Three dimensional printing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9511546-B2
Application number	US-201514645409-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2015
Priority date	Nov 10, 2014
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

A three dimensional printing apparatus is provided. The three-dimensional printing apparatus includes a tank, a rotatable platform, a light source module and a controller. The rotatable platform is elevatably disposed above the tank, and the light module is disposed under the tank. When the controller controls the rotatable platform elevating to a height along an axis direction, the controller controls the rotatable platform rotating a plurality of rotating angles in sequence around the axis direction and controls the light source module irradiating liquid-formation material, so as to sequentially solidify a plurality of object sections of a single layer object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A three-dimensional printing apparatus, for printing a three-dimensional object comprising at least one layer object, the apparatus comprising:
a tank, containing a liquid-formation material;
a rotatable platform, elevatably disposed above the tank;
a light source module, disposed under the tank;
a controller, coupled to the light source module and the rotatable platform,
wherein when the controller controls the rotatable platform to move to a height along an axis direction, the controller controls the rotatable platform to sequentially rotate a plurality of rotating angles around the axis direction and controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material, so as to sequentially solidify a plurality of object sections of the at least one layer object, and each of the rotating angles at least corresponds to one of the object sections,
wherein after the rotatable platform rotates one of the rotating angles, the controller controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material to solidify one of the object sections of the at least one layer object, and the one of the object sections is separated from the bottom of the tank in response to controlling the rotatable platform to rotate another one of the rotating angles by the controller for controlling the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material to solidify next one of the object sections.

2. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one layer object is divided into the object sections according to values of a plurality of cutting angles, and the cutting angles respectively correspond to the object sections,
wherein sub-cross-sectional profiles of the object sections projected on a horizontal plane are determined based on the values of the corresponding cutting angles and a cross-sectional profile of the at least one layer object on the horizontal plane,
wherein the controller controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material according to all the sub-cross-sectional profile of each of the object sections.

3. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the values of the cutting angles are the same, and a total of the values of the cutting angles are 360 degrees.

4. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the values of the cutting angles are different from each other, and a total of the values of the cutting angles are 360 degrees.

5. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the object sections at least comprise a first object section and a second object section,
wherein after the rotatable platform rotates one of the rotating angles, the controller controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material according to a sub-cross-sectional profile of the first object section, so as to solidify the first object section between the rotatable platform and a bottom of the tank.

6. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein after the first object section is formed between the rotatable platform and the bottom of the tank, the controller controls the rotatable platform to rotate another one of the rotating angles,
wherein after the rotatable platform rotates the another one of the rotating angles, the controller controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material according to a sub-cross-sectional profile of the second object section, so as to solidify the second object section between the rotatable platform and the bottom of the tank.

7. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein a total of the values of the rotating angles are 360 degrees.

8. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the number of the cutting angles is an even number, and the object sections at least comprise a first object section and a second object section,
wherein after the rotating platform rotates one of the rotating angles, the controller controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material according to a sub-cross-sectional profile of the first object section and a sub-cross-sectional profile of the second object section, so as to simultaneously solidify the first object section and the second object section between the rotatable platform and the bottom of the tank.

9. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the object sections further comprise a third object section and a fourth object section,
wherein after the first object section and the second object section are formed between the rotatable platform and the bottom of the tank, the controller controls the rotatable platform to rotate another one of the rotating angles,
wherein after the rotating platform rotates another one of the rotating angles, the controller controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material according to a sub-cross-sectional profile of the third object section and a sub-cross-sectional profile of the fourth object section, so as to simultaneously solidify the third object section and the fourth object section between the rotatable platform and the bottom of the tank.

10. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 8 , wherein a total of the values of the rotating angles are 180 degrees.

11. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one layer object comprises a first layer object and a second layer object,
a plurality of first object sections of the first layer object are respectively formed above an irradiated area at the bottom of the tank, and a plurality of second object sections of the second layer object are respectively formed above another irradiated area at the bottom of the tank, wherein the irradiated area and the another irradiated area are printing areas at the bottom and are not overlapped with each other.

12. A three-dimensional printing apparatus, for printing a three-dimensional object comprising at least one layer object, the apparatus comprising:
a tank, containing a liquid-formation material;
a rotatable platform, elevatably disposed above the tank;
a light source module, disposed under the tank;
a controller, coupled to the light source module and the rotatable platform,
wherein when the controller controls the rotatable platform to move to a height along an axis direction, the controller controls the light source module to irradiate the liquid-formation material according to an irradiated area,
wherein before the rotatable platform elevates from the height to another height along the axis direction, the controller controls the rotatable platform to rotate around the axis direction, and during rotation of the rotatable platform, a range of the irradiated area provided by the light source module rotates with the rotation of the rotatable platform, so as to completely solidify the at least one layer object.

13. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the controller controls the rotatable platform to rotate at an angular velocity, and the irradiated area provided by the light source module rotates at the angular velocity.

14. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the light source module provides a planar light source.

15. The three-dimensional printing apparatus as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the irradiated area is determined based on a cross-sectional profile of the at least one layer object.

Assignees

• Xyzprinting Inc
• Kinpo Elect Inc
• Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Ltd

Inventors

• Chen peng-yang
• Chu Chung-Kang

Classifications

• B33Y30/00

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

• B29C64/245

  Platforms or substrates (support structures intended to be sacrificed after manufacture B29C64/40) · CPC title

• B29C67/0085 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B33Y40/00

  Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling · CPC title

• B29C67/0062

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic