An integrated production line based on a 3D ceramic clay double-jet printer

Abstract

This utility model relates to an integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-nozzle printer. The production line consists of a 3D printing mechanism, a conveyor belt, and a sintering furnace arranged sequentially along the conveyor belt. A glazing robot is located beside the conveyor belt to glaze the clay prints on the conveyor belt. This utility model combines the conveyor belt with the 3D printing mechanism and the sintering furnace to achieve integrated automated production of clay prints, effectively improving production efficiency. The 3D printing mechanism adopts a dual-nozzle structure design, with the two nozzle assemblies synchronously driven by an X-Y axis drive module. This enables synchronous operation of the dual nozzle assemblies in a spatial plane, and both nozzle assemblies use the same feed cylinder, ensuring that the printer can print two identical objects simultaneously. This structure improves printing efficiency and increases production capacity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of 3D printing equipment technology, specifically to an integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-nozzle printer. Background Technology

[0002] Clay 3D printing, a technology that forms three-dimensional solid objects by layering materials (such as clay) (DIW), has spawned numerous products in China in recent years. However, there is currently no post-processing solution for the printed products. Furthermore, for clay 3D printers on the market, there are no products that integrate a conveyor belt with the printer; manual transport of the product is required for subsequent processing to produce a complete product, which is not conducive to industrial production. Secondly, manual transport and processing of printed products is less stable than conveyor belt transport and robotic arm processing, increasing the risk of product damage and requiring more manual cleaning of waste, significantly reducing production efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In order to overcome the shortcomings of existing technologies such as low production efficiency, low degree of automation, and high production cost, this utility model provides an integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-nozzle printer.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0005] An integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-nozzle printer, wherein a 3D printing mechanism, a conveyor belt and a sintering furnace are sequentially arranged along the production line direction;

[0006] The 3D printing mechanism includes a frame with a vertically aligned guide rod fixed to it. A gimbal is slidably connected to the guide rod, and the gimbal is driven to move up and down by a vertically aligned Z-axis drive module. The gimbal includes a frame and a printing plate. The frame has a feeding module facing the conveyor belt, and a slide block is connected to the feeding module. The feeding module drives the slide block to move. The top of the slide block is a support platform, and the back of the support platform has a limiting plate. One end of the printing plate rests on the support platform of the slide block and abuts against the limiting plate, while the other end of the printing plate rests on the frame near the conveyor belt. On the crossbeam at one end of the conveyor belt; an XY axis drive module is provided on the frame and above the gimbal. The XY axis drive module includes an X-axis guide rail, on which a moving crossbeam driven by the X-axis drive mechanism is slidably connected. A Y-axis guide rail is provided on the moving crossbeam, on which a connecting seat driven by the Y-axis drive mechanism is slidably connected. Two spaced-apart printhead assemblies are fixed on the connecting seat. After printing, the gimbal descends to the same height as the conveyor belt, and the pusher module drives the slide to move closer to the conveyor belt, thereby pushing the printed plate onto the conveyor belt.

[0007] A glazing robot is installed on the side of the conveyor belt. The glazing robot is used to glaze the clay prints on the conveyor belt. After glazing, the clay prints, together with the printing plate, are sent into the sintering furnace by the conveyor belt.

[0008] Furthermore, the feeding module is a lead screw and nut assembly driven by a stepper motor.

[0009] Furthermore, the pusher module is provided with clamping plates on both sides. The two clamping plates are driven by a clamping mechanism to move closer to each other to clamp the printing plate or to move away from each other to release the printing plate.

[0010] Furthermore, the clamping mechanism includes a double-ended lead screw, which is driven to rotate by a stepper motor through a synchronous belt mechanism. The two ends of the double-ended lead screw have threaded portions with opposite helical directions. The connecting ends of the two clamping plates form two branch ends. One branch end is connected to the corresponding threaded portion through a nut seat, and the other branch end is slidably connected to the corresponding horizontal guide rail on the frame through a slider.

[0011] Furthermore, servo motors are fixed on the two crossbeams on both sides of the frame, and the two servo motors are arranged diagonally. Drive rods are fixed to the output ends of the two servo motors, and scraper brushes are fixed to the free ends of the drive rods. The two servo motors drive the scraper brushes on them to rotate, thereby cleaning and scraping the material on the printing plate.

[0012] Furthermore, both printhead assemblies use the same feed cylinder.

[0013] Furthermore, the X-axis drive mechanism and the Y-axis drive mechanism are synchronous belt mechanisms driven by stepper motors, and the Z-axis drive module is a lead screw and nut pair mechanism driven by a stepper motor.

[0014] This utility model adopts the above technical solution and has the following beneficial technical effects:

[0015] 1. This utility model combines a conveyor belt with a 3D printing mechanism and a sintering furnace to achieve integrated automatic production of clay prints, effectively improving production efficiency;

[0016] 2. The 3D printing mechanism adopts a dual-printing nozzle structure design. The two printing nozzle assemblies are driven synchronously by the XY axis drive module, realizing the synchronous operation of the two printing nozzle assemblies in the spatial plane. The two printing nozzle assemblies use the same material cylinder for feeding, thus ensuring that the printer can print two identical objects at the same time. This structure can improve printing efficiency and increase production capacity. Attached Figure Description

[0017] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments:

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of this utility model;

[0019] Figure 2 This is a front view of the entire utility model;

[0020] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the 3D printing mechanism;

[0021] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the dual printhead assembly.

[0022] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the gimbal's structure;

[0023] Figure 6 This is a structural diagram of the gimbal (with the printing plate removed);

[0024] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the slide block structure;

[0025] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram showing the structure that forms two branch ends at the connection end of the clamping plate. Detailed Implementation

[0026] like Figure 1-8 As shown, this utility model discloses an integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-nozzle printer, which is provided with a 3D printing mechanism 1, a conveyor belt 2 and a sintering furnace 3 in sequence along the production line direction.

[0027] The 3D printing mechanism 1 includes a frame 11, on which a guide rod 12 is fixedly arranged in a vertical direction. A gimbal 13 is slidably connected to the guide rod 12. The gimbal 13 is driven to rise and fall by a Z-axis drive module 14 arranged in a vertical direction. The gimbal 13 includes a frame 131 and a printing plate 139. A pusher module 132 is provided on the frame 131 and faces the conveyor belt 2. A slide block 133 is connected to the pusher module 132 and the pusher module 132 drives the slide block 133 to move. The top of the slide block 133 is a support platform 1331. A limiting plate 1332 is provided on the back of the support platform 1331. One end of the printing plate 139 is supported on the support platform 1331 of the slide block 133 and abuts against the limiting plate 1332. The other end of the printing plate 139 is supported on a crossbeam of the frame 131 near the conveyor belt 2.

[0028] An XY-axis drive module 15 is mounted on the frame 11 and located above the gimbal 13. This module includes an X-axis guide rail, which is parallel to the conveyor belt 2's conveying direction. A moving beam, driven by an X-axis drive mechanism, is slidably connected to the X-axis guide rail. A Y-axis guide rail, perpendicular to the X-axis guide rail in a horizontal plane, is mounted on the Y-axis guide rail. A connecting seat 16, driven by a Y-axis drive mechanism, is slidably connected to the Y-axis guide rail. Two spaced-apart printhead assemblies 17 are fixed to the connecting seat 16. The two printhead assemblies 17 operate synchronously in the spatial plane, driven by the XY-axis drive module 15. Both printhead assemblies 17 use the same feed cylinder 18, ensuring the printer can print two identical objects simultaneously. After printing, the gimbal 13 descends to the same height as the conveyor belt 2, and the pusher module 132 moves the slide 133 closer to the conveyor belt 2, pushing the print plate 139 onto the conveyor belt 2.

[0029] A glazing robot 4 is provided on the side of the conveyor belt 2. The glazing robot 4 is used to glaze the clay prints on the conveyor belt 2. After glazing, the clay prints, together with the printing plate 139, are sent into the sintering furnace 3 by the conveyor belt 2.

[0030] The feeding module 132 has clamping plates 134 on both sides. The two clamping plates 134 are driven by the clamping mechanism 135 to move closer together to clamp the printing plate 139 or to move away from each other to release the printing plate 139. Specifically, the clamping mechanism 135 includes a double-ended lead screw 1351, which is driven to rotate by a stepper motor 1352 through a synchronous belt mechanism 1353. The two ends of the double-ended lead screw 1351 have threads with opposite helical directions. The connecting ends of the two clamping plates 134 form two branch ends 1341 and 1342. One branch end 1341 is connected to the corresponding threaded part through a nut seat, and the other branch end 1342 is slidably connected to the corresponding horizontal guide rail 1354 on the frame 131 through a slider. The stepper motor drives the double-ended lead screw 1351 to rotate through the synchronous belt mechanism, and the double-ended lead screw 1351 then drives the two clamping plates 134 to move, realizing the synchronous clamping or releasing of the printing plate 139.

[0031] Servo motors 136 are fixed to the two crossbeams on both sides of the gimbal frame 131, arranged diagonally. Drive rods 137 are fixed to the output ends of the two servo motors 136, and scraper brushes 138 are fixed to the free ends of the drive rods 137. The two servo motors 136 drive the scraper brushes 138 to rotate, thereby cleaning and scraping material on the printing plate 139. Each scraper brush 138 includes a clamp and a scraper plate. The scraper plate is detachably clamped and fixed to the bottom of the clamp, and locked with screws to achieve detachable connection. The two servo motors 136 drive the scraper brushes 138 to rotate, thereby cleaning and scraping material on the printing plate 139, achieving pre-processing before printing, which can enhance production efficiency and improve product yield. The lengths of the two diagonally arranged scraper brushes 138 must be matched to ensure full-range cleaning of the gimbal 13.

[0032] In this invention, the pusher module 132 is a lead screw and nut pair mechanism driven by a stepper motor. The X-axis drive mechanism and the Y-axis drive mechanism are synchronous belt mechanisms driven by stepper motors, respectively, and the Z-axis drive module 14 is a lead screw and nut pair mechanism driven by a stepper motor. It should be noted that the lead screw and nut pair mechanism and the synchronous belt mechanism are common drive mechanisms in CNC machine tools, and their specific structures and working principles will not be elaborated.

[0033] The working principle of this invention is as follows: First, the two printing nozzle assemblies 17 in the 3D printing mechanism 1 perform the printing work, simultaneously printing two clay parts on the printing plate 139 of the gimbal 13. After printing, the ejection module pushes the printing plate 139 onto the conveyor belt 2, which then sends the printing plate 139 along with the clay parts to the glazing robot 4 for glazing. After glazing, the conveyor belt 2 continues to send the printing plate 139 along with the glazed clay parts into the sintering furnace 3 for firing and cooling heat treatment. Finally, the integrated process of clay printing and firing is completed.

[0034] The specific embodiments of this utility model have been described above. However, those skilled in the art should understand that this is only an example. Those skilled in the art can make various changes or modifications to this embodiment without departing from the principle and essence of this utility model, but all such changes and modifications fall within the protection scope of this utility model.

Claims

1. An integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-head printer, characterized in that: The 3D printing mechanism, conveyor belt, and sintering furnace are arranged sequentially along the production line. The 3D printing mechanism includes a frame with a vertically aligned guide rod fixed to it. A gimbal is slidably connected to the guide rod, and the gimbal is driven to move up and down by a vertically aligned Z-axis drive module. The gimbal includes a frame and a printing plate. The frame has a feeding module facing the conveyor belt, and a slide block is connected to the feeding module. The feeding module drives the slide block to move. The top of the slide block is a support platform, and the back of the support platform has a limiting plate. One end of the printing plate rests on the support platform of the slide block and abuts against the limiting plate, while the other end of the printing plate rests on the frame near the conveyor belt. On the crossbeam at one end of the conveyor belt; an XY axis drive module is provided on the frame and above the gimbal. The XY axis drive module includes an X-axis guide rail, on which a moving crossbeam driven by the X-axis drive mechanism is slidably connected. A Y-axis guide rail is provided on the moving crossbeam, on which a connecting seat driven by the Y-axis drive mechanism is slidably connected. Two spaced-apart printhead assemblies are fixed on the connecting seat. After printing, the gimbal descends to the same height as the conveyor belt, and the pusher module drives the slide to move closer to the conveyor belt, thereby pushing the printed plate onto the conveyor belt. A glazing robot is provided on the side of the conveyor belt, which is used to glaze the clay prints on the conveyor belt. After glazing, the clay prints, along with the print plate, are conveyed into the sintering furnace by a conveyor belt.

2. The integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-head printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The feeding module is a lead screw and nut pair mechanism driven by a stepper motor.

3. The integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-head printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pusher module has clamping plates on both sides. The two clamping plates are driven by a clamping mechanism to move closer to each other to clamp the printing plate or move away from each other to release the printing plate.

4. An integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-head printer according to claim 3, characterized in that: The clamping mechanism includes a double-ended lead screw, which is driven to rotate by a stepper motor through a synchronous belt mechanism. The two ends of the double-ended lead screw have threaded portions with opposite helical directions. The connecting ends of the two clamping plates form two branch ends. One branch end is connected to the corresponding threaded portion through a nut seat, and the other branch end is slidably connected to the corresponding horizontal guide rail on the frame through a slider.

5. An integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-head printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: Servo motors are fixed on the two crossbeams on both sides of the frame, and the two servo motors are arranged diagonally. A drive rod is fixed to the output end of each of the two servo motors, and a scraper brush is fixed to the free end of each drive rod. The two servo motors drive the scraper brushes on them to rotate, thereby cleaning and scraping the material on the printing plate.

6. An integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-head printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: Both printhead assemblies use the same feed cylinder.

7. An integrated production line based on a 3D clay dual-head printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: The X-axis drive mechanism and Y-axis drive mechanism are synchronous belt mechanisms driven by stepper motors, and the Z-axis drive module is a lead screw and nut pair mechanism driven by a stepper motor.

Images