conventional configuration in which the purge tower is formed, the discharge amount to be purged is determined by the initial setting of the route for forming the purge tower layer (the route for moving the nozzle). Since the route for moving the nozzle is limited by the shape of the three-dimensional structure to be modeled, depending on the shape of the three-dimensional model to be modeled, it is possible to discharge an appropriate discharge amount according to the modeling material to be purged and the modeling head. May not be set. In this case, it is unavoidable to set the route so that a lot of modeling material is discharged unnecessarily.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention described in claim 1 is directed to a three-dimensional modeling apparatus that forms a three-dimensional structure by discharging a fluidized modeling material from a nozzle of a modeling head. A purge device for collecting the discharged modeling material, the purge device having an adhesion surface to which the modeling material adheres and an adhesion surface moving means for moving the adhesion surface; The deposition surface is moved by the deposition surface moving means in a state where the modeling material discharged from the nozzle adheres to the deposition surface while discharging the modeling material.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the three-dimensional modeling apparatus which can suppress purging a modeling material wastefully without being restrict | limited to the shape of the three-dimensional modeling thing to model can be provided.

The block diagram which shows schematic structure of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus in one Embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows typically the structure of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus in one Embodiment. The perspective view which shows the external appearance of the chamber provided in the inside of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus in one Embodiment. The perspective view of the state which cut | disconnected and excluded the front part of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus in one Embodiment. The control block diagram of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus of one Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the flow of the preheat processing and modeling process in one embodiment. The perspective view which shows typically the front-end | tip part of the modeling head in one Embodiment. FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional explanatory view of a modeling head corresponding to one nozzle. Outline | summary explanatory drawing of a nozzle cleaning part. Explanatory drawing of the specific example of a head front-end | tip part cleaning apparatus. Schematic explanatory drawing of operation | movement of a purge apparatus. Explanatory drawing of the heating means which heats a to-be-adhered surface, and the to-be-attached surface cleaning mechanism at the time of forming the to-be-attached surface of a purge apparatus in the outer peripheral surface of a purge roller. The flowchart of the purge process performed using a purge apparatus. Explanatory drawing of adhesion of the discharged modeling material to a nozzle. Explanatory drawing of the modification of a purge apparatus.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Overall description]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 in the present embodiment.
The three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 of the present embodiment mainly includes a material supply unit 100, a three-dimensional modeling unit 200, a driving unit 300, a control unit 400, and a nozzle cleaning unit 240. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1, each unit is driven by the driving unit 300 under the control of the control unit 400, and a three-dimensional modeling object 200 is modeled using the modeling material supplied from the material supply unit 100. To do.

[Material supply section]
The material supply unit 100 includes at least a filament supply unit 120 that supplies a filament that is a modeling material to the modeling head 110. The filament is an elongated wire-shaped solid, is set in the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 in a wound state, and is supplied to the modeling head 110 by the filament supply unit 120.

[Three-dimensional modeling department]
The three-dimensional modeling unit 200 includes at least a modeling head 110, a mounting unit 210, a chamber 220, and a heating unit 230. The interior of the chamber 220 in the three-dimensional structure 200 is a processing space for modeling a three-dimensional structure. The filament supplied by the filament supply unit 120 is heated and melted by the modeling head 110, and a solid-state filament is inserted from the rear so that the molten modeling material is pushed out from the nozzle 111 at the tip of the modeling head 110. It is discharged (discharged).

  The modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111 on the modeling head 110 includes not only a modeling material (model material) constituting the three-dimensional modeled object, but also a support material that does not configure the three-dimensional modeled object to be finally modeled. included. This support material is usually formed from a modeling material different from the modeling material that constitutes the three-dimensional model to be modeled, and finally removed from the three-dimensional model to be modeled, which is formed from a modeling material (model material). Is done. This support material is also heated and melted by the modeling head 110, and a solid modeling material filament is inserted from behind, so that the molten modeling material is ejected from the nozzle 111. The molten modeling material discharged from the modeling head 110 is supplied on the stage of the mounting unit 210 inside the chamber 220 heated by the heating unit 230 and sequentially stacked in layers.

[Drive part]
The drive unit 300 includes at least an X-axis drive mechanism 310, a Y-axis drive mechanism 320, and a Z-axis drive mechanism 330. The driving unit 300 relatively moves the modeling head 110 in the three-dimensional modeling unit 200 and the stage 211 of the mounting unit 210 by using these driving mechanisms 310, 320, and 330. Thereby, the molten modeling material discharged from the modeling head 110 is supplied to the target position on the stage 211.

[Nozzle cleaning section]
The nozzle cleaning unit 240 cleans the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 in accordance with commands from the discharge control unit 500 and the rotation control unit 502 of the control unit 400. The discharge control unit 500 controls the discharge operation of the modeling material from the modeling head 110, and the rotation control unit controls the operation of the nozzle cleaning unit 240.

[Other functional parts]
The three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes the material supply unit 100, the three-dimensional modeling unit 200, the driving unit 300, and the control unit 400, but other functional units are also added as appropriate.

[Details of 3D modeling equipment]
Next, details of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing details of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 in the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a chamber provided inside the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 in the present embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a state in which the front portion of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 in the present embodiment is cut and excluded.

  The three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 includes a three-dimensional modeling chamber (hereinafter referred to as “chamber”) 220 inside the main body frame 2. Inside the chamber 220, a stage 211 of the placement unit 210 is provided. In the present embodiment, the modeling plate 212 is held on the stage 211 and a three-dimensional modeled object is modeled on the modeling plate 212.

  Most or all of the wall portion surrounding the processing space in the chamber 220 is formed of a heat insulating wall having a heat insulating function. Specifically, the ceiling wall portion of the chamber 220 is a heat insulating wall constituted by a plurality of slide heat insulating members 221 and 222, as will be described later. Further, the side wall portion 223 of the chamber 220, that is, both wall portions in the apparatus left-right direction (left-right direction in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 = X-axis direction) is provided with a heat insulating material containing glass wool or the like between the inner and outer plates. It is a heat insulating wall with a sandwiched structure. The bottom wall 224 of the chamber 220 is also a heat insulating wall having a structure in which a heat insulating material containing glass wool or the like is sandwiched between an inner plate and an outer plate. The rear wall portion and the front wall portion 225 of the chamber 220 are also heat insulating walls having a structure in which a heat insulating material containing glass wool or the like is sandwiched between an inner plate and an outer plate.

  In the present embodiment, an opening / closing door 226 is provided on the front wall 225 of the chamber 220 as shown in FIG. The open / close door 226 constitutes a heat insulating wall in the same manner as the front wall portion 225, and is configured to exhibit a sufficient heat insulating function. Further, a window 227 is provided in the front wall 225 of the chamber 220 as shown in FIG. This window 227 has a double glass structure with an air layer interposed therebetween, and constitutes a heat insulating wall in the same manner as the front wall portion 225.

  A modeling head 110 of the three-dimensional modeling unit 200 is provided above the stage 211 inside the chamber 220. The modeling head 110 includes a nozzle 111 that discharges the modeling material so as to extrude the modeling material. In the present embodiment, four nozzles 111 are provided on the modeling head 110, but the number of nozzles 111 is arbitrary. The modeling head 110 is provided with a head heating unit 112 that heats the filament supplied to each nozzle 111. In addition, the modeling head 110 is provided with a head cooling unit 113 that cools the opposite side of the nozzle 111 with respect to the head heating unit 112, that is, the upstream side in the transfer direction of the modeling material with respect to the head heating unit 112.

  The filament may be different for each nozzle 111 or may be the same. In the present embodiment, the filament supplied from the filament supply unit 120 is heated and melted or softened by the head heating unit 112, and the molten modeling material is pushed out from the predetermined nozzle 111 to be held on the stage 211. A three-dimensional structure is formed by sequentially laminating layered structure structures on the formed plate 212.

  The modeling head 110 is connected to the X-axis drive mechanism 310 extending in the left-right direction of the apparatus (left-right direction in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 = X-axis direction) via the connecting member 311 in the longitudinal direction of the X-axis drive mechanism 310 ( (Movable along the X axis direction). The modeling head 110 can move in the left-right direction of the apparatus (X-axis direction) by the driving force of the X-axis driving mechanism 310. Since the modeling head 110 is heated by the head heating unit 112 and becomes high temperature, it is preferable that the connecting member 311 has a low heat conductivity so that the heat is not easily transmitted to the X-axis drive mechanism 310.

  Both ends of the X-axis drive mechanism 310 are in the longitudinal direction (Y of the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 with respect to the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 extending in the front-rear direction of the apparatus (the front-rear direction in FIGS. 3 and 4 = Y-axis direction). It is held so as to be slidable along the axial direction. As the X-axis drive mechanism 310 moves along the Y-axis direction by the driving force of the Y-axis drive mechanism 320, the modeling head 110 can move along the Y-axis direction.

  In the present embodiment, the bottom wall portion 224 of the chamber 220 is fixed to the main body frame 2 with respect to the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 that extends in the apparatus vertical direction (vertical direction in FIGS. 3 and 4 = Z-axis direction). The Z-axis drive mechanism 330 is held so as to be movable along the longitudinal direction (Z-axis direction). The bottom wall portion 224 of the chamber 220 can be moved in the vertical direction of the apparatus (Z-axis direction) by the driving force of the Z-axis driving mechanism 330. Since the stage 211 is fixed on the bottom wall portion 224, the stage 211 and the modeling plate 212 held by the stage 211 can be moved in the Z-axis direction by the driving force of the Z-axis driving mechanism 330.

In the present embodiment, the chamber heater 231 of the heating unit 230 that heats the inside of the chamber 220 is provided in the chamber 220 (processing space). In this embodiment, in order to model a three-dimensional structure by the material extrusion deposition method, it is desirable to perform the modeling process in a state where the temperature in the chamber 220 is maintained at the target temperature. Therefore, in the present embodiment, pre-heat treatment is performed to raise the temperature in the chamber 220 to the target temperature in advance before starting the modeling process. The chamber heater 231 heats the chamber 220 to raise the temperature inside the chamber 220 to the target temperature during the pre-heat treatment, and maintains the temperature in the chamber 220 at the target temperature during the modeling process. Therefore, the inside of the chamber 220 is heated.
Furthermore, the heating unit 230 includes a stage heating unit 232 that heats and maintains the stage 211 (modeling plate 212) at a predetermined temperature. The stage heating unit 232 heats a modeled object modeled on the stage 211 and maintains it at a predetermined temperature.

  The driving target of the X-axis drive mechanism 310 and the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 in this embodiment is the modeling head 110, and a part of the modeling head 110 (the tip portion of the modeling head 110 including the nozzle 111) is disposed in the chamber 220. Has been. In the present embodiment, the interior of the chamber 220 is shielded from the outside even when the modeling head 110 is moved in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. Specifically, in the ceiling wall portion of the chamber 220, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a plurality of X-axis slide heat insulating members 221 elongated in the Y-axis direction are arranged side by side in the X-axis direction. The adjacent X-axis slide heat insulating members 221 are configured to be slidable relative to each other in the X-axis direction. Thereby, even if the modeling head 110 is moved in the X-axis direction by the X-axis drive mechanism 310, the plurality of X-axis slide heat insulating members 221 are slid in the X-axis direction accordingly, and the processing space in the chamber 220 is The upper part is always covered with the X-axis slide heat insulating member 221.

  Similarly, in the ceiling wall portion of the chamber, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a plurality of Y-axis slide heat insulating members 222 are arranged side by side in the Y-axis direction. The adjacent Y-axis slide heat insulating members 222 are configured to be slidable relative to each other in the Y-axis direction. Thereby, even if the modeling head 110 on the X-axis drive mechanism 310 is moved in the Y-axis direction by the Y-axis drive mechanism 320, the plurality of Y-axis slide heat insulating members 222 slide in the Y-axis direction accordingly. The upper part of the processing space in the chamber 220 is always covered with the Y-axis slide heat insulating member 222.

  In addition, the driving target of the Z-axis driving mechanism 330 in the present embodiment is the bottom wall portion 224 of the chamber 220 or the stage 211 (or the modeling plate 212). In the present embodiment, the inside of the chamber 220 is shielded from the outside even if the bottom wall 224 or the stage 211 is moved in the Z-axis direction.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, the internal cooling device 3 for cooling the space inside the main body frame 2 of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 outside the chamber 220, and the nozzle for cleaning the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 A cleaning unit 240 and a head cooling device 130 for cooling the head cooling unit 113 of the modeling head 110 are also provided.

FIG. 5 is a control block diagram of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 of the present embodiment.
In the present embodiment, an X-axis position detection mechanism 315 that detects the position of the modeling head 110 in the X-axis direction is provided. The detection result of the X-axis position detection mechanism 315 is sent to the control unit 400. The control unit 400 controls the X-axis drive mechanism 310 based on the detection result to move the modeling head 110 to the target position in the X-axis direction.

  In the present embodiment, a Y-axis position detection mechanism 325 that detects the Y-axis direction position of the X-axis drive mechanism 310 (the Y-axis direction position of the modeling head 110) is provided. The detection result of the Y-axis position detection mechanism 325 is sent to the control unit 400. The control unit 400 moves the modeling head 110 on the X-axis drive mechanism 310 to a target Y-axis direction position by controlling the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 based on the detection result.

  In the present embodiment, a Z-axis position detection mechanism 335 that detects the position in the Z-axis direction of the modeling plate 212 held on the stage 211 is provided. The detection result of the Z-axis position detection mechanism 335 is sent to the control unit 400. The control unit 400 controls the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 based on the detection result to move the modeling plate 212 on the stage 211 to a target Z-axis direction position.

  The control unit 400 controls the movement of the modeling head 110 and the stage 211 in this manner, so that the relative three-dimensional position between the modeling head 110 and the modeling plate 212 on the stage 211 in the chamber 220 is determined as a target. It can be located in a three-dimensional position.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of pre-heat treatment and modeling processing in the present embodiment.
In the present embodiment, when the modeling is started by a user instruction operation or the like, the control unit 400 first turns on the energization to the chamber heater 231, the head heating unit 112, and the stage heating unit 232 to operate them ( S1). Further, the control unit 400 controls the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 to raise the stage 211 from a predetermined standby position (for example, the lowest point) by the driving force of the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 (S2). When the stage 211 reaches the preheating position described above (Yes in S3), the driving of the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 is stopped (S4).

  When the temperature of the processing space reaches the target temperature (Yes in S5), the control unit 400 subsequently proceeds to modeling processing. The three-dimensional shape data of the three-dimensional structure to be modeled by the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is obtained from an external device such as a personal computer connected to the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 so that data communication can be performed by wire or wirelessly. Entered. The control unit 400 generates data (slice data for modeling) of a large number of layered structures decomposed in the vertical direction based on the input three-dimensional shape data. The slice data corresponding to each layered structure corresponds to each layered structure formed by the modeling material extruded from the modeling head 110 of the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1, and the thickness of the layered structure is three-dimensional. It is appropriately set according to the capability of the modeling apparatus 1.

  In the modeling process, first, the control unit 400 creates a lowermost layered structure on the surface of the modeling plate 212 held on the stage 211 in accordance with the slice data of the lowermost layer (first layer) (S6). Specifically, the control unit 400 controls the X-axis drive mechanism 310 and the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 based on the slice data of the lowermost layer (first layer), and sets the tip of the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 to the target position. The molding material is extruded (discharged) from the nozzle 111 while sequentially moving to (target position on the XY plane). Thereby, a layered structure according to the slice data of the lowermost layer (first layer) is formed on the surface of the modeling plate 212 on the stage 211.

  Next, the control unit 400 controls the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 to lower the stage 211 by a distance corresponding to one layer of the layered structure, and the modeling plate 212 on the stage 211 is moved to the next layer (first layer). The position is lowered to a position for creating a (two-layer) layered structure and positioned (S8). Thereafter, the control unit 400 controls the X-axis drive mechanism 310 and the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 based on the slice data of the second layer, and sequentially moves the tip of the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 to the target position, The molding material is extruded from 111. Thereby, the layered structure according to the slice data of the second layer is formed on the lowermost layered structure formed on the modeling plate 212 of the stage 211 (S6).

  In this way, the control unit 400 controls the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 to repeat the process of stacking and modeling each layered structure in order from the lower layer while sequentially lowering the stage 211. When the creation of the uppermost layered structure is completed (Yes in S7), a three-dimensional structure according to the input three-dimensional shape data is formed on the modeling plate 212.

  When the modeling process is completed in this way, the control unit 400 controls the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 to lower the stage 211 to a predetermined extraction position (the lowest point in the present embodiment) (S9). This take-out position is set at a position where the open / close door 226 provided on the front wall portion 225 of the chamber 220 is opened so that the three-dimensional structure on the stage 211 can be easily taken out of the chamber 220.

  Immediately after the modeling process is finished, the processing space in the chamber 220 is still hot, so the user cannot immediately open the open / close door 226 and take out the three-dimensional modeled object in the processing space. Therefore, after the temperature in the processing space is lowered to a temperature at which the user can take out, the user opens the door 226 and takes out the three-dimensional structure in the processing space while being fixed to the modeling plate 212. The control unit 400 provides a cooling period in which the door 226 is locked until the temperature in the processing space decreases to a temperature at which the processing space can be taken out. It is preferable to release the locked state.

Here, as an example of the modeling material constituting the three-dimensional modeled object, most resins used in the material extrusion deposition method are targeted, and ABS resin, polycarbonate (PC), PC-ABS, polyamide (PA), poly Examples include ether imide (PEI) and polylactic acid (PLA).
Further, the heating temperature condition of the modeling material by the head heating unit 112 may be higher than the temperature at which the resin softens and fluidizes, and it becomes difficult to control the discharge amount even if the temperature is too high and the fluidity becomes too high. . Also, it is not good that the resin is decomposed or carbonized. Although it depends on the heating method, a temperature range of 230-240 [° C.] for ABS resin and a temperature range of 190-210 [° C.] for polylactic acid (PLA) can be exemplified as suitable temperatures for ejection.

Further, the X-axis drive mechanism 310 and the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 that move the modeling head 110 along the XY axes, and the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 that moves the bottom wall portion 224 of the chamber 220 up and down along the Z-axis are movable. The range is designed as follows.
The movable range of the XY axes is appropriately designed from the required horizontal modeling range, and the movable range of the Z axes is appropriately designed in consideration of the modeling range in the height direction.
In addition, a specific target temperature in the chamber 220 due to the heating of the chamber heater 231 of the heating unit 230 is about 70 to 90 ° C. for ABS resin. This is a temperature close to the glass transition point of the resin and corresponds to a temperature lower than the softening point. Since there is a chamber, the temperature of the model can be lowered slowly to room temperature after modeling, so that the residual stress generated during modeling can be solidified while maintaining the shape.

In the 3D modeling apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, as described above, the inside of the chamber 220 is shielded from the outside even if the bottom wall portion 224 or the stage 211 is moved in the Z-axis direction.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, a slide hole 331 that penetrates the connecting portion between the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 and the bottom wall portion 224 or the stage 211 is formed on the wall surface of the side wall portion 223 of the chamber 220 in the Z-axis direction. It is formed to extend. The slide hole 331 is sealed by a flexible seal member 332 made of a heat insulating material. When the drive target of the bottom wall 224 or the stage 211 is moved in the Z-axis direction by the Z-axis drive mechanism 330, the connecting portion between the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 and the drive target elastically deforms the flexible seal member 332. However, it moves along the slide hole 331 in the Z-axis direction. Therefore, the slide hole 331 formed in the wall surface of the side wall portion 223 of the chamber 220 is always covered with the seal member 332.

  And the chamber 220 is comprised by the heat insulating material as mentioned above, or is comprised by the member provided with the heat insulating material, and becomes the structure by which the heat | fever in the chamber 220 was suppressed from escaping outside. ing. In particular, in this embodiment, the X-axis drive mechanism 310, the Y-axis drive mechanism 320, and the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 are arranged outside the chamber 220. Therefore, the X-axis drive mechanism 310, the Y-axis drive mechanism 320, and the Z-axis drive mechanism 330 are not exposed to the high temperature in the chamber 220, and stable drive control is realized.

[Details of modeling head]
Next, the configuration and operation of the modeling head 110 will be described in detail.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view schematically showing a tip portion of the modeling head 110 in the present embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional explanatory diagram of the modeling head 110 corresponding to one nozzle 111.
Here, in the modeling head 110 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, four nozzles 111 are arranged in 2 × 2 (2 in the X-axis direction × 2 in the Y-axis direction) (described above). In FIG. 2, for convenience of explanation, four nozzles 111 are shown side by side. The four nozzles 111 are respectively connected to individual head heating units 112, and the control unit 400 can individually control each head heating unit 112. Thereby, the filament 40 of a modeling material or a support material can be individually heated by the head heating unit 112 for each nozzle 111.
Moreover, in the following description, the case where the filament 40 of a modeling material is used will be described unless there is a specific need to distinguish between them.

As shown in FIG. 7, the four head heating units 112 to which the nozzles 111 are connected are connected to the head cooling unit 113 via the joints 14 at intervals in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, respectively. . Since the four head heating units 112 are connected to the head cooling unit 113 via the joint 14, the four head heating units 112 are fixed at positions separated from the head cooling unit 113. Furthermore, you may provide so that a heat insulating material may be pinched | interposed between each head heating part 112. FIG. By providing the heat insulating material in this way, it is possible to suppress the heat of the head heating unit 112 during the heat treatment from propagating to the other head heating unit 112 and heating the filaments 40 of the other nozzles 111. .
The joint 14 is made of a cylindrical metal, ceramic, or the like, and has an inner diameter that is slightly larger than the diameter of the filament 40. The inner diameter of the joint 14 is preferably narrow in order to guide the head heating unit 112 in a state where the filament 40 is not bent, but if the inner diameter of the joint 14 is too small, the resistance when sending the fragment increases. For this reason, for example, when the filament diameter is 1.75 [mm], the inner diameter of the joint 14 is preferably set to an inner diameter slightly larger than the filament diameter, for example, about 2.0 to 2.5 [mm]. The thickness of the joint 14 is suitably thin in order to form a temperature gradient which will be described later. On the other hand, in order to maintain the strength of the joint 14, a thickness greater than a predetermined thickness is required.

A head cooling unit 113 is provided on the opposite side of the nozzle 111 from the head heating unit 112, that is, on the upstream side in the transfer direction of the filament 40 with respect to the head heating unit 112. The head cooling section 113 is made of an endothermic material having high heat transfer properties such as aluminum. As shown in FIG. 7, the head cooling section 113 has a single block shape, and is upstream of the four head heating sections 112 in the filament transfer direction. Cooling in common. However, a configuration may be adopted in which individual head cooling units 113 are provided for each of the four head heating units 112.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 8, the head independent movable mechanism 20 which moves each modeling head 110 independently up and down is provided, so that the other modeling head 110 may not interfere with a modeling object while one modeling head 110 models. It can also be retractable upward. In the case of such a configuration, it is sufficient that the modeling head 110 that is not used for modeling does not come into contact with the uppermost surface of the modeled object.

An introduction portion 136 for introducing the filament 40 into the modeling head 110 is provided for each nozzle 111 above the head cooling portion 113, that is, upstream of the head cooling portion 113 in the transfer direction of the filament 40. Here, as shown in FIG. 8, the joint 14 is disposed so as to penetrate the head cooling portion 113, and an introduction portion 136 for introducing the filament 40 is provided for each nozzle 111 at the upper end portion of the joint 14.
The head cooling unit 113, the joint 14, and the head heating unit 112 are formed with through holes 12 a serving as a transfer path for transferring the filament 40 introduced from the introduction unit 136 to the nozzle 111. The head heating unit 112 heats the filament 40 in the solid state in the through hole 12 a to a molten state, and the molten modeling material is transferred to the nozzle 111.

In the joint 14 into which the filament 40 is introduced, a temperature gradient is formed in the vertical direction (filament transfer direction) by the head cooling unit 113 and the head heating unit 112. This temperature gradient prevents the molten resin from flowing back upstream by forming a semi-molten portion of the modeling material inside the joint 14 and discharges the modeling material in which the filament 40 is melted from the tip of the nozzle 111. Maintain the required pressure.
The molten resin is further pushed into the filament 40 which is a modeling material transferred from the upstream, passes through the inside of the nozzle 111, and is discharged so as to be pushed out from the nozzle 111. A modeling material 90 that is a three-dimensional modeling object is formed on the modeling plate 212 of the stage 211 by discharging the modeling material melted from the nozzle 111 onto the modeling plate 212 of the stage 211. Here, the structural parameters such as the distance between the head cooling unit 113 and the head heating unit 112 and the inner diameter of the joint 14 are appropriately designed in consideration of the resin characteristics of the modeling material and the like so that an appropriate temperature gradient can be formed.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the heater 112 b is built in the heating block 112 a of the head heating unit 112. The heating block 112a is formed of a metal block such as aluminum or SUS, and a temperature sensor 112c such as a thermocouple is connected to the heater 112b. The temperature sensor 112c is disposed in the heating block 112a. If the temperature sensor 112c is disposed near the through hole 12a of the joint 14, a temperature close to the temperature of the molten modeling material can be measured. In the control unit 400, the measured value of the temperature sensor 112c is used as an input value, and feedback control of the heating temperature is performed on the heater 112b.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the head cooling unit 113 is a cooling block in which a refrigerant passage 15 is formed, and the refrigerant passage 15 includes a head cooling device 130 serving as a refrigerant flow means. Cooling water as a refrigerant to be sent out is supplied to the head cooling unit 113.
Here, in this embodiment, the example which employ | adopted the water cooling block as the head cooling part 113 is described, However, As a cooling system of this embodiment, depending on the balance of the kind of modeling material, a heating means, etc., an air cooling FAN system And other forms of water cooling can be selected as appropriate.

As described above, the modeling material is supplied to the modeling head 110 in the form of the filament 40 that is a wire-like solid. An upstream side of the introduction unit 136 is provided with a filament feeding mechanism 21 that functions as a filament supply unit 120 for feeding the filament 40 to the introduction unit 136. The feeding direction at the time of feeding is a downward direction in FIG. is there.
The filament feed mechanism 21 has two rollers for sandwiching the filament 40, which is a modeling material before melting of the model material or the support material, from both sides. One of the rollers is the driving roller 22, and the filament 40 is modeled. Feed into the head 110. Here, the other roller is configured to apply pressure as the driven roller 23, and the conveying force is set from the friction coefficient of the surface of the driving roller 22 and the nip pressure between the driven roller 23. In addition to this, the driving roller 22 side may be a toothed roller, and the filament 40 may be bitten and sent. In any case, the feeding amount of the filament 40 can be set in accordance with the modeling amount (volume) per time, and it is important to send it correctly. The discharge amount is controlled by the discharge control means 500 provided in the control unit 400 by controlling the rotation amount of the drive roller 22 of the filament feed mechanism 21.

[Details of nozzle cleaning section]
Next, the nozzle cleaning part 240 provided in the chamber 220 of this embodiment is demonstrated in detail using figures.
FIG. 9 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the nozzle cleaning unit 240. In FIG. 9, the right side shows the purge device 50 for cleaning the residue inside the modeling head 110, and the left side in FIG. 9 is the modeling after purging. A head tip cleaning device 60 for cleaning the tip of the head 110 is shown. Here, in FIG. 9, the purge device 50 is shown including an attachment portion of the purge device 50 to the main body frame 2 and driving means (moving means of the adherend surface 51, adherent surface moving means). FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the head tip cleaning device 60. FIG. 10A shows an example in which the plate cleaner 61a and the brush head 61b are used in combination with the nozzle cleaner 61, and FIG. This is an example in which two rotating brushes 61 c are used for the nozzle cleaner 61.

FIG. 11 is a schematic explanatory view of the operation of the purge device 50, FIG. 11 (a) is a side explanatory view, and FIG. 11 (b) is a front explanatory view. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the adherend surface heating means 58 for heating the adherend surface 51 and the adherend surface cleaning mechanism 70 when the adherend surface 51 of the purge device 50 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the purge roller 52a. It is.
In FIGS. 11 and 12, the modeling material that has been purged and adhered (adhered) to the adherence surface 51 of the purge device 50 is shown in FIG. b) The thick line shown with the broken line in the figure has shown the modeling material adhering to the back side of the purge roller 52a. Further, in FIG. 12, the thick line described below the area where the purge roller 52a and the brush 71 face each other indicates the modeling material which is peeled (removed) from the purge roller 52a by the rotation of the brush 71. Yes.

  In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, cleaning (cleaning) of the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 is performed before the modeling process is started or when the nozzle 111 to be used is switched (when the filament to be extruded is switched). . In particular, when modeling by the material extrusion deposition method as in the present embodiment, the filament 40 is likely to hang down from the nozzle 111 or foreign matters such as residual filaments are likely to adhere to the nozzle 111. For these reasons, it is necessary to remove the foreign matter from the nozzle 111 before modeling so as not to hinder the operation (discharge operation) of pushing out the filament 40 from the nozzle 111 during modeling.

  The nozzle cleaning unit 240 shown in FIG. 1 has a purge device 50 and a head tip cleaning device 60 as shown in FIG. The purge device 50 cleans the residue inside the modeling head 110, and the head tip cleaning device 60 cleans the surface of the nozzle 111 provided around the modeling head 110 and the periphery of the nozzle 111.

Necessity of purging
Here, in the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1, the necessity of cleaning the residue inside the modeling head 110, that is, the necessity of purging the modeling material will be described in more detail.
The modeling material (filament 40) contains some moisture even if pre-drying or the like is performed. Further, when ON / OFF of discharge is repeated during modeling, air may be involved in the melted modeling material in the modeling head 110. Normally, air is gradually discharged from the nozzle 111 together with the modeling material, but depending on the modeling conditions, air may be accumulated and discharged from the nozzle 111 at a stroke. When air is discharged at once from the nozzle 111 during modeling, for example, modeling with a rough surface or modeling with a gap in some places is produced, which affects the modeling quality.

Moreover, the physical property of the modeling material in the nozzle 111 may change by continuing to heat the modeling material for a long time. For example, when having a plurality of modeling heads 110 and modeling using a plurality of modeling heads 110, the modeling material melted in the modeling head 110 remains heated without being discharged for a long time. May be held in a state. The modeling quality may be deteriorated by modeling with a resin whose properties have been changed by heat.
In such a case, the modeling material in the nozzle 111 is discarded once using the purge device 50, and a new modeling material is put in the nozzle 111, thereby resetting the change in the characteristic value of the modeling material in the nozzle 111. It is considered possible.

[Configuration of purge device]
The purge device 50 according to the present embodiment includes an adherend surface 51 to which the modeling material discharged from the modeling head 110 adheres. The adherend surface 51 is a roller-shaped rotating body as shown in FIGS. 9 and 11, and is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the purge roller 52a serving as the adherend. The diameter of the purge roller 52a is not specifically defined, but if it is too large, it will hinder space, and is about 20 to 100 [mm], for example. The modeling material discharged (purged) from the nozzle 111 to the new deposition surface 51 by rotating the deposition surface 51 while discharging the molding material melted from the modeling head 110 to the deposition surface 51. To attach. Here, although the adherend surface 51 may be a plate-like surface, there arises a problem that the size of the adherend surface 51 becomes large in order to secure the discharge amount of the modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111. By setting the adherend surface 51 as the outer peripheral surface of the purge roller 52a, a large amount of modeling material can be discharged in a smaller space than in the plate shape. Furthermore, as will be described later, the configuration of the moving means of the adherend surface 51 can be simplified.

Further, as described above, the purge device 50 includes the adherend surface 51 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the purge roller 52a to which the modeling material adheres, and the moving means of the adherend surface 51. Then, while the modeling material is discharged from the nozzle 111, the deposition surface 51 is moved by the moving means of the deposition surface 51 while the modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111 is attached to the deposition surface 51.
By comprising in this way, when collect | recovering modeling material, it is not necessary to form a modeling object like a purge tower (apart from the modeling object to model), for example. If the adherend surface is moved by a necessary amount, the modeling material can be ejected from the nozzle 111 by a necessary amount.
Therefore, the purge apparatus 50 and the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1 can be provided that can prevent the modeling material from being purged wastefully without being limited to the shape of the modeling object 90 such as a purge tower that is modeled for purging.
Furthermore, by reliably attaching the ejected modeling material to the adherend surface, the ejected modeling material can be continuously drawn out from the nozzle 111, and the ejected modeling material is divided by its own weight (gravity). Reattachment to the periphery can be suppressed, and a reliable purge operation can be performed.

  As a material constituting the adherend surface 51, a heat-resistant polymer material is preferable. For example, the material illustrated as a peeling member of the image removal apparatus of patent document 2 can be used. For example, polyethersulfone, polysulfone, polyetherimide, polyphenylene sulfide, polycarbonate, polyarylate, polyimide, polyetheretherketone, and the like as organic polymer materials are preferable as the material for forming the adherend surface 51. These materials can be selected in combination with a modeling material, and can have a property of having an appropriate adhesive property with the modeling material at a high temperature and easily peeling from the interface at a low temperature. Moreover, these can contain inorganic fillers, such as carbon, a calcium carbonate, and a titanium oxide, in order to improve durability.

  For example, polyimide (PI) is excellent in heat resistance and abrasion resistance, and widely used for various modeling materials from general-purpose resins such as ABS to super engineering plastics such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK). Yes. It is excellent as a material for adhering molten resin at high temperatures, and conversely peeling at cooling.

  As the structure of the purge roller 52a exemplified as the adherend that forms the adherend surface 51, it is possible to form a metal base material (cylindrical structure) such as aluminum or SUS by coating a resin material. This is preferable from the viewpoint of thinness and heat transfer characteristics. At this time, the thickness of the resin coating layer is not particularly limited, but the adherend forming the adherend surface 51 described later is turned into a ribbon-like adherend to be wound up or an endless movable belt-like adherend. When doing so, the bending property of the ribbon or the belt is not impaired, and is, for example, about 0.02 to 0.1 [mm]. Further, depending on the modeling material, the resin coating layer may not be used, and a cylindrical metal material, aluminum, SUS, or the like may be exposed.

The drive means (moving means for the adherend surface 51) of the purge roller 52a exemplified as the adherend forming the adherend surface 51 includes, for example, a drive source such as a stepping motor 53 and a transmission mechanism 54 as shown in FIG. Consists of
The transmission mechanism 54 is appropriately selected from a plurality of gears, a heat resistant belt, and the like. When the chamber 220 is used, the drive source (motor) and the motor driver are preferably disposed outside any one of the side walls of the chamber 220 (hereinafter, referred to as “chamber side wall 22c” as appropriate).
The drive source such as the stepping motor 53 that rotates the purge roller 52 a is controlled by a rotation control unit 502 provided in the control unit 400.

Regarding the configuration of the attachment portion, when there is a chamber 220, it is fixed to the inner wall of the chamber side wall 22c. The purge roller 52a is supported by the plate-like member 55 so as to be sandwiched between the bearings 55a. A shaft 52b of the purge roller 52a extends on one side of the plate-like member 55, the driven gear 52c is fixed, and is connected to the transmission mechanism 54 described above.
Moreover, the attachment member 56 is provided between the nozzle cleaning part 240 and the inner wall of the chamber side wall 22c, and it attaches manually by rotating the screw 57a of the height adjustment means 57 provided in the attachment member 56. The height direction of the member 56 can be adjusted. By moving the attachment member 56 up and down by the height adjusting means 57, the purge device 50 and the head tip cleaning device 60 mounted on the attachment member 56 are moved up and down to adjust the position in the height direction. be able to.

Here, in the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1, as described above, the height adjustment that adjusts the distance between the tip position of the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 and the adherend surface 51 of the purge apparatus 50 according to the thickness of the modeling material. Means 57 are provided.
By configuring in this way, for example, the height of the tip of the nozzle 111 with respect to the adherend surface 51 is adjusted in a range equivalent to the modeling pitch. By adjusting in this way, the modeling material to be discharged can always be continuously drawn out from the nozzle 111 in an appropriate amount, and the discharged modeling material is divided by its own weight (gravity) and reattached around the nozzle 111. This can be suppressed and a reliable purge operation can be performed.

Further, the height condition of the nozzle 111 that is the tip of the head with respect to the adherend surface 51 may be in a range equivalent to the modeling pitch. The modeling pitch is the height of a three-dimensional model to be modeled, for example, the modeling pitch can be adjusted to about 0.1 to 1.0 [mm]. By adjusting the height of the nozzle 111 with respect to the adherend surface 51 within a range equivalent to the modeling pitch, it can be attached to the adherend surface 51 with an appropriate force. As a result, it is possible to continuously draw out the modeling material to be discharged from the nozzle 111. For this reason, it can suppress that the modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111 reattaches to the nozzle 111 periphery.
Here, the exemplified purge roller 52a, that is, the adherend forming the adherend surface 51 can be replaced.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 12, it is desirable to provide an adherend surface heating means 58 for heating the adherend surface 51 to a predetermined temperature inside a purge roller 52a that is an adherend. The adhesion surface heating means 58 increases the adhesion force between the modeling material in the nozzle 111 and the modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111 and attached to the deposition surface 51 (hereinafter referred to as a discharge material as appropriate), thereby reliably forming the modeling material. The modeling material melted from the head 110 is drawn out to the adherend surface 51 and discharged from the nozzle 111. Further, since the modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111 strongly adheres to the adherend surface 51, the discharged matter adhered to the adherent surface 51 may be peeled off from the adherend surface 51 during the purge, or the discharged matter from the adherent surface 51 The problem of floating and reattaching to the nozzle 111 is less likely to occur.

In the embodiment of FIG. 12, a heat source such as a halogen lamp 58a and a heat insulating member 58b are provided inside the purge roller 52a, which is an adherend, as the adherend surface heating means 58. Alternatively, the deposition surface 51 may be heated using heat conducted from air heated by the chamber heater 231 in the chamber 220. The heating temperature may be the same when the material of the adherend surface 51 is the same as that of the surface of the stage 211. When the surface material of the adherend surface 51 is PI or when the modeling material is ABS, the heating temperature is 80 to 120 [ [° C.] and 60-70 [° C.] are suitable for polylactic acid (PLA).
As described above, the height position of the adherend surface 51 with respect to the nozzle 111 can be appropriately adjusted, and the surface temperature of the adherend surface 51 can be appropriately heated, so that the nozzle 111 is discharged (purged) onto the adherend surface 51. The modeling material can be reliably adhered (adhered), and the modeling material can be pulled out from the nozzle 111 onto the adherend surface 51 to perform a reliable purge operation.

As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the head tip cleaning device 60 includes a nozzle cleaner 61 that cleans the surface of the nozzle 111 that is the tip of the modeling head 110 and the periphery of the nozzle 111, and thereby the modeling head 110. It has a collection box 62 that collects the modeling material that has been removed from the tip and dropped downward.
The nozzle cleaner 61 has, for example, a plate-like cleaner 61a formed of a rubber plate or a sheet metal on the right side of the head tip cleaning device 60 in FIG. The material is removed by contacting the plate cleaner 61a.
Further, the nozzle cleaner 61 shown in FIG. 9 has a brush head 61 b in which a brush is attached to a rotating body as shown on the left side of the head tip cleaning device 60. By bringing the brush head 61b into contact with the nozzle 111 that is the tip of the modeling head 110 while rotating, the modeling material attached to the nozzle 111 (head tip) can be efficiently removed.
In the example shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10A, by moving the modeling head 110 leftward in FIG. 9, the plate-like cleaner 61a and the brush head 61b are added to the modeling material attached to the nozzle 111 (head tip). It is possible to efficiently remove the modeling material attached to the nozzle 111 by contacting in this order.

As another configuration of the nozzle cleaner 61, for example, a configuration having a pair of rotating brushes 61c as shown in FIG. 10B may be used. While rotating each rotating brush 61c, the nozzle 111 that is the head tip is brought into contact with the rotating brush 61c so that the nozzle 111 is sandwiched between the pair of rotating brushes 61c, thereby efficiently forming the modeling material attached to the nozzle 111. Can be removed.
Further, in the configuration having the pair of rotating brushes 61c as described above, the modeling head 110 is moved so that the nozzle 111 moves between the pair of rotating brushes 61c. The modeling head 110 is moved from a gap to a predetermined modeling position.

[Purge process flow]
Next, the flow when performing the purge process will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the purge process performed using the purge device 50.
After the purge process is started, first, the heater (halogen lamp 58a) in the adherend (purging roller 52a) having the adherend surface 51 formed on the surface is driven to remove the purge roller 52a as the adherend. The adherend surface 51 is heated (S11), and it is confirmed that the temperature of the purge roller 52a has been raised to the target temperature (predetermined temperature) (S12).
If it is confirmed by this confirmation that the adherend surface 51 of the purge roller 52a has been heated to the target temperature (Yes in S12), the X-axis drive mechanism 310 and the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 are driven and controlled. The modeling head 110 to be purged is positioned at the purge position of the purge roller 52a (S13).

Then, after positioning the modeling head 110 to be purged at the purge position of the purge roller 52a (S13), rotation of the purge roller 52a, which is an adherend, is started (S14), and a predetermined portion of the purge roller 52a is located. Whether the target position is reached with respect to the modeling head 110 is confirmed (S15).
If it is confirmed by this confirmation that the purge roller 52a has reached the target position with respect to the modeling head 110 (Yes in S15), the filament feeding mechanism 21 is activated to send the filament 40 to the nozzle 111, and the nozzle 111 is the modeling material. Discharge of the melted filament 40 is started (S16).

  When a predetermined time has passed after the filament 40 is sent to the nozzle 111 and discharge of the filament 40 from the nozzle 111 is started, or when a predetermined amount of the filament 40 is sent (S17), the rotating body (purge roller 52a) Is stopped, the filament delivery to the nozzle 111 is stopped, and the purge process is terminated (S18). Thereafter, before moving the modeling head 110 to the modeling area, the filament feeding mechanism 21 is driven in a direction opposite to the discharge direction (feeding direction) of the filament 40 to perform a pulling back operation to pull the filament 40 upward (S19). .

Here, the feeding speed of the filament 40 is u1, the cross-sectional area of the filament 40 is S1, the linear velocity of the adherend surface 51 when the purge roller 52a, which is a rotating body, is rotated, and u2 is attached on the adherend surface 51. Let S2 be the cross-sectional area of the discharge material (modeling material) to be (adhered).
Then, the approximate cross-sectional area S2 of the discharge material can be expressed by the following formula 1.
S2 = S1 * u1 / u2 (Formula 1)
If the width of the discharged material on the adherend surface 51 is W2, and the height of the modeling head 110 tip (nozzle 111 tip) with respect to the adherend surface 51 is H2, if the cross-sectional shape is a square, W2≈S2. / H2.
Further, when the volume inside the modeling head 110 is V1, if the efficiency of replacement of the modeling material in the modeling head 110 is very good, it is at least necessary to replace the modeling material in the modeling head 110 with a new modeling material. Replacement processing time: t1 is calculated by the following equation 2.
t1 = V1 / (S1 * u1) (Formula 2)

Here, in the three-dimensional modeling apparatus 1, as described above, the deposition by the moving means of the deposition surface 51 including the stepping motor 53 and the like in conjunction with the feeding speed u1 of the filament 40 supplied to the modeling head 110. The linear velocity u2 that is the moving speed of the surface 51 is controlled.
By configuring in this way, the moving speed of the adherend surface 51 by the stepping motor 53 or the like can be controlled in accordance with the supply speed of the filament 40 supplied to the modeling head 110. One continuous model can be modeled. Further, a predetermined cross-sectional area after purging can be set in accordance with the diameter of the filament 40 to be supplied.
Therefore, when the modeling material is purged, the discharged modeling material can be reliably collected without being attached again to the surface of the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 or the like.

Next, a supplementary description will be given of the pulling back operation of the filament 40 after the purge process.
The pull back operation refers to an operation of pulling back the filament 40 upward (upstream in the transfer direction of the filament 40) by about 1 to 5 [mm]. The pull back operation is one of the methods for rapidly decreasing the internal pressure inside the modeling head 110. For this reason, the feed speed during the pull-in operation (the feed speed in the minus direction is the pull-in direction) may be approximately 3 to 10 times faster than the normal feed speed, and the pressure inside the modeling head 110 is released. Since the direction is the direction, the load caused by the operation is relatively smaller than the load for feeding the filament 40 into the nozzle 111.
By reducing the internal pressure in the modeling head 110 in this way, the fluidized modeling material remaining inside the modeling head 110 (nozzle 111) is pulled back upward (upstream in the direction of filament 40 transfer in the modeling head 110). be able to.
By performing this pulling back operation, it is possible to minimize the modeling material remaining in the modeling head 110 from dripping from the tip of the nozzle 111 when the modeling head 110 is moved from the purge device 50 to the modeling area.

  That is, the control unit 400 executes a step of reducing the internal pressure in the modeling head 110 at the end of the purge operation (processing). In the step of lowering the internal pressure, the filament 40 is moved in the direction in which the filament 40 is pulled by the filament feed mechanism 21, thereby lowering the internal pressure in the modeling head 110.

If it is the structure as mentioned above of this embodiment, according to the capacity | capacitance of the modeling head 110, only the required quantity of modeling materials in the modeling head 110 can be replaced.
In particular, since the modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111 can be reliably attached (adhered) to the adherend surface 51, the modeling material attached to the adherend surface 51 is applied to the surface of the modeling head 110 (nozzle 111) or the like. It can be reliably recovered without being attached again.

[Adhesion surface cleaning mechanism]
Next, with respect to the adherend surface cleaning mechanism 70 as a removing means for removing deposits (discharge material) adhering to the adherend surface 51 of the purge roller 52a as the adherend after the purge processing by the purge device 50, This will be described with reference to the drawings.
As illustrated in FIG. 9 and FIG. 12, in the purge apparatus 50 of this embodiment, the purged deposits are removed from the adherend surface (adherence surface) 51 of the purge roller 52 a that is the adherend. An adherend surface cleaning mechanism 70 is provided.
9 and 12 show an example in which the rotating brush 71 is used as a cleaning member, other configurations may be used.

  The brush 71 used as the cleaning member is made of a material such as resin or metal having heat resistance and elasticity (elasticity), and the portion is designed to bend when it comes into contact with the adherend surface 51. Further, the surface of the brush 71 may exhibit releasability with respect to the modeling material. The rotation direction of the brush 71 is a direction (same rotation direction) as opposed to the rotation direction of the rotating body (purge roller 52a) having the adherend surface 51. For example, in FIG. 12, while the purge roller 52a rotates counterclockwise, the brush 71 also rotates counterclockwise. When the rotation speed of the brush 71 is higher than the rotation speed of the adherend surface 51 (about 1 to 3 times), the effect of exfoliating the modeling material from the adherend surface 51 can be obtained. By rotating the brush 71, the modeling material is continuously peeled off from the adherend surface 51.

The temperature of the adherend surface 51 in the portion that comes into contact with the cleaning member such as the brush 71 is a temperature that is greatly lower than the temperature of the adherend surface 51 in the portion to be attached by the purge process, and the modeling attached to the adherend surface 51. The temperature is set so that the material is easily peeled off from the adherend surface 51.
As a method of providing a temperature gradient with the high temperature part where the modeling head 110 is positioned, when the heating unit is the chamber 220, a cooling unit may be provided in the vicinity of the contact point with the cleaning member. For example, a water cooling pipe may be built in one side of the purge roller 52a.
When the adherend surface heating means 58 is a heater such as a halogen lamp 58a built in the purge roller 52a, heating is performed by covering the heater with a heat insulating material such as a heat insulating member 58b as shown in FIG. Heat of the heater can be concentrated on the adherend surface 51.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, in order to remove the modeling material attached to the brush 71, a comb tooth member is provided and dropped into the collection container 79. A structure in which the brush 71 is detachably attached to the purge device 50 is provided, and the brush 71 can be cleaned or replaced.
Here, the configuration of the cleaning member is not limited to the rotating brush 71. For example, as long as the modeling material can be peeled off from the adherend surface 51, the scraper member or the scraper member is arranged on the spiral. A rotating blade provided on the rotating roller may be used. In such a configuration, since the cleaning member itself cannot be given elasticity, it is preferable to provide a biasing means 77 between the purge roller 52a and the cleaning member.
Thus, by providing the adherend surface cleaning mechanism 70 as a cleaning means for cleaning the adherend surface 51, the time during which the adherend surface 51 can be used continuously can be significantly extended.

Here, with reference to FIG. 9, an outline of an attachment configuration of the adherend surface cleaning mechanism 70 and driving means for the rotating brush 71 exemplified as the cleaning member will be described.
The driving means for the rotating brush 71 includes, for example, a driving source such as a motor 73 and a cleaning transmission mechanism 74 as shown in FIG.
The cleaning transmission mechanism 74 is appropriately selected from a plurality of gears, a heat resistant belt, and the like. When the chamber 220 is used, the driving source (motor) and the motor driver are disposed outside the chamber side wall 22c that is one of the side walls of the chamber 220.
When there is an attachment member 56 for the purge roller 52a, the rotating brush 71 sandwiches the bearing 75a via a swinging member 75 that swings about a fulcrum provided on the mounting member 56. Supported. In addition, a shaft 75b of the rotating brush 71 extends on one side of the swing member 75, the driven gear is fixed, and is connected to the cleaning transmission mechanism 74 described above.

In addition, the urging force between the purge roller 52a and the rotating brush 71 serving as a cleaning member is provided between the plate-like member 55 that supports the purge roller 52a at the center in the longitudinal direction of the swing member 75. An urging means 77 is provided for imparting.
A recovery container 79 for recovering the modeling material removed by the rotating brush 71 is provided below the purge roller 52a and the brush 71. In FIG. A guide plate 80 that guides the modeling material to be scattered into the collection container 79 is provided.

[Horizontal movement of modeling head]
Further, in the purge device 50 using the purge roller 52a of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11B, the modeling head 110 is gradually moved in the X-axis direction or the Y-axis direction which is the axial direction of the purge roller 52a. Move to. Specifically, the modeling head 110 is moved in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the adherend surface 51 on the purge roller 52a.
The movement pitch (movement amount) of the modeling head 110 in the X-axis direction or the Y-axis direction may be set to the above-described discharge material width: W2 or more. The modeling head 110 is moved using the X-axis drive mechanism 310 or the Y-axis drive mechanism 320 described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 11B, the modeling head 110 discharges the modeling material from the nozzle 111 to the purge roller 52 a while moving in the X-axis or Y-axis direction, and the purge roller 52 a Rotates while the modeling material is being dispensed. Therefore, the modeling material discharged from the modeling head 110 onto the adherend surface 51 of the purge roller 52 a and attached (adhered) to the adherend surface 51 continuously adheres spirally to the adherend surface 51. .

With the configuration described above, even if the purge roller 52a has a small diameter, a large amount of modeling material can be discharged from the modeling head 110 to the adherend surface 51. It is possible to recover to a dischargeable state.
Furthermore, the modeling material in the modeling head 110, the modeling material discharged to the outside from the modeling head 110, and the modeling material adhering (adhered) to the adherend surface 51 of the purge roller 52a are continuous. The purge roller 52a is rotated in the connected state (connected). For this reason, a modeling material can be continuously pulled out from the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110, and the modeling material clogged inside the nozzle 111 can be removed from the nozzle 111.
That is, during the purge process (discharge operation), the modeling material in the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 and the modeling material attached to the adherend surface 51 of the purge roller 52a are connected (continuous). Become.

The modeling head 110 moves while discharging the modeling material onto the purge roller 52a (the adherend surface 51). For this reason, for example, all the modeling material cannot be peeled off from the adherend surface 51 by the cleaning member (brush 71), and a part of the modeling material is left on the adherend surface 51 of the purge roller 52a. The nozzle 111 is moved from the position of the adherend surface 51 where the modeling material left to be peeled is present. For this reason, the modeling material left to peel off on the adherend surface 51 does not adhere to the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 again.
In addition, since the position in the height direction of the adherend surface 51 can be kept constant, the gap (interval) between the modeling head 110 (nozzle 111) and the adherend surface 51 can be controlled to be constant.
Further, the modeling material can be peeled off from the end of the deposit by scraping the modeling material from the purge roller 52a with the cleaning member (brush 71), so it is necessary to continuously discharge the modeling material from the nozzle 111 during the purge. Absent. For example, the modeling material may be intermittently discharged from the nozzle 111 onto the adherend surface 51 of the purge roller 52a in units of a certain length.

Here, an example of a problem that may occur when the modeling material melted by relying only on gravity from the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 is purged downward without using the purge device 50 of the present embodiment described above. Will be described.
FIG. 14 is an explanatory view when the modeling material melted downward is discharged from the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 only by gravity. FIG. 14A shows a state in which the modeling material discharged to the nozzle 111 is again attached to the nozzle 111 in a U-shape, and FIG. 14B shows that the discharged modeling material has been violently attached to the nozzle 111. Indicates the state.
When the modeling material melted by relying only on gravity is discharged downward from the nozzle 111 without using the purge roller 52a shown in FIG. 11 and the like, the nozzle 111 is shown in FIGS. 14 (a) and 14 (b). In some cases, the modeling material discharged from the violently adheres to the nozzle 111 again. In this case, a predetermined amount of modeling material cannot be discharged from the modeling head 110.

  Therefore, in the purge device 50 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11 and the like, when the modeling material is discharged from the inside of the nozzle 111 and collected, the modeling material inside the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 and the purge roller The purge roller 52a is rotated in a state where the modeling material adhering to the adherend surface 51 of 52a is connected (continuous). By rotating in this way, the modeling material ejected from the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 can be drawn out from the inside of the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 and discharged to the outside of the nozzle 111 without being disturbed.

[Another form of purge device]
Next, a modified example of the purge device 50 (nozzle cleaning unit 240) having a rotating body that moves the adherend surface 51 will be described.
FIG. 15 is an explanatory view of a modified example of the purge device 50. FIG. 15A shows that the adherend surface 51 is formed on the surface of the purge belt 51a stretched between the transport roller 53a and the stretch roller 53b. The modification 1 of a belt system is shown. FIG. 15B shows a second modification of the winding method (ribbon method) in which the purging ribbon 51b wound around the feeding roller 53c is stretched around the conveying roller 53a and wound by the winding roller 53d. ing.

(Modification 1)
As shown in FIG. 15A, the purge device 50 according to the first modification forms the adherend surface 51 on the surface of the purge belt 51a stretched between the transport roller 53a and the stretch roller 53b. Here, the conveyance roller 53a functions as a backup roller for defining the position of the modeling head 110 (nozzle 111) from the back surface of the purge belt 51a.
The basic configuration of the purge device 50 according to the first modification is the same as the roller configuration shown in FIG. 11 and the like except that a belt type in which the adherend surface 51 is formed on the surface of the purge belt 51a. The same effect as that of the roller-type configuration described above can be obtained even in the belt-type configuration of the first modification.

In addition, in the belt system shown in FIG. 15 (a), as the means for cleaning (scraping off) the modeling material adhering (adhered) onto the adherend surface 51, the adherend surface similar to the roller purge device described above. A cleaning mechanism 70 is used. As shown in FIG. 15A, a belt system is used to reduce the diameter of the stretching roller 53b and provide an edge portion 53e, whereby the purge belt 51a is bent and the modeling material attached on the adherend surface 51 is peeled off. can do.
In addition, since a part of the purge belt 51a can be disposed outside the high temperature region in the vicinity of the modeling head 110, a temperature difference can be provided between the purge (adhesion) location and the separation location.

(Modification 2)
As shown in FIG. 15B, the purge device 50 according to the second modified example stretches the purge ribbon 51b wound around the feed roller 53c on the transport roller 53a and winds it with the take-up roller 53d. The transport roller 53a functions as a backup roller for defining the position of the modeling head 110 (nozzle 111) from the back surface of the purge ribbon 51b.
Unlike the roller-type purge device described above, the purge device 50 according to the second modification attaches (adheres) a modeling material to the purge ribbon 51b taken up by the take-up roller 53d. There is no means for cleaning (scraping off) the deposited modeling material.

Further, since the purge ribbon 51b is usually thin and thin, the modeling material can be wound up while being attached to the purge ribbon 51b. On the other hand, since the ribbon needs to be wound, it is preferable to use a resin having low hardness as the material of the purge ribbon 51b.
The purge device 50 according to the second modification has a simpler configuration than the roller-type purge device described above because it does not require a cleaning means for the modeling material adhered on the adherend surface 51. Further, since the modeling material adhered (adhered) to the purge ribbon 51b does not peel from the adherend surface 51, the change with time of the purge process can be recorded on the adherend surface 51 as a record.

The purge device 50 according to the second modification is configured to move the purge ribbon 51b in one direction by feeding the thin purge ribbon 51b from the feed roller 53c and winding it by the take-up roller 53d. You may comprise.
After the winding by the winding roller 53d is completed, the winding roller 53d, the conveying roller 53a, and the feeding roller 53c are rotated in the reverse direction. Then, the modeling material discharged from the nozzle 111 of the modeling head 110 is attached to the position of the deposition surface 51 in the axial direction of the transport roller 53a or the position of the deposition surface 51 where the modeling material is scraped off by the cleaning means. Let (adhere). As a result, the purge ribbon 51b can be used for a longer period of time, and the frequency of maintenance can be reduced.
However, when depositing the modeling material to be ejected on the position of the adherend surface 51 in the axial direction of the transport roller 53a, the modeling head 110 is transported to the transport roller 53a (in FIG. 11) similarly to the configuration shown in FIG. The purging roller 52a) is moved in the axial direction, and a purging ribbon 51b having a predetermined width or more is used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 3D modeling apparatus 21 Filament feed mechanism 40 Filament 50 Purge apparatus 51 Adhering surface 51a Purge belt 51b Purge ribbon 52a Purge roller 53 Stepping motor 53a Conveying roller 53
53b Stretching roller 53c Feeding roller 53d Winding roller 53e Edge portion 56 Mounting member 57 Height adjusting means 57a Screw 58 Adhering surface heating means 58a Halogen lamp 58b Heat insulating member 60 Head end portion cleaning device 70 Adhering surface cleaning mechanism 100 Material Supply unit 110 Modeling head 111 Nozzle 210 Placement unit 211 Stage 212 Modeling plate 220 Chamber 310 X-axis drive mechanism 320 Y-axis drive mechanism 330 Z-axis drive mechanism 400 Control unit

US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0252684 Japanese Patent No. 4658900

Claims (12)

In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus for modeling the three-dimensional model by discharging the fluidized modeling material from the nozzle of the modeling head,
A purge device for recovering the modeling material discharged from the modeling head;
The purge device has a deposition surface to which the modeling material adheres, and a deposition surface moving means for moving the deposition surface,
The tertiary is characterized in that, while discharging the modeling material from the nozzle, the deposition surface is moved by the deposition surface moving means in a state where the modeling material discharged from the nozzle adheres to the deposition surface. Original modeling device. The three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1,
The three-dimensional modeling apparatus, wherein when the adherend surface is moved by the adherend surface moving means, the modeling material attached to the adherend surface and the modeling material inside the modeling head are connected to each other. . In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The purge device has a rotating body,
The adherend surface is a surface of the rotating body,
The three-dimensional modeling apparatus, wherein the adherend moving means moves the adherend surface by rotating the rotating body. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The purge device includes a rotating body, and a belt or ribbon moved by the rotating body,
The adherend surface is the surface of the belt or the ribbon,
The three-dimensional modeling apparatus, wherein the adherend moving means moves the adherend surface by rotating the rotating body. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A three-dimensional modeling apparatus characterized by controlling a moving speed of the adherend surface by the adherend surface moving means in conjunction with a supply speed of a modeling material supplied to the modeling head. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
3. A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising adjusting means for adjusting a distance between a tip position of the nozzle of the modeling head and the adherend surface of the purge device in accordance with a thickness of the modeling material. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising heating means for heating a temperature of the adherend surface of the purge apparatus to a predetermined temperature. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
An organic polymer material selected from at least one of polyethersulfone, polysulfone, polyetherimide, polyphenylenesulfide, polycarbonate, polyarylate, polyimide, and polyetheretherketone, as the material for the adherend surface of the purge device The three-dimensional modeling apparatus characterized by being. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising a removing unit that removes the modeling material attached to the adherend surface of the purge apparatus. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising: a moving unit that moves the modeling head in a direction orthogonal to a moving direction of the adherend surface by the adherend surface moving unit. In the three-dimensional modeling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
A feeding mechanism that feeds and feeds a modeling material to the modeling head;
A control unit that controls the supply speed of the modeling material to the modeling head by the feed mechanism and the moving speed of the adherend surface by the purge device;
With
When the control unit finishes the operation of discharging the modeling material, the modeling material inside the modeling head is opposite to the feeding direction in which the modeling material is fed and supplied to the modeling head by the feeding mechanism. 3D modeling apparatus characterized by moving In the purge device for recovering the modeling material discharged from the inside of the modeling head, which is used in the three-dimensional modeling apparatus that discharges the fluidized modeling material from the nozzle of the modeling head to model the three-dimensional modeled object,
An adherend surface to which the modeling material adheres and an adherend surface moving means for moving the adherend surface are moved by the adherend surface moving means. Then, the purge device is characterized in that the modeling material is collected.

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