KR101715124B1 - Powder application device and 3D printer having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device to process a 3D molded product. More specifically, the present invention relates to a device to apply raw material powder installed in a device to process the 3D molded product, comprising: a body moving horizontally; a blade portion coupled to the body to be rotatable, having a plurality of blades spaced from each other to protrude outwards, and changing a position of each blade by rotation; and a monitoring portion monitoring a state of the blades installed in the blade portion or a state of applied powder. Accordingly, the present invention proposes a power application device and a 3D printer including a plurality of blades installed therein, and configured to allow an appropriate blade to be used in the work by the rotation thereof; thereby being capable of minimizing a time of the work stopped and accordingly quickly performing work as well as acquiring high-quality products.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a powder coating device for a three-dimensional printer, and a three-

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a three-dimensional printer for producing a three-dimensional molded article, and more particularly to a powder application apparatus used in a three-dimensional printer having a metal powder as an object to be molded and a three-

Conventionally, conventional processing methods such as casting and forging have been used to produce three-dimensional molded articles. Also, in order to maintain the quality of the product when using such a manufacturing method, a skilled worker had to perform it.

In recent years, three-dimensional printers have begun to be used as apparatuses for processing three-dimensional molded products. 3D printers are gradually replacing traditional processing methods because of the advantage that non-specialists can easily produce three-dimensional molded parts.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2009-0049608 is disclosed as a technique for a three-dimensional printer. The important thing about these 3D printers is that they can work quickly and improve the quality of products.

Particularly, when the metal powder, which is a raw material, is supplied, the blade which moves the metal powder to the forming position may be continuously worn. Therefore, it should be replaced after a certain period of time.

In a conventional three-dimensional printer, since the blades are generally made up of one blade, it is necessary to replace them when abrasion occurs. Therefore, when manufacturing a product having a long molding time, there is a problem that the quality of the product may be lowered because the operation is interrupted to replace the blade.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2009-0049608 (2009.05.18)

The present invention relates to a powder coating apparatus and a three-dimensional printer having the same, which can obtain a high-quality product while allowing a plurality of blades to be mounted and suitable blades can be put into the work by rotation, .

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for applying a raw material powder to an apparatus for processing a three-dimensional molded product, the apparatus comprising: a body portion moving along a horizontal direction; A plurality of blades spaced apart from each other and extending outwardly and having a blade portion in which the position of each blade is changed by rotation and a monitoring portion for monitoring the state of the blade mounted on the blade portion or the state of the applied powder, The applicator is presented.

The blade portion may include a rotating body rotatably coupled to the body portion, a first blade coupled to be protruded from the outer periphery of the rotating body, and a second blade spaced apart from the first blade at a predetermined angle, And a second blade made of a material harder than the first blade. The first blade and the second blade may be disposed at an angle of 90 degrees from each other.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for processing a three-dimensional molded product, the apparatus comprising: a chamber section for shaping; a raw material supply section for supplying powdered raw material to the chamber section; A raw material moving portion which moves the raw material by pushing and moves the raw material, a raw material moving portion having the powder applying device, a molding portion in which the raw material moved by the raw material moving portion is placed and the raw material is molded, And a control unit for controlling the machining unit to process the entire three-dimensional molded product by causing the forming unit to move down after machining a line to be processed by the laser.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to insert a suitable blade into a work by changing the position of a plurality of blades by rotation, so that a three-dimensional molded product of stable quality can be obtained and a continuous work can be performed on a workpiece having a long working time .

The effects of the present invention will be clearly understood and understood by those skilled in the art, either through the specific details described below, or during the course of practicing the present invention.

1 is a perspective view of a three-dimensional printer according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is an exploded perspective view of a chamber portion of a three-dimensional printer according to the embodiment shown in FIG.
3 is a perspective view of the powder application device employed in the embodiment shown in Fig.
Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the powder application device employed in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1; Fig.
5 is a cross-sectional view of the blade portion of the powder application device shown in Fig.
Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the relationship between the shaft member and the stopper used in the powder coating apparatus shown in Fig. 3 and the blade portion; Fig.
7 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of a powder coating apparatus;
FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a three-dimensional printer according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, It will be possible. The present invention is capable of various modifications and various forms, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the text. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.

Hereinafter, a powder coating apparatus for a three-dimensional printer according to an embodiment of the present invention and a three-dimensional printer having the same will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present specification, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components in different embodiments, and the description thereof is replaced with the first explanation.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a three-dimensional printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a chamber part of a three-dimensional printer according to the embodiment shown in FIG.

The three-dimensional printer 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a chamber 1, a raw material supply unit 2, a raw material moving unit 3, a molding unit 4, a laser processing unit 5, and a control unit 6 . The powder coating device 31 is provided in the raw material moving part 3.

The chamber part 1 is a part where the product is molded. The raw material supply part 2, the raw material moving part 3, the molding part 4, and the control part 6 are connected to the chamber part 1 to insert and form the raw material.

The chamber part 1 is composed of a chamber 11 and a chamber cover 12 and a chamber block 13 and the chamber cover 12 is hinged to the chamber 11 to open the chamber 11 . Two slits 111 are formed in one side wall of the chamber 11, and the connecting member 323 of the raw material moving part 3 is passed through the slit 111.

Three holes are formed in the chamber block 13 and connected to the raw material supplying portion 2, the forming portion 4 and the raw material collecting portion 7 (see FIG. 6) from the right side to the left side of FIG. In the raw material collecting part 7, the raw material moving part 3 is filled in the forming part 4 and the remaining raw materials are collected.

The raw material supplying section 2 is connected to the bottom surface of the chamber section 1 and pushes the raw material into a hole formed in the bottom surface of the chamber section 1 to supply the raw material.

The raw material supply unit 2 is coupled to the housing 22 having a space therein so that the insertion plate 21 is in close contact with the inner wall of the housing 22. [ The plate can also be raised and lowered by a driver such as a linear motor.

The powdery raw material is placed on the charging plate 21 and the charging plate 21 rises to supply the raw material into the chamber 11 through the holes formed in the chamber block 13.

The throwing plate 21 raises a certain distance each time the laser 5 works to form the cross-section line of the product, and supplies a certain amount of raw material into the chamber 11. [

The raw material moving section 3 moves the raw material supplied from the raw material supply section 2 and spreads it on the working area of the forming section 4 by thinly spreading it.

The raw material moving section 3 is provided with a plurality of blades 823 and 824 which are arranged to be spaced apart from each other in the rotating body 821 and the rotating body 821 is rotated according to working conditions so that a new blade can be used for the work .

Referring to Fig. 2, the raw material moving section 3 includes a powder application device 31 and a driving section 32. Fig. The powder coating device 31 serves to move and apply the raw material powder, and the driving part 32 serves to move the powder coating device 31 in the horizontal direction.

The powder application device 31 includes a body portion 81, a blade portion 82 and a monitoring portion 83. The driving portion 32 includes an actuator 321, a belt 322, and a connecting member 323 do.

An actuator 321 is provided outside the chamber 11 and the belt 322 is rotated by the driving of the actuator 321 so that the movement of the belt 322 is transmitted to the connecting member 309 passing through the slit 111 of the chamber 11 323 so that the body 311 moves along the horizontal direction of the chamber 11. As a result,

The actuator 321 and the belt 322 that move the body portion 81 can be installed in a separate auxiliary chamber 14 so as to be hermetically sealed.

Figures 3 to 7 relate to a powder application device.

The body part 81 moves along the horizontal direction of the chamber 11 with the U-shaped groove 811 formed therein. The blade portion 82 is axially coupled to the protruding portions of both ends formed by the U-shaped grooves 811.

The blade portion 82 is rotatably coupled to the body portion 81 and the plurality of blades 823 and 824 are spaced apart to extend outward and the position of each blade is changed by rotation. By using the blade portion having such a configuration, it is possible to easily change the blades according to the operation state, and to easily change the blades with different properties.

The blade portion 82 includes a rotating body 821 rotatably coupled to the body portion 81 and a first blade 823 and a second blade 824 that are separated from each other and coupled to the rotating body 821 .

A mounting hole 812 is formed on one side of the body portion 81 and a through hole 815 is formed on one side of the mounting hole in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the body portion. The shaft pin 822b of the shaft member 822 is inserted into the through hole and engaged with the shaft hole 821a formed at one end of the rotating body 821 of the blade portion 82. [

The shaft member 822 is coupled to the mounting block 822a such that the shaft pin 822b is rotatable. The end of the shaft pin 822b and the shaft hole 821a of the rotating body 821 are formed in a polygonal shape and can be coupled to each other. A mounting guide 813 is formed in the mounting groove 812, and a guide groove is formed in the mounting block of the shaft member, so that the shaft member can be mounted on the body portion.

A through hole 817 is also formed in the other side projecting portion 813 of the body portion 81 in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the body portion and the shaft of the motor 825 is inserted into the hole. The shaft of the motor passes through the through hole 817 and its end is coupled to a shaft hole formed at the other end of the rotating body 821. The shaft of the motor can be coupled to the shaft hole of the rotating body 821 in a forced fit manner since the driving of the motor must be completely transmitted to the rotating body 821. [ In addition, the end of the shaft of the motor 825 and the coupling groove of the rotating body 821 are formed in a polygonal shape and can be coupled to each other. On the other hand, the motor 825 and the rotating body 821 can be coupled via a joint member.

With this configuration, when the motor is driven, the rotary motion of the shaft is transmitted to the rotating body, and the rotating body rotates as the supporting end of the rotating shaft. On the other hand, in addition to the motor, other types of driving elements capable of rotational driving may be employed.

The first blade 823 is coupled so as to protrude from the outer periphery of the rotating body 821. The second blade 824 is coupled to the outer circumference of the rotating body 821 so as to be separated from the first blade 822. The second blade may be made of a harder material than the first blade.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a mounting groove 821b is formed on the outer circumference of the rotating body 821 at a predetermined angle, and the first blade and the second blade are coupled to the mounting groove. Accordingly, each of the blades can play a role of spreading the powder and can be easily replaced.

The mounting groove 821b of the rotating body 821 is formed in a T-shape, and the ends of the blades can also be joined to each other with a corresponding T shape. In the present embodiment, the rotating body is formed with an empty interior, a shaft hole 821a formed at the center thereof, a mounting groove 821b formed at the outer periphery thereof, a frame forming the shaft hole and a frame forming the mounting groove, And is connected and supported.

The first blade 823 may be made of a soft material such as silicone or rubber and the second blade 824 may be made of a hard material such as ceramic or metal.

The first blade can be mounted so as to protrude longer than the second blade. The blades of a hard material must be precisely adjusted in height, but a flexible material blade can bend even when brought into contact with the bottom of the chamber and can be pressed against the raw material powder to press the raw material powder, so that it is preferable to vary the lengths of both blades .

Also, the first blade 3 and the second blade 1 may be disposed at 90 degrees apart from each other in the rotating body 821.

The important points when applying powder in a 3D printer include whether the blade is worn, whether it can be applied while maintaining a certain thickness, and whether the application process can be performed stably.

The blades of soft material can be easily worn and it can be difficult to apply with a constant thickness by such wear. On the other hand, even in the case of contacting the bottom of the chamber, it is possible to press the powder while moving with less interference due to warping, so that the coating process can be performed stably.

The blades of a hard material are not easily worn and therefore can be applied with a constant thickness. On the other hand, since it is difficult to work when contacting the bottom of the chamber, it is necessary to precisely align the position and it is difficult to press the powder.

Accordingly, when the powder is stably accumulated while the first blade 823 made of a soft material is used in the initial stage of the operation before the powder is stably accumulated in the forming part 4, the second blade 824 made of a hard material can be used have. In this case, it is possible to increase the replacement period of the blades, which is advantageous for maintenance, and can be stably applied with a constant thickness, thereby improving the quality of coating.

On the other hand, the force that the blade receives when applying the powder can be controlled by the load of the motor and the position of the blade can be maintained. However, when the soft blade advances while contacting the bottom of the chamber, the force applied to the blade becomes large. In this case, a stopper 826 may be added to the powder application device 31 to disperse the force.

The stopper 826 can be made of a cylinder mechanism, and the force can be dispersed by supporting the blade on the opposite side of the blade used for application while supporting the rotary body. The end of the cylinder rod may be flat or grooved.

Referring to Fig. 6, the stopper 826 of the present embodiment includes a mounting block 826a and a cylinder 826c coupled to the mounting block.

 A mounting guide 814 is formed at an upper portion where the shaft member 822 is mounted in a mounting groove 812 formed in one side projection of the body portion and a guide groove 826b is formed in the mounting block 826a of the stopper 826 So that the stopper can be mounted on the body portion 81. [ A groove is formed at the end 826d of the cylinder rod to easily engage with the rib.

A through hole 816 is formed in an upper portion of a through hole 815 through which a shaft pin 822b is inserted in a mounting groove formed in one side projection of the body portion 81 and a cylinder rod of the stopper 826 is inserted into the through hole 816 The end 826d of the cylinder rod grips and holds the rib 821c formed in the rotor 821 of the blade portion 82 when the cylinder 826c is operated.

Figure 7 relates to another type of powder application device.

Referring to the drawing, another type of powder has a rectangular cross-section 821 and a pair of first blades 823 and second blades 824 on each side of the rotor 821 It is arranged side by side. The first blade is arranged to protrude somewhat longer than the second blade. Other configurations can adopt the above-described configuration of the powder coating device 31. [

With such a configuration, it is possible to obtain both the advantages of a blade made of a soft material and a blade made of a hard material. The coating process can be performed stably while maintaining a constant thickness according to the two-stage structure of the first blade and the second blade. In addition, the rotatable replacement structure increases the continuous workability.

On the other hand, the monitoring section 83 monitors the state of the blade mounted on the blade section or the state of the applied powder. The monitoring unit may be configured to include a camera. The state of the blade or the state of the applied powder can be photographed by the camera to monitor whether a problem has occurred and to determine whether or not the blade has been replaced.

The forming part 4 is a part for actually processing a product and is provided with a forming plate 41 which is coupled to the bottom surface of the chamber part 1 and can move up and down, Once the line is formed, the forming plate 41 can be lowered to form the next section line.

The forming unit 4 is coupled to the housing 42 having a space therein in the same manner as the raw material supplying unit 2 so that the forming plate 41 is in close contact with the inner wall of the housing 42. Further, the forming plate 41 can be raised and lowered by a driver such as a linear motor.

The powdery raw material moved by the raw material moving part 3 is placed on the forming plate 41 and the cross-section line of the molded product is formed by the laser beam 5.

The shaping plate 41 makes it possible to form one section line corresponding to the position by lowering a certain distance each time the laser 5 works to form the section line of the product.

The laser welding unit 5 melts the powdery raw material placed on the forming unit 4 to form a cross-section line of the product.

Referring to the drawings, the laser apparatus 51 of the laser machining apparatus 5 is disposed outside the chamber unit 1, which makes it possible to make the chamber 11 small and to create a low-oxygen environment, The laser processing head can be disposed in a clean environment by positioning the laser processing head outside the chamber 1. [

The control unit 6 controls the laser 5 to move the forming unit 4 downward after machining one line to process the entire three-dimensional molded product. Actually, the control unit 6 controls the chamber 1, the raw material supply unit 2, the raw material moving unit 3, the molding unit 4, and the laser welding unit 5 to operate organically.

The three-dimensional printer configured as above operates as follows.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the operation of the three-dimensional printer according to the embodiment shown in FIG. The three-dimensional printer of the present invention can be represented by a simplified structure as shown. Although not specifically shown, the powder application device 31 mounted on the easel of the raw material is a rotation type powder application device 31 as described above.

The operation of the three-dimensional printer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is substantially the same as the operation of a conventional three-dimensional printer.

The raw material (10) in the form of a metal powder is placed in a supply part of the raw material (10) and supplied to the chamber (11) by the rise of the supply plate.

When the raw material 10 is supplied to the chamber 11, the powder coating device 31 of the raw material moving part 3 moves and moves the raw material 10 to the forming part 4. [ It is preferable to allow the first blade to move the raw material at the beginning of the operation.

At this time, the controller 6 controls the powder application device 31 to move at a high speed from the portion where the raw material 10 comes out of the raw material supply portion 2 to the portion where the processing region comes out to the beginning of the forming portion 4, (4).

This is because the fluidity of the raw material 10 in powder form is low, so that when the powder application device 31 pushes the raw material 10 at high speed, it can not properly fill the gap and it takes time to fill the gap.

The powder coating apparatus 31 spreads the raw material 10 to a thickness of about 10 to 200 mu m and places it on the forming plate 41 of the forming unit 4. [

The raw material 10 supplied to the forming section 4 and then left is passed through the forming section 4 and recovered in the collecting section 9.

The forming plate 4 can preheat the forming plate 41 before the raw material 10 is supplied. Thus, heat is transferred to the raw material 10 supplied to the forming unit 4 to be preheated.

In this state, the raw material (10) is irradiated with a laser (L) to form the raw material (10) by sintering or melting.

Through this process, the section line of the molded article 20 is formed, and the portion of the raw material 10 in which the laser L is not irradiated remains as the powder.

The powder application device 31 is returned to the initial position for re-supply of the raw material powder. Even in this case, the powder coating apparatus 31 is controlled to move at a high speed from the position where the powder coating apparatus 31 is currently positioned to the position where the machining region is externally applied to the beginning of the forming section 4, .

Thereafter, the raw material 10 is fed again, and the raw material 10 is thinned by the powder coating device 31 and is recovered in the recovery part 9, while the next section line is formed in the forming part 4, (31) to the initial position again. By repeating these operations several times, a three-dimensional molded article can be produced.

On the other hand, if the molded product is large or complicated, wear of the blades may occur when the working time has elapsed. Therefore, if the monitoring unit 6 detects an abnormality on the blade or the coated surface, the rotating body 821 is rotated to perform the operation using the other blades can do.

At this time, when the work is not in the beginning but in progress, the rotating body 821 can be rotated so that the second blade 824 made of a hard material performs work, and after the molding of the molded article is finished, The rotor 821 may be rotated so that the rotor 823 performs the work.

If all the first blades are used, the following operation can be performed by replacing the blades-attached rotary body 821 or replacing only the blades and re-installing the blades.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1: chamber part
11: chamber 111: slit
12: chamber cover 13: chamber block 14: auxiliary chamber
2: raw material supply part 21: input plate 22: housing
3: Eastern raw material
31: Powder application device
81: body portion 811: groove 812: mounting groove 813, 814: mounting guide
815, 816, 817: through hole
82:
821: rotating body 821a: shaft hole 821b: mounting groove 821c: rib
822: shaft member 822a: mounting block 822b:
823: first blade 824: second blade 825: motor
826: Stopper
826a: mounting block 826b: guide groove 826c: cylinder 826d:
83:
32: moving part 321: actuator 322: belt 323:
4: forming part 41: forming plate 42: housing
5: Laser Studying 51: Laser Equipment
6:
7: Raw material collection unit
10: raw material 20: molded product L: laser
100: 3D printer

Claims (3)

An apparatus for applying a raw material powder to an apparatus for processing a three-dimensional molded product,
A body portion moving along the horizontal direction,
A blade portion rotatably coupled to the body portion and having a plurality of blades spaced apart from each other and extending outwardly and changing the position of each blade by rotation;
A monitoring part for monitoring the state of the blade mounted on the blade part or the state of the applied powder,
Lt; / RTI >
The blade portion includes:
A rotating body rotatably coupled to the body portion,
A first blade connected to the outer periphery of the rotating body so as to be protruded and made of a soft material,
A second blade spaced apart from the first blade at a predetermined angle and coupled to be protruded from the outer periphery of the rotating body,
Lt; / RTI >
The rotating body has a hollow interior, a rib is formed in the rotating body,
Wherein the first blade protrudes longer than the second blade and is arranged to contact the chamber bottom at the time of application,
A stopper which is coupled to the ribs to support the rotating body so as not to rotate,
Wherein the powder coating apparatus further comprises: delete An apparatus for processing a three-dimensional molded article,
A chamber part in which shaping is performed,
A raw material supply unit for supplying a powdery raw material to the chamber unit,
And a powder application device according to claim 1 for pushing and moving the raw material charged in the raw material supply part,
A molding part in which the raw material moved by the raw material moving part is placed and the raw material is molded,
A laser for irradiating and melting a raw material placed on the forming part to form a laser is provided.
And a controller for controlling the laser processing unit to process the entire three-dimensional molded product by causing the forming unit to move down after machining a line to be studied,
Wherein the printer is a three-dimensional printer.

Images