阅读说明：本技术 选择性激光烧结3d打印机 (Selective laser sintering 3D printer ) 是由 何冰 薄夫祥 蹤雪梅 于 2020-04-20 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种选择性激光烧结3D打印机。选择性激光烧结3D打印机包括机架和至少两个光路单元,至少两个光路单元设置于机架上,且至少两个光路单元包括相邻设置的第一光路单元和第二光路单元,第一光路单元和第二光路单元的扫描区域至少部分重叠。本发明的3D打印机通过设置至少两个光路单元,每个光路单元负责各自区域的扫描打印工作,且相邻的光路单元的扫描区域至少部分重叠从而增加打印机的打印尺寸,进而提高打印效率。而且打印尺寸的增加利于满足大尺寸工程机械零件的打印。(The invention discloses a selective laser sintering 3D printer. The selective laser sintering 3D printer comprises a rack and at least two light path units, wherein the at least two light path units are arranged on the rack and comprise a first light path unit and a second light path unit which are adjacently arranged, and the scanning areas of the first light path unit and the second light path unit are at least partially overlapped. According to the 3D printer, the at least two light path units are arranged, each light path unit is responsible for scanning and printing work of each area, and the scanning areas of the adjacent light path units are at least partially overlapped, so that the printing size of the printer is increased, and the printing efficiency is improved. And the increase of the printing size is beneficial to meeting the printing requirement of large-size engineering machinery parts.)

1. A selective laser sintering (3D) printer, comprising:

a frame (1); and

the optical path unit comprises a rack (1), at least two optical path units (2) and a control unit, wherein the at least two optical path units (2) are arranged on the rack (1), the at least two optical path units (2) comprise a first optical path unit and a second optical path unit which are arranged adjacently, and scanning areas of the first optical path unit and the second optical path unit are at least partially overlapped.

2. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the optical path unit (2) comprises a laser (21), a mirror (22) and a galvanometer system (24).

3. The selective laser sintering 3D printer of claim 1, wherein the 3D printer comprises two optical path units arranged symmetrically.

4. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 3, characterized in that the 3D printer further comprises a monitoring unit (6) arranged between the two optical path units.

5. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the frame (1) comprises a top area (11), a middle area (12) and a bottom area (13) arranged in the height direction in sequence, the at least two light path units (2) being arranged within the top area (11).

6. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 5, characterized in that the 3D printer further comprises a heating unit (3) arranged within the middle region (12), the heating unit (3) comprising a plurality of heating tubes distributed along the circumference of the middle region (12).

7. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of heating pipes are circumferentially enclosed to form a square structure and include a first heating pipe group arranged in a left-right direction and a second heating pipe group arranged in a front-rear direction, the first heating pipe group and the second heating pipe group being arranged in a staggered manner in a height direction.

8. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 5, characterized in that the 3D printer further comprises a powder laying unit (4) arranged in the middle region (12) and a forming unit (5) arranged in the bottom region (13), the forming unit (5) comprising a forming cylinder (51), the powder laying unit (4) being located above the forming cylinder (51) and moving in a front-back direction.

9. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 8, characterized in that the forming unit (5) further comprises scrap recycling bins (52) arranged on the front and rear sides of the forming cylinder (51).

10. The selective laser sintering 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the 3D printer further comprises a control device (7) arranged outside the frame.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of 3D printing, in particular to a selective laser sintering 3D printer.

Background

The 3D printer is also called a three-dimensional printer, and is a rapid forming device for constructing a three-dimensional entity by adopting a forming material and a layer-by-layer printing mode on the basis of a digital model file, wherein a selective laser sintering technology (S L S) is one of additive manufacturing technologies, and the working principle of the rapid forming device is that a three-dimensional digital model of a part is utilized, and a high-power laser beam is adopted to heat and sinter powder laid layer by layer according to a part section path to form the part.

The S L S technology is widely applied due to the characteristics of wide powder material selection, simple manufacturing process, no need of a supporting structure and the like, wherein the S L S technology can rapidly manufacture a 'wax mold' prototype for precision casting of parts without manufacturing a metal mold by sintering fine casting wax powder, PS, PC and other powder, and can rapidly obtain blanks of parts by combining the traditional investment precision casting technology, the precision and the consistency of the parts are high, the research and development period can be effectively shortened, the research and development cost is reduced, and the problems brought by the traditional manufacturing mode are solved.

Because engineering machine tool part size is great, the current selectivity laser sintering wax matrix 3D printing apparatus of market prints the size little, print efficiency slow, can't satisfy the printing demand of engineering machine tool trade.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a selective laser sintering 3D printer to increase the printing size of the printer.

The invention provides a selective laser sintering 3D printer, which comprises:

a frame; and

the optical path unit comprises a first optical path unit and a second optical path unit which are arranged adjacently, and the scanning areas of the first optical path unit and the second optical path unit are at least partially overlapped.

In some embodiments, the optical path unit includes a laser, a mirror, and a galvanometer system.

In some embodiments, the 3D printer includes two optical path units symmetrically disposed.

In some embodiments, the 3D printer further comprises a monitoring unit disposed between the two optical path units.

In some embodiments, the rack comprises a top region, a middle region and a bottom region arranged in sequence in the height direction, and the at least two light path units are arranged in the top region.

In some embodiments, the 3D printer further comprises a heating unit disposed within the central region, the heating unit comprising a plurality of heating tubes distributed along a circumference of the central region.

In some embodiments, the plurality of heating pipes surround to form a square structure in the circumferential direction and include a first heating pipe group arranged in the left-right direction and a second heating pipe group arranged in the front-rear direction, and the first heating pipe group and the second heating pipe group are arranged in a staggered manner in the height direction.

In some embodiments, the 3D printer further comprises a powder spreading unit disposed in the middle region and a forming unit disposed in the bottom region, the forming unit comprising a forming cylinder, the powder spreading unit being located above the forming cylinder and moving in a front-to-back direction.

In some embodiments, the forming unit further comprises scrap recycling bins disposed on both the front and rear sides of the forming cylinder.

In some embodiments, the 3D printer further comprises a control device disposed outside the chassis.

Based on the technical scheme provided by the invention, the selective laser sintering 3D printer comprises a rack and at least two light path units, wherein the at least two light path units are arranged on the rack, the at least two light path units comprise a first light path unit and a second light path unit which are adjacently arranged, and the scanning areas of the first light path unit and the second light path unit are at least partially overlapped. According to the 3D printer, the at least two light path units are arranged, each light path unit is responsible for scanning and printing work of each area, and the scanning areas of the adjacent light path units are at least partially overlapped, so that the printing size of the printer is increased, and the printing efficiency is improved. And the increase of the printing size is beneficial to meeting the printing requirement of large-size engineering machinery parts.

Other features of the present invention and advantages thereof will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a selective laser sintering 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of the housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the optical path unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural view of the heating unit of FIG. 1;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of the forming unit in fig. 1.

Each reference numeral represents:

1. a frame;

11. a top region; 12. a middle region; 13. a bottom region;

2. an optical path unit;

21. a laser; 22. a mirror; 24. a galvanometer system;

3. a heating unit;

31. a first heating pipe; 32. a second heating pipe; 33. a third heating pipe; 34. a fourth heating pipe;

4. a powder spreading unit;

5. a shaping unit;

51. a forming cylinder; 52. a waste recovery tank;

6. a monitoring unit;

7. and a control device.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The relative arrangement of the components and steps, the numerical expressions and numerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present invention unless specifically stated otherwise. Meanwhile, it should be understood that the sizes of the respective portions shown in the drawings are not drawn in an actual proportional relationship for the convenience of description. Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but are intended to be part of the specification where appropriate. In all examples shown and discussed herein, any particular value should be construed as merely illustrative, and not limiting. Thus, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values. It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, further discussion thereof is not required in subsequent figures.

Spatially relative terms, such as "above … …," "above … …," "above … …," "above," and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one device or feature's spatial relationship to another device or feature as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if a device in the figures is turned over, devices described as "above" or "on" other devices or configurations would then be oriented "below" or "under" the other devices or configurations. Thus, the exemplary term "above … …" can include both an orientation of "above … …" and "below … …". The device may be otherwise variously positioned and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

The selective laser sintering 3D printer of the embodiment of the invention comprises:

a frame 1; and

at least two light path units 2, set up in frame 1, and at least two light path units 2 include adjacent first light path unit and the second light path unit that sets up, and the scanning area of first light path unit and second light path unit at least part overlaps.

According to the 3D printer provided by the embodiment of the invention, at least two light path units are arranged, each light path unit is responsible for scanning and printing in respective area, and the scanning areas of adjacent light path units are at least partially overlapped, so that the printing size of the printer is increased, and the printing efficiency is further improved. And the increase of the printing size is beneficial to meeting the printing requirement of large-size engineering machinery parts.

In the present embodiment in particular, as shown in fig. 1 and 3, the 3D printer includes two optical path units symmetrically disposed. The optical path units each include a laser 21, a mirror 22, and a galvanometer system 24. The two optical path units are respectively responsible for scanning and printing of left and right half side areas, and the scanning areas of the two optical path units are crossed and covered.

As shown in fig. 3, the optical path unit 2 of the present embodiment includes two mirrors 22 symmetrically arranged.

Monitoring unit as shown in fig. 2, the rack 1 of the present embodiment includes a top area 11, a middle area 12, and a bottom area 13, which are sequentially arranged in the height direction, and two optical path units 2 are arranged in the top area 11. Specifically, the housing 1 of the present embodiment is a frame mechanism, and the top region 11 includes a support plate on which the two light path units 2 are disposed.

The 3D printer of the present embodiment further includes a monitoring unit 6 disposed on the support plate and located between the two optical path units 2.

The middle region 12 and the bottom region 13 of the housing 1 of the present embodiment communicate. And the middle region 12 includes partitions on the left and right sides, respectively. The 3D printer of this embodiment also includes the heating unit 3 that sets up in middle zone 12, and heating unit 3 includes a plurality of heating pipes along the circumference distribution of middle zone 12.

Specifically, the heating unit 3 includes a first heating pipe group disposed in the left-right direction and a second heating pipe group disposed in the front-rear direction, specifically, the first heating pipe group includes a first heating pipe 31 located on the left side and a second heating pipe 32 located on the right side, and the second heating pipe group includes a third heating pipe 33 located on the rear side and a fourth heating pipe 34 located on the front side. The four heating pipes are enclosed in the circumferential direction to form a square structure.

In order to better heat the entire central region, the first heating tube set and the second heating tube set are arranged offset in the height direction.

In this embodiment, the 3D printer further includes a powder laying unit 4 disposed in the middle region 12 and a forming unit 5 disposed in the bottom region 13, the forming unit 5 includes a forming cylinder 51, and the powder laying unit 4 is located above the forming cylinder 51 and moves in the front-rear direction.

The structure of the selective laser sintering 3D printer according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 5.

As shown in fig. 1, the selective laser sintering 3D printer of the present embodiment includes a host computer and a control device 7 disposed outside the host computer. The main machine comprises a machine frame 1, a light path unit 2, a heating unit 3, a powder spreading unit 4, a forming unit 5 and a monitoring unit 6.

The selective laser sintering 3D printer of this embodiment is wax powder selective laser sintering 3D printer.

As shown in fig. 2, the frame 1 is a mechanical frame structure, and the whole mechanical frame is welded by square steel pipes. The overall frame is divided into three parts, a top area 11, a middle area 12 and a bottom area 13, the top area 11 is used for placing the light path unit 2, the monitoring unit 6 and other core electronic devices. The intermediate area 12 is used for placing the heating unit 3 and the powder-spreading unit 4, wherein the heating unit 3 is located above the powder-spreading unit 4. The bottom area 13 is used for placing the forming unit 5. The overall layout of the frame 1 of the present embodiment is reasonably compact to achieve a large forming size in a limited space.

As shown in fig. 3, the 3D printer of this embodiment includes two optical path units 2, specifically, the two optical path units include an optical path unit located on the left side and an optical path unit located on the right side, the two optical path units are respectively responsible for scanning and printing operations of respective half-side areas, and the two optical path units can achieve double coverage of the intersection area of 100 mm and 150 mm. The printing size of the printer is increased due to the arrangement of the double optical path unit, the maximum printing breadth size of the printer reaches 1200 x 600mm, and is far more than the printing size of the same type of laser sintering equipment in the market, so that the direct printing forming of the large-size wax mold in the engineering machinery industry can be met.

As shown in fig. 4, the heating system 3 of the present embodiment is used to heat the intermediate region 12 during operation, so that the intermediate region is kept at a constant temperature, and the printing warp deformation of the printing material can be greatly reduced.

Specifically, the heating system 3 of the present embodiment employs lamp radiation heating, that is, four heating tubes are all heating lamps, and the heating lamps are distributed in a highly staggered manner. The distance between the front lamp tube and the rear lamp tube from the forming platform is 200-250mm, the distance between the left lamp tube and the right lamp tube from the forming plane is 200-230mm, each heating lamp tube is responsible for heating each area, the highest heating temperature reaches 150, and the heating temperature can meet the requirement of printing the precision casting wax powder. And the heating system 3 adopts PID mode control to ensure constant temperature. In addition, the central region 12 is a closed cavity (the outer baffle and the sealing element are not shown in the drawings) in operation, and can play a role in keeping the temperature constant.

As shown in fig. 5, the powder spreading unit 4 includes a powder spreading cylinder which can move back and forth, and when the equipment prints one layer, the workbench lowers one layer, and then the powder spreading cylinder moves back and forth to realize powder supply and spreading. The powder paving cylinder of this embodiment carries out the seesaw, and the working distance is the shortest, and the idle stroke operation, and equipment printing efficiency obtains double promotion. And the size of the bottom opening of the powder spreading cylinder and the side surface inclination angle are set according to the flowing characteristic of the fine casting wax powder and are specially used for printing the fine casting wax powder. The powder paving unit 4 of the present embodiment further includes a driving mechanism for driving the powder paving cylinder to move back and forth.

As shown in fig. 5, the forming unit 5 of the present embodiment includes a forming cylinder 51 and waste recovery boxes 52 provided on the front and rear sides of the forming cylinder 51, the waste recovery boxes 52 being used to recover printing powder. The powder spreading unit 4 is arranged above the forming cylinder 51 of the present embodiment, that is, the material supply system of the forming cylinder 51 of the present embodiment is located outside so as not to occupy the space of the main machine. The forming cylinder 51 is provided with a screw lifting and lowering mechanism to raise and lower the forming table. The printing breadth size of the forming platform of the embodiment is more than or equal to 1200 x 600 mm.

The printer of this embodiment still includes the monitor unit 6, and the monitor unit 6 adopts real-time monitoring camera for shoot the inside powder of spreading of shaping unit and print real-time status. The monitoring unit 6 can realize remote checking through being connected with the internet, an operator can remotely check the current printing state in real time through a mobile phone and a computer, and meanwhile, a shot video can be stored on the computer, so that the operator can conveniently return to check the problems in the printing process.

The printer of the embodiment further comprises a control device 7, the control device 7 is separated from the main machine and is arranged outside the main machine, the control device 7 is used for controlling the action of the heating unit 3, the lifting of the forming platform, the movement of the powder spreading cylinder and the action of the feeding system, and the control device 7 is also used for displaying the printing state. The printer of this embodiment all places most electrical control part on external control cabinet, can effectively reduce the whole size of host computer, reduces equipment manufacturing cost, has guaranteed the aesthetic property of equipment when improving economic nature.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention and not to limit it; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that: modifications to the specific embodiments of the invention or equivalent substitutions for parts of the technical features may be made; without departing from the spirit of the present invention, it is intended to cover all aspects of the invention as defined by the appended claims.