Powder feeding device special for metal 3D printing

Abstract

The special powder feeding device for metal 3D printing comprises an equipment shell, a first partition plate of a hollow structure is fixedly connected to the interior of the equipment shell, a second partition plate is fixedly connected to the interior of the equipment shell, and discharging holes are formed in the top of the first partition plate and the top of the second partition plate. An inclined discharging groove is formed in the outer wall of the first partition plate, a guide rail is fixedly embedded in the inner wall of the equipment shell, and a linear motor is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the guide rail. Through the arrangement of the first partition plate, the second partition plate, the blanking hole, the inclined blanking groove, the guide rail, the movable hopper, the slicking pipes, the electric roller and the tiling blanking opening, material spreading is carried out in the reciprocating movement process of the two slicking pipes, and the waiting time is shortened; by arranging a fixed hopper, a feeding pipe, a side plate, an electronic valve, a connecting plate and a touch switch, intermittent automatic feeding of metal powder is guaranteed, the situations of material breakage and manual material supplementing are avoided, and efficiency is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of metal 3D printing, and in particular to a powder feeding device dedicated to metal 3D printing. Background Art

[0002] With the development of science and technology and the need for promotion and application, the use of rapid prototyping to directly manufacture metal functional parts has become the main development direction of rapid prototyping. Among them, SLM technology (metal additive manufacturing technology) is widely used. It mainly uses a high-power density laser beam to completely melt the metal powder and directly form metal parts. In this process, a horizontal powder roller is required to first spread the metal powder on the substrate of the processing chamber. Then the laser beam will selectively melt the powder on the substrate according to the contour information of the current layer, and process the contour of the current layer. Then the lifting system can be lowered by the thickness of a layer, and the rolling powder roller will spread metal powder on the processed current layer. The equipment will be transferred to the next layer for processing, and so on, layer by layer, until the entire part is processed. The entire processing process is carried out in a vacuum or gas-protected processing chamber to prevent the metal from reacting with other gases at high temperatures.

[0003] In the prior art, the powder spreading roller is located above the feed roller, and takes away part of the metal powder when it moves in a straight line through an existing linear motor or other driving device, and spreads the metal powder on the processed current layer during the movement. The excess metal powder enters the excess powder collection bucket on the side away from the powder spreading roller as the powder spreading roller moves. In this process, the feed roller, the workbench and the collection bucket are arranged in a straight line. Therefore, after the powder spreading roller moves, it needs to be reset to be above the feed roller for subsequent powder feeding. During the reset process, it cannot play the role of spreading powder, which increases the waiting time and the powder spreading method is single. Therefore, we propose a special powder feeding device for metal 3D printing to solve the above problems. Utility Model Content

[0004] The purpose of the utility model is to solve the shortcomings of the prior art and to propose a powder feeding device dedicated to metal 3D printing.

[0005] In order to achieve the above purpose, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] A powder feeding device dedicated to metal 3D printing, comprising a device housing, a first partition with a hollow structure fixedly connected to the interior of the device housing, a second partition fixedly connected to the interior of the device housing, a feeding hole provided on the top of each of the first partition and the second partition, an inclined feeding trough provided on the outer wall of the first partition, a guide rail fixedly inlaid on the inner wall of the device housing, a linear motor fixedly connected to the outer wall of the guide rail, a mobile hopper fixedly connected to the outer wall of the moving end of the linear motor, a fixed hopper fixedly connected to the interior of the device housing, a side plate fixedly connected to the outer wall of the fixed hopper, a feeding mechanism provided at the bottom of the fixed hopper, and a feeding mechanism provided on the outer wall of the mobile hopper.

[0007] Preferably, the feeding mechanism includes a connecting plate, the bottom of the fixed hopper is fixedly connected with a down pipe, the outer wall of the down pipe is fixedly installed with an electronic valve, the outer wall of one of the side panels is fixedly connected to one end of the connecting plate, and the outer wall of the connecting plate is fixedly connected with a touch switch. By setting up the feeding mechanism, the mobile hopper is replenished with metal powder to avoid material shortage.

[0008] Preferably, the unloading mechanism includes two scraping tubes, the tops of the two scraping tubes are fixedly connected to the bottom of the mobile hopper, the outer walls of the two scraping tubes are provided with two assembly holes, and the two assembly holes are rotatably connected to electric rollers. By setting up two electric rollers, the metal powder is unloaded from the scraping tubes to avoid automatic unloading when the scraping tubes stop running.

[0009] Preferably, two electric push rods are fixedly connected to the inside of the equipment housing, and the tops of the output ends of the two electric push rods are fixedly sleeved with circular assembly sets, and the tops of the two circular assembly sets are respectively fixedly connected to a workbench and a collection table, and the electric push rods are provided to drive the workbench and the collection table to move up and down.

[0010] Preferably, a plurality of laser bodies are fixedly connected to the interior of the device housing.

[0011] Preferably, a feeding pipe is fixedly connected to the top of the equipment casing, and a vacuum feeder is fixedly connected to one end of the feeding pipe. The vacuum feeder regularly feeds materials into the fixed hopper through the feeding pipe. The overall loading and unloading processes are separated to avoid fluctuations in the discharge of metal powder.

[0012] Preferably, the outer walls of the two electric rollers are provided with two material discharge grooves, and the bottoms of the two scraping tubes are provided with flat material discharge ports, and the material discharge grooves are in an inwardly concave arc structure.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are:

[0014] This solution provides a first baffle, a second baffle, a blanking hole, an inclined blanking trough, a guide rail, a movable hopper, a scraping pipe, an electric roller and a flat discharge port. During the reciprocating movement of the two scraping pipes, the material is laid to reduce waiting time. By providing a fixed hopper, a feeding pipe, a side plate, an electronic valve, a connecting plate and a touch switch, intermittent automatic feeding of metal powder is ensured to avoid material breakage and manual refilling, thereby improving efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, the following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for use in the description of the specific implementation methods. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0016] Figure 1 This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a powder feeding device specifically designed for metal 3D printing proposed in the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 This is a partial three-dimensional structural diagram of a powder feeding device for metal 3D printing proposed in the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 This utility model proposes a special powder feeding device for metal 3D printing Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the enlarged structure of part A in FIG.

[0019] In the figure: 1. Equipment housing; 2. First partition; 3. Second partition; 4. Blanking hole; 5. Inclined blanking chute; 6. Electric push rod; 7. Round assembly set; 8. Workbench; 9. Collection table; 10. Laser body; 11. Guide rail; 12. Fixed hopper; 13. Feeding pipe; 14. Side panel; 15. Electronic valve; 16. Connecting plate; 17. Touch switch; 18. Moving hopper; 19. Scraping pipe; 20. Electric roller; 21. Flat discharge port. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The following will be combined with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] Depend on Figure 1-Figure 3As shown, it relates to a powder feeding device dedicated to metal 3D printing, including an equipment housing 1, a first partition 2 with a hollow structure is fixedly connected to the inside of the equipment housing 1, a second partition 3 is fixedly connected to the inside of the equipment housing 1, and the second partition 3 is L-shaped. The first partition 2 and the second partition 3 divide the inner wall of the equipment housing 1 into two separate areas. The tops of the first partition 2 and the second partition 3 are both provided with blanking holes 4, the outer wall of the first partition 2 is provided with an inclined blanking trough 5, and the outside of the equipment housing 1 is fixedly connected with a discharge pipe for discharging metal powder in the second partition 3.

[0022] Two electric push rods 6 are fixedly connected to the inside of the equipment housing 1. The tops of the output ends of the two electric push rods 6 are fixedly sleeved with circular assembly sets 7. The tops of the two circular assembly sets 7 are fixedly connected with a workbench 8 and a collecting table 9 respectively. The outer wall of the workbench 8 is slidably connected to the outer walls of the first partition 2 and the second partition 3, and is also slidably connected to the inner wall of the equipment housing 1. The outer wall of the collecting table 9 is slidably connected to the outer wall of the first partition 2, and is also slidably connected to the inner wall of the equipment housing 1. A plurality of laser bodies 10 are fixedly connected to the inside of the equipment housing 1.

[0023] The inner wall of the equipment housing 1 is fixedly inlaid with a guide rail 11, the outer wall of the guide rail 11 is fixedly connected to a linear motor, the outer wall of the moving end of the linear motor is fixedly connected to a moving hopper 18, and the linear motor drives the moving hopper 18 to move linearly along the guide rail 11. The inside of the equipment housing 1 is fixedly connected to a fixed hopper 12, and the top of the equipment housing 1 is fixedly connected to a feeding pipe 13, one end of the feeding pipe 13 is fixedly connected to a vacuum feeder, and the outer wall of the fixed hopper 12 is fixedly connected to a side panel 14.

[0024] A feeding mechanism is provided at the bottom of the fixed hopper 12, which includes a connecting plate 16. A down pipe is fixedly connected to the bottom of the fixed hopper 12, and an electronic valve 15 is fixedly installed on the outer wall of the down pipe. The outer wall of one of the side panels 14 is fixedly connected to one end of the connecting plate 16, and a touch switch 17 is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the connecting plate 16. The touch switch 17 and the electronic valve 15 adopt an existing circuit connection method.

[0025] The outer wall of the mobile hopper 18 is provided with a unloading mechanism, which includes two scraping tubes 19. The tops of the two scraping tubes 19 are fixedly communicated with the bottom of the mobile hopper 18. The outer walls of the two scraping tubes 19 are provided with two assembly holes. The two assembly holes are rotatably connected to the electric rollers 20. The driving ends of the two electric rollers 20 are located on the outer walls of the two scraping tubes 19, and are sleeved with existing bearings. The outer rings of the bearings are fixedly connected to the inner walls of the assembly holes. The outer walls of the two electric rollers 20 are provided with two unloading grooves. The bottoms of the two scraping tubes 19 are provided with flat unloading ports 21. The unloading mechanism is specially used for metal 3D printers.

[0026] Working principle: When in use, the top of the workbench 8 is pre-covered with metal powder and scraped flat. When the laser body 10 needs to replenish metal powder for metal printing, the linear motor drives the mobile hopper 18 to move linearly along the guide rail 11, and the two flat discharge ports 21 drive the metal powder in the mobile hopper 18 to be discharged from the flat discharge port 21 along the scraping tube 19 as the two electric rollers 20 operate. When discharging, the excess metal powder moves to the left with the movement of the two scraping tubes 19, moves to the drop hole 4 at the top of the second partition 3, and then falls down into the second partition 3 for collection. The laser body 10 continues to print. When replenishing the material next time, the mobile hopper 18 is moved to the right again by the linear motor for reset. During the reset process In the process, the metal powder is discharged from the two flat discharge ports 21 again and is located on the current layer that has been processed, and the excess metal powder enters the collecting table 9 through the discharge hole 4 and the inclined discharge trough 5 on the top of the first partition 2. When the mobile hopper 18 is reset, the outer wall of the mobile hopper 18 is squeezed against the switch button of the touch switch 17. The touch switch 17 opens the electronic valve 15 when powered on, and the metal powder in the fixed hopper 12 enters the mobile hopper 18 along the downpipe for replenishment, ensuring intermittent automatic feeding of the metal powder to avoid material breakage and manual replenishment. When the laser body 10 is performing metal printing, the two electric push rods 6 are in operation, driving the workbench 8 and the collecting table 9 to move downward, which is conducive to the flattening and collection of the metal powder.

[0027] It should be noted that, when it is actually put into use, a prior art PLC controller can be added, and the PLC controller is electrically connected to the electric push rod 6, the laser body 10, the electronic valve 15, the touch switch 17 and the electric roller 20 to facilitate the control of the overall operation. The specific data analysis and processing involved to further realize the control function are method contents that can be implemented by technical personnel based on common knowledge. These method contents are not within the scope of this solution. The above description is only combined with common knowledge to illustrate the beneficial effects that can be achieved by the improvement of this hardware structure.

[0028] The standard parts used in the present invention can all be purchased from the market, and special-shaped parts can be customized according to the description in the specification and the drawings. The specific connection methods of each part adopt conventional means such as mature bolts, rivets, welding, etc. in the existing technology. The machinery, parts and equipment all adopt conventional models in the existing technology, and the circuit connection adopts the conventional connection method in the existing technology, which will not be described in detail here. The components, structures and principles known to technical personnel in this field can be known by technical personnel through technical manuals or through conventional experimental methods.

[0029] Although the embodiments of the present application have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present application, and the scope of the present application is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A powder feeding device for metal 3D printing, comprising a device housing (1), characterized in that: The interior of the device housing (1) is fixedly connected to a first partition (2) with a hollow structure, the interior of the device housing (1) is fixedly connected to a second partition (3), the tops of the first partition (2) and the second partition (3) are both provided with a blanking hole (4), the outer wall of the first partition (2) is provided with an inclined blanking trough (5), the inner wall of the device housing (1) is fixedly inlaid with a guide rail (11), the outer wall of the guide rail (11) is fixedly connected to a linear motor, the outer wall of the moving end of the linear motor is fixedly connected to a moving hopper (18), the interior of the device housing (1) is fixedly connected to a fixed hopper (12), the outer wall of the fixed hopper (12) is fixedly connected to a side plate (14), the bottom of the fixed hopper (12) is provided with a feeding mechanism, and the outer wall of the moving hopper (18) is provided with a blanking mechanism.

2. A metal 3D printing dedicated powder feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The feeding mechanism includes a connecting plate (16), a lower pipe is fixedly connected to the bottom of the fixed hopper (12), an electronic valve (15) is fixedly installed on the outer wall of the lower pipe, the outer wall of one of the side panels (14) is fixedly connected to one end of the connecting plate (16), and a touch switch (17) is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the connecting plate (16).

3. The metal 3D printing powder feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The unloading mechanism comprises two scraping pipes (19), the tops of the two scraping pipes (19) are fixedly connected to the bottom of the movable hopper (18), the outer walls of the two scraping pipes (19) are provided with two assembly holes, and the two assembly holes are rotatably connected to the electric roller (20).

4. A metal 3D printing dedicated powder feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Two electric push rods (6) are fixedly connected to the interior of the device housing (1); a circular assembly set (7) is fixedly sleeved on the top of the output ends of the two electric push rods (6); and a workbench (8) and a collection table (9) are fixedly connected to the tops of the two circular assembly sets (7), respectively.

5. The metal 3D printing powder feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A plurality of laser bodies (10) are fixedly connected inside the device housing (1).

6. The metal 3D printing powder feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A feeding pipe (13) is fixedly connected to the top of the equipment housing (1), and a vacuum feeder is fixedly connected to one end of the feeding pipe (13).

7. The metal 3D printing powder feeding device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The outer walls of the two electric rollers (20) are each provided with two material discharge grooves, and the bottoms of the two scraping tubes (19) are each provided with a flat material discharge opening (21).

Images