KR101952352B1 - Nozzle device for 3D printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a nozzle apparatus for a 3D printer. The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a nozzle, comprising: a housing having a mounting space formed therein; a nozzle provided in the mounting space and having a base material supply unit at an upper portion thereof for melting and supplying the supplied base material to a lower portion; And a protective cover for covering the nozzle and insulating the outside from the nozzle. According to the present invention, the heat insulating means is positioned between the supply part of the base material and the nozzle body so that heat generated in the nozzle body is not transferred to the supply part. As a result, the supply portion is heated to prevent the nozzle from being clogged, thereby improving durability.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a nozzle device for a 3D printer,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a nozzle apparatus for a 3D printer, and more particularly, to a nozzle apparatus in which a cooling structure is omitted and miniaturized.

In general, 3D printers that make printed products by stereoscopic printing have liquid-based SLA (Stereolithography), powder-based SLS (selective laser sintering) and solid-based FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) .

Among these, FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) is one of the most popular 3D printing methods today. FDM generates a computer control signal based on a three-dimensional drawing created by a computer program and transmits the data to a 3D printer to move the 3D printer head. Then, in the nozzle of the 3D printer head, the molten material is injected in accordance with the control signal, and the injected melt is deposited on the planar structure. Then, the three dimensional structure is formed through the cooling process. The three dimensional structure is characterized by a pattern parallel to the plane structure by lamination.

However, conventional 3D printers have a problem that nozzles are frequently clogged. The nozzle periphery is maintained at a very high temperature to melt the filament as a base material. When the temperature around the nozzle is transferred to the upper portion of the nozzle, the supply path to which the filament is supplied is heated together. As a result, the filament of the supply path melts and overflows, and after cooling, it becomes solidified and blocks the nozzle.

Further, when the heat of the nozzle is transferred to the vicinity of the supply path, the transferred heat causes the filament that enters the supply path to be scattered. The filament needs to maintain its shape to some extent until it reaches the nozzle, so that smooth supply can be achieved.

In order to solve this problem, a heat sink or a cooling fan may be installed between the supply path and the nozzle where the filament as a base material is supplied. However, the heat sink has a limitation in lowering the heat and the cooling fan requires a separate power source. There are disadvantages. In addition, since the heat sink and the cooling fan increase the total volume of the 3D printer nozzle assembly, it is difficult to miniaturize the 3D printer.

In addition, when a cooling structure such as a heat sink or a cooling fan is used, the thermal efficiency is lowered because the temperature of the nozzle portion is lowered. Because of the long melting range from the nozzle to the cooling structure, high pressure is generated, . And high pressure can be another cause for blocking the nozzle in the process of pushing molten base metal.

Korean Patent No. 10-1712433

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional art as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to insulate a supply part of a base material and a nozzle without a separate cooling structure.

Another object of the present invention is to save the heat around the nozzle to reduce the nozzle heating time.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: a housing having an installation space therein; And a protection cover which covers the nozzle and insulates the outside from the nozzle, wherein the edge of the heat insulation means is formed by the protection The inner space formed by the housing and the protective cover protrudes toward the inner surface of the cover, and the nozzle body of the nozzle is located at a lower portion of the inner space.

The heat insulating means is located between the nozzle body located below the base material supplying portion and melting the supplied base material and the base material supplying portion.

The nozzle includes a nozzle body for melting the base material supplied to the inside thereof, a base material supply unit disposed at an upper portion of the nozzle body and transmitting a nozzle supplied from the outside to the nozzle body, And the nozzle and the heat insulating means are integrally formed.

The heat insulating means is a plate-like structure provided at a position corresponding to a position between the nozzle body of the nozzle and the base material supply portion, and protruding outward from the nozzle.

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The inner space formed by the housing and the protective cover is divided into upper and lower portions by the heat insulating means, and the upper and lower portions of the inner space are partially communicated by the penetrating portion formed in the heat insulating means.

A protective space is formed between the inner surface of the protective cover and the nozzle body of the nozzle.

The protection space is provided with a heat insulating material, which is filled up to a lower portion of the heat insulating means.

The protective cover surrounds the nozzle body and the heat insulating means of the nozzle, and the base material supply portion protrudes to the upper portion of the protective cover.

The protective cover has a double structure of an inner wall and an outer wall, and an empty space is formed between the inner wall and the outer wall.

A temperature sensor is integrally provided in the nozzle.

The housing is provided with a mounting portion for fixing the housing.

The nozzle apparatus for a 3D printer according to the present invention as described above has the following effects.

According to the present invention, the heat insulating means is positioned between the supply part of the base material and the nozzle body so that heat generated in the nozzle body is not transferred to the supply part. Accordingly, the supply part is heated to prevent the nozzle from being clogged, thereby improving the durability. The filament, which is the base material, is supplied into the nozzle while maintaining the original shape without melting.

Further, the present invention omits a cooling component such as a heat sink or a cooling fan due to the presence of the heat insulating means. As a result, the number of parts can be reduced and the overall size of the nozzle device can be reduced, thereby miniaturizing the 3D printer.

In addition, since the nozzle body of the present invention covers the protective cover, the heat of the nozzle body is preserved by the protective cover. Accordingly, the nozzle body can be heated at a higher speed, the thermal efficiency is improved, and the melting of the base material can be made more stable. The protective cover can also prevent user injury due to high temperature nozzles.

1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an embodiment of a nozzle apparatus for a 3D printer according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention viewed from an angle different from Figure 1;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the components constituting an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
4 is a sectional view showing a sectional configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary drawings. It should be noted that, in adding reference numerals to the constituent elements of the drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals even though they are shown in different drawings. In the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the understanding why the present invention is not intended to be interpreted.

In describing the components of the embodiment of the present invention, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), and (b) may be used. These terms are intended to distinguish the constituent elements from other constituent elements, and the terms do not limit the nature, order or order of the constituent elements. When a component is described as being "connected", "coupled", or "connected" to another component, the component may be directly connected or connected to the other component, Quot; may be "connected," "coupled," or "connected. &Quot;

A nozzle apparatus for a 3D printer according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as a "nozzle apparatus") is installed in a 3D printer to produce an output. The molten base material is discharged from the nozzle and is stacked to produce a stereoscopic output. In the present invention, a separate cooling structure is omitted by applying a heat insulating structure to such a nozzle device.

The basic framework of the present invention is formed by the housing 10. The housing 10 has an installation space 11 therein and surrounds the nozzle and the protective cover 70 which will be described below. The housing 10 is provided with a mounting space 11 for covering the nozzles and the protective cover 70 and a mounting portion 14 extending in the left and right direction on one side of the mounting space 11 have. The mounting portion 14 is for fixing the housing 10 to the 3D printer. Of course, the shape and structure of the mounting portion 14 may be variously modified. Although not shown, the housing 10 serves to fix the entire nozzle device so that it can move along the X, Y, and Z axes along the feed module.

On one side of the housing (10) is a mounting portion (14). The mounting portion 14 is for fixing the housing 10, and the nozzle device can be assembled to the 3D printer by the mounting portion 14. [ In this embodiment, the mounting portion 14 extends to one side of the housing 10, and although not shown, a circuit board or the like may be mounted on the mounting portion. Reference numeral 15 denotes a mounting groove 15 in which a circuit board to be connected to the distance sensor 30 to be described below is mounted. In this embodiment, the mounting grooves 15 are formed as a pair of spaced apart.

A mounting portion 16 is formed in the housing 10. The mounting portion 16 is an empty space formed so that the above-described circuit board or the like can be mounted. The mounting groove 15 and the mounting portion 16 formed on the mounting portion 14 of the housing 10 allow various parts to be mounted on the mounting portion 14 of the housing 10. [ A fastener or the like for fixing the nozzle device may be coupled to the mounting portion 16.

A through hole 13 is formed in an upper portion of the installation space 11 of the housing 10. The through hole 13 connects a base material supply unit 53 mounted in the installation space 11 of the housing 10 and a supply module (not shown) for transferring the filament as a base material to the base material supply unit 53 . The through hole 13 is made to penetrate the upper portion of the housing 10.

A lower cover 20 is coupled to the lower portion of the housing 10. The lower cover 20 is coupled to the housing 10 so that various components including a nozzle to be described later can be fixed to the housing 10. To this end, the lower cover 20 has a shape corresponding to the lower surface of the housing 10. The lower cover 20 is formed in a thin plate shape, but is not necessarily required.

The housing 10 is provided with a distance sensor 30. The distance sensor 30 is provided to measure the distance between the nozzle tip 55 of the nozzle and the output bed on which the output of the 3D printer is seated, and is directed downward. The distance sensor 30 has a terminal portion 35 and the terminal portion 35 is connected to the above-described circuit board. Of course, the terminal portion 35 may be connected to the outside through a separate connector. The distance sensor 30 is projected to a position parallel to the nozzle tip 55 to be described later.

A nozzle is installed in the installation space (11) of the housing (10). The nozzle melts and discharges the supplied filaments to produce an output product. The nozzle is connected to a feeder module (53) provided at the upper part thereof to receive filaments, and melts and discharges the nozzle through a nozzle tip (55). The nozzle is installed in the installation space (11) of the housing (10) in the vertical direction.

The basic form of the nozzle is formed by the nozzle body 50 which melts the base material supplied to the inside. The nozzle body 50 extends in the vertical direction, and a heating means such as a heat block for melting the filament as a base material may be installed therein. Although the heating means for melting the base material is not shown in the drawing, various examples are possible. In this embodiment, the nozzle body 50 has a cylindrical outer shape. However, the nozzle body 50 is not limited to this, and may be formed in various shapes.

A base material supply unit 53 is provided at an upper portion of the nozzle body 50. The base material supply unit 53 is connected to the supply module and supplies the filament to the nozzle body 50. The base material supply unit 53 is located at a position opposite to the nozzle tip 55 and extends upward. 4, the supply section 54 is shown. The supply section 54 is connected to a supply module, and a supply pipe (not shown) of the supply module is inserted into the supply section 54. The feed tube enters the upper end of the melt channel (H) to be described below to transfer the filament to the melt channel (H). That is, a filament as a base material is inserted into the supply pipe, and the inserted filament is heated and melted in the melt channel H through the melt channel H.

The base material supply unit 53 is not wrapped by the protective cover 70 described below, or only a part of the base material supply unit 53 is wrapped around and the other is extended upward. This is for moving the base material supply part 53 away from the nozzle body 50 to a position where it is engaged with the supply module. The heat of the nozzle body 50 is less transmitted to the base material supply unit 53 and the filaments passing through the base material supply unit 53 are melted in advance It is possible to prevent the phenomenon that the supply is not performed smoothly or the entrance passage of the mother material supply unit 53 is blocked by the molten and overflowed mother material.

A nozzle tip (55) is provided below the nozzle body (50). The nozzle tip 55 is located at the lower end of the nozzle body 50 and discharges the molten base material. The nozzle tip 55 is formed to have a smaller diameter than the nozzle body 50. The nozzle tip 55 is opened downward to discharge the molten base material from the nozzle body 50 to the output bed.

The nozzle is provided with a heat insulating means (51). The heat insulating means (51) is coupled to the nozzle to divide the base material supply portion (53) from the lower portion of the nozzle. Through this structure, the heat insulating means 51 serves to insulate between the nozzle body 50 and the base material supplying portion 53. When the heat of the nozzle body 50 is transferred to the base material supply unit 53, the filaments are disturbed before being delivered to the inside of the nozzle body 50, thus making it difficult to smoothly supply the filaments. The heat insulating means (51) insulates between the nozzle body (50) and the base material supplying portion (53) to prevent such a phenomenon. Since the present invention has the heat insulating means 51, a cooling component such as a heat sink or a cooling fan for cooling the nozzle body 50 can be omitted, and miniaturization is possible.

The heat insulating means 51 is provided at a position corresponding to the position between the nozzle main body 50 of the nozzle and the base material supplying portion 53 and is a plate-like structure protruding out of the nozzle. Referring to FIG. 4, it can be seen that the heat insulating means 51 is located across the nozzle body 50 and the base material supply portion 53. And a feed path (not shown) is formed through the heat insulating means 51 so that the filament, which is a base material to be fed, can be transferred to the base material space in the nozzle body 50.

The heat insulating means 51 may be provided integrally with the nozzle. That is, the heat insulating means 51 can be made together during the manufacturing process of the nozzle. Of course, the heat insulating means 51 may be a structure separate from the nozzle and assembled to the nozzle. In this embodiment, the heat insulating means 51 is made of a thermosetting plastic material, and the heat insulating means 51 can be made of various materials having high heat insulating properties.

As shown in Fig. 4, the edge of the heat insulating means 51 is projected toward the inner surface of the protective cover 70, which will be described later. Accordingly, the heat insulating means 51 divides the inner space 11, 71 formed by the housing 10 and the protective cover 70 into upper and lower portions. The heat insulating means 51 may be disposed between the nozzle body 50 and the base material supplying portion 53 and not protrude laterally. In this embodiment, however, the heat insulating means 51 may be provided on the inner surface of the protective cover 70 So that the heat insulating function can be performed more effectively.

Referring to FIG. 3, the heat insulating means 51 has a penetrating portion 52. The penetrating part (52) is formed by a part of the heat insulating means (51) being recessed or penetrating. The penetration portion 52 communicates the upper portion and the lower portion of the inner space 11, 71 of the housing 10 and the protective cover 70 partitioned by the heat insulating means 51 partially. Since the temperature of the air in the inner space 11, 71 located relatively below the heat insulating means 51 is raised by the heating means of the nozzle body 50, the air can escape therefrom And the penetration portion 52 provides it. The penetrating portion 52 may have a shape in which a part of the heat insulating means 51 is recessed as shown in FIG. 2, or may be made to penetrate the heat insulating means 51.

Although not shown, a temperature sensor is incorporated in the nozzle. The temperature sensor measures the temperature of the nozzle body 50 and transmits the information to the outside. Reference numeral 60 in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 denotes a position where a terminal portion connected to a temperature sensor is connected, and a part of the terminal portion supplies power to a heater serving as a heating means while the remaining portion serves to transmit a sensing value of the temperature sensor .

The nozzle covers the protective cover (70). The protection cover 70 protects the nozzle body 50 by protecting the nozzle body 50 by protecting the nozzle cover 50 by preventing the user from hitting the nozzle body 50 with a high temperature by wrapping the nozzle, ) Can be heated at a faster rate. This increases the thermal efficiency of the nozzle and makes the base material melt more stable. In this embodiment, the protective cover 70 is made of engineering plastics, which is excellent in impact resistance, abrasion resistance, and heat resistance. Of course, the material of the protective cover 70 may be made of another material having high heat resistance such as fiber reinforced plastics (FRP).

The shape of the protective cover 70 is best shown in FIG. The protective cover 70 has a substantially hollow cylindrical shape and a protective space 71 inside. The protective cover 70 may wrap the nozzle body 50 among the nozzles and cover at least a part of the parent material supply unit 53. The protective space 71 of the protective cover 70 is connected to the installation space 11 of the housing 10 to form one internal space 11 and 71. In the inner space 11 and 71, all the remaining parts except the nozzle tip 55 of the nozzle are located.

The lower body 73 of the protective cover 70 is relatively narrow so that the protective cover 70 can be caught and fixed to the lower cover 20. At the lower end of the protective cover 70, there is a tip protector 74 which is narrower in the direction of the nozzle tip 55.

One inner space 11 and 71 formed by the protective space 71 of the protective cover 70 and the installation space 11 of the housing 10 are partitioned into upper and lower parts by the above- And the heat of the lower space is not easily transferred to the upper space. After the nozzle device is assembled, the protective space 71 and the installation space 11 can be seen as a part of the inner space 11, 71 substantially.

A protective space (71) is formed between the inner surface of the protective cover (70) and the nozzle body (50). That is, the inner surface of the protective cover 70 and the nozzle body 50 are not in direct contact with each other. In addition to the protection space 71, the heat of the nozzle body 50 is directly transmitted to the protective cover 70 Can be prevented. In Fig. 4, l1 and l2 indicate the distance that the nozzle body 50 is separated from the protective cover 70, respectively.

Although not shown, a heat insulating material may be provided in the lower space defined by the heat insulating means 51 in the inner space 11, 71. The heat insulating material is filled up to the lower portion of the heat insulating means 51 to more effectively prevent the heat of the nozzle body 50 from being transferred to the base material supplying portion 53. The heat insulating material may be made of various materials having high thermal insulation properties including glass wool.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 5, the protective cover 70 may have a double structure. The protective cover 70 has a double structure of an inner wall 70A and an outer wall 70B. An empty space is formed between the inner wall 70A and the outer wall 70B. With this structure, the heat insulating function by the protective cover 70 can be further improved. The empty space between the inner wall 70A and the outer wall 70B may be in a vacuum state.

In the process of using the nozzle device according to the present invention, the nozzle body 50 is heated when power is supplied from the outside to the nozzle body 50 constituting the nozzle device. The heating means of the nozzle body 50 is heated and the temperature of the melt channel H inside the nozzle body 50 is increased.

In this state, when the filament as a base material is supplied from the base material supply unit 53, the filament is injected into the base material supply unit 53 in a circular shape and is heated in the course of passing through the melt channel H. That is, the filament is heated inside the melt channel (H) and injected through the nozzle tip (55) in a molten state. The base material injected through the nozzle tip 55 is made into a pre-programmed three-dimensional shape. In this process, the nozzle body 50 can maintain an appropriate temperature through the temperature sensor.

The base material supplying unit 53 receives the unmelted filament from the supply module and the base material supplying unit 53 does not heat the filament to a predetermined temperature or more because it is insulated from the nozzle body 50 by the heat insulating means 51 . Therefore, it is possible to prevent the filaments from flowing before reaching the melt channel (H), making it difficult to supply, or preventing the molten filament from blocking the entrance path of the melt channel (H).

In particular, since the inside of the protective cover 70 is provided with the heat insulating material, the heat insulation between the base material supplying part 53 and the nozzle body 50 can be more effectively performed.

On the other hand, the inside of the protective cover 70 is kept heated by the heating means. Therefore, the heating time for the next heating is shortened, and the nozzle body 50 can be heated at a higher speed, so that the melting of the base material can be made more stable.

In addition, the protective cover 70 can prevent the user from floating due to the hot nozzle. Specifically, the image progresses from 55 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius, from 60 degrees Celsius to 5 seconds, from 70 degrees Celsius to about 2 degrees Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius, from 0.1 to 0.5 seconds It is desirable to have a safety time to spare. Accordingly, the protective cover 70 according to the present invention maintains the maximum reflection time of the human being in the range of 2 seconds, which is four times of 0.5 seconds, to 70 degrees Celsius or less.

Meanwhile, in the process of rewinding the filament as the base material after the 3D output is made using the present invention, the base material must be cooled. In the present invention, the function of the heat insulating material is effectively performed, so that the rewinding operation of the base material can be performed smoothly.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. That is, within the scope of the present invention, all of the components may be selectively coupled to one or more of them. Furthermore, the terms "comprises", "comprising", or "having" described above mean that a component can be implanted unless otherwise specifically stated, But should be construed as including other elements. All terms, including technical and scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, unless otherwise defined. Commonly used terms, such as predefined terms, should be interpreted to be consistent with the contextual meanings of the related art, and are not to be construed as ideal or overly formal, unless expressly defined to the contrary.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention but to limit the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

10: housing 11: installation space
13: Through hole 14: Mounting part
20: lower cover 30: distance sensor
50: nozzle body 51:
52: penetrating part 53: base material supplying part
54: supply section 55: nozzle tip
70: protective cover 71: protective space
73: lower body 74: tip protecting portion

Claims (12)

A housing having an installation space formed therein,
A nozzle installed in the installation space and provided with a base material supply unit and melting the supplied base material and discharging the base material to the lower part,
Adiabatic means coupled to the nozzle and partitioning the base material supply unit with the lower portion of the nozzle to insulate the base material supply unit,
And a protective cover for covering the nozzle and insulating the outside from the nozzle,
Wherein the edge of the heat insulating means is protruded toward the inner surface of the protective cover to divide the inner space formed by the housing and the protective cover into an upper portion and a lower portion, and the nozzle body of the nozzle is a nozzle for 3D printer Device.
The 3D printer nozzle device according to claim 1, wherein the heat insulating means is located between a nozzle body located below the base material supply unit and melting the supplied base material, and the base material supply unit.
2. The apparatus of claim 1,
A nozzle body for melting the base material supplied to the inside,
A base material supply unit positioned above the nozzle body and delivering a nozzle supplied from the outside to the nozzle body;
And a nozzle tip located at a lower end of the nozzle body and discharging molten base material,
Wherein the nozzle and the heat insulating means are integrally formed.
4. The nozzle device for a 3D printer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the adiabatic means is provided at a position corresponding to a position between the nozzle body of the nozzle and the base material supply portion, and protruded outward from the nozzle.
delete The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the inner space defined by the housing and the protective cover is partitioned into upper and lower portions by the heat insulating means, and the upper and lower portions of the inner space are partially communicated by the penetrating portion formed in the heat insulating means Nozzle device for 3D printer.
The nozzle device for a 3D printer according to claim 1, wherein a protective space is formed between the inner surface of the protective cover and the nozzle body of the nozzle.
The nozzle device for a 3D printer according to claim 7, wherein the protective space is provided with a heat insulating material, and the heat insulating material is filled up to a lower portion of the heat insulating means.
The nozzle device for a 3D printer according to claim 1, wherein the protective cover surrounds the nozzle body of the nozzle and the heat insulating means, and the base material supply portion protrudes to the top of the protective cover.
The nozzle device for a 3D printer according to claim 1, wherein the protective cover has a double structure of an inner wall and an outer wall, and a void space is formed between the inner wall and the outer wall.
The 3D printer nozzle device according to claim 1, wherein a temperature sensor is integrally provided in the nozzle.
The 3D printer nozzle device according to claim 1, wherein the housing is provided with a mounting portion for fixing the housing.

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