Apparatus for modeling three-dimensional object and method for modeling three-dimensional object

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object configured to model a three-dimensional object by a fused deposition modeling, including a plurality of material resin supply units configured to supply filaments to be used as a modeling material, respectively, a mixed resin ejection unit configured to eject a mixed resin, which is obtained by mixing the filaments to be supplied from the supply units, and a control unit configured to control amounts of the filaments to be supplied from each of the supply units to the ejection unit. The supply units are configured to supply the filaments of different colors to the ejection unit, respectively, and the control unit is configured to control the amounts of the filaments to be supplied from each of the supply units to the ejection unit, thereby adjusting a color of the mixed resin that is to be ejected by the ejection unit.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-228916, filed on Nov. 11, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein for all purpose by this reference.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The disclosure relates to an apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional object and a method for modeling a three-dimensional object.DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART[0003]In the related art, a method for modeling a three-dimensional object by a fused deposition modeling method (FDM) has been known (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1). The fused deposition modeling method is a modeling method developed by a Stratasys company of U.S.A. in the late 1980s, in which the modeling is performed by fusing, extruding and depositing windings of a thermoplastic resin referred to as a filament at high temperatures of about 200° C.[0004][Patent Literature 1] U.S. Pat. No. 8,815,141.SUMMARY[0005]In the related art, as the filame...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent provides a solution for modeling colored three-dimensional objects using fused deposition modeling methods at a low cost. The apparatus includes multiple material resin supply units for different colors such as yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, as well as a resin extrusion device and a resin supply control unit for controlling the amount of material resin supplied to the molding unit. The configurations enable the appropriate modeling of colored objects with different colors and provide a cost-effective solution for full-color modeling.

Problems solved by technology

However, much labors and time are required to replace the filaments.

Also, when replacing the filaments during the modeling, the modeling precision may be deteriorated due to the break of the operation.

For this reason, when performing the modeling by the fused deposition modeling method, the colors to be colored are generally limited.

For this reason, the cost of the apparatus considerably increases, as compared to the apparatus configured to perform the modeling by the fused deposition modeling method, for example.

As a result of the intensive studies, however, the inventors found that it is difficult to appropriately perform the coloring just by adopting the plurality of heating extrusion apparatuses.

In this case, however, it is difficult to appropriately express an intermediate color obtained by mixing a plurality of colors, for example.

In this case, the cost of the apparatus considerably increases.

Also, according to this configuration, since the heating extrusion apparatus being used is replaced upon the switch of the colors, the modeling precision may be deteriorated due to a difference of ejection characteristics, for example.

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