Three dimensional printing apparatus and three dimensional printing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016129639-A1
Application number	US-201514612295-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 3, 2015
Priority date	Nov 11, 2014
Publication date	May 12, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A three dimensional printing (3D) apparatus and a three dimensional (3D) printing method are used for forming and stacking a plurality of modeling layers into a 3D object. The 3D printing apparatus includes a body having a modeling platform, a transmission module disposed on the body, a printing module, a curing module and a laser module. The printing module, the curing module and the laser module are disposed at and controlled by the transmission module to move relative to the body, respectively. A liquid modeling material is jetted from the printing module to the modeling platform and cured by the curing module to form the modeling layers. The laser module moves along a normal direction of the modeling platform according to a condition parameter and provides a laser beam along at least one plane parallel to the modeling platform to cut and trim at least one modeling layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A three dimensional (3D) printing apparatus, used for forming and stacking a plurality of modeling layers to form a 3D object, wherein the 3D printing apparatus comprises:
a body, having a modeling platform; a transmission module, disposed on the body; and a printing module, a curing module and a laser module, disposed at the transmission module and controlled by the transmission module to move relative to the body, respectively, a liquid modeling material being jetted from the printing module to the modeling platform and being cured by the curing module to form the modeling layers, the laser module moving along a normal direction of the modeling platform according to a condition parameter and providing a laser beam along at least one plane parallel to the modeling platform to cut and trim at least one modeling layer.

2 . The 3D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laser module is a carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) laser module.

3 . The 3D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a wavelength of the laser beam provided by the laser module is 10.6 micrometers (μm).

4 . The 3D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensor module, disposed on the body, the sensor module sensing a surface profile of the at least one modeling layer according to the condition parameter and generating a profile signal; and a control module, electrically connected to the sensor module and the laser module, the control module receiving the profile signal and determining whether the laser module is driven to trim the modeling layer according to the profile signal.

5 . The 3D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a control module, electrically connected to the printing module, the curing module and the laser module, the control module driving the laser module to trim the modeling layer according to the condition parameter.

6 . The 3D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the condition parameter comprises modeling time, a number of layers, or a structural height of the at least one modeling layer.

7 . A 3D printing method used for modeling a 3D object, wherein the 3D printing method comprises:
providing a liquid modeling material layer by layer on a modeling platform and curing the liquid modeling material to form a plurality of modeling layers, and forming the 3D object by stacking the modeling layers; and providing a laser beam along at least one plane parallel to the modeling platform according to a condition parameter to cut and trim at least one modeling layer.

8 . The 3D printing method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the condition parameter comprises modeling time, a number of layers, or a structural height of the at least one modeling layer.

9 . The 3D printing method as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising:
detecting a surface profile of the at least one modeling layer according to the condition parameter; and determining whether the laser beam is provided to trim the at least one modeling layer according to the detected surface profile.

10 . The 3D printing method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein when a protrusion and a recess coexist on the surface profile of the at least one modeling layer, the laser beam is provided to trim the modeling layer having the recess.

Assignees

• Xyzprinting Inc
• Kinpo Elect Inc
• Cal Comp Electronics & Comm Co

Inventors

• Huang Yao-Te

Classifications

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B33Y30/00 Primary

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

• B29C64/268

  using laser beams; using electron beams [EB] · CPC title

• B29C64/209

  Heads; Nozzles · CPC title

• B29C64/112 Primary

  using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads · CPC title