KR20160039176A - The material feeding device and method for 3d printer - Google Patents

Abstract

A material feeding device for a 3D printer according to the present invention comprises a material supply container storing a granular material; a feeding motor installed on the upper part of the material supply container; a feeding screw coupled with a rotary shaft of the feeding motor, stored inside the material supply container, and compressing the granular material downwards to feed the material to a feeding nozzle; a feeding nozzle including a heating part which is coupled with the lower part of the material supply container, and melts the granular material fed by being compressed by a feeding screw, and a cooling part which cools the material molten in the heating part to be solidified before being discharged to an outlet on the lower part of the nozzle; a feeding tube guiding a filament-shaped material cooled in the feeding nozzle and continuously discharged, to an extrusion head; and the extrusion head receiving the filament-shaped material through the feeding tube, and discharging the material in a molten state capable of forming a product.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a material feeding device and a material feeding method,

The present invention relates to a material supply device for a 3D (three-dimensional) printer, in which a raw material of particle type or powder type is fed into a material supply container without using a filament type material, To a material feeding device for a 3D printer which can supply the printer.

In recent years, the use of 3D printers capable of molding the objects using 3D data of objects has been increasing. In the past, such 3D printers have been used for pre-mass modeling and sample production, but nowadays, there is a technological basis that can be used for the mass production of products with small quantity production of various kinds of products. Is in the expanding work.

The product molding method of the 3D printer is divided into a so-called additive type in which a target object is formed in a two-dimensional plane form, a so-called additive type in which the object is melted and laminated while being laminated in three dimensions, . As a kind of the additive type, a wire or filament made of thermoplastic plastic is supplied through a supply reel and a transfer roll, and the supplied filament is melted in a heater nozzle mounted on a three-dimensional transfer mechanism relatively positioned with respect to a work table in XYZ three directions There is a filament melt lamination molding method in which a two-dimensional planar shape is formed by discharging it and a three-dimensional object is formed by laminating it on a work table.

Currently, the most widely used 3D printer uses a molding method in which filaments of PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) and ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) are melt laminated. In recent years, the above-mentioned laminated FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) type 3d printer has been widely used, and many low-priced supply models are being produced. However, since the filament type material used for the FDM method is expensive, it is difficult to perform various experimental 3D printing. Especially, if the molding fails, the material can not be reused and the cost is wasted I have been.

In addition, in the case of a 3D printer using a single type extruder, it is necessary to replace the filament supply reel and connect it to the extruder when the color needs to be changed, And the time required for that.

Korean Patent No. 10-1346704

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been conceived in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a granular material by feeding a ground granular material into a material supply container, melting and cooling the granular material inside the feeding nozzle, It is an object of the present invention to provide a material supply device and a material supply method which can save material cost and can be reused by crushing an unsuccessful molded object and can easily change the material.

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention,

A supply motor installed at an upper portion of the material supply container; a supply motor coupled to a rotation shaft of the supply motor and accommodated in the interior of the material supply container, for pressing the granular material downward A heating unit which is connected to the lower part of the material supply container and melts the granular material supplied by being pressed by the supply screw, and a heating unit which melts the material in the heating unit, And a cooling section for cooling the material to be solidified before being discharged to the extrusion head, and a feeding tube for guiding the filament-type material continuously cooled by the feeding nozzle to the extrusion head. And an extrusion head for receiving the filament-type material through the feed tube and discharging the product in a molten state for forming the product.

In this case, a screw receiving groove rotatable in a state in which the supply screw is inserted may be formed in the upper portion of the inside of the feed nozzle.

In addition, the material supply container may include:

A hopper is formed on one side of the upper portion of the container so that a granular material can be further introduced into the material supply container.

The feed nozzle may be supported and fixed by a support coupled to a top plate of a 3D printer.

In addition, the motor and the material supply container are detachably coupled, and the lower portion of the material supply container and the upper portion of the feed roller are screwed to facilitate the replacement of the motor, the material supply container and the feed roller .

A 3D printer material supply method according to the present invention comprises:

Feeding a granular material into a material supply container,

Feeding the granular material in the material supply container downward by a screw coupled to the motor and supplying the granular material to the feed nozzle,

Melting the granular material supplied to the feed nozzle by applying heat at an upper portion of the feed nozzle;

Cooling the molten material below the feed nozzle and discharging the molten material into a continuous filament type material;

Feeding the filament type material discharged from the feed nozzle to the extrusion head through the feed tube and

And pushing the received material downwardly through the extrusion head and discharging the melted material by applying heat.

According to the present invention, production cost can be minimized by using an inexpensive granular material without using an expensive filament-type material.

In addition, since the molded product that fails to be formed can be pulverized and reused, it is possible to reduce the waste of the material.

Further, when the type of the material is changed or the color of the material is changed, the replacement is easy and the replacement time can be shortened.

1 is a front view of a material supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention.
2 is a partial cross-sectional view of a material supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention;
3 and 4 are a plan view and a perspective view of a 3D printer equipped with a material supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention.
5 is a view showing a conventional 3D printer.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components throughout the drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. In addition, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but it is needless to say that the technical idea of the present invention is not limited thereto and can be variously modified by those skilled in the art.

Hereinafter, a method and apparatus for supplying a material for a 3D printer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.

2 is a partial cross-sectional view of a material supply apparatus for a 3D printer according to the present invention, and Figs. 3 and 4 are views showing a state in which a material supply for a 3D printer according to the present invention 3 is a plan view and a perspective view of a 3D printer equipped with the apparatus.

As shown in Figs. 3 to 4, a material supply device for a 3D printer according to the present invention is mounted on a 3D printer. The 3D printer shown in FIGS. 3 to 4 is a driving method called a Delta 3D printer, and shows an embodiment in which a material supply device according to the present invention is installed. It goes without saying that the material supply apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to FDM 3D printers of other driving methods.

The delta 3D printer is driven so that the three carriers 102 are moved up and down by the drive motor 120 along the guide shaft 104 and one end is coupled to the carrier 102 and the other end is connected to the platform 105 The position of the extrusion head 60 coupled to the platform 105 is determined so that the desired shape of the product can be moved in the XYZ three-axis direction by the position of the carrier plate 102 Bed Plate, 106).

1 and 2, a material supply apparatus for a 3D printer according to the present invention includes a material supply container 10, a supply motor 20, a supply screw 30, a feed nozzle 40, 50 and an extrusion head 60.

3, it is preferable that the material supply container 10, the supply motor 20, and the feed nozzle 40 are located on the top of the 3D printer by the support 110. [ The supply motor 20, the material supply container 10, and the feed nozzle 40 can be easily exchanged. The feeding nozzle 40 is provided with an appropriate feed nozzle (not shown) according to the thickness of the filament type material to be supplied to the extruder 61 40) is selected and a replacement connection is possible.

The material supply container 10 is a container for accommodating a granular material. Although the shape of the container is not limited, it is preferable that the body has a cylindrical shape and the lower surface 11 has a cone shape inclined downward. The lower surface 11 has a cone shape so that the granular material is moved in the lower center direction by gravity. The material supply container 10 may be made of a transparent material so that the amount of the granular material accommodated therein can be easily recognized. When the material supply container 10 is made of an opaque material, a transparent window is preferably formed. It is also possible to select a container of an appropriate size depending on the amount of material used in the product to be molded. A hopper 12 may be formed on one side of the upper part of the material supply container 10 to replenish the material. When it is determined that the material in the container is insufficient for product molding, the granular material 5 ) Can be supplemented.

As shown in Fig. 2, the supply motor 20 is coupled to the upper cap 13 of the material supply container 10. The material supply container 10 and the supply motor 20 can be coupled in various ways, but most preferably, they are screwed together for easy removal. The supply motor 20 is coupled such that the rotary shaft 21 faces downward. A supply screw 30 is coupled to the rotary shaft 21 of the supply motor 20. [ When the supply screw 30 rotates, the granular material 5 moves downward by the supply screw 30 under pressure. The supply motor 20 uses a servomotor capable of controlling the speed by a control unit. A stepping motor may be used to precisely control the feed rate of the material. Feed the material to the feeding nozzle 40 in accordance with the speed at which the filament-type material is supplied to the extruder 61.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a feed nozzle 40 is coupled to the lower end of the material supply container 10. The feeding nozzle 40 is a part for supplying the granular material 5 accommodated in the material supply container 10, heating it, melting it, cooling it, and molding it into a filament type material.

It is preferable that the upper end of the feeding nozzle 40 and the lower end of the material supply container 10 are screwed easily to separate and engage. The feed nozzle 40 is selected to have a feed nozzle 40 having a corresponding outlet 43 according to the diameter of the filament to be produced. The higher the forming accuracy of the product, the more the feeding nozzle 40 having a small diameter of the discharge opening should be selected.

As shown in FIG. 2, a screw receiving groove 44 may be formed in the upper portion of the feed nozzle 40 to provide a space for rotating the feed screw 30 in a state where the feed screw 30 is inserted. The tip 33 of the feed screw 30 rotates in the screw receiving groove 44 so that the pressure at which the particulate material is supplied to the feed nozzle 40 can be increased. Of course, it is also possible to form a groove in the lower end of the material supply container 10 in which the tip 33 of the supply screw 30 is received.

The upper part of the feeding nozzle 40 is provided with a heating part 41 for heating and melting the material by the heating wire 411. The material is fed to the lower part of the feeding nozzle 40 by the cooling coil 421, The cooling section 42 is cooled so as to be solidified before being supplied to the feed tube 50 through the discharge port of the supply tube 50. The heat insulating portion 45 may be formed between the heating portion 41 and the cooling portion 42 such that the heating portion 41 and the cooling portion 42 are not affected by each other.

The granular material supplied to the feeding nozzle 40 by the feeding screw 30 is processed into a continuous filament type material through the heating portion and the cooling portion.

The processed filament type material moves to the extrusion head 60 through the feed tube 50. The inner diameter of the feeding tube 50 is slightly larger than the diameter of the filament, thereby guiding the feeding to the extrusion head 60 without damaging the material, while minimizing the friction between the filament and the feeding tube 50. The feeding tube 50 may be made of various materials, but it is preferable to adopt a flexible Teflon material. The Teflon material is suitable for a conveying pipe because of its low surface frictional force and does not suffer from thermal deformation due to a somewhat high temperature filament discharged from the feed nozzle 40,

The filament-type material moved through the feeding nozzle 40 is supplied to the extrusion head 60. The extrusion head 60 may be composed of an extruder 61 and an extrusion nozzle 65 for pushing the material to the nozzle. The extruder 61 includes an extrusion motor 611 that provides an extrusion driving force and an extrusion roller 612 that is connected to the extrusion motor 611 and rubs against the material to press it in the direction of the extrusion nozzle. When the material is pressed in the direction of the extrusion nozzle by the extrusion roller 612, it is discharged to the extrusion nozzle in a molten state by the heating portion 64 provided at the upper portion of the extrusion nozzle 65. [ The discharged molten material is laminated on a bed plate to form a product.

A 3D printer material supply method according to the present invention comprises:

A step of feeding the granular material into the material supply container 10 and a step of moving the material supply container 10 by the screw 30 coupled to the motor by driving the motor 20 installed on the upper part of the material supply container 10, Feeding the granular material in the feeding nozzle 40 to the feeding nozzle 40 and feeding the granular material to the feed nozzle 40 by applying heat to the granular material in the feeding nozzle 40, Feeding the filament-type material discharged from the feeding nozzle 40 to the extrusion head 60 through the feeding tube 50; and feeding the filament-type material discharged from the feeding nozzle 40 to the extrusion head 60, And pressurizing the fed material downward through the extrusion head 60 and discharging the melted material by applying heat.

The description of each of the above steps is sufficient for understanding the description of the 3D printer material supply apparatus according to the present invention, and therefore, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, by using the material feeding device for 3D printer according to the present invention, it is possible to perform 3D printing using a granular material, and the material cost can be greatly reduced. Further, the material supply device for 3D printer according to the present invention can be installed and used in addition to the FDM-type 3D printer using the existing filament-type material, so that the filament coil can be purchased and used as in the prior art, All using materials can be selected. That is, it is also possible to supply the material in the same manner as in the conventional manner by separating the feed tube 50 from the extruder 61 and connecting the filament coil to the extruder 61.

5: Granular material
10: Material feeding device
12: Hopper
20: Supply motor
30: Feed screw
40: feed nozzle
41:
42:
50: feed tube
60: extrusion head
61: Extruder
611: Extrusion motor
612: Extrusion roller
63:
64:
65: Extrusion nozzle

Claims (3)

1. A material feeding device for a stacked 3D printer for feeding a material to a 3D printer and extruding molten material to form a product,
A material supply container for accommodating a granular material;
A supply motor installed at an upper portion of the material supply container;
A supply screw which is coupled to the rotation shaft of the supply motor and is accommodated in the material supply container and supplies the granular material downward to the feed nozzle;
A cooling unit coupled to a lower portion of the material supply container to cool the granular material supplied by the supply screw and to cool the granular material to be solidified before the melted material is discharged to the discharge port below the nozzle; Feed nozzles included;
A feeding tube for guiding a filament-type material cooled by the feeding nozzle and continuously discharged to an extrusion head; And
And an extrusion head for receiving the filament-type material through the feed tube and discharging the filament-type material in a molten state for forming the product,
A screw receiving groove rotatable in a state in which a supply screw is inserted is formed in an inner upper portion of the feed nozzle,
The material supply container includes:
A hopper is formed on one side of the upper portion of the container so that a granular material can be further introduced into the material supply container.
Wherein the feed nozzle is supported and fixed by a support coupled to a top plate of a 3D printer.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the motor and the material supply container are detachably coupled,
The lower portion of the material supply container and the upper portion of the feeding roller are screwed together,
Wherein the motor, the material supply container, and the feeding roller are easily replaced.
A method for supplying a material to a 3D printer for forming a product by laminating molten materials,
Feeding a granular material into a material supply container;
Feeding the granular material in the material supply container downward by a screw coupled to the motor and supplying the granular material to the feed nozzle;
Melting the granular material supplied to the feed nozzle by applying heat at an upper portion of the feed nozzle;
Cooling the molten material below the feed nozzle and discharging it as a continuous filament type material;
Feeding the filament type material discharged from the feed nozzle to the extrusion head through the feed tube; And
Pressurizing the received material downward through an extrusion head, and discharging the molten material by applying heat.

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