KR20070103230A - Micro-stereolithography apparatus and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A micro-stereolithography apparatus and a method thereof are provided to save a manufacturing time of the micro-stereolithography manufacturing device by using an optical fiber in place of an ultraviolet lamp. A micro-stereolithography apparatus includes a light source(10), an optical fiber(30), a connector(20), and a tube(40). The light source(10) supplies the ultraviolet ray. The optical fiber(30) guides the ultraviolet ray supplied from the light source(10). The connector(20) connects the light source(10) to the optical fiber(30). The tube(40) formed on an end of the optical fiber(30) supplies the ultraviolet ray to a photo-curable resin.

Description

MICRO-STEREOLITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF

1 is a block diagram illustrating a micro-optical molding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the first optical lens unit included in the connector of the micro-optical molding device shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a view showing a tube of the micro-optical molding device shown in FIG.

4 is a view illustrating in detail a second optical lens unit included in the tube shown in FIG. 3.

5 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a micro-optical molding method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Brief Description of Drawings>

10: light source 20: connector

21: first optical lens unit 22 to 25: first to fourth lens

30: optical fiber 31: core

32: cladding 40: tube

41: second optical lens unit 42: fifth lens

43: sixth lens 50: tube holder

60: first stage 70: second stage

80: elevator 90: container

100: system server 110: photo-curing resin

120: cured photocuring resin

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a micro-optical molding apparatus, and more particularly, to a low-cost optical molding apparatus and method including an ultraviolet light source and optical fiber.

At present, due to the high technological development, micro-scale products are used in various industries such as engineering and medicine. In order to manufacture such micro-unit products, MMS (Micro Electro Michenical System; MEMS) or LIG (Lithographie, Galvanoformung, Abformung; LIGA) technology is widely used. Since these technologies are based on expensive laser light sources, the cost of manufacturing equipment is expensive. Since these technologies are based on semiconductor processes, it is difficult to fabricate structures having high assortment or complex three-dimensional shapes. have. In order to solve this problem, the conventional micro-optic molding technology converts a laser beam into a very small focal diameter by using a series of complex optical systems such as a lens and a mirror, and then supplies it to a photocurable resin for 3D. It is mostly the manufacture of micro light sculptures.

However, the conventional micro-optical molding apparatus uses a high cost laser as a light source, and uses a lot of optical systems to refract and reflect the laser light to have a very small focal diameter. It takes effort.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a low cost micro light shaping apparatus and method using an ultraviolet lamp and an optical fiber.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a light source for supplying ultraviolet light, an optical fiber for guiding the ultraviolet light supplied from the light source, a connector for connecting the light source and the optical fiber and the end of the optical fiber is formed to Provided is a micro-optical molding device comprising a tube for supplying a photocurable resin.

The light source is characterized in that the ultraviolet lamp.

The connector further includes a first optical lens unit for focusing the light of the light source and supplying the light to the optical fiber.

The first optical lens unit includes a first lens for converting light of the light source into parallel light, a second lens for focusing parallel light transmitted through the first lens, and light focused through the second lens. And a fourth lens for converting the light into a light and a fourth lens for focusing the light transmitted through the third lens and supplying the light to the optical fiber.

The tube may further include a second optical lens unit for focusing ultraviolet rays emitted from the optical fiber to a diameter of several μm.

The second optical lens unit may further include a fifth lens for converting light emitted from the optical fiber into parallel light and a sixth lens for focusing light transmitted through the fifth lens to a diameter of several μm.

It further comprises a tube holder for fixing the tube and a first stage for transferring the tube holder in the X-axis and Y-axis direction.

And further comprising a second stage for adjusting the thickness of the cross-sectional layer of the photocurable resin.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to drive the light source to generate ultraviolet light, to supply the ultraviolet light to the photocurable resin through the optical fiber and to receive the ultraviolet light to cure the photocurable resin micro It provides a micro-optical molding method comprising the step of manufacturing the optical sculpture.

The supplying of ultraviolet rays to the photocurable resin further comprises: forming a two-dimensional cross-sectional layer by curing the photocurable resin by moving the tube formed at the end of the optical fiber through the first stage along the X and Y axes. do.

The uncured photocurable resin is supplied onto the cured photocurable resin into the two-dimensional cross-sectional layer through a second stage vertically moving in the Z-axis direction, and a new two-dimensional photocurable resin cross-sectional layer is formed through the first stage. Characterized in that it further comprises the step.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention in addition to the above object will be apparent from the description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a micro-optical molding apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a micro-optical molding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a light source 10 for supplying ultraviolet light, an optical fiber 30 for guiding ultraviolet light supplied from the light source 10, and a light source 10. It is provided with the connector 20 which connects the optical fiber 30, and the tube 40 which is formed in the end of the optical fiber 30, and supplies an ultraviolet-ray to the photocuring resin 110. As shown in FIG.

Specifically, the light source 10 supplies light to the photocurable resin 110 to cure the photocurable resin 110. As the light source 10, it is preferable to use an ultraviolet lamp 10 that is inexpensive and exhibits high light efficiency and is suitable for the characteristics of the photocurable resin 110. In addition, an ultraviolet laser etc. can be used. Here, the light source 10 is turned on or off by the system server 100. On the other hand, it takes a predetermined time for the light source 10 to be turned on and to stably supply the amount of energy or ultraviolet light. In this case, a shutter (not shown) is further provided between the light source 10 and the connector 20 in order to prevent the process time from becoming longer due to the time required due to the turn-on / turn-off of the light source 10. When the shutter is connected to the system server 100 and a command for stopping supply of ultraviolet rays is transmitted from the system server, the shutter is turned off to block ultraviolet rays supplied from the light source 10. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the process time by reducing the driving time when the light source 10 is turned on and off.

Ultraviolet rays emitted from the light source 10 are guided through the optical fiber 30 and supplied to the photocurable resin 110. The optical fiber 30 is mainly made of glass with good transparency. The optical fiber 30 has a double cylindrical shape consisting of a central core 31 and a cladding 32 surrounding the core 31 at the periphery. In addition, a protective film is provided on the outside to protect it from impact. The diameter of the optical fiber 30 is very small, about 100 to several hundred micrometers, the refractive index of the core 31 is formed larger than the refractive index of the cladding 32, the total reflection at the boundary between the core 31 and the cladding 32, without loss of light It penetrates. The optical fiber 30 is small in size and light in weight, and has strong physical properties in bending, and is hardly affected by changes in the external environment.

The connector 20 is further provided to connect the optical fiber 30 with the light source 10. The connector 20 further includes a first optical lens unit 21 for condensing ultraviolet light with the optical fiber 30 because the ultraviolet lamp 10 used as the light source 10 has a large divergence angle.

2 is a diagram illustrating the first optical lens unit 21 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

2, the first optical lens unit 21 includes a first lens 22 for converting light emitted from the light source 10 into parallel light, a second lens 23 for focusing parallel light, A third lens 24 for converting the focused light back to parallel light and a fourth lens 25 for reducing the diameter of the light supplied from the third lens 24 are included.

When the first lens 22 uses the ultraviolet lamp 10 as the light source 10, the ultraviolet rays supplied from the ultraviolet lamp 10 have a large divergence angle. Therefore, the first lens 22 uses a convex lens. The ultraviolet light passing through the first lens 22 is converted into parallel light. The second lens 23 uses a convex lens to focus parallel light supplied from the first lens 22. The ultraviolet light passing through the second lens 23 is focused at one focal point corresponding to the thickness of the convex lens. Light condensed through the second lens 23 is supplied to the third lens 24 and converted into parallel light. The ultraviolet light converted into parallel light passes through the fourth lens 25 and is supplied to the optical fiber 30. The fourth lens 25 converts the ultraviolet rays supplied from the third lens into ultraviolet rays having a diameter of several tens of micrometers and condenses the ultraviolet rays supplied from the third lens to the optical fibers 30. Here, the first optical lens unit 21 and the optical fiber 30 are located on the same optical axis, and the focal plane of the fourth lens 25 is located at the end of the optical fiber 30.

3 is a view showing in detail the tube of the micro-optical molding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, one end of the optical fiber 30 is formed with a tube 40, and the tube 40 is fixed to the tube holder 50. And the tube holder 50 is mounted to the first stage 60 to move the tube 40 in the X-axis and Y-axis.

Specifically, the tube 40 is formed at the end of the optical fiber 30. In addition, the tube holder 50 is firmly fixed to the outside of the tube 40 and is connected to the first stage 60.

The first stage 60 moves the tube holder 50 along the X-axis and the Y-axis in order to directly irradiate the ultraviolet light output through the tube 40 to the photocurable resin 110 to form a single layer of the micro sculpture. By moving the first stage 60 along the X and Y axes, the photocurable resin 110 is cured to form a two-dimensional thin film. Here, since the amount of ultraviolet light supplied to the photocurable resin 110 changes according to the speed of the first stage 60, the two-dimensional shape of the designed light sculpture is formed by controlling the moving speed. For example, when manufacturing a narrow shape, the speed of the first stage 60 is increased to reduce the amount of ultraviolet light supplied to the photocurable resin 110 based on the unit area, and conversely, a large shape is manufactured. In this case, the speed of the first stage 60 is reduced to increase the amount of ultraviolet light supplied to the photocurable resin 110.

On the other hand, the tube 40 is further provided with a second optical lens portion 41 so that the ultraviolet light is output to supply the light having a very small diameter to the photocurable resin (110).

4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a second optical lens unit formed in the tube illustrated in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 4, the second optical lens unit 41 may receive the fifth lens 42 and the fifth lens 42 that supply the light output from the end of the optical fiber 30 in parallel. And a sixth lens 43 for converting to focused light having a diameter of from collection μm.

Specifically, the fifth lens 42 is formed of a convex lens and functions to supply ultraviolet rays emitted from the end of the optical fiber 30 in parallel. In addition, the sixth lens 43 converts the ultraviolet rays supplied in parallel from the fifth lens 42 into ultraviolet rays focused at a diameter of several μm, and supplies the ultraviolet rays to the photocurable resin 110. For this purpose, the sixth lens 43 is formed of a convex lens. Here, the fifth and sixth lenses 42 and 43 may use concave lenses in addition to the convex lenses.

The second stage 70 controls the elevator 80 which raises or lowers the cross-sectional layer of the photocurable resin 110 inside the container 90 in which the photocurable resin 110 is interposed. The second stage 70 lowers the photocurable resin 120 cured by the movement of the first stage 60 through the elevator 80 to cure the new photocurable resin 110 to the cured photocurable resin 120. Position it up. Through this, it is possible to manufacture a three-dimensional micro light sculpture.

The first and second stages 60 and 70 are operated by receiving data from the system server 100.

The system server 100 receives the design data of the three-dimensional micro-sculpture and supplies data information to the light source 10 and the first and second stages 60 and 70 to turn on, turn off and turn off the light source 10. The moving position and the moving speed of the first and second stages 60 and 70 are controlled.

5 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a method of manufacturing a micro light sculpture according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the method for manufacturing a micro-optic sculpture according to the present invention includes the steps of generating ultraviolet rays by driving a light source (S1), supplying ultraviolet rays supplied from the light source to the photocurable resin through an optical fiber (S2) and And receiving the ultraviolet rays to cure the photocurable resin to prepare a micro-optic sculpture (S3).

Specifically, the ultraviolet light is supplied by driving the light source. Here, it is preferable that the light source uses an ultraviolet lamp.

Next, ultraviolet rays supplied from the light source are collected through the connector and then supplied to the photocuring resin via the optical fiber. The connector includes first to fourth lenses, and sequentially passes through the first to fourth lenses, and converts ultraviolet rays supplied at a large divergence angle from the light source into ultraviolet rays having a diameter of several hundred μm and supplies them to the optical fiber.

Next, the ultraviolet rays totally reflected along the optical fiber and supplied to the other side end are supplied to the photocurable resin to cure the photocurable resin. Here, the first stage is moved on the X axis and the Y axis to produce a two-dimensional photocurable resin monolayer. Then, the second stage is lowered to supply an uncured photocurable resin, and a two-dimensional photocurable resin monolayer is prepared again. This process is repeated to produce a three-dimensional micro light sculpture.

As described above, the micro-optic molding apparatus and method according to the embodiment of the present invention can produce a three-dimensional micro-optical sculpture by laminating a photocurable resin cured in ultraviolet light, in particular, using a low-cost UV lamp as a light source By reducing the cost of the micro-optical molding device, it is possible to simplify the conventional complex optical system using the optical fiber.

By using the optical fiber instead of the conventional complicated optical system, the manufacturing time of the micro-optical sculpture manufacturing apparatus is reduced.

The present invention described above will be capable of various substitutions, modifications and changes by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and the rights thereof should be determined by the claims.

Claims (12)

A light source for supplying ultraviolet rays; An optical fiber for guiding ultraviolet light supplied from the light source; A connector connecting the light source and the optical fiber; And And a tube formed at the end of the optical fiber to supply the ultraviolet rays to the photocurable resin. The method of claim 1, And the light source is an ultraviolet lamp. The method of claim 1, The connector And a first optical lens unit for focusing ultraviolet rays from the light source and supplying the ultraviolet rays to the optical fiber. The method of claim 3, wherein The first optical lens unit and the first lens for converting the light of the light source into parallel light; A second lens focusing parallel light transmitted through the first lens; A third lens for converting the light focused through the second lens into parallel light; And And a fourth lens for focusing the light transmitted through the third lens and supplying the light to the optical fiber. The method of claim 4, wherein And the first and second lenses and the fourth lens are convex lenses, and the third lens is a concave lens. The method of claim 1, The tube further comprises a second optical lens unit for focusing the ultraviolet light emitted from the optical fiber to a diameter of several micrometers. The method of claim 6, The second optical lens unit includes a fifth lens for converting light emitted from the optical fiber into parallel light; And And a sixth lens for focusing the light transmitted through the fifth lens to a diameter of several micrometers. The method of claim 6, And a first stage for conveying the tube holder for fixing the tube and the tube holder in the X-axis and Y-axis directions. The method of claim 1, And a second stage for adjusting the thickness of the cross-sectional layer of the photocurable resin. Driving a light source to generate ultraviolet rays; Supplying the ultraviolet light to the photocurable resin through the optical fiber; And Micro light molding method comprising the step of receiving the ultraviolet light to cure the photocurable resin to produce a micro-optic sculpture. The method of claim 10, Supplying ultraviolet light to the photocurable resin, And moving the tube formed at the end of the optical fiber through the first stage to the X axis and the Y axis to cure the photocurable resin to form a two-dimensional cross-sectional layer. The method of claim 11, Supplying ultraviolet light to the photocurable resin, The uncured photocurable resin is supplied onto the cured photocurable resin into the two-dimensional cross-sectional layer through a second stage vertically moving in the Z-axis direction, and a new two-dimensional photocurable resin cross-sectional layer is provided through the first stage. Micro-molding method further comprising the step of molding.

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