KR102017978B1 - Apparatus, system and method for monitoring filament of 3 dimension printer - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a 3D printer filament supply integrated monitoring apparatus and system and method. A 3D printer monitoring method, comprising: measuring a weight of a material used to print a three-dimensional object in the 3D printer, and sensing infrared rays emitted from a material supply apparatus to which the material is mounted Determining whether the weight changes based on the measured weight and the weight measured immediately before, and determining the printing related error of the object based on the determined change of the weight and the sensed infrared ray. It may include.

Description

3D printer filament supply integrated monitoring device and system and method {APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING FILAMENT OF 3 DIMENSION PRINTER}

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a technology of determining a printing error and notifying a user by monitoring a 3D printer performing a printing operation when printing a specific object with a 3D printer.

In the case of existing printers, document data consisting of text or images is printed and printed on a two-dimensional plane such as paper. Recently, the increasing number of 3D printers use three-dimensional drawings using various filament fuels in three-dimensional space. It is used as a device to print data as stereoscopic data. Filaments are the basic material for printing 3D results. There are many kinds of filaments, and as the result of printing is different according to the filament, the filament is recognized as an important factor in the printing operation (ie, 3D printing) of the 3D printer.

3D printing methods include FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), photocurable resin molding method, and laser method. Among them, the FDM method is a method of making an object to be printed by dissolving a thin filament-like thermoplastic filament material in a nozzle at high temperature, outputting it in a thin film form, laminating one by one, and curing at room temperature. This FDM method can be applied to a variety of materials, low equipment cost and maintenance costs, but the production speed is slow, there is a problem that the output is not due to the filament in the middle of the output. This can be a variety of cases, such as clogged nozzles or insufficient filament.

Accordingly, there is a need for a technique for monitoring to detect printing errors caused by materials (eg, filaments) used in 3D printing of 3D printers.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2016-0059302 relates to a filament resin composition for FDM-3D printing, an FDM-3D printing filament comprising the same, and a FDM-3D printing molding manufactured using the same, and an extrusion lamination method (FDM) A 3D printing filament resin composition, a FDM-3D printing filament, and a molding produced using the same are disclosed.

The present invention provides a technique for determining a printing error by monitoring a supply state of a filament of a 3D printer when printing an object (that is, 3D printing) by using a 3D printer, and informing a user of a printing error. It is about.

A 3D printer monitoring method, comprising: measuring a weight of a material used to print a three-dimensional object in the 3D printer, and sensing infrared rays emitted from a material supply apparatus to which the material is mounted Determining whether the weight changes based on the measured weight and the weight measured immediately before, and determining the printing related error of the object based on the determined change of the weight and the sensed infrared ray. It may include.

According to one aspect, the determining of the printing-related error of the object may include determining whether or not the material supply apparatus is rotating based on the sensed infrared.

According to another aspect, the determining of the printing related error of the object, whether or not the printing error of the object based on whether the sensing of the object being printed in the printing area of the 3D printer as it is determined that a change in the weight has occurred. Determining may be further included.

According to another aspect, the determining of the printing-related error of the object, if it is determined that no change in the weight, the nozzle by the material melted based on the measured weight and a predefined reference weight ( determining whether the nozzle is blocked.

According to another aspect, the determining of the printing-related error of the object, if it is determined that there is no change in the weight, determining whether to replace the material based on the measured weight and a predefined reference weight It may include the step.

According to another aspect, as it is determined that a print-related error of the object has occurred, it may further include providing a print error alarm (alarm) to the user terminal.

According to another aspect, the method may further include estimating replacement time of the material based on the measured weight and the consumption of the material.

A 3D printer monitoring system, comprising: a weight measuring unit for measuring a weight of a material used to print a 3D object in the 3D printer, and an infrared ray emitted from a material supply device to which the material is mounted An infrared ray sensing unit and a weight change based on the measured weight and the weight measured immediately before, and determining a printing related error of the object based on the determined weight change and the sensed infrared ray. It may include a printing error determination unit.

According to one aspect, as it is determined that a print-related error of the object occurs, it may further include an information providing unit for providing a print error alarm (alarm) to the user terminal.

According to another aspect, the method may further include a predictor configured to predict when to replace the material based on the measured weight and the consumption of the material.

The present invention, by using a 3D printer to monitor the supply state of the filament of the 3D printer when printing (ie, 3D printing) the object (FD method) by determining the printing error, and informs the user of the printing error, Even if the user is not guarding around the 3D printer, it is possible to check whether 3D printing is normally performed.

In addition, by predicting and providing a replacement time of the filament based on the monitored supply status of the filament, it is possible to help the printing to be performed normally until the desired object is completed without stopping the print job during the 3D printing due to the filament shortage have.

In addition, by providing a user with a printing error such as clogging of the nozzle due to the filament supply, the error can be solved quickly so that printing can be normalized again.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a 3D printer monitoring method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a 3D printer monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a 3D printer monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a load cell according to one embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a photo interrupter sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a view showing the structure of a filament case which is a material supply device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of estimating the remaining amount of filament according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration for providing information related to supply of filament and output state of 3D printing in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

The present embodiments relate to a technology for monitoring a printing situation of a 3D printer in relation to a material used for printing a specific object to be printed with a 3D printer. In particular, the present invention is used for 3D printing in an FDM method. The present invention relates to a technology for monitoring whether the filament is being operated normally and when to replace the filament.

In the present embodiments, the material of the 3D printer is described as an example in which a filament in the form of a thin thread is used, but this is an example, and various types of 3D printing raw materials may be used in addition to the filament.

In the present embodiments, the 'material supply device' is a device on which a filament is mounted, and may be represented by a filament case.

In the present embodiments, the 'user terminal' refers to a terminal possessed by an administrator of a 3D printer or a client requesting 3D printing. For example, a PC, a smartphone, a tablet, a notebook, or the like. It may represent an electronic device capable of wired / wireless communication.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a 3D printer monitoring method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a 3D printer monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the 3D printer monitoring system 200 includes a weight measuring unit 210, an infrared sensing unit 220, a print error determining unit 230, a predicting unit 240, and an information providing unit 250. can do. Steps 110 to 150 of FIG. 1 are the weight measuring unit 210, the infrared sensing unit 220, the print error determining unit 230, and the prediction, which are components of the 3D printer monitoring system 200 of FIG. 2. It may be performed by the unit 240 and the information providing unit 250.

Filament, which is a printing material, may be injected into the printing area of the 3D printer to perform 3D printing (ie, printing) of an object to be printed. For example, an object to be printed may be printed while the filament is unwound and melted and supplied to a printing area through a nozzle in a material supply apparatus in which a thin filament of a thin thread, which is a material, is wound during 3D printing by FDM. At this time, the filament melted in the nozzle may be completed to print the object to be printed while layering on the heating bed (heating bed) which is a printing area. When 3D printing is performed as described above, printing errors may be detected by monitoring the supply status of the filament.

First, in step 110, the weight measuring unit 210 may measure the weight of a material (eg, filament) used to print a 3D object in a 3D printer.

For example, the weight measuring unit 210 may measure the weight of the filament at predetermined predetermined periods, and after the filament replacement, nozzle clogging cleaning, etc., according to a printing error is performed (eg, a replacement completion signal, a nozzle confirmation signal) The weight of the filament may be measured). For example, when a three-dimensional object is printed by stacking a filament melted and supplied through a nozzle in a lamination method, the period may be previously designated as a time period during which the lamination layer is changed. In other words, when printing three-dimensional objects by stacking (i.e. stacking) ten layers, if the current layer is the fifth layer, the weight is measured at the beginning of the printing of the fifth layer. At the start of printing the sixth laminated layer, the weight of the filament may be measured.

In this case, the weight measuring unit 210 senses a physical quantity such as force or load of the filament weighted by the pressure sensor using a pressure sensor, and converts the sensed physical quantity into an electrical signal. It can be measured by the weight of the filament. For example, a load cell such as an electronic balance or a weight scale may be used as the pressure sensor, and the physical quantity may be digitized in a form that can be displayed on a display device. Numerical information can be measured as the weight of the filament. Then, the prediction unit 240 may calculate the consumption amount of the filament based on the measured weight of the filament. The remaining amount of the filament (that is, the amount of the wound around the filament case) may be updated based on the weight of the filament measured at regular intervals. The prediction unit 240 may estimate the replacement time of the filament based on the calculated consumption amount and the remaining amount of the updated filament, and a detailed operation of predicting the replacement time of the filament will be described later with reference to FIG. 7.

In operation 120, the infrared sensing unit 220 may sense infrared light emitted from the material supply apparatus on which the material is mounted. Here, the material supply device represents a filament case in which the filament is wound, and the infrared sensing unit 220 may sense infrared rays passing through a specific region of the filament case.

For example, the infrared sensing unit 220 may sense infrared rays passing through a plurality of specific regions located in the filament case for a predetermined time. In this case, a photo interrupter sensor may be used for infrared sensing. The photo interrupter sensor is a sensor in which photocurrent flows while the infrared light of the light emitting diode (LED) touches the photo transistor, and the infrared sensing unit 220 uses the photo interrupter sensor to transmit infrared light that passes through a specific region of the filament case. The amount of photocurrent flowing while touching the transistor can be sensed. In operation 130, the print error determiner 230 may determine whether the weight of the current filament is changed based on the weight measured by the weight measurer 210 and the weight measured immediately before.

The print error determiner 230 may determine whether the filament weight is changed based on the currently measured weapon and the weight measured immediately before. For example, when the weight is periodically measured at a predetermined time, the print error determiner 230 compares the weapon measured at the current period t with the weight measured at the previous period t-1 to determine whether the weight of the filament has changed. You can decide whether or not. That is, the print error determination unit 230 may check whether the weight measured in the current cycle is reduced compared to the weight measured in the previous cycle. And if it is confirmed that the weight is reduced, it is determined that the weight has changed, and if it is confirmed that it is not reduced, it can be determined that the weight has not changed (that is, no weight change occurs).

In operation 140, the printing error determination unit 230 may determine whether an object has a printing error based on whether the filament weight is changed and the sensed infrared rays.

For example, if it is determined that there is no change in the filament weight (that is, there is no weight change), the print error determiner 230 determines that the weight of the filament in the measured current period is close to zero within a predefined error range. You can check whether it is an approximation (i.e. a predefined reference weight). In this case, when the weight of the measured filament is confirmed to have an approximate value close to zero, the print error determining unit 230 may determine that the filament is exhausted, and determine the filament replacement.

As another example, if no change in the filament weight is determined (i.e. no weight change) and the weight of the filament in the current period is found to be not close to an approximate value near zero within a predefined error range (i.e. If it is confirmed that the filament remains in the filament case), the printing error determination unit 230 may determine that a printing error has occurred in the current cycle. For example, the filament must be reduced as the filament is consumed to print the three-dimensional object in relation to the layer in the last period, and the filament is consumed to print the three-dimensional object in relation to the layer in the current cycle. In the case where there is no change in weight and the weight of the measured current cycle has a non-zero value, the print error determination unit 230 does not change the weight as the nozzle to which the molten filament is supplied is blocked. You can decide. That is, the print error determination unit 230 may determine a print error due to clogging of the nozzle.

As another example, the filament case can be rotated at a predetermined speed to release the filament wound on the filament case (ie, the material supply device) and supply it to the nozzle. In this case, when rotating at a constant speed in a situation where the filament is normally supplied, the reference infrared amount per reference time, such as seconds / minutes may be predefined. Then, the print error determiner 230 determines whether the filament case is in a rotating state based on the predefined reference infrared amount and the infrared amount measured using the photo interrupter sensor (that is, the amount of light current flowing through the LED of the photo interrupter sensor). Can be determined. For example, if the amount of infrared rays measured within a predefined error range is greater than the reference amount of infrared rays, it is determined as a rotation state. If the amount of infrared rays measured within the error range corresponds to an approximate value close to zero, it is stopped without rotation. You can decide.

That is, the amount of infrared rays measured by the photo interrupter sensor may correspond to the number of holes provided in the filament case (that is, the material supply device) measured by the photo interrupter sensor. For example, the photo interrupter sensor may sense a plurality of holes provided in the filament case (that is, the material supply device) and an area blocked between the holes and the holes _ for a predetermined time. , When the filament wound on the filament case is supplied normally (ie, when the filament case is rotated normally), a predetermined number of holes (eg, the first number and the second number) for a predetermined time period And a predetermined number of blocked areas may be sensed, and then, the printing error determiner 230 may define a first number of holes detected in a predetermined time and a number of blocked areas in advance. A printing error such as nozzle clogging may be determined based on whether the number corresponds to the second number of times, for example, when the number of holes sensed and the number of blocked areas are less than the predetermined number. It is possible to confirm that the blade is being blocked or blocked, and thus the rotation is slowing down, or the rotation is gradually stopped, and the printing error due to the nozzle clogging can be determined. 230 may determine the printing state in the current period (eg, the current layer) as normal.

In operation 150, as it is determined that a printing error has occurred, the information providing unit 250 may remotely provide a printing error alarm to the user terminal.

For example, the information providing unit 250 may provide alarm information indicating that a printing error such as nozzle clogging or filament replacement has occurred to a user terminal (not shown) connected through a wired / wireless network. For example, the alarm information may be provided to the user terminal in the form of a message, and when an application for monitoring the 3D printer (hereinafter, referred to as a “service app”) is installed in the user terminal, the service app installed in the terminal may be used. The alarm information may be displayed on the screen of the terminal in the form of a push notification. For example, the information providing unit 250 may provide a terminal and a code indicating a type of a printing error (that is, whether the filament is replaced or the nozzle is clogged) and a push notification code. Then, the printing error information may be displayed in the form of a push notification on the screen of the terminal based on the push notification code and the code information indicating the type of the printing error through a service app installed in the terminal.

3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a 3D printer monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, 310 may represent a perspective view of the 3D printer monitoring apparatus, and 320 may represent a side view of the 3D printer monitoring apparatus.

Referring to 310 and 320, the filaments 311 and 321 may be wound around the pillars 313 and 323 of the filament cases 312 and 322, which are material supply devices. The load cells 314 and 324 may be located at the lower ends of the filament cases 312 and 322 to measure the weight of the filaments 311 and 321. Then, the weight measuring unit 210 may store the weight information including the weight measured in each load cycle in the load cells 314 and 324 in association with the corresponding cycle information. For example, the remaining amount of the filament may be predicted based on the weight information measured and stored for each cycle of the initial filament. In addition, the printing error may be determined based on the weight measured in the current cycle and the immediately preceding cycle. Here, since the operation of determining the printing error has been described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, duplicate description thereof will be omitted.

The photo interrupter sensors 315 and 325 may be located at least one side of the material supply device 312, 322. For example, to measure the amount of infrared light passing through the upper layer 326 and the lower layer 326 of the filament cases 312 and 322, a photo interrupter sensor and a lower layer sensing a specific area of the upper layer 326. There may be photo interrupter sensors that sense specific regions of 326. In addition, when sensing a specific area of any one of the upper and lower layers 326 and 326, a photo interrupter sensor may be positioned on the side of the corresponding layer. In this case, a specific region through which light such as infrared light passes through the upper and lower layers 326 and 327 may pass through the sensing region 328 of the photo interrupter sensors 315 and 325. That is, the distance between the photo interrupter sensors 315 and 325 and the filament case is such that a plurality of holes perforated in at least one layer of the upper and lower layers constituting the filament case are rotated and the sensing region 328 It may correspond to the distance that can pass through.

4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a load cell according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a photo interrupter sensor according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the load cell 400 may convert a physical quantity representing the weight of the filament weighted to the load cell into an electrical signal and quantify the weight based on the converted electrical signal. For example, the load cell 400 may be a variety of electronic scales, weight scales, etc., and may be divided into various types according to load values, shapes, and properties of materials to be used in a 3D printer to measure weight.

Referring to FIG. 5, the photo interrupter sensor 500 may include a light emitting diode (LED) and a photo transistor. Then, the infrared sensing unit 220 may measure the amount of infrared rays based on the light emitted from the light emitting diodes (eg, infrared rays).

In one example, light (eg, infrared light, etc.) may be emitted from the light emitting diode (LED) to the edge of the filament case (eg, to a specific area including holes drilled in the upper and lower layers of the filament case). . Then, the photo transistor may measure the amount of light passing through the hole as some of the emitted light passes through the hole of the filament case. For example, referring to FIG. 6, a plurality of holes may be positioned at at least one of the upper portions 610, 620, and lower portions 630 of the filament case at predetermined predetermined intervals. That is, the plurality of holes may be located in at least one of the upper and lower portions 610, 620, and 630 at a predetermined distance with a predetermined size. Then, the light emitting diodes may emit light to the edge area where the hole is located, and the emitted light may pass through the hole or be blocked by the upper and lower layers positioned between the hole and the hole. Then, the photo transistor can measure the amount of light that has passed through the hole. In this case, the upper and lower portions 610, 620, and 630 may rotate at a predetermined speed, and the light emitting diodes (LEDs) emit light to upper and lower edge regions of the filament case rotating at a constant speed, and The transistor senses the light passing through the hole on the rotating filament case, thereby measuring the amount of light for a predetermined time at a constant speed. As such, it may be determined whether the filament case is rotating based on the measured amount of light.

That is, when the filament case is rotated, the light emitted from the light emitting diodes (LEDs) passes through the hole and is blocked by the upper and lower layers positioned between the hole and the hole (that is, The situation may be repeated. In this case, when the filament case is stopped without rotating, the light emitted from the light emitting diode (LED) may continue to pass through the hole or may be blocked. Then, the amount of infrared rays sensed by the infrared sensing unit 220 may have a value that is very large or very small. As such, when the corresponding value is very large or smaller than a predetermined reference value, the print error determination unit 220 does not rotate. Can be determined to stop.

In addition, based on the characteristic that the light passing through the hole is continuously detected when the filament case does not rotate or the light is not detected because the light is blocked by the layer between the hole and the hole. It may be determined whether the filament case is rotating. For example, as holes are positioned in the upper and lower layers at predetermined intervals, light passing through the holes at predetermined time intervals may be sensed. In this case, when the light is not sensed at a predetermined time interval and is continuously sensed or when the light is not sensed, it may be determined that the filament case is in a stopped state.

In addition, the amount of light may be measured by counting the number of the emitted light has passed through the hole. In this case, when the filament case is normally rotated at a predetermined speed, a reference number indicating how many light passes through a hole during a reference time such as 1 second / minute may be specified in advance.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of estimating the remaining amount of filament according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 7, steps 710 and 720 may be performed by the predictor 240 of FIG. 2.

First, the initial weight of the filament may be registered in advance by the administrator, and the initial weight may be measured by the load cell prior to the operation of the 3D printer.

In operation 710, the predictor 240 may calculate the consumption amount of the filament based on the initial weight and the weight of the filament measured after the 3D printer is operated for 3D printing. In this case, after the 3D printing operation, the weight of the filament may be measured at a predetermined predetermined cycle, and the consumption of the filament may also be calculated for each cycle.

For example, the consumption amount of the filament corresponding to the first period may be calculated as the difference between the weight calculated in the first period and the initial weight. The weight calculated in the first period may be set to the remaining amount of the filament. Subsequently, a consumption amount of the filament corresponding to the second period may be calculated as a difference between the weight measured in the second period and the remaining amount of the filament (that is, the weight calculated in the first period). Here, the remaining amount of the filament may be updated with the weight measured in the second period. In the same way, the consumption of filament corresponding to the third period can be calculated as the difference between the weight measured in the third period and the remaining amount of the filament (ie, the weight calculated in the second period), and the remaining amount of the filament is It can be updated with the weight measured in 2 cycles. At this time, the consumption amount calculated for each cycle may be stored in association with the cycle.

In operation 720, the prediction unit 240 may estimate the replacement time of the filament based on the consumption amount and the remaining amount of the filament calculated for each cycle.

For example, the prediction unit 240 may determine a reference consumption amount for the filament replacement time prediction based on the consumption amount of the filament calculated at regular intervals. For example, the reference consumption may be determined as an average of consumption per cycle. The prediction unit 240 may determine the replacement time of the filament based on the determined reference consumption amount and the remaining amount of the filament. That is, as the remaining amount of the filament is updated at regular intervals, it is possible to predict whether the filament will be replaced at what period based on the remaining amount of the updated filament and the reference consumption. In this case, information on the number of all layers required for 3D printing the 3D object may be stored in advance. Then, the prediction unit 240 may predict the filament replacement time based on the total number of pre-stored information, the period (for example, layer information) predicted that the filament needs to be replaced, and the time information required to print one layer. have.

As such, the replacement time of the filament may be predicted based on the reference consumption, and the prediction unit 240 may calculate the revolution per minute (RPM) to predict the replacement time of the filament. For example, the predictor 240 may calculate an RPM (ie, rotational speed per minute) of the motor of the 3D printer using a hall sensor or the like. Based on the calculated RPM, the consumption of the filament calculated in relation to the current layer, and the remaining amount of the filament, it is possible to predict how long the filament will be exhausted. For example, it is possible to predict when the filament is replaced, which indicates whether the filament will be exhausted after a few minutes or hours.

Then, the information providing unit 250 may provide the user terminal with the filament replacement time information including the filament replacement time predicted by the above two methods. For example, the information providing unit 250 may provide the predicted filament replacement time information on the screen of the user terminal in the form of a message or a push notification through a service app installed in the user terminal. That is, the information providing unit 250 provides the user terminal with information on when to replace the filament in the middle of the 3D printer performing the 3D printing, thereby securing a filament to be replaced by the user so that the printing stops due to the exhaustion of the filament. It can prevent lasting situations. In addition, on the basis of the replacement time of the filament provided to the terminal, the user currently prints a three-dimensional object, the filament is enough to print normally, but the remaining amount of filament enough to print a new three-dimensional object to be printed next You can make sure that there is no remaining. Accordingly, when printing a new object, the filament may be replaced to provide 3D printing without stopping the printing due to the exhaustion of the filament.

As such, the information providing unit 250 may not only provide the estimated replacement time information of the filament, but also provide printing error information including the clogged rust, filament replacement information according to the exhaustion of the filament, etc. to the user terminal. have. In addition, even when the 3D printing is normally printed, the information providing unit 250 may provide the remaining amount information (that is, the weight corresponding to the current period) indicating the remaining amount of the filament in the current period to the user terminal.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration for providing information related to supply of filament and output state of 3D printing in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, the screen 800 includes display information 810 for providing an output state, display information 820 for providing a filament supply state, and display information 830 for providing temperature information of the filament extruder. ), Display information 840 for environment setting, display information 850 for screen size adjustment, and the like.

For example, when the display information 810 for providing the output state is selected on the screen of the user terminal, the information providing unit 250 may receive an output state providing request from the terminal. Then, the information providing unit 250 may provide time information indicating how many layers are being printed on the object being 3D printed until the request point, and time required for the output of the current layer to be finished. Then, at least one of the printed layer information and time information may be displayed on the screen of the terminal on which the display information 810 is selected. Based on the displayed information confirmation, display information such as printing stop, print restart, or continuous printing is selected, and a command corresponding to the selected display information can be transmitted to the 3D printer through an application installed in the terminal.

As another example, as the display information 820 for providing the supply status of the filament is selected on the screen of the user terminal, the information provider 250 may receive a request for providing the supply status of the filament. Then, the information providing unit 250 may provide the terminal with the supply speed of the current filament calculated on the basis of the infrared amount measured by the photo interrupter sensor and the weight information of the current filament measured in the load cell (that is, the remaining amount of the filament). have. In this case, the information providing unit 250 may further provide time information, which is expected to be exhausted of all the filaments calculated based on the weight information of the filament, layer information indicating how many more layers can be printed.

As another example, when the display information 830 for providing temperature information of the filament extruder is selected, the information provider 250 may receive a request for providing a temperature of the extruder. Then, the information providing unit 250 may provide the temperature information of the filament extruder and the temperature information of the heating bed to the terminal. Here, the filament extruder may be a device including a nozzle, and may refer to an apparatus for supplying the melted filament supplied from the filament case to the printing area of the 3D printer to enable printing. When the temperature information of the extruder and the heating bed is displayed on the screen of the terminal, a user who has confirmed the temperature may control the temperature to maintain the reference temperature when the temperature is smaller or higher than a predefined reference temperature. For example, display information for adjusting the temperature up or down a predetermined level may be selected on the screen of the terminal. In addition, display information for transmitting a control command at a time may be selected so that the temperature becomes a predefined reference temperature. As such, when the display information is selected, an indicator or command code matching the display information may be transmitted to the 3D printer through an application installed in the terminal. The filament extruder and heating bed connected to the 3D printer can then adjust the current temperature up or down to the reference temperature.

As described above, the 3D printer monitoring system monitors the filament and the filament case that is supplied until the 3D printing is completed when the 3D printer is operating for 3D printing, thereby determining whether the filament is operating and when to replace the filament. The prediction can be provided to the user terminal. Accordingly, even if the user (including the administrator and the printing client) is not protected around the 3D printer, printing errors due to nozzle clogging can be reported and handled quickly, and filament replacement due to exhaustion of the filament is promptly handled. You can do that. That is, as the filament is exhausted, the time for stopping printing can be reduced or minimized.

The method according to the embodiment may be embodied in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer means and recorded in a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the media may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the embodiments, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, and magnetic disks, such as floppy disks. Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

Although the embodiments have been described by the limited embodiments and the drawings as described above, various modifications and variations are possible to those skilled in the art from the above description. For example, the described techniques may be performed in a different order than the described method, and / or components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, etc. may be combined or combined in a different form than the described method, or other components. Or even if replaced or substituted by equivalents, an appropriate result can be achieved.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents to the claims are within the scope of the claims that follow.

Claims (10)

In the 3D printer monitoring method,
Measuring the weight of the material used to print a three-dimensional object in the 3D printer;
Sensing infrared light emitted from a material supply device on which the material is mounted;
Determining whether the measured weight changes; And
Determining whether a printing error of the object occurs and a type of the printing error, based on whether the measured weight changes and the sensed infrared ray;
Including,
Determining whether the printing error occurs and the type of the printing error,
If there is no change in the measured weight, determining that the printing error has occurred;
If the measured weight is equal to 0 within a predefined error range, determining the type of the printing error according to the exhaustion of the material;
If the weight to be measured does not correspond to zero within the error range, determining the type of printing error according to a clogged nozzle through which the material passes; And
If the sensed infrared ray amount corresponds to a predefined reference infrared ray amount within a predefined error range, determining the type of the printing error according to the rotation stop of the material supply device
Including,
And the material supply device rotates to supply the material to the nozzle. delete delete delete delete The method of claim 1,
If it is determined that the printing error has occurred, providing a message indicating that the printing error has occurred and alarm information indicating the type of the printing error to the user terminal;
3D printer monitoring method comprising more. The method of claim 1,
Calculating a consumption amount of the material based on the measured weight and a predefined reference weight;
Predicting the replacement time of the material based on the calculated loudness; And
Providing replacement time information including the replacement time to a user terminal;
3D printer monitoring method comprising more. In the 3D printer monitoring system,
A weight measuring unit measuring a weight of a material used to print a 3D object in the 3D printer;
An infrared sensor configured to sense infrared light emitted from a material supply apparatus on which the material is mounted; And
A print error determination unit that determines whether the measured weight changes, and determines whether a print error of the object occurs and the type of the print error, based on whether the measured weight changes and the sensed infrared ray;
Including,
The print error determination unit,
If there is no change in the measured weight, it is determined that the printing error has occurred,
If the measured weight corresponds to zero within a predefined error range, the type of the printing error is determined as being based on the exhaustion of the material,
If the measured weight does not correspond to zero within the error range, the type of the printing error is determined as the nozzle clogging through the material,
If the sensed infrared ray amount corresponds to a predefined reference infrared ray amount within a predefined error range, it is determined that the type of the printing error according to the rotation stop of the material supply device,
And the material supply device rotates to supply the material to the nozzle. The method of claim 8,
If it is determined that the printing error has occurred, the information providing unit for providing a message indicating that the printing error has occurred and the alarm information indicating the type of the printing error to the user terminal
3D printer monitoring system comprising more. The method of claim 8,
A predicting unit calculating a consumption amount of the material based on the measured weight and a predetermined reference weight, and predicting a replacement time of the material based on the calculated consumption amount; And
Information providing unit for providing replacement time information including the replacement time to the user terminal
3D printer monitoring system comprising more.

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