KR101676606B1 - Powder supply apparatus for Three-dimensional printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a powder supply apparatus for 3D printers, which is capable of supplying powder materials of metal, ceramic, etc., onto the upper surface of a bed and also uniformly distributing and compacting the powder material. The powder supply apparatus for 3D printers according to the present invention comprises: a powder storage unit which stores a powder inside; a driving unit which includes the powder storage unit disposed at an upper portion thereof and performs a reciprocating motion in the longitudinal direction on the upper surface of the bed; a blade which is disposed at one lower side of the driving unit and distributes the powder loaded on the upper surface of the bed to a predetermined height when the driving unit performs a motion in one direction; a pressure roller which is disposed at another lower side of the driving unit and applies pressure to the distributed powder by rotating when the driving unit moves in the other direction; a supply amount control unit which is located inside the driving unit, supplies the powder transported from the powder storage unit to the upper surface of the bed located between the blade and the pressure roller, and controls the amount of the powder to be supplied; and a transport unit which moves the driving unit in the left/right or up/down directions of the bed, wherein a powder transport opening connecting the powder storage unit with the supply amount control unit is formed at an upper portion of the driving unit; a powder supply opening connected to the supply amount control unit is formed at a lower portion of the driving unit located between the pressure roller and the blade; the powder transport opening and the powder supply opening are formed in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the driving unit, so that the powder can be supplied in accordance with the width of the bed; and a width adjustment unit is disposed inside the driving unit and adjusts the degree of opening of the powder supply unit in the width direction.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a powder supply apparatus for a 3D printer,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a powder supply device for a 3D printer, and more particularly, to a powder supply device for a 3D printer capable of supplying powder materials such as metals and ceramics to the upper surface of a bed, will be.

The 3D printer is a device for printing a three-dimensional solid object by outputting and laminating a specific material like a two-dimensional printer, and is advantageous in that it is very easy to produce a three-dimensional object having a complicated shape compared to a method of making a grain, CNC milling and the like.

3D printers are actively used in various fields such as medicine, industry, and life because they can easily process objects to be produced based on digitized drawing information.

With the introduction of 3D printers, manufacturers have been able to dramatically reduce time and cost by eliminating molds for prototype development, and have been able to produce small quantities of multi-varieties without limiting their order quantities. And the risk of failing to launch on the market has been greatly reduced, making it possible to produce complex shapes without special skills.

These 3D printers are classified into material extrusion method, photopolymerization method, powder lamination melting method, high energy direct irradiation method, etc. depending on the product molding method, and the technologies, devices, and materials to be applied depend on each method.

In recent years, as the technology related to the 3D printer has rapidly developed, it has become possible to print solid objects of metals or ceramics other than conventional plastic three-dimensional objects. As a related technology, selective laser melting (SLM) Method is attracting attention.

The selective laser melting method is a method in which a laser is irradiated to a material by applying a powdery material, and then the powder is melted. After the powder material is applied again, the laser is repeatedly irradiated, And make them.

The selective laser melting method includes a step of further applying a powder such as a metal or a ceramic to a thickness of several mu m to several tens of mu m. In this case, the powder is applied to the bed through a separate nozzle, So that a flattening process is performed.

This process of flattening the powder is a very important technique in the selective laser melting method, and the durability and precision of the final product are changed depending on the state of the powder.

However, the conventional blade simply passes over the upper side of the powder and functions to spread the powder accumulated higher than the lower surface of the blade, so that not only does not uniformly spread, but also the density of the dispersed powder is very low.

That is, when the three-dimensional object is manufactured using the laser, the surface state can not be precisely formed, and the durability of the three-dimensional object is deteriorated because there is a lot of void space between the powder and the powder.

Techniques related to blades of 3D printers have been rarely developed, and known technology is "Blade Continuous Feeder for Powder Removal of Metal 3D Printer (Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2015-0133328) ". However, the conventional blade continuous feeder for powder removal of a metal three-dimensional printer also has the above-described problems.

Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2015-0133328 (Nov. 30, 2015)

It is an object of the present invention to provide a powder supply device for a 3D printer which can supply and uniformly disperse powder materials such as metals and ceramics on the upper surface of a bed and can firmly melt the powder.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a powder supply device for a 3D printer, comprising: a powder storage part for storing powder therein; a driving part provided on the powder storage part and reciprocating along the longitudinal direction on the upper surface of the bed; A blade disposed at a lower side of the driving part and dispersing the powder placed on the upper surface of the bed at a predetermined height when the driving part is moved in one direction, and a powder disposed on the other side of the lower part of the driving part, A supply amount adjusting unit for supplying the powder located on the inside of the driving unit and moved from the powder storing unit to the upper surface of the bed located between the blade and the pressing roller and controlling the amount of the powder to be supplied, And a moving unit for moving the bed in the left-right direction and the vertical direction of the bed A powder supply port communicating with the supply amount regulating unit is formed in a lower portion of a driving unit disposed between the pressure roller and the blade, And the powder supply port is formed long in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the driving unit so that the powder can be supplied in correspondence with the width of the bed and is provided in the inside of the driving unit, And an interval adjusting unit for adjusting the degree of opening.

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The supply amount regulating unit may include a regulating region formed inside the driving unit, the regulating region having a powder inlet and a powder supply port, and a plurality of blades disposed on the inner side of the regulating region and rotating in opposite directions, Wherein the amount of the powder falling into the powder feed port is controlled by adjusting the degree of contact between the blade tips of the first control unit and the second control unit according to the rotation of the first control unit and the second control unit, And the like.

And a control unit for controlling the moving unit, the pressurizing roller, and the first and second adjusting units, wherein the control unit rotates the first and second adjusting units to supply the powder to the upper surface of the bed, The powder is dispersed to a predetermined height by using the blade, the powder is rotated in the opposite direction when the driving unit is unidirectionally moved, the rotation of the first and second control units is stopped to stop the supply of powder, And the pressure roller is rotated to polish the dispersed powder.

And the moving unit moves the driving unit up and down according to the height of the solid object to be printed, and reciprocates in the left and right direction.

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The present invention has the following various effects.

First, in the present invention, powder of metal, ceramics or the like is supplied to the top surface of the bed, and then the powder is uniformly dispersed in two areas by using a blade and a pressure roller.

Second, the present invention can produce a printed matter having a very high density by compacting the dispersed powders by using a pressure roller.

Third, since the powder is dispersed in a very high density state, it is easy to produce a very precise printed matter.

Fourth, since the opening degree of the powder feed opening can be adjusted by using the gap adjusting part, it is possible to adjust the area to which the powder is applied according to the size of the printed material.

1 and 2 are views showing a state in which three-dimensional objects are printed by applying the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the entirety of a powder supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention.
4 is a side view of a powder supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention.
5 is a bottom view of a powder supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention.
6 is a perspective view from below of the powder supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the same reference numerals are given to the background art and the constituent elements of the constitution which have already been described.

The description of the powder supply device 1 for 3D printer according to the present invention described below is a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not limited to the embodiments but can be implemented in various forms.

In addition, the shape, size, and the like of each constitution described below are representative examples and are not fixed, and can be variously changed if the same effect can be realized.

1 to 3, a 3D printer powder supply device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a powder storage part 100, a driving part 200, a blade 300, a pressure roller 400, a supply amount regulating unit 500, and a moving unit (not shown).

The powder storage part 100 has a hollow space formed therein and a powder 4 to be supplied through a supply amount adjusting part 500 to be described later is stored in advance and connected to the driving part 200 200 along the upper surface of the bed 2.

The powder storage part 100 is firmly coupled to the upper part of the driving part 200. The powder storage part 100 has a hole in which a powder to be described later is in communication with the coins 210, 210, respectively.

The driving unit 200 forms the overall appearance of the present invention and reciprocates in a state of being spaced from the upper surface of the bed 2 to which the powder 4 is applied by a predetermined distance. The blade 300 is provided on one side of the lower part of the driving part 200, the pressing roller 400 is provided on the other side, and the supply amount adjusting part 500 is located inside.

The supply amount adjusting unit 500 supplies the powder 4 transferred from the powder storage unit 100 to the upper surface of the bed 2 located between the blade 300 and the pressure roller 400, And includes a regulating region 510 and a first regulating unit 540 and a second regulating unit 560. [

The control region 510 is formed as a predetermined empty space inside the driving unit 200, and a powdered hole 210 is formed in the upper portion and a powder supply port 220 is formed in the lower portion.

The powder 210 formed in the upper part of the control area 510 is communicated with the powder storage part 100 and the powder 4 stored in the powder storage part 100 falls down into the control area 510 And the powder supply port 220 formed at the lower portion of the regulating region 510 serves as a path for connecting the inside and the outside of the supply amount regulating unit 500.

One end of the powder supply port 220 is located inside the control region 510 and the other end is located between the pressure roller 400 and the blade 300. That is, the powder 4 introduced into the powder supply port 220 is applied to the upper surface of the bed 2 located between the pressure roller 400 and the blade 300.

The first rotation axis 520 and the second rotation axis 530 are spaced apart from each other on the inside of the control region 510, and the motors are connected to the respective rotation shafts and are rotated in opposite directions to each other.

The first regulating unit 540 and the second regulating unit 560 are configured to discharge the powder 4 introduced into the regulating region 510 through the opening 210 through the powder feed port 220 The amount of the powder 4 discharged through the powder supply port 220 varies depending on the rotation state of the first control unit 540 and the second control unit 560.

The first adjusting unit 540 and the second adjusting unit 560 are formed in a circular tube shape having a predetermined length and a plurality of vanes 550 are protruded along the outer circumferential surface. Although four wings 550 are illustrated in this embodiment, the number of wings 550 may be varied according to need.

A first rotation shaft 520 is inserted into the center of the first adjustment unit 540 and a second rotation shaft 530 is inserted into the center of the second adjustment unit 560. The first rotation axis 520 and the second rotation axis 560 530 rotate in the opposite direction, the first adjusting unit 540 and the second adjusting unit 560 also rotate in opposite directions.

Since there is no gap between the vanes 550 protruding from the outer circumferential surface of the first adjustment unit 540 and the vanes 550 when the tips of the vanes 550 are in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the second adjustment unit 560, The powder 4 introduced into the region 510 is not supplied to the upper surface of the bed 2 because the powder 4 can not pass through the first control unit 540 and the second control unit 560.

However, when the first adjusting unit 540 and the second adjusting unit 560 are rotated in opposite directions, a gap is created between the blades 550 that are in contact with each other, and the powder 4 falls down therebetween, The powder 4 is supplied to the upper surface of the bed 2. [

The amount of the powder 4 falling through the powder supply port 220 by controlling the rotation of the first adjusting unit 540 and the second adjusting unit 560 and controlling the degree of contact of the end of the blade 550, It is also possible to continuously rotate the first adjusting unit 540 and the second adjusting unit 560 and to adjust the interval between the blades 550 and the blades 550 within a certain range It is also possible to control the rotation angle of the first adjustment unit 540 and the second adjustment unit 560 to be rotatable only within a small amount of range.

The lengths of the first adjustment unit 540, the second adjustment unit 560, the powder tongue 210, the powder supply port 220 and the blade 550 correspond to the area to which the powder 4 is to be applied .

That is, in the 3D printer powder feeder 1 according to the present invention, the powders 4 having a predetermined height in the total area of the upper surface of the bed 2 before dissolving the powders 4 using the laser in the 3D printer are uniformly The process of forming a single layer of the printed product 3 by using a laser and then applying the powder 4 on the layer of the printed product 3 and then forming one layer of the printed product 3 is repeated. The entire surface of the bed 2 is preferably coated when the driving unit 200 reciprocates once along the longitudinal direction of the bed 2.

Thus, the powder can be supplied to the powder 4 in a manner that corresponds to the width of the bed 2, such that the coin 210, the powder feed port 220, the first and second control units 540 and 560, The width of the bed 2 in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the driving unit 200 is long.

Since the powders 4 introduced into the control region 510 are supplied to the upper surface of the bed 2 through the powder feed port 220, the degree of opening of the powder feed port 220 is controlled, It is possible to control the area to be coated.

That is, generally, the printed material 3 is formed by using the laser in a state that the powder 4 is applied to the entire upper surface of the bed 2, but when the printed material 3 is small in size, The time and material cost can be reduced by forming the printed matter 3 after application.

In this case, when the powder 4 is applied through the powder supply port 220 having a length corresponding to the width of the bed 2, a large amount of the powder 4 is required and a long time is required.

Accordingly, by controlling the degree of opening of the powder supply port 220 in the width direction or the longitudinal direction by providing a separate space adjusting unit (not shown), the area to be coated with the powder 4 according to the size of the printed product 3 Can be controlled.

(Not shown) may be implemented by selectively shielding both end portions in the width direction or both ends in the longitudinal direction of the powder supply port 220 by manual or automatic operation provided inside the driving portion 200 have.

The blade 300 provided at one side of the lower portion of the driving unit 200 is configured to disperse the powders 4 stacked on the upper surface of the bed 2 through the powder supply port 220 at a predetermined height, A downward sloped slope is formed.

The pressing roller 400 spaced apart from the blade 300 is configured to press the powder 4 dispersed on the surface of the bed 2 by the blade 300 and to press the pressing roller 400 and the blade When the driving unit 200 moves in the direction of the blade 300 without rotating when the driving unit 200 moves in the direction of the pressing roller 400 because the powder 4 is supplied between the driving unit 200 and the pressing unit 300,

The blade 300 functions to simply disperse the highly accumulated powders 4 to the height of the end of the blade 300 and the pressing roller 400 presses the dispersed powders 4 to densify So that the powders 4 are more uniformly dispersed. That is, when the powder 300 is dispersed, the powder 4 is not uniformly dispersed and the amount of the powder 4 varies depending on the part. Therefore, the powder 4 is uniformly dispersed by pressing using the pressure roller 400.

The moving unit (not shown) is configured to move the driving unit 200 in the left-right direction and the up-down direction from the upper side of the bed 2, and various configurations such as a motor and a rail can be applied as long as the same function can be achieved.

The driving unit 200 reciprocates along the left and right directions while being spaced apart from the upper surface of the bed 2 by a predetermined distance in order to uniformly disperse the powder 4 supplied thereto. The height of the blade 300 and the pressure roller 400 should not be kept constant at all times since the printed material 3 is formed one after another.

Accordingly, the driving unit 200 can be moved not only in the left and right direction but also in the vertical direction according to the formation state of the printed matter 3. In the present invention, the driving unit 200 is moved in the left- .

That is, it is preferable to set the moving distance in the left-right direction and the vertical direction through the control unit (not shown) in advance so that the driving unit 200 is raised or lowered in accordance with each situation when the printed matter 3 is formed using the laser.

The control unit (not shown) controls the pressing roller 400 and the first and second adjusting units 540 and 560 as well as the moving unit (not shown). The control unit (not shown) operates the moving unit (not shown) to position the driving unit 200 on one side of the bed 2 and then rotates the first adjusting unit 540 and the second adjusting unit 560 The powder 4 stored in the powder storage part 100 is supplied to the upper surface of the bed 2 located between the pressure roller 400 and the blade 300 through the powder supply port 220, The driving unit 200 is moved in the direction of the pressure roller 400. [

The powder 4 loaded between the driving unit 200 and the blade 300 contacts the blade 300 and is dispersed to a height corresponding to the end of the blade 300. When the one direction movement of the driving unit 200 is completed The driving unit 200 is rotated in the opposite direction using a moving unit (not shown).

When the driving unit 200 moves toward the blade 300, the rotation of the first and second adjusting units 540 and 560 is stopped to prevent the powder 4 from being supplied any more, and the pressing roller 400 is rotated The powder is uniformly dispersed by pressing the surface of the powders 4 and hardened at the same time.

At this time, the height of the powders 4 uniformly dispersed and applied can be adjusted by controlling the height of the driving part 200 using a moving part (not shown).

1: powder feeder 2: bed
3: Printed matter 4: Powder
100: powder storage unit 200:
210: Powder is in the tongue 220: Powder feed port
300: blade 400: pressure roller
500: supply amount regulator 510: regulating region
520: first rotating shaft 530: second rotating shaft
540: first adjustment unit 550: wing
560: second control unit

Claims (6)

A powder storage portion in which powder is stored;
A driving part provided on the powder storing part at an upper part thereof and reciprocating in a longitudinal direction at an upper surface of the bed;
A blade disposed at a lower side of the driving part and dispersing the powder loaded on the upper surface of the bed at a predetermined height when the driving part is moved in one direction;
A pressing roller provided on the lower side of the driving part and pressing the powder dispersed when the driving part is moved in the opposite direction by rotation;
A supply amount regulating unit located inside the driving unit and supplying powder moved from the powder storing unit to an upper surface of the bed located between the blade and the pressing roller and controlling the amount of powder to be supplied; And
And a moving unit that moves the driving unit in the left-right direction and the up-down direction of the bed,
A powder supply port communicating with the supply amount regulating unit is formed in a lower portion of a driving unit disposed between the pressure roller and the blade,
The powder is formed in a long hole in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the driving unit so that the powder can be supplied in correspondence with the width of the bed,
And a gap adjusting unit provided inside the driving unit to adjust an opening degree of the powder supply port with respect to a width direction.
delete The method according to claim 1,
The supply-
A control region formed at a predetermined space inside the driving unit and having a powder inlet and a powder outlet;
A first adjusting unit and a second adjusting unit spaced apart from each other in the adjusting region and rotating in opposite directions and having a plurality of blades protruded along an outer circumferential surface thereof,
And controls the amount of powder falling into the powder feed opening by controlling the degree of contact between the blade tips of the first and second control units according to the rotation of the first and second control units.
The method of claim 3,
Further comprising a control unit for controlling the moving unit, the pressing roller, and the first and second adjusting units,
Wherein the control unit rotates the first and second adjusting units to supply powder to the upper surface of the bed and to move the driving unit in the direction of the pressing roller to disperse the powder at a predetermined height using the blades, And stops the rotation of the first and second adjustment units to stop the supply of the powder, and rotates the pressure roller to clean the dispersed powder.
The method according to claim 1,
The moving unit includes:
Wherein the drive unit is moved up and down according to the height of the printed solid object, and then reciprocated in the left and right direction.
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