Soft meal 3D printer

Abstract

The soft meal 3D printer comprises a control system, a human-computer interaction interface, a movement assembly, a printing head assembly, a charging barrel assembly and a printing table board assembly. The motion assembly comprises an X-axis linear motion module, a Y-axis linear motion module and a Z-axis linear motion module; the X-axis linear motion module and the Y-axis linear motion module are used for driving the printing head assembly to horizontally move along the X axis and the Y axis correspondingly. The Z-axis linear motion module is used for driving the printing tabletop assembly to vertically move along the Z axis; the printing head assembly comprises a plurality of nozzle assemblies arranged along the same straight line and radiation heating units arranged below discharging ports of the nozzle assemblies. The charging barrel assembly comprises a plurality of charging barrels and a charging barrel temperature returning unit; the printing table board assembly comprises a printing table board and a table board heating unit. According to the invention, controllable texture / viscosity, nutrition customization and repeatable warm meal serving according to an I DDS I framework are realized; and heating while printing and process engineering optimization are carried out.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of food additive manufacturing and personalized nutrition technology, specifically to a soft meal 3D printer. Background Technology

[0002] The global aging population trend is evident, and the number of people with dysphagia continues to rise, becoming a long-term issue for institutional elderly care and hospital dietary services. Multiple studies show that dysphagia significantly increases hospital stays and medical costs; in some populations, its prevalence can be as high as one in six adults. Consequently, the demand for soft foods (texture-modified foods) that meet the premise of safe swallowing is showing a rigid increase, with higher expectations for standardization and reproducibility regarding texture grade, viscosity, and temperature. For example, the IDDSI (International Initiative for Standardization of Dysphagia Diets) framework sets a 0-7 rating system for dietary consistency / texture, facilitating consistent formulation and assessment standards across different institutions in terms of swallowing safety.

[0003] Traditional soft meal preparation relies heavily on thickeners and mechanical refining / purification, often supplemented by molding and manual application to improve appearance and texture. However, this approach presents trade-offs in terms of nutrient retention, flavor, and consistency, and is highly dependent on manual labor and hygiene procedures. In institutional kitchens, long-term heavy reliance on thickeners and intensive processing can lead to nutrient loss, deterioration in taste, and compliance pressures, making it difficult to simultaneously address the individualized nutrition and dining experience of diverse populations and disease profiles. With advancements in research, 3D food printing (3DFP) is considered to have the potential to improve swallowing fit and appearance with programmable shapes and textures, but its practical application still faces challenges such as material printability, textural consistency, and scalability.

[0004] Existing 3D food printing equipment for institutional settings is mostly derived from home or laboratory systems, generally relying on a step-by-step process of "printing first, then heating." The "bottom-up" heat transfer path of reheating easily leads to overheating of the bottom layer and underheating of the top layer, resulting in deformation, collapse, or hardening, which conflicts with the "controllable and stable soft texture" emphasized in diets for dysphagia. Simultaneously, secondary handling exacerbates the risks of contamination and timeliness, hindering the high-turnover food preparation in institutional kitchens. To improve efficiency, some solutions attempt to simultaneously heat / cook during the printing process, including ohmic heating platforms, laser-induced transfer graphene infrared heating, and multi-wavelength laser multi-heat source combinations, reflecting the pursuit of "printing and heat treatment simultaneously."

[0005] However, a significant portion of existing synchronous heating methods are focused / spotheating, such as lasers or concentrated infrared radiation located close to the nozzle. While these methods offer high energy density and good spatial resolution, making them suitable for localized, targeted heating and creating crispy crusts, they are prone to localized hardening or surface brittleness in soft food applications, contradicting the goal of achieving a "safely swallowable, soft overall texture." Furthermore, relying solely on a focused heat source to achieve uniform heating of the entire food item is often inefficient, potentially extending the overall processing time or introducing interlayer temperature differences. The overheating problem at the bottom in traditional post-processing and the surface hardening problem in focused methods essentially point to a core contradiction: how to achieve "uniform, controllable, and gentle" heating during printing, ensuring the finished product maintains a soft texture while meeting warmth and hygiene requirements. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention aims to provide a soft meal 3D printer that caters to the customized dining needs of the elderly and people with dysphagia. It supports texture and viscosity control according to the International Initiative for Standardization of Diets with Dysphagia (IDDSI) level and is suitable for standardized and large-scale meal preparation scenarios in kitchens of nursing homes, hospitals, and other institutions.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0008] A soft meal 3D printer includes a control system, a human-machine interface, a motion component, a print head assembly, a material cylinder assembly, and a print table assembly.

[0009] The motion components include an X-axis linear motion module, a Y-axis linear motion module, and a Z-axis linear motion module;

[0010] The X-axis linear motion module and the Y-axis linear motion module are used to drive the printhead assembly to move horizontally along the X-axis and Y-axis, respectively; the Z-axis linear motion module is connected to the print table assembly and is used to drive the print table assembly to move vertically along the Z-axis.

[0011] The printhead assembly includes multiple nozzle assemblies arranged in a straight line and a radiant heating unit located below the discharge port of each nozzle assembly. The radiant heating unit includes a fixed base and heating resistance wires. The fixed base has multiple nozzle passages, each corresponding to a discharge pipe of a nozzle assembly, allowing the discharge pipe of each nozzle assembly to pass through each nozzle passage. The bottom surface of the fixed base has multiple heating resistance wires, each corresponding to a nozzle passage, and the heating resistance wires are arranged around the outer edge of the corresponding nozzle passage. Ventilation holes are provided on both sides of the inner ring of each heating resistance wire on the fixed base.

[0012] The material cylinder assembly includes multiple material cylinders and a material cylinder reheating unit; each material cylinder corresponds to a nozzle assembly, and each material cylinder is connected to the corresponding nozzle assembly through a feed pipe; the material cylinder reheating unit is used to heat each material cylinder.

[0013] The printing table assembly includes a printing table and a table heating unit, wherein the table heating unit is used to heat the printing table;

[0014] Each heating resistance wire, barrel reheating unit, and table heating unit is connected to a corresponding temperature control circuit, which controls the start and stop of the heating resistance wire, barrel reheating unit, and table heating unit. Each temperature control circuit is connected to the control system.

[0015] The human-machine interface, X-axis linear motion module, Y-axis linear motion module, Z-axis linear motion module, and each nozzle assembly are all communicatively connected to the control system.

[0016] Furthermore, the barrel reheating unit includes a heat-conducting frame and a heat-conducting frame heating unit. The heat-conducting frame has multiple barrel fixing slots that correspond one-to-one with each barrel. Each barrel is installed inside the corresponding barrel fixing slot and is in contact with the inner surface of the barrel fixing slot. The heat-conducting frame heating unit is used to heat the heat-conducting frame.

[0017] Furthermore, each barrel fixing groove has a barrel mounting port on its front side, and the barrel is made of transparent material; the front side of the heat-conducting frame has an openable barrel compartment door, which covers the front side of the heat-conducting frame.

[0018] Furthermore, each material cylinder is located directly above its corresponding nozzle assembly and is coaxial with the discharge pipe of the corresponding nozzle assembly.

[0019] Furthermore, the nozzle assembly includes a discharge pipe, a conveying pipe, a discharge locking shaft, a lifting drive unit, a conveying adapter, and a fixed bracket; the conveying adapter is fixed inside the fixed bracket; the lower end of the conveying pipe is connected to the side inlet of the conveying adapter, and the upper end of the conveying pipe is connected to the lower outlet of the corresponding material cylinder; the discharge pipe is fixedly connected to the fixed bracket, and its top end is connected to the bottom outlet of the conveying adapter; the lifting drive unit is connected to the fixed bracket and is used to drive the fixed bracket to move up and down relative to the discharge locking shaft; the discharge locking shaft passes through the top of the conveying adapter, and as the lifting drive unit drives the fixed bracket to move up and down, the discharge locking shaft can extend into or retract from the top end of the discharge pipe.

[0020] Furthermore, the soft meal 3D printer also includes an onboard camera that communicates with the control system. The onboard camera is directed toward the printing table to capture images of the plates on the printing table and transmit them to the control system. The control system detects the position of the plates using an AI model.

[0021] The present invention also provides a method for operating the above-mentioned soft meal 3D printer, the specific process of which is as follows:

[0022] S1. After the barrel is filled, select the printing mode and the model to be printed on the human-machine interface, and set the nozzle distribution mode according to the printing mode. The control system loads the printing path according to the set printing mode, the model to be printed and the nozzle distribution mode; each preset model has a corresponding printing path and formula.

[0023] The printing modes include single-object multi-recipe collaborative forming and multi-object parallel processing. In the single-object multi-recipe collaborative forming mode, multiple nozzle assemblies are used to collaboratively print a multi-recipe soft meal model. At this time, the recipes assigned to each nozzle assembly are set, and the control system assigns different areas of the same soft meal model to different nozzle assemblies for printing through slicing and printing path allocation. In the multi-object parallel processing mode, the nozzle allocation mode can be single-jet or multi-jet parallel mode, and each nozzle assembly independently prints multiple soft meal models in parallel.

[0024] S2. Temperature recovery and material adjustment: The control system starts the heating unit of the heat-conducting frame through the corresponding temperature control circuit. The heating unit of the heat-conducting frame starts to heat the heat-conducting frame. The heat is transferred to the material barrel through the heat-conducting frame to recover the temperature of the material in the material barrel and keep the viscosity of the material stable. The corresponding temperature control circuit monitors the temperature of the heat-conducting frame according to the temperature set value issued by the control system and controls the start and stop of the heating unit of the heat-conducting frame accordingly.

[0025] S3. Place the plate on the printing table;

[0026] S4. Forming and synchronous thermal control: The control system starts each heating resistance wire and the table heating unit through the corresponding temperature control circuit. Each temperature control circuit monitors the temperature of the heating resistance wire and the operating table according to the temperature set value issued by the control system, and controls the start and stop of each heating resistance wire and the table heating unit accordingly.

[0027] The material barrel supplies material to the corresponding nozzle assembly through the material conveying pipe. The control system coordinates the X-axis linear motion module, Y-axis linear motion module and Z-axis linear motion module according to the loaded printing path, and drives each nozzle assembly to extrude material according to the printing path.

[0028] At this time, each heating resistance wire radiates heat at the discharge pipe of each nozzle assembly, forming a local heat circulation in conjunction with the ventilation environment, and the printing table surface remains warm.

[0029] S5. Once the soft meal model is printed, it can be served directly without further heating.

[0030] Furthermore, in step S3, the control system controls the airborne camera to capture images of the printing table and detects the images captured by the airborne camera. When a plate is detected on the printing table, the orientation of the plate is further detected, the position and orientation of the plate are identified, and the printing area and layout are automatically generated.

[0031] Furthermore, in step S4, when a nozzle assembly needs to extrude material, the control system controls the lifting drive unit of the nozzle assembly to drive the fixed bracket to move downward, and the discharge pipe moves downward together with the material conveying adapter, so that the top of the discharge pipe is released from the blockage of the discharge locking shaft, the lower end of the discharge pipe enters the nozzle through hole below, and the material conveying pipe is transported from the material cylinder to the material conveying adapter to enter the top of the discharge pipe and is extruded from the lower end of the discharge pipe.

[0032] Furthermore, in step S4, during the printing process, the onboard camera continuously captures images of the plate and transmits them to the control system. The control system uses an AI model to identify under / over-squeezing, layer deviation, and swallowing adaptation-related indicators of the soft meal model and provides optimization suggestions. Based on this, it fine-tunes the printing path and adjusts the temperature settings of the heating resistance wire, the heat-conducting frame heating unit, and the table heating unit.

[0033] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows:

[0034] 1. This invention combines three temperature zones—the surrounding temperature of the barrel, the radiant heating of the nozzle assembly outlet, and ventilation—to create a uniform heat circulation and a heat-insulating printing table. This creates a uniform heating field that is “from top to bottom × from bottom to top.” Throughout the printing process, this achieves gentle, controllable, and uniform heat treatment, ensuring that the finished product maintains its soft texture while meeting the requirements for warmth and hygiene. It also avoids the deformation and deterioration of taste caused by overheating of the bottom layer and temperature differences between layers in traditional post-processing.

[0035] 2. The present invention positions the material cylinder directly above the nozzle assembly, which can shorten the distance between the material cylinder and the nozzle assembly, reduce the bending of the conveying pipe, and reduce the possibility of blockage in the conveying pipe;

[0036] 3. This invention uses multiple linear arrays of nozzles that are independently driven to achieve single-object multi-recipe collaborative printing, as well as parallel printing of multiple models for meals. It can achieve collaborative customization of shape, taste and nutrition, and supports the combination of protein / vegetable / carbohydrate bases according to the needs of different groups of people to achieve a nutritionally rich and balanced soft meal output.

[0037] 4. This invention, through the combination of an airborne camera and an AI model, can detect the posture of the plate, automatically plan the printing area, and identify the IDDSI-related texture and extrusion status online and provide optimization suggestions, enabling operators without professional backgrounds to stably produce meals.

[0038] 5. This invention requires no molds or manual application. Through programmable shape and layer control, a recognizable appearance and target texture can be directly obtained, reducing manual shaping and finishing.

[0039] In summary, this invention addresses personalized and large-scale meal preparation scenarios for the elderly and those with swallowing difficulties, enabling controllable texture / viscosity, customized nutrition, and repeatable warm meal preparation according to the IDDSI framework. By printing and heating simultaneously and optimizing the process engineering, it avoids the deformation, collapse, or hardening problems caused by the traditional "print first, heat later" method, reduces the risks of handling and secondary contamination, and meets the comprehensive needs of kitchens in nursing homes, hospitals, and other institutions for efficiency, hygiene compliance, and low maintenance threshold. Attached Figure Description

[0040] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the soft meal 3D printer in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 2 This is a bottom view of the radiant heating unit in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the barrel assembly structure in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the nozzle assembly in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 5 This is an example diagram of a soft meal model. Detailed Implementation

[0045] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that this embodiment is based on the present technical solution and provides detailed implementation methods and specific operation processes, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

[0046] Example 1

[0047] This embodiment provides a soft meal 3D printer, which is designed for customized soft meal (texture-modified food) production. It supports texture and viscosity control based on the IDSI framework and achieves thermal forming during the printing process, reducing texture fluctuations caused by post-processing.

[0048] like Figure 1-4As shown, the soft-serve 3D printer includes a control system, a human-machine interface 1, a motion component, a print head assembly 2, a material cylinder assembly 3, and a print table assembly 4. In this embodiment, the soft-serve 3D printer also includes a frame 7, and the control system, human-machine interface 1, motion component, print head assembly 2, material cylinder assembly 3, and print table assembly 4 are all integrated on the frame 7.

[0049] The motion components include an X-axis linear motion module 5, a Y-axis linear motion module 6, and a Z-axis linear motion module (not shown in the figure).

[0050] The X-axis linear motion module 5 and the Y-axis linear motion module 6 are used to drive the printhead assembly 2 to move horizontally along the X-axis and Y-axis, respectively. Specifically, in this embodiment, the Y-axis linear motion module 6 is connected to the X-axis linear motion module 5 and is driven by the X-axis linear motion module 5 to move horizontally along the X-axis, and the printhead assembly 2 is connected to the Y-axis linear motion module 6 and is driven by the Y-axis linear motion module 6 to move horizontally along the Y-axis.

[0051] The Z-axis linear motion module is connected to the printing table assembly 4 and is used to drive the printing table assembly 4 to move vertically along the Z-axis.

[0052] The printhead assembly 2 includes multiple nozzle assemblies 21 arranged in a straight line and a radiant heating unit 22 located below the nozzle assembly outlet. The radiant heating unit 22 includes a fixed base 221 and heating resistance wires 222. The fixed base 221 has multiple nozzle passages 223, each corresponding to the outlet pipe 211 of each nozzle assembly 21, allowing the outlet pipe 211 of each nozzle assembly 21 to pass through the respective nozzle passage 223. The bottom surface of the fixed base 221 has multiple heating resistance wires 222, each corresponding to a nozzle passage 223, and the heating resistance wires 222 are arranged around the outer edge of the corresponding nozzle passage 223. Ventilation holes 224 are provided on both sides of the inner ring of each heating resistance wire 222 on the fixed base 221. Together with the heating resistance wires and ventilation holes, radiant heating is achieved at the nozzle assembly outlet while a ventilated environment is created, resulting in uniform heat circulation.

[0053] Specifically, in this embodiment, the number of nozzle assemblies 21 is 4, and can be adjusted according to actual design and usage requirements.

[0054] The material cylinder assembly 3 includes multiple material cylinders 31 and a material cylinder reheating unit; each material cylinder 31 corresponds to a nozzle assembly 21, and each material cylinder 31 is connected to the corresponding nozzle assembly 21 through a material conveying pipe; the material cylinder reheating unit is used to heat each material cylinder 31.

[0055] The printing table assembly 4 includes a printing table and a table heating unit, wherein the table heating unit is used to heat the printing table.

[0056] Each heating resistance wire 222, the barrel reheating unit, and the table heating unit are connected to a corresponding temperature control circuit. The corresponding temperature control circuit controls the start and stop of the heating resistance wire 222, the barrel reheating unit, and the table heating unit. Each temperature control circuit is connected to the control system.

[0057] The human-machine interface, X-axis linear motion module, Y-axis linear motion module, Z-axis linear motion module, and each nozzle assembly are all communicatively connected to the control system.

[0058] In this embodiment, as Figure 3 As shown, the barrel reheating unit includes a heat-conducting frame 32 and a heat-conducting frame heating unit. The heat-conducting frame 32 has a plurality of barrel fixing grooves 34 corresponding one-to-one with each barrel 31. Each barrel 31 is installed inside the corresponding barrel fixing groove 34 and is in contact with the inner surface of the barrel fixing groove 34. The heat-conducting frame heating unit is used to heat the heat-conducting frame 32.

[0059] Furthermore, in this embodiment, as Figure 3 As shown, each barrel fixing slot 34 has a barrel mounting port on its front side, and the barrel 31 is made of transparent material. The front side of the heat-conducting frame 32 has an openable barrel compartment door 33, which covers the front side of the heat-conducting frame 32. More specifically, the barrel compartment door 33 includes two doors, one side of which is connected to the two sides of the heat-conducting frame 32 by hinges, and the other side of which is detachably connected. In this way, opening the barrel compartment door 33 allows observation of the remaining amount in the barrel, facilitating loading.

[0060] In this embodiment, each material cylinder is located directly above its corresponding nozzle assembly. This effectively reduces the length and bends of the feed pipe connecting the material cylinder and the nozzle assembly, thus reducing the likelihood of feed pipe blockage.

[0061] like Figure 4As shown, the nozzle assembly 21 includes a discharge pipe 211, a conveying pipe 212, a discharge locking shaft 213, a lifting drive unit 214, a conveying adapter 215, and a fixed bracket 216; the conveying adapter 215 is fixed inside the fixed bracket 216; the lower end of the conveying pipe 212 is connected to the side inlet of the conveying adapter 215, and the upper end of the conveying pipe 212 is connected to the lower outlet of the corresponding material cylinder 31; the discharge pipe 211 and the fixed bracket 216... The material conveyor 211 is fixedly connected and its top end is connected to the bottom outlet of the material conveyor 215; the lifting drive unit 214 is connected to the fixed bracket 216 and is used to drive the fixed bracket 216 to move up and down relative to the discharge lock shaft 213; the discharge lock shaft 213 passes through the top of the material conveyor 215, and as the lifting drive unit 214 drives the fixed bracket 216 to move up and down, the discharge lock shaft 213 can extend into or out of the top end of the discharge pipe 211.

[0062] Specifically, in this embodiment, the lifting drive unit 214, the discharge lock shaft 213, and the fixed base 221 of the radiation heating unit are all fixed to the Y-axis linear motion module, so that the print head assembly 2 can be driven to move horizontally as a whole.

[0063] In this embodiment, the soft meal 3D printer also includes an onboard camera that communicates with the control system. The onboard camera is directed toward the printing table to capture images of the plates on the printing table and transmit them to the control system. The control system detects the position of the plates using an AI model.

[0064] Example 2

[0065] This embodiment provides a working method for the soft meal 3D printer described in this embodiment, the specific process of which is as follows:

[0066] S1. After the barrel is loaded, select the printing mode and the model to be printed on the human-machine interface, and set the nozzle allocation mode according to the printing mode. The control system loads the printing path according to the set printing mode, the model to be printed, and the nozzle allocation mode. Each preset model has a corresponding printing path and formula.

[0067] The printing modes include single-object multi-recipe collaborative forming and multi-object parallel meal production. In the single-object multi-recipe collaborative forming mode, multiple nozzle assemblies are used to collaboratively print a multi-recipe soft meal model. In this mode, the recipes assigned to each nozzle assembly are set, and the control system assigns different areas of the same soft meal model to different nozzle assemblies for printing through slicing and printing path allocation. In the multi-object parallel meal production mode, the nozzle allocation mode can be single-jet or multi-jet parallel mode. Each nozzle assembly independently prints multiple soft meal models in parallel, realizing multiple meals produced in parallel to meet the personalized nutritional and taste needs of different groups.

[0068] Specifically, when loading materials into the cylinders, first open the cylinder door, load materials into each cylinder, observe the remaining amount in the cylinder, and close the cylinder door again after filling.

[0069] S2. Temperature Recovery and Material Adjustment: The control system starts the heating unit of the heat-conducting frame through the corresponding temperature control circuit. The heating unit of the heat-conducting frame starts to heat the heat-conducting frame. The heat is transferred to the material barrel through the heat-conducting frame to recover the temperature of the material in the barrel and keep the viscosity of the material stable. The corresponding temperature control circuit monitors the temperature of the heat-conducting frame according to the temperature set value issued by the control system and controls the start and stop of the heating unit of the heat-conducting frame accordingly.

[0070] S3. Plate Detection and Alignment: Place the plate on the printing table. The control system controls the onboard camera to capture images of the printing table and detects the images captured by the onboard camera. When a plate is detected on the printing table, the posture of the plate is further detected to identify the position and orientation of the plate, and the printing area and layout are automatically generated.

[0071] S4. Forming and synchronous thermal control: The control system starts each heating resistance wire and the table heating unit through the corresponding temperature control circuit. Each temperature control circuit monitors the temperature of the heating resistance wire and the operating table according to the temperature set value issued by the control system, and controls the start and stop of each heating resistance wire and the table heating unit accordingly.

[0072] The material barrel supplies material to the corresponding nozzle assembly through the material conveying pipe. The control system coordinates the X-axis linear motion module, Y-axis linear motion module and Z-axis linear motion module according to the loaded printing path, and drives each nozzle assembly to extrude material according to the printing path.

[0073] At this time, each heating resistance wire radiates heat at the discharge tube of each nozzle assembly, forming a local heat circulation in conjunction with the ventilation environment, and the printing table surface remains warm.

[0074] Specifically, when a nozzle assembly needs to extrude material, the control system controls the lifting drive unit 214 of the nozzle assembly to drive the fixed bracket 216 to move downward, and the discharge pipe 211 together with the material conveying adapter 215 moves downward, so that the top end of the discharge pipe 211 is disengaged from the blockage of the discharge locking shaft 213, and the lower end of the discharge pipe 211 enters the nozzle through hole below. The material conveying pipe 212 is transported from the material cylinder to the material conveying adapter 215 and enters the top end of the discharge pipe 211, and is extruded from the lower end of the discharge pipe 211.

[0075] S5. Online monitoring and optimization: The onboard camera continuously collects images of the plate and transmits them to the control system. The control system uses an AI model to identify under / over-squeezing, layer deviation and swallowing adaptation related indicators of the soft meal model and provides optimization suggestions. Based on this, it fine-tunes the printing path and adjusts the temperature settings of the heating resistance wire, the heat-conducting frame heating unit and the table heating unit.

[0076] S6. Once the soft meal model is printed, it can be served directly without further heating.

[0077] Table 1 lists the recipes and related requirements for some soft meal models.

[0078] Table 1 Summary of Soft Meal Ingredient Formulas and IDSSI Measured Levels

[0079]

[0080] Figure 5 The following are some examples of soft meal models.

[0081] For those skilled in the art, various corresponding changes and modifications can be made based on the above technical solutions and concepts, and all such changes and modifications should be included within the protection scope of the claims of this invention.

Claims

1. A soft meal 3D printer, characterized in that, This includes the control system, human-machine interface, motion components, printhead assembly, barrel assembly, and print table assembly; The motion components include an X-axis linear motion module, a Y-axis linear motion module, and a Z-axis linear motion module; The X-axis linear motion module and the Y-axis linear motion module are used to drive the printhead assembly to move horizontally along the X-axis and Y-axis, respectively; the Z-axis linear motion module is connected to the print table assembly and is used to drive the print table assembly to move vertically along the Z-axis. The printhead assembly includes multiple nozzle assemblies arranged in a straight line and a radiant heating unit located below the discharge port of each nozzle assembly. The radiant heating unit includes a fixed base and heating resistance wires. The fixed base has multiple nozzle passages, each corresponding to a discharge pipe of a nozzle assembly, allowing the discharge pipe of each nozzle assembly to pass through each nozzle passage. The bottom surface of the fixed base has multiple heating resistance wires, each corresponding to a nozzle passage, and the heating resistance wires are arranged around the outer edge of the corresponding nozzle passage. Ventilation holes are provided on both sides of the inner ring of each heating resistance wire on the fixed base. The material cylinder assembly includes multiple material cylinders and a material cylinder reheating unit; each material cylinder corresponds to a nozzle assembly, and each material cylinder is connected to the corresponding nozzle assembly through a feed pipe; the material cylinder reheating unit is used to heat each material cylinder. The printing table assembly includes a printing table and a table heating unit, wherein the table heating unit is used to heat the printing table; Each heating resistance wire, barrel reheating unit, and table heating unit is connected to a corresponding temperature control circuit, which controls the start and stop of the heating resistance wire, barrel reheating unit, and table heating unit. Each temperature control circuit is connected to the control system. The human-machine interface, X-axis linear motion module, Y-axis linear motion module, Z-axis linear motion module, and each nozzle assembly are all communicatively connected to the control system.

2. The soft meal 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that, The barrel reheating unit includes a heat-conducting frame and a heat-conducting frame heating unit. The heat-conducting frame has multiple barrel fixing slots that correspond one-to-one with each barrel. Each barrel is installed inside the corresponding barrel fixing slot and is in contact with the inner surface of the barrel fixing slot. The heat-conducting frame heating unit is used to heat the heat-conducting frame.

3. The soft meal 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each barrel fixing slot has a barrel mounting port on its front side, and the barrel is made of transparent material; the front side of the heat-conducting frame has an openable barrel compartment door, which covers the front side of the heat-conducting frame.

4. The soft meal 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each material cylinder is located directly above its corresponding nozzle assembly and is coaxial with the discharge pipe of the corresponding nozzle assembly.

5. The soft meal 3D printer according to claim 1 or 4, characterized in that, The nozzle assembly includes a discharge pipe, a conveying pipe, a discharge locking shaft, a lifting drive unit, a conveying adapter, and a fixed bracket; the conveying adapter is fixed inside the fixed bracket; the lower end of the conveying pipe is connected to the side inlet of the conveying adapter, and the upper end of the conveying pipe is connected to the lower outlet of the corresponding material cylinder; the discharge pipe is fixedly connected to the fixed bracket, and its top end is connected to the bottom outlet of the conveying adapter; the lifting drive unit is connected to the fixed bracket and is used to drive the fixed bracket to move up and down relative to the discharge locking shaft; the discharge locking shaft passes through the top of the conveying adapter, and as the lifting drive unit drives the fixed bracket to move up and down, the discharge locking shaft can extend into or retract from the top end of the discharge pipe.

6. The soft meal 3D printer according to claim 1, characterized in that, The soft meal 3D printer also includes an onboard camera that communicates with the control system. The onboard camera is directed toward the printing table to capture images of the plates on the printing table and transmit them to the control system. The control system detects the position of the plates using an AI model.

7. A method of operating a soft meal 3D printer according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The specific process is as follows: S1. After the material cylinder is loaded, select the printing mode and the model to be printed on the human-machine interface, and set the nozzle allocation mode according to the printing mode. The control system loads the printing path according to the set printing mode, the model to be printed and the nozzle allocation mode. Each preset model has a corresponding printing path and recipe; The printing modes include single-object multi-recipe collaborative forming and multi-object parallel meal output. In the single-object multi-recipe collaborative forming mode, multiple nozzle assemblies are used to collaboratively print a soft meal model with multiple recipes. At this time, the recipes assigned to each nozzle assembly are set, and the control system assigns different areas of the same soft meal model to different nozzle assemblies for printing through slicing and printing path allocation. In the multi-object parallel meal printing mode, the nozzle allocation mode can be single-spray or multi-spray parallel mode, with each nozzle component printing multiple soft meal models independently and in parallel. S2. Temperature recovery and material adjustment: The control system starts the heating unit of the heat-conducting frame through the corresponding temperature control circuit. The heating unit of the heat-conducting frame starts to heat the heat-conducting frame. The heat is transferred to the material barrel through the heat-conducting frame to recover the temperature of the material in the material barrel and keep the viscosity of the material stable. The corresponding temperature control circuit monitors the temperature of the heat-conducting frame according to the temperature set value issued by the control system and controls the start and stop of the heating unit of the heat-conducting frame accordingly. S3. Place the plate on the printing table; S4. Forming and synchronous thermal control: The control system starts each heating resistance wire and the table heating unit through the corresponding temperature control circuit. Each temperature control circuit monitors the temperature of the heating resistance wire and the operating table according to the temperature set value issued by the control system, and controls the start and stop of each heating resistance wire and the table heating unit accordingly. The material barrel supplies material to the corresponding nozzle assembly through the material conveying pipe. The control system coordinates the X-axis linear motion module, Y-axis linear motion module and Z-axis linear motion module according to the loaded printing path, and drives each nozzle assembly to extrude material according to the printing path. At this time, each heating resistance wire radiates heat at the discharge pipe of each nozzle assembly, forming a local heat circulation in conjunction with the ventilation environment, and the printing table surface remains warm. S5. Once the soft meal model is printed, it can be served directly without further heating.

8. The working method according to claim 7, characterized in that, In step S3, the control system controls the airborne camera to capture images of the printing table and detects the images captured by the airborne camera. When a plate is detected on the printing table, the posture of the plate is further detected, the position and orientation of the plate are identified, and the printing area and layout are automatically generated.

9. The working method according to claim 7, characterized in that, In step S4, when a nozzle assembly needs to extrude material, the control system controls the lifting drive unit of the nozzle assembly to drive the fixed bracket to move downward. The discharge pipe, together with the conveying adapter, moves downward, so that the top of the discharge pipe is released from the blockage of the discharge lock shaft, and the lower end of the discharge pipe enters the nozzle through hole below. The conveying pipe is transported from the material cylinder to the conveying adapter and enters the top of the discharge pipe, and is extruded from the lower end of the discharge pipe.

10. The working method according to claim 7, characterized in that, In step S4, during the printing process, the onboard camera continuously captures images of the plate and transmits them to the control system. The control system uses an AI model to identify under / over-squeezing, layer deviation, and swallowing adaptation related indicators of the soft meal model and provides optimization suggestions. Based on this, it fine-tunes the printing path and adjusts the temperature settings of the heating resistance wire, the heat-conducting frame heating unit, and the table heating unit.

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