Heating apparatus, heating method, three-dimensional object forming system, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10632676-B2
Application number	US-201514849156-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2015
Priority date	Sep 17, 2014
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

A heating apparatus for emitting thermal energy, includes a heater which emits the thermal energy directed at a thermal expansion sheet that expands according to a heating amount absorbed, a relative mover which causes the heater and the thermal expansion sheet to move relatively in a predetermined direction, and a controller which changes one of a speed of the relative movement by the relative mover and a heat generation amount by the heater, according to the relative movement of the heater and the thermal expansion sheet, so that the heating amount received by the thermal expansion sheet is close to uniform regardless of the position in the predetermined direction while the thermal energy is emitted by the heater.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heating apparatus, comprising:
an emitter that emits light to a thermal expansion sheet that expands according to a heating amount absorbed, the light being converted into heat by the thermal expansion sheet;
a mounting table on which the thermal expansion sheet is mounted, and in which a hollow portion is provided, the hollow portion being provided at a position such that a portion of the thermal expansion sheet, when mounted on the mounting table, overlaps with the hollow portion and bends downward;
a relative mover that causes, when the thermal expansion sheet is mounted on the mounting table, relative movement between the emitter and the thermal expansion sheet such that the emitter relatively moves along the portion of the thermal expansion sheet, the relative mover causing the thermal expansion sheet to move relative to the emitter in a predetermined direction or causing the emitter to move relative to the thermal expansion sheet in the predetermined direction; and
a computer programmed to gradually change a speed of the relative movement by the relative mover when the relative mover causes the relative movement between the emitter and the thermal expansion sheet while the light is being emitted by the emitter, such that (i) the speed of the relative movement gradually and linearly increases according to an elapsed time from a start of light emission by the emitter, and (ii) a speed correction value is subtracted from the speed of the relative movement, the speed correction value being larger as a position of the emitter is closer to a center of the portion of the thermal expansion sheet.

2. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the thermal expansion sheet includes a conversion layer that converts the light emitted by the emitter into heat, the conversion layer being provided on a surface of the thermal expansion sheet; and
the emitter emits the light to the surface of the thermal expansion sheet on which the conversion layer is provided.

3. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a sheet holding plate that holds the thermal expansion sheet on a periphery of the hollow portion.

Assignees

• Casio Computer Co Ltd

Inventors

• Motoyanagi Yoshimune

Classifications

• B29K2105/04

  cellular or porous · CPC title

• B33Y30/00

  Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor · CPC title

• B29C64/188

  involving additional operations performed on the added layers, e.g. smoothing, grinding or thickness control (surface shaping B29C59/00; after-treatment of articles without altering their shape B29C71/00) · CPC title

• B29K2105/0076

  Microcapsules · CPC title

• B29K2105/256

  Sheets, plates, blanks or films · CPC title