JP7255662B2 - Apparatus for modeling three-dimensional object, method for modeling three-dimensional object - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object and a method for modeling a three-dimensional object.

As an apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object (three-dimensional object), model materials for forming the three-dimensional object are discharged into the modeling area, and support materials for shape support are discharged into areas other than the modeling area, and the model materials and By curing the support material, a layered object (modeling layer) including the model material modeled object with the model material hardened and the support modeled object with the support material hardened is built, and the modeling layers are stacked one after another to form the support material modeled object. There is a material injection modeling method (material jet method) that removes the model material and forms a three-dimensional object made of model materials.

Conventionally, there is a method in which surplus flowable resin is collected by a roller portion, and the rotational speed of the roller portion when collecting the model material is different from the rotational speed of the roller portion when collecting the support material (Patent Document 1).

JP 2013-067121 A

By the way, a phenomenon that the peripheral surface of the rotary member vibrates when it rotates occurs depending on the accuracy of parts and the accuracy of mounting. Therefore, when the surface of the model material, the support material, or the like is flattened by the rotating member, irregularities appear on the surface of the modeling material due to vibration of the rotating member. There is a problem that the unevenness of the surface of the modeled object lowers the surface accuracy of the modeled object, and that the hardened lower modeled layer and the rotating member interfere with each other when flattening the modeled object.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce inconvenience caused by flattening by a rotating member.

In order to solve the above problems, the apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object according to the present invention includes:
a modeling stage for stacking layered objects;
a means for applying a modeling material to the layered article on the modeling stage;
a rotating member that flattens the surface of the modeling material ;
The rotating member is movable relative to the modeling stage,
When the trajectory of the displacement of the lower end of the rotating member in the moving direction of the rotating member is defined as the rotation phase,
When flattening the modeling material forming the n-th layered article and the modeling material forming the n+1-th layer of the layered article that are continuous in the stacking direction, the n-th layer It is configured to include means for controlling a rotational phase shift of the rotating member in the moving direction of each of the rotating members during the planarization and the n+1-th layer planarization.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce inconvenience caused by flattening by a rotating member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic plane explanatory drawing of an example of the apparatus which models the three-dimensional molded article which concerns on this invention. It is similarly schematic side explanatory drawing. FIG. 11 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a molding unit portion of the same; It is similarly a block explanatory drawing of a control part. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the rotation phase of the flattening roller in the first embodiment of the present invention; It is a schematic cross-sectional explanatory view similarly used for explaining the lamination state of the layered structure. FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional explanatory view for explaining the layered state of the layered structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the rotation phase of the flattening roller in the third embodiment of the present invention; It is a schematic cross-sectional explanatory view similarly used for explaining the lamination state of the layered structure.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. An outline of an example of an apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the apparatus, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the molding unit.

An apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object (referred to as a three-dimensional object forming apparatus) is a material injection molding apparatus, and includes a modeling section including a modeling stage 11 on which modeling layers 10, which are layered objects, are laminated to form a three-dimensional object. 1 and a modeling unit 2 for successively laminating modeling layers 10 on a modeling stage 11 .

The modeling unit 1 includes an elevating mechanism 12 that raises and lowers the modeling stage 11 in the height direction (Z direction).

The modeling unit 2 includes a carriage 20 arranged to be reciprocally movable in the X direction (main scanning direction).

The carriage 20 has a first head 21 as a model material application means for ejecting the model material 201 that constitutes the three-dimensional object, and a second head as a support material application means for ejecting the support material 202 to be finally removed. 22 are arranged side by side in the X direction.

Further, the carriage 20 is provided with flattening rollers 23 , which are rotating members constituting flattening means for flattening the modeling layer 10 , on both sides of the first head 21 and the second head 22 .

In addition, the carriage 20 hardens the model material 201 and the support material 202 which are provided (discharged) as modeling materials on the side opposite to the first head 21 and the second head 22 with the flattening roller 23 interposed therebetween. A curing unit 24 is provided as curing means for irradiating active energy rays, such as ultraviolet rays.

An encoder scale 31 formed with a predetermined pattern is stretched between the side plates 70 along the main scanning direction of the carriage 20 , and an encoder sensor comprising a transmissive photosensor for reading the pattern of the encoder scale 31 is mounted on the carriage 20 . 32 are provided. The encoder scale 31 and encoder sensor 32 constitute a linear encoder 30 for detecting movement of the carriage 20 .

An encoder wheel 34 is attached to the shaft 23a of the flattening roller 23, and an encoder sensor 35 made of a transmissive photosensor for reading a pattern formed on the encoder wheel 34 is provided. The encoder wheel 34 and encoder sensor 35 constitute a rotary encoder 33 that detects the rotation amount and rotation position of the flattening roller 23 .

Curing unit 24 includes an ultraviolet (UV) irradiation lamp, an electron beam irradiation source, and the like. When using an ultraviolet irradiation lamp, it is preferable to have a mechanism for removing generated ozone. Types of ultraviolet irradiation lamps include high-pressure mercury lamps, ultrahigh-pressure mercury lamps, metal halide lamps, and the like. Ultra-high pressure mercury lamps are point light sources, but UV irradiation lamps, which are combined with an optical system to increase the efficiency of light utilization, can irradiate light in the short wavelength range. Metal halide lamps have a wide wavelength range and are therefore effective for colored objects. Halides of metals such as Pb, Sn and Fe are used, and the halide can be selected according to the absorption spectrum of the photopolymerization initiator.

The carriage 20 is held by guide members 41 and 42 so as to be able to reciprocate. The guide members 41 and 42 are held by side plates 70 and 70 on both sides. A slider portion 72 is movably held by a guide member 71 arranged on the base member 7, and the entire molding unit 2 can reciprocate in the Y direction (sub-scanning direction) perpendicular to the X direction. .

A maintenance mechanism 61 for maintaining and restoring the heads 21 and 22 is arranged on one side in the X direction.

A maintenance mechanism 61 is mainly composed of a cap 62 and a wiper 63 . The cap 62 is brought into close contact with the nozzle surfaces (surfaces on which the nozzles are formed) of the heads 21 and 22, and the model material 201 and the support material 202 are sucked from the nozzles. After that, the wiper 63 wipes the nozzle surface to form the meniscus of the nozzle (inside the nozzle is in a negative pressure state). Further, the maintenance mechanism 61 covers the nozzle surfaces of the first head 21 and the second head 22 with a cap 62 to prevent drying when the model material 201 and the support material 202 are not discharged.

In this apparatus, the carriage 20 is moved, and the model material 201 is ejected from the first head 21 onto the modeling area (the area to be the three-dimensional object) on the modeling stage 11, and is applied to the support area from the second head 22. The support material 202 is discharged and applied to (regions other than the modeling region).

Then, the curing unit 24 hardens the model material 201 and the support material 202 discharged from the modeling stage 11 to form a single-layered object composed of the model material object 201a and the support material object 202a. A layer 10 is formed. The modeling layers 10 are successively stacked to form a three-dimensional object.

In this case, when forming one modeling layer 10 , the model material 201 and the support material 202 on the modeling stage 11 are flattened by the flattening roller 23 before being hardened by the hardening unit 24 . Alternatively, each time a plurality of modeling layers 10 that have been cured by the curing unit 24 are laminated, the flattening roller 23 flattens the surface of the surface modeling layer 10 .

In this apparatus, the carriage 20 on which the first head 21, the second head 22, the flattening roller 23, and the curing unit 24 are mounted reciprocates, so that the flattening roller 23, which is a rotating member, moves relative to the modeling stage 11. can be relatively moved, but it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the modeling stage 11 side is moved in the X direction and the Y direction.

Next, an overview of the control unit of the stereolithography apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the same control unit.

The control unit 500 stores a CPU 501 that controls the entire apparatus, a program including a program according to the present invention for causing the CPU 501 to control the three-dimensional modeling operation including the control according to the present invention, and other fixed data. A main control unit 500A including a ROM 502 and a RAM 503 for temporarily storing modeling data and the like is provided.

The control unit 500 includes a non-volatile memory (NVRAM) 504 for retaining data even while the device is powered off. The control unit 500 also includes an ASIC 505 for processing input/output signals for image processing for performing various signal processing on image data and for controlling the entire apparatus.

The control unit 500 includes an I/F 506 for transmitting and receiving data and signals used when receiving modeling data from an external modeling data creation device 600 .

The modeling data creation device 600 is a device that creates modeling data (cross-sectional data), which is slice data obtained by slicing a final model object (three-dimensional object) for each modeling layer. consists of equipment.

The control unit 500 includes an I/O 507 for receiving detection signals from a temperature/humidity sensor 560 for detecting temperature and humidity as the environmental conditions of the apparatus, detection signals from other sensors, and the like.

The control unit 500 includes a head drive control unit 508 that drives and controls the first head 21 of the modeling unit 2 and a head drive control unit 509 that drives and controls the second head 22 .

The control unit 500 includes a motor driving unit 510 that drives a motor that constitutes an X-direction scanning mechanism 550 that moves the carriage 20 of the modeling unit 2 in the X direction (main scanning direction). The control unit 500 includes a motor driving unit 511 that drives a motor that constitutes a Y-direction scanning mechanism 552 that moves the entire modeling unit 2 in the Y direction (sub-scanning direction).

The control unit 500 includes a motor driving unit 512 that drives a motor that constitutes the lifting mechanism unit 12 that lifts and lowers the modeling stage 11 in the Z direction. It should be noted that the elevation in the Z direction can also be configured to elevate the modeling unit 2 .

The control unit 500 includes a motor drive unit 516 that drives each motor 123 that drives the flattening roller 23 to rotate. The control unit 500 receives detection signals from the linear encoder 30 and the rotary encoder 33 via the I/O 507 and controls the rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 in the moving direction.

The control unit 500 includes a maintenance drive unit 518 that drives the maintenance mechanisms 61 of the first head 21 and the second head 22 .

The controller 500 includes a curing controller 519 that controls ultraviolet irradiation (curing) by the curing unit 24 .

An operation panel 522 is connected to the control unit 500 for inputting and displaying information necessary for this apparatus.

The control unit 500 receives modeling data from the modeling data creation device 600 as described above. The modeling data is data (modeling area data) for forming the model material modeled object 201a in each modeling layer 10 as slice data obtained by slicing the shape of the target three-dimensional modeled object.

Then, the main control unit 500A creates data in which the supporting material 202 is added to the modeling data (data of the modeling area) to form the supporting material modeled object 202a, and the data of the supporting area is added. give to

The head drive control units 508 and 509 respectively cause droplets of the liquid model material 201 to be discharged from the first head 21 to the modeling area, and droplets of the liquid support material 202 to be discharged from the second head 22 to the support area. .

After that, the main control unit 500A causes the curing unit 24 to irradiate the discharged model material 201 and the support material 202 with ultraviolet rays to cure them, thereby forming a modeling layer composed of the model material modeled object 201a and the support material modeled object 202a. form 10;

Then, as described above, the three-dimensional object is modeled by successively stacking the modeling layers 10 while flattening each layer before curing or each time a plurality of layers are modeled.

A modeling apparatus is configured by the modeling data creation apparatus 600 and the three-dimensional modeling apparatus.

Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the rotation phase of the flattening roller in the same embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram for similarly explaining the stacked state of the layered structure.

In this embodiment, when flattening the surface of the n-th layer of model material 201 continuous in the stacking direction and when flattening the surface of the (n+1)-th layer of model material 201, the flattening roller 23 The rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 in the moving direction (main scanning direction) is controlled to be the same.

For example, the control unit 500 sets the movement start position of the carriage 20 to the same position for the n-th layer and the (n+1)-th layer based on the detection signal of the linear encoder 30 , and the flattening roller 23 based on the detection signal of the rotary encoder 33 . is controlled so that the rotation start positions of the n-th layer and the (n+1)-th layer are the same.

As a result, when flattening the surface of the model material 201 forming the n-th layer on the modeling stage 11, the lower end of the flattening roller 23 is displaced as indicated by the solid line in FIG.

When flattening the surface of the model material 201 forming the (n+1)-th layer, the movement start position of the carriage 20 and the rotation start position of the flattening roller 23 are set to the same positions as those of the n-th layer. The lower end of the flattening roller 23 is displaced as indicated by the dashed line in FIG.

That is, the rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 in the movement direction (main scanning direction) of the flattening roller 23 is the same when flattening the nth layer and flattening the n+1th layer. .

This embodiment will be specifically described with reference to FIG. Here, an example in which model material molded objects 201A and 201B are sequentially stacked on the modeling stage 11 will be described. In this example, the model material molded object 201A is the n-th layer, and the model material molded object 201B is the (n+1)th layer.

First, as shown in FIG. 6A, the first head 21 discharges the model material 201 to be the n-th layer toward the modeling stage 11 . Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, the flattening roller 23 contacts the n-th model material 201 to flatten it, and the hardening unit 24 hardens it to form the n-th model material molded object 201A. Form.

Here, when flattening by the flattening roller 23 , the roller lower end of the flattening roller 23 is displaced in the movement direction of the flattening roller 23 due to rotational vibration of the flattening roller 23 . Therefore, unevenness occurs on the flattened surface of the model material model object 201</b>A of the n-th layer at a pitch following the displacement of the lower end of the flattening roller 23 .

Next, as shown in FIG. 6C, the model material 201 to be the n+1th layer is discharged from the first head 21 toward the modeling stage 11 onto the model material model object 201A of the nth layer. Then, as shown in FIG. 6D, the flattening roller 23 contacts the n+1-th model material 201 to flatten it, and the hardening unit 24 cures the model material 201B to form the n+1-th layer model material model object 201B. Form.

Here, when flattening the n-th layer model material 201 and when flattening the (n+1)-th layer model material 201, the flattening roller 23 in the movement direction (main scanning direction) of the flattening roller 23 are controlled so that their rotational phases are the same.

As a result, the flattened surface of the (n+1)-th model material model object 201B has unevenness following the displacement of the lower end of the flattening roller 23 in the same phase as the n-th layer model material model object 201A.

In this way, the displacement of the lower end of the flattening roller 23 caused by the vibration of the flattening roller 23 in two layers that are continuous in the stacking direction is superimposed. In other words, the surface of the model material modeled object 201A of the nth layer after curing is in a state in which the deflection of the flattening roller 23 is transferred and unevenness corresponding to the rotation pitch is generated. When the surface 201 is flattened, the unevenness due to the vibration of the flattening roller 23 becomes the same as the n-th layer, which is the lower layer.

As a result, when flattening the (n+1)-th model material model object 201B, the flattening roller 23 does not interfere with the n-th hardened model material model object 201B, which is the lower layer. It is possible to prevent the lower layer from being scraped and the occurrence of abnormal noise.

Next, a second embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional explanatory view for explaining the layered state of the layered structure in the same embodiment.

Here, an example in which model material objects 201A, 201B, and 201C are sequentially stacked on the modeling stage 11 will be described. In this example, the model material molded object 201C is the final resurface layer of the three-dimensional molded object.

In this embodiment, the flattening roller 23 does not flatten the model material molded object 201C, which is a layered molded object that is the outermost surface of the three-dimensional molded object.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7(a), model material molded objects 201A and 201B are sequentially stacked on the modeling stage 11 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. At this time, the rotational phases of the flattening rollers 23 are made to match in flattening when forming the model material molded objects 201A and 201B.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, the model material 201 that becomes the final layer is discharged onto the model material modeled object 201B. After that, without flattening the model material 201, as shown in FIG. 7C, the model material molded object 201C is formed by curing in the curing unit 24 to become the outermost surface of the three-dimensional molded object.

As a result, the unevenness of the lower layer caused by the vibration of the flattening roller 23 can be filled with the last layer of the layered article forming the surface of the three-dimensional article, and the quality of the three-dimensional article can be improved. In addition, when hardened without flattening, the outer periphery of the final layer becomes a raised shape, but if it is for one to several layers, the amount is small and the molding quality does not deteriorate.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the rotational phase of the flattening roller in the same embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram for similarly explaining the layered state of the layered structure.

In this embodiment, when flattening the surface of the n-th layer of model material 201 continuous in the stacking direction and when flattening the surface of the (n+1)-th layer of model material 201, the flattening roller 23 Control is performed so that the rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 in the moving direction (main scanning direction) is different, that is, the rotation phase is shifted.

For example, the control unit 500 sets the movement start position of the carriage 20 to the same position for the n-th layer and the (n+1)-th layer based on the detection signal of the linear encoder 30 , and the flattening roller 23 based on the detection signal of the rotary encoder 33 . is controlled so that the rotation start positions of the n-th layer and the (n+1)-th layer are different positions.

As a result, when flattening the surface of the model material 201 forming the n-th layer on the modeling stage 11, the lower end of the flattening roller 23 is displaced as indicated by the solid line in FIG.

When flattening the surface of the model material 201 forming the (n+1)th layer, for example, the movement start position of the carriage 20 is the same as that of the nth layer, and the rotation start position of the flattening roller 23 is different from that of the nth layer. By setting the position, the lower end of the flattening roller 23 is displaced as shown by the dashed line in FIG.

That is, the rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 in the movement direction (main scanning direction) of the flattening roller 23 differs between when flattening the nth layer and when flattening the (n+1)th layer. Here, the phases are shifted by 180° between when the n-th layer is planarized and when the (n+1)-th layer is planarized.

This embodiment will be specifically described with reference to FIG. Here, an example in which model material objects 201A, 201B, and 201C are sequentially stacked on the modeling stage 11 will be described. In this example, the model material molded object 201A is the n-1th layer, the model material molded object 201B is the nth layer, and the model material molded object 201C is the n+1th layer.

First, referring to FIG. 9A, the model material 201 to be the n-1th layer is discharged from the first head 21 toward the modeling stage 11, and the flattening roller 23 It is brought into contact with the model material 201 and flattened. Then, it is cured by the curing unit 24 to form the (n-1)-th model material model object 201A.

The model material 201 to be the n-th layer is discharged from the first head 21 onto the n-1th layer model material model object 201A, and the flattening roller 23 is brought into contact with the n-th layer model material 201. to flatten it. Then, it is cured in the curing unit 24 to form the n-th model material model object 201B.

In this case, as in the first embodiment, when flattening the (n−1)-th layer and the n-th layer respectively, the moving direction (mainly The rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 in the scanning direction) is matched. As a result, unevenness following the displacement of the lower end of the flattening roller 23 is generated on the flattened surface of the model material model 201B of the n-th layer, for example, in a rotation phase as indicated by the solid line in FIG.

Next, referring to FIG. 9B, the model material 201 to be the (n+1)th layer is discharged from the first head 21 onto the nth layer model material model object 201B. Then, as shown in FIG. 9C, the flattening roller 23 contacts the model material 201 of the (n+1)th layer to flatten it, and the hardening unit 24 cures the model material 201C of the (n+1)th layer. Form.

When flattening the (n+1)-th layer, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. Flatten by shifting the rotation phase.

As a result, the lower end of the flattening roller 23 produced on the surface of the (n+1)-th layer in the moving direction of the flattening roller 23 is shifted against the unevenness following the displacement of the lower end of the flattening roller 23 produced on the surface of the n-th layer. The position of the unevenness following the displacement of is shifted.

Therefore, the unevenness of the surface of the (n+1)-th model material model object 201B is reduced, and the surface precision is improved.

Therefore, when the final layer forming at least the outermost surface of the three-dimensional object is the n+1th layer, the rotation phase of the flattening roller is different from that when flattening the n-th layer of the lower layer, so that the three-dimensional object is formed. The surface accuracy of the outermost surface of the object can be improved.

In this case, the amount of scraping of the model material 201 by the flattening roller 23 (the amount of biting into the model material 201 by the flattening roller 23) of the n+1-th layer is preferably set smaller than that of the n-th layer. This prevents the flattening roller 23 from interfering with the hardened n-th model material model object when flattening the n+1-th layer.

In addition, the control to change the rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 (rotating member) and the control to reduce the biting amount of the flattening roller 23 into the model material 201 are not only used when forming a layered object forming the outermost surface. , a higher quality surface can be obtained by applying to several layers near the outermost surface.

Here, an example in which the rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 differs by 180° between the n-th layer and the n+1-th layer is described, but the rotation phase is not limited to 180°, and the n-th layer and the n+1-th layer are different. By shifting the rotation phase of the flattening roller 23 in each layer, the surface precision of the (n+1)th layer can be improved.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the layered object is composed only of the model material object is described. However, as described with reference to FIG. Also, the present invention can be applied in the same way. Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the liquid ejection head is used to apply the modeling liquid is described, but it is also possible to apply the modeling liquid using an applying means other than the liquid ejection head, such as a dripping means. can.

1 Modeling Unit 2 Modeling Unit 10 Modeling Layer (Layered Object)
11 modeling stage 20 carriage 21 first head (model material applying means)
22 second head (supporting material application means)
23 flattening roller (rotating member)
24 curing unit (curing means)
201 model material 202 support material 201A to 201C model material molded object 500 control unit

Claims (6)

a modeling stage for stacking layered objects;
a means for applying a modeling material to the layered article on the modeling stage;
a rotating member that flattens the surface of the modeling material ;
The rotating member is movable relative to the modeling stage,
When the trajectory of the displacement of the lower end of the rotating member in the moving direction of the rotating member is defined as the rotation phase,
When flattening the modeling material forming the n-th layered article and the modeling material forming the n+1-th layer of the layered article that are continuous in the stacking direction, the n-th layer A three-dimensional object characterized by comprising means for controlling a shift in the rotation phase of the rotating member in the moving direction of each of the rotating members at the time of flattening and flattening the (n+1)-th layer. device to 2. The three-dimensional object according to claim 1, wherein the rotation phase when flattening the n+1-th layer is shifted by 180° with respect to the rotation phase when flattening the n-th layer. Device. 3. The apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object according to claim 2, wherein the n-th layer and the n+1-th layer are layers near the outermost surface of the three-dimensional object. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rotation phase of the rotating member in the moving direction of the rotating member is matched between when the n-th layer is planarized and when the n+1-th layer is planarized. A device for modeling three-dimensional objects. 5. The apparatus for forming a three-dimensional object according to claim 1, wherein flattening by the rotating member is not performed when forming the layered object to be the outermost surface of the three-dimensional object. . Add modeling material to the layered object on the modeling stage,
flattening the surface of the modeling material with a rotating member that is relatively movable with respect to the modeling stage;
When the trajectory of the displacement of the lower end of the rotating member in the moving direction of the rotating member is defined as the rotation phase,
When flattening the modeling material forming the n-th layered article and the modeling material forming the n+1-th layer of the layered article that are continuous in the stacking direction, the n-th layer A method for forming a three-dimensional object, comprising: controlling a rotational phase shift of the rotating member in a moving direction of each of the rotating members during flattening and flattening the (n+1)-th layer.

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