Three dimensional printing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9855706-B2
Application number	US-201514700155-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2015
Priority date	Feb 4, 2015
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

A 3-D printing apparatus including a base and a printing head module is provided. The base includes a first supplying platform, a printing bed and a second supplying platform disposed in order along a printing path. The first supplying platform and the second supplying platform carry building powder respectively; the first supplying platform and the second supplying platform are alternately lifted to a printing-reference plane of the base for supplying the building powder to the printing bed. The printing head module is movably disposed above the base and configured to move along a forward direction of the print path to transfer the building powder of the first supplying platform onto the printing bed, and move along a backward direction of the printing path to transfer building powder of the second supplying platform onto the printing bed to form bonded powder layers stacked together to form a 3-D object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A 3-D printing apparatus, adapted for printing a 3-D object according to a digital 3-D model, comprising:
a base, comprising a printing bed, a first supplying platform, a second supplying platform arranged along a printing path, the printing bed disposed between the first supplying platform and the second supplying platform, the first supplying platform and the second supplying platform carry building powder to supply the building powder to the printing bed; and
a printing head module, disposed above the base and comprising at least one printing head, two linking bars, a first paving roller and a second paving roller, the first paving roller and the second paving roller disposed in a movable manner at two opposite sides of the printing head for rolling along the forward direction and the backward direction to transfer the building powder of the first supplying platform and the second supplying platform onto the printing bed alternately, the printing head configured to move along with the first paving roller and the second paving roller and dispense bonding material on the printing bed by layers according to the digital 3-D model, the two linking bars disposed at two opposite ends of the first paving roller and the second paving roller respectively, each of the linking bars including a plurality of guiding grooves, the first paving roller and the second paving roller disposed in the guiding grooves respectively, and the first paving roller and the second paving roller being lifted or descended through guidance of the guiding grooves, so as to bond the building powder transferred onto the printing bed by layers, to sequentially form a plurality of bonded powder layers stacked on top of each other to form the 3-D object.

2. The 3-D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the base further comprises a first end and a second end opposite of each other, the first supplying platform is disposed at the first end and the second supplying platform is disposed at the second end.

3. The 3-D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the base further comprises a first recycle tank and a second recycle tank to recycle remaining building powder, the first supplying platform is located between the printing bed and the first recycle tank and the second supplying platform is located between the printing bed and the second recycle tank.

4. The 3-D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 ,
wherein the first paving roller, disposed in a liftable and descendible manner at a side of the printing head facing the second end, when the first supplying platform is lifted to a printing-reference plane, the first paving roller is descended to the printing-reference plane and rolled along the forward direction to transfer the building powder of the first supplying platform onto the printing bed; and
the second paving roller, disposed in a liftable and descendible manner at a side of the printing head facing the first end, when the second supplying platform is lifted to the printing-reference plane, the second paving roller is descended to the printing-reference plane, and rolled along the backward direction to transfer the building powder of the second supplying platform onto the printing bed.

5. The 3-D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the guiding grooves comprises:
a first guiding groove, comprising a first lifting end relatively closer to an end of the each linking bar and a first guiding end relatively away from the end of corresponding linking bar, the first guiding groove is extended from the first guiding end along a direction away from the printing-reference plane to the first lifting end, two opposite ends of each linking bar are located in two of the first guiding grooves respectively, to be lifted to the first lifting end or descend to the first guiding end through guidance of the first guiding groove; and
a second guiding groove, comprising a second lifting end relatively closer to other end of each linking bar and a second guiding end relatively away from the other end of each linking bar, the second guiding groove is extended from the second guiding end along a direction away from the printing-reference plane to the second lifting end, two opposite ends of the second paving roller are located in two of the second guiding grooves respectively, so as to be lifted to the second lifting end or descended to the second guiding end through guidance of the second guiding groove.

6. The 3-D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the base further comprises:
a first blocking wall, disposed at the second end, when the printing head module moves forward along the printing path till contacts the first blocking wall, the first paving roller is lifted from the first guiding end to the first lifting end, the second paving roller is descended from the second lifting end to the second guiding end; and
a second blocking wall, disposed at the first end, when the printing head module moves backward along the printing path till contacts the second blocking wall, the first paving roller is descended from the first lifting end to the first guiding end, the second paving roller is lifted from the second guiding end to the second lifting end.

7. The 3-D printing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the printing bed is configured to move along a direction away from the printing-reference plane layer by layer, such that an upper surface of an uppermost layer of the bonding powder layers is coplanar with the printing-reference plane.

Assignees

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

Inventors

• Din Shih-Jer
• Huang Ming-Chih
• Tseng Chien-Ying

Classifications

• B29C64/357

  Recycling · CPC title

• B29C64/236

  for motion in a direction within the plane of a layer · CPC title

• B29C64/245

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

• B29C64/321

  Feeding · CPC title

• B22F12/63

  Rollers · CPC title