Feeding system of food 3D printer

Abstract

A feeding system of a food 3D printer comprises a raw material mixing and stirring mechanism, a gelatinization temporary storage mechanism and a spray head mechanism. A powder material and liquid material feeding module is arranged at the top of the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism and is used for uniformly mixing a powder material and a liquid material into a premix; the gelatinization temporary storage mechanism comprises a vibration gelatinization box and a temporary storage barrel which is detachably connected with the vibration gelatinization box, at least one part of the temporary storage barrel extends into an inner cavity of the vibration gelatinization box, and a feeding port of the temporary storage barrel is connected with a discharging port of the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism and can receive premix of the mixing and stirring mechanism; a vibration module for vibrating the premix in the buffer cylinder and a heating module for thermally gelatinizing the premix in the buffer cylinder into clinker are arranged in the vibration gelatinization box; and the spray head mechanism is detachably connected with the discharge hole of the buffer cylinder and is used for receiving the clinker extruded by the buffer cylinder. According to the feeding system of the food 3D printer, stirring and mixing and gelatinization temporary storage are separately carried out, the uniformity and printability of printed food materials can be guaranteed, and large-scale processing operation can be conveniently and flexibly carried out.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of food 3D printing, in particular to a feeding system of a food 3D printer. Background Art

[0002] At present, since food 3D printers can realize personalized food manufacturing and meet the food needs of different groups of people, food 3D printing technology has been studied by many scholars and has become a trend today. However, compared with traditional food manufacturing methods, its production cycle is long, production efficiency is low, and it cannot meet people's needs, so it has not been widely popularized.

[0003] Starch has been used in food printing materials. Before printing, it only needs to be mixed with water or other liquid components, and then gelatinized before being sent to the print head. However, there are the following problems in the feeding process: ① The food printing material before gelatinization is a mixture of powder or liquid, and after gelatinization it is in a semi-fluid state. The existing equipment directly produces the clinker after gelatinization. The food printing material after gelatinization is easy to lose its printability due to long storage time, and lacks flexibility in use; ② For industrialized food printing processing, a large amount of food printing materials need to be stirred and gelatinized. Both stirring and gelatinization processes take a certain amount of time, so it is difficult to carry out continuous and large-scale processing operations; ③ Traditional single-nozzle printing can no longer meet the needs of large-scale production.

[0004] To this end, we studied and proposed a feeding system for food 3D printers. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a feeding system for a food 3D printer, in which stirring and mixing and gelatinization buffering are performed separately, which can ensure the uniformity and printability of printed food materials and facilitate and flexibly carry out large-scale processing operations.

[0006] The technical solution adopted by the present invention is: a feeding system of a food 3D printer, comprising a raw material mixing and stirring mechanism, a gelatinization buffer mechanism and a nozzle mechanism; A powder and liquid material feeding module is provided on the top of the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism, which is used to mix the powder and liquid materials evenly into a premix; The gelatinization buffer mechanism includes a vibrating gelatinization box and a buffer cylinder detachably connected thereto and at least partially extending into the inner cavity thereof, wherein the feed inlet of the buffer cylinder is connected to the discharge outlet of the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism and can receive the premixed material of the mixing and stirring mechanism; The vibration gelatinization box is provided with a vibration module for vibrating the premix in the buffer cylinder and a heating module for thermally gelatinizing the premix in the buffer cylinder into mature material; It also includes a nozzle mechanism that is detachably connected to the discharge port of the buffer cylinder and is used to receive the buffer cylinder to press out the cooked material. The nozzle mechanism is connected to the three-dimensional motion system of the food 3D printer.

[0007] As a preferred solution, the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism includes a mixing barrel and a stirring module extending into the mixing barrel to stir the powder and liquid materials.

[0008] As a preferred solution, the powder and liquid material feeding module comprises a powder material pipe and a liquid material pipe extending to the inner cavity of the mixing barrel, wherein the outlet of the liquid material pipe extends to the center of the mixing barrel.

[0009] As a preferred solution, the vibration module includes a flexible retaining member for suspending and retaining the buffer cylinder in the vibration gelatinization box and a vibration generator.

[0010] As a preferred solution, the flexible retaining member includes a base, an elastic connector and a bearing seat; The base is fixed on the inner wall of the vibrating gelatinization box, the base is connected to the bearing seat through an elastic connecting piece, and the bearing seat is detachably connected to the buffer cylinder.

[0011] As a preferred solution, the top of the vibration gelatinization box has an opening for the buffer cylinder to extend into, and a closed ring that is in flexible contact with the buffer cylinder is provided at the opening.

[0012] As a preferred solution, the cache barrel has a top cover, and an extrusion mechanism for extruding the material inside the cache barrel is installed in the middle of the top cover.

[0013] As a preferred solution, the nozzle mechanism includes a mounting seat, a slider and a nozzle slidably connected on the mounting seat, and an adjustment mechanism that drives the slider to move in the same direction to adjust the gap between adjacent nozzles.

[0014] As a preferred solution, the discharge port of the buffer cylinder and the feed port of the nozzle mechanism are connected through a feed pipe, which passes through the bottom of the vibration gelatinization box and has one end coiled in the inner cavity of the vibration gelatinization box.

[0015] As a preferred solution, a cleaning three-way valve is connected to the middle of the feed pipe.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 1. The powder and liquid are mixed in the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism, and are continuously stirred to keep the printed food mixture in a uniform state, which is conducive to quickly putting it into the subsequent gelatinization buffer mechanism for gelatinization treatment.

[0017] 2. The gelatinization buffer mechanism heats and gelatinizes the printed ingredients and maintains a certain temperature and vibration to prevent the ingredients from agglomerating for too long and becoming unprintable, so that the nozzle can be fed at any time.

[0018] 3. Stirring and gelatinization are separated, and work alternately and collaboratively, which can reduce the waiting and processing time of ingredients and is conducive to large-scale processing.

[0019] 4. Set up multiple nozzles for printing to improve processing efficiency; The spacing between multiple nozzles can be adjusted to accommodate products of different sizes and prevent the nozzles from interfering with adjacent ingredients. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0021] Figure 1 It is a schematic cross-sectional view of the whole of the present invention; Figure 2 for Figure 1 A magnified schematic diagram of the structure at center A; Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the nozzle mechanism of the present invention.

[0022] Reference numerals: 1. Raw material mixing and stirring mechanism; 101, mixing cylinder, 102, stirring module, 103, powder material pipe, 104, liquid material pipe, 105, filter element, 106, motor, 107, reducer, 108, stirring element; 2. Vibrating gelatinization box; 3. Cache cartridge; 4. Vibration module; 401, vibration generator, 402, base, 403, elastic connecting member, 404, bearing seat; 5. Heating module; 6. Nozzle mechanism; 601, mounting seat, 602, slider, 603, nozzle, 604, diamond-shaped telescopic frame, 605, electric telescopic rod, 606, cross bar; 7. Closed loop; 8. Extrusion mechanism; 801, through the motor, 802, piston plate; 9. Feed pipe; 10. Clean the three-way valve. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present invention is described in detail below by way of exemplary embodiments. However, it should be understood that, without further description, elements, structures and features in one embodiment may also be beneficially combined in other embodiments.

[0024] It should be noted that: unless otherwise defined, the technical terms or scientific terms used in this document shall have the usual meanings understood by people with ordinary skills in the field to which the invention belongs. The words "one", "an" or "the" and the like used in the patent application specification and claims of the present invention do not express quantity restrictions, but indicate the existence of at least one; the words "first", "second" and "third" used in this document shall not be regarded as restrictions on the order of components, but are only used to distinguish different components; words such as "include" or "comprise" and the like indicate that the elements or objects appearing before "include" or "comprise" include the elements or objects listed after "include" or "comprise" and their equivalents, but do not exclude other elements or objects with the same function.

[0025] In order to more clearly describe the specific structural composition of the feeding system of the food 3D printer, Figure 1-3 Describe this embodiment: like Figure 1 As shown, a feeding system of a food 3D printer includes a raw material mixing and stirring mechanism 1, a gelatinization buffer mechanism and a nozzle mechanism 6; The raw material mixing and stirring mechanism 1 mixes the powder material and the liquid material evenly, and includes a powder material and liquid material feeding module arranged on the top thereof, which is used to mix the powder material and the liquid material evenly into a premix; The gelatinization buffer mechanism gelatinizes the premix and keeps the gelatinized food materials printable. The mechanism comprises a vibrating gelatinization box 2 and a buffer cylinder 3 detachably connected thereto and at least partially extending into the inner cavity thereof. The feed port of the buffer cylinder 3 is connected to the discharge port of the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism 1, and can receive the premix of the mixing and stirring mechanism 1. The vibrating gelatinization box 2 has a vibration module 4 for vibrating the premix in the buffer cylinder 3 and a heating module 5 for thermally gelatinizing the premix in the buffer cylinder 3 into mature material. It also includes a nozzle mechanism 6 that is detachably connected to the discharge port of the buffer cylinder 3 and receives the buffer cylinder 3 to press out the cooked material. The nozzle mechanism 6 is connected to the three-dimensional motion system of the food 3D printer. The three-dimensional motion system drives the nozzle mechanism 6 to move three-dimensionally, thereby performing 3D printing.

[0026] In the above embodiments, see Figure 1The powder and liquid feeding module includes a powder pipe 103 and a liquid pipe 104 extending to the inner cavity of the mixing barrel 101. The liquid pipe 104 feeds liquid, and the powder pipe 103 feeds powder. The outlet of the liquid pipe 104 extends to the center of the mixing barrel 101, which is conducive to sending the liquid to the center of the mixing barrel 101 and facilitating the dispersion of the liquid. The powder pipe 103 can be connected to an external powder blowing device to feed the powder into the mixing barrel 101 by blowing. When feeding by blowing, an exhaust port is set at the top of the mixing barrel 101, and a filter 105 is set in the exhaust port to prevent powder leakage. The raw material mixing and stirring mechanism 1 includes a mixing drum 101 and a stirring module 102 extending into the mixing drum 101 to stir the powder and liquid therein. The stirring module 102 mainly includes a motor 106, a reducer 107 and a stirring member 108. The motor 106 drives the reducer 107 and the stirring member 108 to rotate, and the stirring member 108 stirs the powder and liquid in the mixing drum 101 evenly.

[0027] In the above embodiment, the vibrating gelatinization box 2 is a semi-closed structure with an opening on the top for the buffer cylinder 3 to extend into. After the buffer cylinder 3 is inserted, the closed ring 7 in the opening is in flexible contact with the side wall of the buffer cylinder 3 to maintain sealing while preventing the vibration of the buffer cylinder 3 from being transmitted to the vibrating gelatinization box 2.

[0028] See also Figure 2 The vibration module 4 includes a flexible retaining member for suspending and retaining the buffer cylinder 3 in the vibration gelatinization box 2 and a vibration generator 401. The vibration generator 401 drives the flexible retaining member and the buffer cylinder 3 to vibrate, and can be a vibration motor, a turbine vibrator, etc., which can keep the food in a printable state; Specifically, the flexible retaining member includes a base 402, an elastic connector 403 and a bearing seat 404; the base 402 is fixed to the inner wall of the vibrating gelatinization box 2, the base 402 is connected to the bearing seat 404 through the elastic connector 403, and the bearing seat 404 is detachably connected to the buffer cylinder 3. The bearing seat 404 and the buffer cylinder 3 can be threaded or clamped to facilitate disassembly.

[0029] The lower end outlet of the mixing barrel 101 is connected to a tube, and the other end of the tube is connected to the feed port of the buffer barrel 3 . A peristaltic pump is arranged in the middle of the tube to transport the premix into the buffer barrel 3 .

[0030] Specifically, the buffer cylinder 3 has a top cover, and an extrusion mechanism 8 for extruding the material inside the buffer cylinder 3 is installed in the middle of the top cover. The extrusion mechanism 8 includes a through motor 801 and a piston plate 802. The through motor 801 is fixed on the top cover, and the piston plate 802 is fixed at the end of the screw rod of the through motor 801. The piston plate 802 is attached to the inner wall of the buffer cylinder 3 and the top side of the feed inlet buffer cylinder 3. Before feeding, the piston plate 802 is raised to a height that does not interfere with the inlet of the buffer cylinder 3, and the feed falls under the piston plate 802. When in use, driven by the through motor 801, the piston plate 802 descends to extrude the food to the nozzle, providing power for printing.

[0031] The heating module 5 can be electrically heated, specifically an electric heating rod, and a water inlet valve and a water outlet valve are respectively arranged at the top and bottom of the vibrating gelatinization box 2. When heating, water is accumulated in the vibrating gelatinization box 2 to submerge the bottom of the buffer cylinder 3, and the water is heated by the electric heating rod to heat and gelatinize the food. When heating in a water bath, the water storage height is preferably lower than the vibration module 4 to avoid interference with the vibration module.

[0032] See also Figure 3 In the above embodiment, the nozzle mechanism 6 includes a mounting seat 601, a plurality of sliders 602 and nozzles 603 that are connected and slide on the mounting seat 601, and an adjustment mechanism that drives the sliders 602 to move in the same direction to adjust the gap between adjacent nozzles 603. Multiple nozzles 603 are set for printing to improve processing efficiency; the spacing between multiple nozzles 603 is adjustable to adapt to products of different sizes and prevent the nozzles from interfering with adjacent ingredients.

[0033] Specifically, the adjustment mechanism can be a diamond-shaped telescopic frame 604 and an electric telescopic rod 605. A crossbar 606 is fixed on the mounting seat 601. All sliders 602 are slidably matched with the crossbar 606. The diamond-shaped telescopic frame 604 includes connecting rods hinged together to form a plurality of diamond shapes. The hinge points of adjacent diamond shapes overlap, and two relative hinge points of each diamond shape are respectively rotatably connected with adjacent sliders 602. The electric telescopic rod 605 is installed on the mounting seat 601. The slider 602 at one end is locked and immovable, and the slider at the other end is connected to the telescopic arm of the electric telescopic rod 605. The electric telescopic rod 605 drives one of the sliders to move. Under the action of the diamond-shaped telescopic frame 604, the slider 602 moves and synchronously adjusts and maintains the gap between adjacent sliders 602. For products with larger sizes, the gap between adjacent sliders 602 needs to be increased so that the nozzles 603 do not interfere.

[0034] See also Figure 1 The discharge port of the buffer cylinder 3 and the feed port of the nozzle mechanism 6 are connected through a feed pipe 9, which passes through the bottom of the vibrating gelatinization box 2 and has one end coiled in the inner cavity of the vibrating gelatinization box 2. When the buffer cylinder 3 is pulled upward, the coiled pipe is unfolded, so that the joint of the pipe can be disassembled after the buffer cylinder 3 is taken out, without obstruction, and convenient for disassembly and cleaning.

[0035] Furthermore, in order to facilitate the cleaning of the feed pipe 9 and the nozzle, a cleaning three-way valve 10 is connected to the middle of the feed pipe 9, and another interface of the three-way valve 10 is connected to the external cleaning pipeline. During cleaning, the nozzle and the external cleaning pipe are connected, soft water is introduced, and the valve is closed after flushing.

[0036] The parts not described in detail in the above embodiments are prior art.

[0037] It should be noted that although the present invention is described by the above embodiments, the present invention may also have other various embodiments. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, it is obvious that those skilled in the art may make various corresponding changes and deformations to the present invention, but these changes and deformations should all fall within the scope of protection of the appended claims of the present invention and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A feeding system for a food 3D printer, characterized in that: It comprises a raw material mixing and stirring mechanism (1), a gelatinization buffer mechanism and a nozzle mechanism (6); A powder material and liquid material feeding module is provided on the top of the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism (1) for uniformly mixing the powder material and the liquid material into a premix; The gelatinization buffer mechanism comprises a vibrating gelatinization box (2) and a buffer cylinder (3) detachably connected thereto and at least partially extending into the inner cavity thereof; the feed inlet of the buffer cylinder (3) is connected to the discharge outlet of the raw material mixing and stirring mechanism (1) and is capable of receiving the premixed material from the mixing and stirring mechanism (1); The vibrating gelatinization box (2) comprises a vibrating module (4) for vibrating the premix in the buffer cylinder (3) and a heating module (5) for thermally gelatinizing the premix in the buffer cylinder (3) into mature material; It also comprises a nozzle mechanism (6) which is detachably connected to the discharge port of the buffer cylinder (3) and receives the buffer cylinder (3) to press out the cooked material. The nozzle mechanism (6) is connected to the three-dimensional motion system of the food 3D printer.

2. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The raw material mixing and stirring mechanism (1) comprises a mixing barrel (101) and a stirring module (102) extending into the mixing barrel (101) to stir powder and liquid materials.

3. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 2, characterized in that: The powder and liquid material feeding module comprises a powder material pipe and a liquid material pipe extending into the inner cavity of the mixing barrel (101), wherein the outlet of the liquid material pipe extends to the center of the mixing barrel (101).

4. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The vibration module (4) comprises a flexible retaining member for suspending and retaining the buffer cylinder (3) in the vibration gelatinization box (2) and a vibration generator (401).

5. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 4, characterized in that: The flexible retaining member comprises a base (402), an elastic connecting member (403) and a bearing seat (404); The base (402) is fixed to the inner wall of the vibrating gelatinization box (2); the base (402) is connected to the bearing seat (404) via an elastic connecting piece (403); and the bearing seat (404) is detachably connected to the buffer cylinder (3).

6. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The top of the vibrating gelatinization box (2) has an opening for the buffer cylinder (3) to extend into, and a closed ring (7) that is in flexible contact with the buffer cylinder (3) is provided at the opening.

7. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cache barrel (3) has a top cover, and an extrusion mechanism (8) for extruding the material inside the cache barrel (3) is installed in the middle of the top cover.

8. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The nozzle mechanism (6) comprises a mounting seat (601), a plurality of sliding blocks (602) and nozzles (603) connected to each other and slidably mounted on the mounting seat (601), and an adjustment mechanism for driving the sliding blocks (602) to move in the same direction to adjust the gap between adjacent nozzles (603).

9. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 8, characterized in that: The discharge port of the buffer cylinder (3) and the feed port of the nozzle mechanism (6) are connected via a feed pipe (9), and the feed pipe (9) passes through the bottom of the vibrating gelatinization box (2) and one end of the feed pipe is coiled in the inner cavity of the vibrating gelatinization box (2).

10. A feeding system for a food 3D printer according to claim 9, characterized in that: A cleaning three-way valve (10) is connected to the middle of the material delivery pipe (9).

Images