Method for building layers of a powder material for three-dimensional printing and three-dimensional printing device

Abstract

The embodiment of the present application provides a method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing and a three-dimensional printing device. The method comprises: delivering the powder material to a powder feeding area by a conveyor, so as to generate a powder material pile with a first height at the front end of a powder spreading roller; controlling the powder spreading roller to move along a horizontal direction from the powder feeding area to a forming area, wherein the powder spreading roller is controlled to remove the excess powder material through a rotary motion, so that a powder material pile with a second height is formed at the front end of the powder spreading roller before the powder spreading roller reaches the forming area, the second height is smaller than the first height, and the second height does not exceed the height of a horizontal plane passing through the axis of the powder spreading roller; and controlling the powder spreading roller to move along the horizontal direction in the forming area, so as to spread the powder material pile into a powder material layer in the forming area. The excess height of the powder material is removed through the control of the rotary motion of the powder spreading roller, and when the powder spreading roller enters the forming area, the non-uniform distribution of the powder material on the forming area can be avoided, so that the quality and precision of the three-dimensional object are improved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of three-dimensional printing, and in particular to a method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing and a three-dimensional printing device. BACKGROUND

[0002] The main process of a three-dimensional object forming method is to obtain a digital model of a three-dimensional object, slice the digital model, and process and convert data of each slice layer to obtain printing data of each slice layer. A printing device prints each slice layer according to the printing data of each slice layer and stacks each printed slice layer to manufacture a three-dimensional object.

[0003] Powder printing technology is one of the important branches of three-dimensional object forming methods. The powder printing technology spreads a powder material layer on a forming platform of a printer by a powder spreading device, and then forms a slice layer by laser, electron beam, or droplet spraying according to layer printing data of a three-dimensional object, and stacks the slice layers to form a three-dimensional object. In the prior art, the powder material needs to be moved from a powder storage cavity to a powder feeding area adjacent to the forming area. A powder roller spreads the powder in the powder feeding area onto the forming area. In the powder spreading process, in order to ensure that the powder is sufficient to form a powder material layer, an excessive amount of powder is usually accumulated at the front end of the powder roller. When the amount of accumulation is too large, at least part of the powder is non-uniformly scattered on the powder material layer that has been compacted in the forming area during the powder spreading process of the powder roller, thereby causing the formed powder material layer to deviate from the required smoothness and flatness, which greatly affects the quality and precision of the finally formed three-dimensional object. SUMMARY

[0004] Therefore, embodiments of the present application provide a method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing and a three-dimensional printing device to solve the technical problem that at least part of the powder is non-uniformly scattered on the powder material layer that has been compacted in the forming area during the powder spreading process of the powder roller in the prior art.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned purposes, the technical solutions of embodiments of the present application are as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing, comprising:

[0007] delivering the powder material to the powder feeding area by the conveyor to generate a powder material pile of a first height at the front end of the powder roller;

[0008] controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area to spread the powder material pile into a powder material layer in the forming area.

[0009] controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area to spread the powder material pile into a powder material layer in the forming area.

[0010] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the controlling the powder spreading roller to remove the excess powder material by the rotational movement specifically includes:

[0011] controlling the powder spreading roller to rotate at least one round to remove the excess powder material.

[0012] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, specifically includes:

[0013] controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction at a variable speed before moving to the forming area.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, specifically includes:

[0015] controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction at a variable speed before moving to the forming area.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area specifically includes:

[0017] controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area by simultaneously performing the translation and the rotation.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area specifically includes:

[0019] controlling the powder spreading roller to rotate at a constant speed with a first rotational speed and to translate at a constant speed with a first translational speed.

[0020] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the powder material is selected from at least one of polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylonitrile, acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate copolymer, polyamide, polyester, polyurethane, polylactic acid, poly(meth)acrylate, poly(methyl) methacrylate, polyvinyl fluoride, chlorinated polyolefin, polyvinyl alcohol containing hydroxyl groups, cellulose, modified cellulose.

[0021] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a three-dimensional printing device for implementing the method for building a layer of powder material for three-dimensional printing, comprising:

[0022] a print platform, the print platform comprising a powder feeding area and a forming area, the powder feeding area and the forming area being spaced apart by a first distance in a horizontal direction;

[0023] a conveyor for conveying powder material to the powder feeding area;

[0024] a powder spreading roller for spreading the powder material in the powder feeding area into a layer of powder material in the forming area;

[0025] a controller for controlling the conveyor to convey powder material to the powder feeding area, thereby generating a powder material pile of a first height at a front end of the powder spreading roller; controlling the powder spreading roller to move from the powder feeding area to the forming area in the horizontal direction, controlling the powder spreading roller to remove excess powder material by a rotational movement, so that a powder material pile of a second height is formed at the front end of the powder spreading roller before reaching the forming area, the second height not exceeding the height of a horizontal plane passing through the axis of the powder spreading roller; and controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction in the forming area to spread the powder material pile into a layer of powder material in the forming area.

[0026] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises a stored program, and the program, when executed, controls a device in which the non-transitory computer readable storage medium is located to perform the method for building a layer of powder material for three-dimensional printing according to the first aspect.

[0027] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer device, the computer comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the method for building a layer of powder material for three-dimensional printing according to the first aspect when executing the computer program.

[0028] In the technical scheme of the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing provided by the embodiment of the present application, the powder material is delivered to the powder feeding area by the conveyor, so as to generate a powder material pile of a first height at the front end of the powder spreading roller; the powder spreading roller is controlled to move along the horizontal direction from the powder feeding area to the forming area, wherein the powder spreading roller is controlled to remove the excess powder material through the rotary motion, so that a powder material pile of a second height is formed at the front end of the powder spreading roller before the powder spreading roller reaches the forming area, the second height is smaller than the first height, and the second height does not exceed the height of the horizontal plane passing through the axis of the powder spreading roller; the powder spreading roller is controlled to move along the horizontal direction in the forming area, so as to spread the powder material pile into a powder material layer in the forming area. The excess height of the powder material is removed through the control of the rotary motion of the powder spreading roller, and when the powder spreading roller enters the forming area, the non-uniform distribution of the powder material on the forming area can be avoided, so as to improve the quality and precision of the three-dimensional object. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0029] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical scheme of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required to be used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced as follows. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor.

[0030] Figure 1 The structural schematic diagram of the three-dimensional printing device provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0031] Figure 2 The flowchart of the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0032] Figure 3a The structural schematic diagram of the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0033] Figure 3b The structural schematic diagram of the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0034] Figure 3c The structural schematic diagram of the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0035] Figure 4 The structural schematic diagram of the non-transitory computer readable storage medium provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0036] Figure 5 The structural schematic diagram of the computer device provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0037] Reference signs:

[0038] 1-printing platform; 2-powder feeding area; 3-molding area; 4-powder spreading roller; 100-non-transitory computer readable storage medium; 101-program; 20-computer device; 21-processor; 22-memory; 23-computer program. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0040] The terms "first", "second", and the like (if any) in the specification and claims of the present application and the drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily have to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data thus used can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the application described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein.

[0041] It should be noted that the "up", "down", "left", "right" and the like described in the embodiments of the present application are described from the angle shown in the drawings, and should not be understood as a limitation on the embodiments of the present application.

[0042] The technical solutions of the present application and how the technical solutions of the present application solve the above technical problems will be described in detail below with specific embodiments. The following specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes can not be described again in some embodiments. The embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0043] At present, in the three-dimensional printing of powder, the powder material is moved from the powder storage cavity to the powder feeding area adjacent to the molding area, and the powder spreading roller spreads the powder in the powder feeding area onto the molding area. In the powder spreading process, in order to ensure that the powder is sufficient to form a layer of powder material, an excessive amount of powder is usually accumulated at the front end of the powder spreading roller. When the amount of accumulation is too large, at least part of the powder is unevenly scattered on the already compacted powder material layer in the molding area during the powder spreading process of the powder roller, thereby causing the formed powder material layer to deviate from the required smoothness and flatness, greatly affecting the quality and precision of the finally formed three-dimensional object.

[0044] To address the aforementioned issues, this invention provides a method and apparatus for constructing a powder material layer for 3D printing. By controlling the rotation of the powder spreading roller, excess powder is removed. When the powder spreading roller enters the forming zone, there is no excess powder, preventing powder material from falling to the rear end of the powder spreading roller and causing uneven distribution of powder material in the forming zone, thereby improving the quality and accuracy of the 3D object.

[0045] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a three-dimensional printing device provided in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown below. Figure 1 As shown, the 3D printing device includes: a controller (not shown in the figure), a conveyor (not shown in the figure), a powder spreading roller 4, and a printing platform 1. The printing platform 1 includes a powder feeding area 2 and a forming area 3, which are spaced apart by a first distance in the horizontal direction.

[0046] In a 3D printing apparatus using powder materials, the powder material can be transported from a powder storage chamber (not shown) to a powder feeding zone 2 by a conveyor, and then conveyed to a forming zone 3 by a powder spreading roller 4. The powder spreading roller 4 is used to spread the powder material from the powder feeding zone into a powder material layer in the forming zone to build a three-dimensional object layer by layer on the forming zone 3. The conveyor and the powder feeding zone 2 are used to provide a certain amount of powder, which is sufficient to form a layer on the forming zone 3. The powder spreading roller 4 moves along a first direction on the forming zone 3 to deposit powder from the powder feeding zone 2 on one side of the forming zone 3 to build a powder material layer, and then moves along a second direction opposite to the first direction to deposit powder from the powder feeding zone 2 on the other side of the forming zone 3 to build another powder material layer.

[0047] The controller can be used to control the conveyor to transport powder material to the powder feeding area, thereby creating a first-height pile of powder material at the front end of the spreading roller; control the spreading roller to move horizontally from the powder feeding area to the forming area, control the spreading roller to remove excess powder material through rotational motion, so that a second-height pile of powder material is formed at the front end of the spreading roller before reaching the forming area, the second height not exceeding the height of the horizontal plane passing through the axis of the spreading roller; control the spreading roller to move horizontally within the forming area to spread the powder material pile into a powder material layer within the forming area.

[0048] The powder storage chamber can be connected to the powder feeding area 2 to deliver powder to the powder feeding area 2. In some specific embodiments, the powder in the powder storage chamber is conveyed to the powder feeding area 2 by a conveyor, which can be a spiral conveyor, airflow conveyor, etc., and the embodiments of the present invention do not impose specific limitations on this. The powder storage chamber can be set in any position. In order to improve the space utilization of the 3D printing device and reduce the volume of the 3D printing device, the powder storage chamber can be set below the forming area 3.

[0049] In one possible implementation, the three-dimensional printing device further comprises a lifting mechanism (not shown in the figure) connected with the forming area 3. The lifting mechanism can be used to drive the forming area 3 to move along the z-axis direction.

[0050] In one possible implementation, the forming area 3 can be a part of a build unit forming the build chamber, or the build unit can be removed from other components of the three-dimensional printing device. As the three-dimensional printing device selectively solidifies certain portions of each powder material layer, the three-dimensional printing device forms a three-dimensional object within the build chamber. After each powder material layer is selectively solidified, the forming area 3 is lowered along the z-axis to enable a new powder material layer to be formed thereon.

[0051] In one possible implementation, the three-dimensional printing device can comprise a material dispenser for spraying a liquid material on the powder material layer to selectively solidify the powder material layer. The material dispenser can be an inkjet print head, which can be a single-channel print head or a multi-channel print head, the number of which depends on the type of liquid material used and the amount of liquid material required to be applied, for example, when the liquid material includes functional materials of different colors, the liquid materials of different colors can be sprayed through different print heads or different channels of the same print head. For example, when the amount of liquid material required to be applied is large and the volume of a single ink droplet is insufficient to meet the demand, multiple print heads or multiple channels of the same print head can be used to spray the same type of liquid material at the same time to improve printing efficiency.

[0052] In one possible implementation, the three-dimensional printing device further comprises a preheating component for preheating the powder material layer. The preheating component can be selected from at least one of an ultraviolet lamp, an infrared lamp, a microwave emitter, a heating wire, a heating sheet, and a heating plate.

[0053] In one possible implementation, the three-dimensional printing device further comprises a heating component for heating the powder material layer or the powder material layer after spraying the liquid material to solidify the powder material layer. The heating component can be selected from at least one of an ultraviolet lamp, an infrared lamp, a microwave emitter, a heating wire, a heating sheet, and a heating plate. It should be noted that the specific selection of the form of the heating component is related to the type of liquid material and / or powder material, when the liquid material and / or powder material undergoes a photopolymerization reaction, at this time the heating component provides radiation energy such as ultraviolet light radiation, which initiates the photopolymerization reaction of the liquid material and / or powder material through ultraviolet light radiation; when the liquid material and / or powder material undergoes a thermal polymerization reaction, at this time the heating component provides thermal energy such as infrared lamps, microwaves, heating wires, heating sheets, and heating plates, which initiates the thermal polymerization reaction of the liquid material and / or powder material through thermal energy.

[0054] In one possible implementation, the preheating component, the material dispenser, and the heating component can be mounted sequentially on the guide rail and can move on the guide rail.

[0055] In one possible implementation, the 3D printing apparatus may also include a temperature monitor for monitoring the temperature of the powder material layer.

[0056] In one embodiment of the present invention, the controller can be used to control the 3D printing device to print 3D objects. For example, the controller can be an electronic device such as a computer, server, or workstation. Alternatively, the controller can also be a processing device installed in the 3D printing device, such as a central processing unit (CPU), microcontroller unit (MCU), or system on chip (SOC).

[0057] Based on the above Figure 1 The 3D printing apparatus shown in this embodiment of the invention provides a method for constructing a powder material layer for 3D printing. By controlling the rotation of the powder spreading roller, excess powder is removed. When entering the forming zone, there is no excess powder, which prevents powder from falling to the rear end of the powder spreading roller and causing uneven powder distribution in the forming zone, thereby improving the quality and accuracy of the 3D object.

[0058] Figure 2 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating a method for constructing a powder material layer for 3D printing according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 As shown, the method includes:

[0059] Step 102: The powder material is conveyed to the powder feeding area by a conveyor, thereby creating a first-height pile of powder material at the front end of the powder spreading roller.

[0060] Figure 3a This is a schematic diagram of a structure for constructing a powder material layer for 3D printing according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown below. Figure 3a As shown, the conveyor can use methods such as spiral conveying or airflow conveying to transport the powder from the powder storage chamber to the powder feeding area 2, thereby creating a powder material pile of a first height H1 at the front end of the powder spreading roller 4. The powder material pile of the first height H1 is more than sufficient to meet the amount of powder to form a layer on the forming area 3.

[0061] Step 104: Control the powder spreading roller to move horizontally from the powder feeding area to the forming area. The powder spreading roller is controlled to remove excess powder material through rotational motion, so that a powder material pile of a second height is formed at the front end of the powder spreading roller before the powder spreading roller reaches the forming area. The second height is less than the first height and does not exceed the height of the horizontal plane passing through the axis of the powder spreading roller.

[0062] Figure 3b A structural diagram of a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing is provided for an embodiment of the present application, as shown in Figure 3b In order to form a powder material layer with a preset height h on the forming area 3, the powder spreading roller 4 needs to move in the horizontal direction from the powder feeding area 2 to the forming area 3 at the preset height h relative to the printing platform 1. In the first distance between the powder feeding area 2 and the forming area 1, the controller controls the powder spreading roller 4 to remove the excess powder material through the rotational movement. Further, the powder spreading roller 4 simultaneously performs the horizontal translation and rotation, and the powder spreading roller 4 rotates at least one round to rotate the excess powder material to the non-forming area along with the powder spreading roller to remove the excess powder material. Further, the powder spreading roller 4 performs the variable speed translation movement in the horizontal direction before moving to the forming area 3, and the powder spreading roller 4 has a translation speed in the horizontal direction before moving to the forming area 3 that is less than the translation speed in the forming area 3, and the powder spreading roller performs the uniform rotational movement at the first rotational speed. Before the powder spreading roller 4 reaches the forming area 3, the powder material pile with the second height H2 is formed at the front end of the powder spreading roller 4. It needs to be noted that the powder material pile with the second height H2 also satisfies the powder amount for forming the layer on the forming area 3, wherein the second height H2 is less than the first height H1, and the second height H2 does not exceed the height of the horizontal plane passing through the axis of the powder spreading roller 4. The rotational movement of the powder spreading roller 4 can remove the excess powder material, avoid the powder material rotating to the rear end of the powder spreading roller 4 along with the rotational movement of the powder spreading roller 4, and further avoid the non-uniform distribution of the powder on the forming area, thereby improving the quality and precision of the three-dimensional object.

[0063] In step 106, the powder spreading roller is controlled to move in the horizontal direction in the forming area to spread the powder material pile into the powder material layer in the forming area.

[0064] Figure 3c A structural diagram of a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing is provided for an embodiment of the present application, as shown in Figure 3c As shown in the figure, the powder spreading roller 4 moves in the horizontal direction in the forming area 3, and the powder spreading roller 4 simultaneously performs the horizontal translation and rotation, and performs the uniform rotational movement at the first rotational speed and the uniform translation movement at the first translation speed, which can ensure that the powder material is spread into the powder material layer with the height h and uniform consistency in the forming area 3.

[0065] Specifically, the powder material is particles of a material in powder form, and embodiments of the present application do not limit the powder material, which can not react with the liquid material, or can not react by itself; the powder material can react with the liquid material, or the powder material can react by itself, and can be flexibly changed according to actual needs. As an optional solution, the powder material can be selected from at least one of polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyacrylonitrile, acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate copolymer (ASA), polyamide (PA), polyester, polyurethane (PU), polylactic acid, poly(meth)acrylate, poly(methyl) methacrylate, polyvinyl fluoride, chlorinated polyolefin, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) containing hydroxyl groups, cellulose, and modified cellulose.

[0066] The melting point or melting temperature of the powder material in embodiments of the present application can be 60-300°C. The particle shape and particle size of the powder material are not particularly limited. The powder material provided by embodiments of the present application can meet the use requirements of the flowability of the powder material when forming a powder material layer, the gap formed between the powder materials can be filled with the applied liquid material and the liquid material, and the applied liquid material and the liquid material can wet the surface of the powder material.

[0067] In embodiments of the present application, the liquid material at least partially dissolves the powder material, and / or the liquid material undergoes thermal polymerization and / or photopolymerization, and / or the liquid material reacts with the powder material. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the liquid material, as long as it can ultimately solidify and form the powder material sprayed with the liquid material. For example, the liquid material can contain an energy absorber that converts energy into heat energy after absorbing the provided energy, thereby causing the powder material in contact with it to melt and form; or the liquid material is a light-curing material, the liquid material contains a light-curing component, and the light-curing component can dissolve the powder material, and under the irradiation of energy such as radiation, the photoinitiator initiates the polymerization of the light-curing component to entangle and solidify the dissolved powder molecules; or the liquid material is a heat-curing material, the liquid material contains a heat-curing component, and under the irradiation of energy such as heat, the thermal initiator initiates the polymerization of the heat-curing component, and the formed polymer wraps and forms the powder material; or the liquid material has an active component that reacts with the powder material, and under the irradiation of energy, the initiator initiates the polymerization of the liquid material and the powder material.

[0068] The liquid material can also include an auxiliary agent, which can be, for example, a conventional known material such as an initiator, a leveling agent, an antifoaming agent, a surfactant, or the like. The initiator is used to initiate the reaction of the liquid material, and the initiator can be a photoinitiator, a free radical initiator, an anion initiator, a cation initiator, or the like according to the type of the liquid material; the leveling agent is used to improve the flowability of the liquid material and the wetting performance on the powder material, and to adjust the surface tension of the liquid material so that it can be normally printed, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The antifoaming agent is mainly used to prevent the liquid material from foaming, and the antifoaming agent can be, for example, a silicone antifoaming agent, a polyether antifoaming agent, a fatty acid ester antifoaming agent, or the like; and the surfactant is mainly used to control the wettability, the permeability, and the surface tension of the liquid material on the powder material, and the surfactant can be, for example, an anionic surfactant, a nonionic surfactant, and an amphoteric surfactant.

[0069] The method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing provided by the embodiments of the present application removes the excess height of the powder by controlling the rotation of the powder spreading roller, and when entering the forming area, the influence of the excess powder is avoided, so that the powder is not uniformly spread on the forming area due to falling to the rear end of the powder spreading roller, thereby improving the quality and precision of the three-dimensional object.

[0070] The embodiments of the present application also provide a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, Figure 4 The structural schematic diagram of the non-transitory computer readable storage medium provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 1. Figure 4 As shown in FIG. 1, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium 100 includes a stored program 101, which controls the device where the non-transitory computer readable storage medium 100 is located to execute the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing described above when the program is running.

[0071] The embodiments of the present application provide a computer device, which includes a memory and a processor, the memory is used to store information including program instructions, and the processor is used to control the execution of the program instructions, the program instructions are loaded and executed by the processor to realize each step of the embodiments of the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing described above, and the specific description can be referred to the embodiments of the method for building a powder material layer for three-dimensional printing described above.

[0072] Figure 5 The structural schematic diagram of the computer device provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 2. Figure 5As shown, the computer device 20 of this embodiment includes a processor 21, a memory 22, and a computer program 23 stored in the memory 22 and executable on the processor 21, which, when executed by the processor 21, implements the method for applying a layer of build powder material for three-dimensional printing in the embodiment, which will not be repeated here. Alternatively, the computer program, when executed by the processor 21, implements the functions of the modules / units in the three-dimensional printing device in the embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0073] The computer device 20 includes, but is not limited to, the processor 21 and the memory 22. Those skilled in the art can understand that the computer device 20 can further include other components, which will not be described here. Figure 5 The computer device 20 is only an example and does not constitute a limitation on the computer device 20, which can include more or fewer components than those shown, or combine certain components, or include different components, for example, the computer device can further include an input / output device, a network access device, a bus, etc.

[0074] The processor 21 can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor.

[0075] The memory 22 can be an internal storage unit of the computer device 20, such as a hard disk or a memory of the computer device 20. The memory 22 can also be an external storage device of the computer device 20, such as a plug-in hard disk, a smart media card (SMC), a secure digital (SD) card, a flash card, etc. Further, the memory 22 can include both the internal storage unit and the external storage device of the computer device 20. The memory 22 is used to store computer programs and other programs and data required by the computer device. The memory 22 can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or will be output.

[0076] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the system, device and unit described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0077] In several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0078] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separate, and the components shown as units can or can not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place, or can be distributed on a plurality of network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment scheme.

[0079] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional unit.

[0080] The integrated unit realized in the form of software functional unit can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The software functional unit stored in a storage medium includes a plurality of instructions for making a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor execute part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes a variety of program code storage media such as a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0081] It should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, and are not intended to limit the present application; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the technical solutions recorded in the above embodiments can be modified, or some or all of the technical features can be replaced by equivalents; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for building layers of a powder material for three-dimensional printing, characterized in that, The method comprises: delivering the powder material to the powder feeding area by the conveyor, so as to form a first height of powder material pile at the front end of the powder spreading roller; controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction from the powder feeding area to the forming area, wherein the powder spreading roller is controlled to remove the excess powder material by rotating movement, so that a second height of powder material pile is formed at the front end of the powder spreading roller before the powder spreading roller reaches the forming area, the second height is less than the first height, and the second height does not exceed the height of the horizontal plane passing through the axis of the powder spreading roller; controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area to spread the powder material pile into a powder material layer; the powder spreading roller is controlled to move in the horizontal direction at a variable speed before moving to the forming area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The control of the powder spreading roller to remove the excess powder material by rotating movement specifically comprises: controlling the powder spreading roller to rotate at least one round to remove the excess powder material.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, Specifically, the method comprises: the speed of the powder spreading roller in the horizontal direction before moving to the forming area is less than the speed in the forming area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The control of the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area specifically comprises: controlling the powder spreading roller to simultaneously perform the horizontal translation and rotation to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The control of the powder spreading roller to simultaneously perform the horizontal translation and rotation to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area specifically comprises: controlling the powder spreading roller to rotate at a constant speed with a first rotating speed and to translate at a constant speed with a first translating speed.

6. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, The powder material is selected from at least one of polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylonitrile, acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate copolymer, polyamide, polyester, polyurethane, polylactic acid, poly(meth)acrylate, poly(methyl) methacrylate, polyvinyl fluoride, chlorinated polyolefin, polyvinyl alcohol containing hydroxyl, cellulose, and modified cellulose.

7. A three-dimensional printing apparatus characterized by comprising: The method for three-dimensional printing of a layer of build powder material according to any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising: a printing platform, the printing platform comprising a powder feeding area and a forming area, the powder feeding area and the forming area being spaced apart by a first distance in the horizontal direction; a conveyor for delivering the powder material to the powder feeding area; a powder spreading roller for spreading the powder material of the powder feeding area into a powder material layer in the forming area; a controller for controlling the conveyor to deliver the powder material to the powder feeding area, so as to form a first height of powder material pile at the front end of the powder spreading roller; controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction from the powder feeding area to the forming area, controlling the powder spreading roller to remove the excess powder material by rotating movement, so that a second height of powder material pile is formed at the front end of the powder spreading roller before the powder spreading roller reaches the forming area, the second height does not exceed the height of the horizontal plane passing through the axis of the powder spreading roller; controlling the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction within the forming area to spread the powder material pile into a powder material layer; the controller is specifically configured to control the powder spreading roller to move in the horizontal direction at a variable speed before moving to the forming area.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising: The non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises a stored program that, when executed, controls a device in which the non-transitory computer readable storage medium is located to perform the method of claim 1 to 6 for building a layer of a powder material for three-dimensional printing.

9. A computer device, said computer comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in said memory and executable on said processor, characterized in that, The processor, when executing the computer program, implements the method of claim 1 to 6 for building a layer of a powder material for three-dimensional printing.

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