Vat for 3D printer for handling high-viscosity resin

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vat for a 3D printer that handles high-viscosity resin, and includes a first vat portion having a resin storage space and a piston member that pushes the resin stored in the resin storage space upward through at least one hole formed in a lid portion, and a second vat portion arranged on one side of the first vat portion and having a manufacturing platform that supports a structure produced using the resin supplied from the first vat portion.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vat for a 3D printer that handles high-viscosity resin, and more particularly, to a vat for a 3D printer in which the material supply method is improved so that a high-viscosity material can be effectively flattened.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, in a top-down type 3D printer, light is irradiated from above the resin filled in a vat to cure it, and while the cured material is fixed on the upper surface of the manufacturing platform, the next material layer is laminated upward while the Z-axis drive unit moves downward to manufacture the product.

[0003] However, among top-down type 3D printers, 3D printers using ceramics have a problem that the failure rate of product manufacturing is significantly high due to the high viscosity of ceramics, resulting in a high defect rate.

[0004] Moreover, in the case of a 3D printer using a resin containing ceramics, since the blade reciprocates in both directions to flatten the resin, resin always adheres to the back surface of the blade located on the side opposite to the traveling direction of the blade. At this time, the resin adhering to the back surface is cured higher than the height of a normal material layer while being separated from the blade by the movement of the blade for flattening the material. As a result, there is a problem that cracks are formed in the highly cured material layer while colliding with the blade reciprocating for lamination of the next layer, reducing the quality of the product.

[0005] Therefore, as described above, there is a need to develop a technology for solving the disadvantages of a top-down type 3D printer that laminates a high-viscosity material while reciprocating in both directions to manufacture a product.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] The present invention is made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional printer that can improve the quality of product production by effectively flattening the surface of a resin in a three-dimensional printer that handles a high-viscosity resin.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] To solve the problems as described above, a vat for a three-dimensional printer that handles a high-viscosity resin according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first vat portion having a resin accommodation space and a piston member that pushes the resin accommodated in the resin accommodation space upward through at least one hole formed in a lid portion, and a second vat portion disposed on one side of the first vat portion and including a manufacturing platform that supports a structure manufactured using the resin supplied from the first vat portion.

[0008] According to another feature of the present invention, the piston member is formed in a plate shape having a cross-sectional area identical to the area of the first vat portion, and includes a support portion that supports the resin accommodated in the resin accommodation space, and a drive shaft connected to a lower end portion of the support portion and moving the support portion up and down to the height of the lower end surface of the lid portion.

[0009] According to another feature of the present invention, between the first vat portion and the second vat portion, a wall body lower than the height of the outer casing of the vat portion is disposed as a boundary surface, a DLP focal length is fixed to the upper end surface of the wall body, and a blade portion that reciprocates between one side and the other side of the vat portion may be further included.

[0010] According to another feature of the present invention, the blade portion includes a first blade and a second blade having blade edge surfaces inclined by a predetermined angle in directions symmetric to each other, and a heating member that heats the resin applied or recovered during the blade process of the blade portion may be disposed extending along the longitudinal direction of the edge surface of the blade portion.

[0011] According to another feature of the present invention, the first blade supplies the resin discharged from the hole onto the manufacturing platform provided in the second vat portion, and the second blade can collect the residual resin applied and cured by the blade into the hole formed above the first vat portion.

[0012] According to another feature of the present invention, the lid portion may be formed in a multilayer structure including a base portion and a variable portion disposed and slid on the upper portion of the base portion.

[0013] In addition, specific matters of the embodiments are included in the detailed description and the drawings.

Advantages of the Invention

[0014] In the process of blading high-viscosity resin with a pair of tilt blades including a heating member, the present invention can effectively supply and recover materials.

[0015] By applying a water tank (vat) of a method of supplying materials using a piston member and storing the recovered materials to a 3D printer, the present invention can simplify the structure of a printer for handling higher-viscosity resin.

[0016] In the present invention, the blades intersecting along the moving direction can minimize the bubbles formed on the surface of the material by temporarily raising the high-viscosity resin to perform the blade operation.

[0017] Since the two blades are tilted in different directions with respect to each other to apply and recover materials in the present invention, a separate material recovery portion may not be provided, so the structure is simplified and the productivity of the 3D printer can be improved.

[0018] In the present invention, while the primary blade applies the material and the secondary blade reapplies and recovers the material, when the two blades reciprocate once on the upper end surface of the material, the supply and recovery of the material are performed at once, so the production speed of the manufactured product can be improved.

[0019] In addition, the present invention can improve market competitiveness by minimizing product manufacturing failures.

[0020] The effects of the present invention are not limited to the contents exemplified above, and more diverse effects are included in this specification.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0021]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4a

Figure 4b

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7a

Figure 7b

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0022] The following content merely illustrates the principles of the present invention. Therefore, those skilled in the art can invent various devices that embody the principles of the invention and are included in the concept and scope of the present invention, even if not explicitly described or illustrated in this specification. Also, it should be understood that all conditional terms and embodiments mentioned in this specification are, in principle, explicitly intended only for the purpose of understanding the concept of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention to the specifically mentioned embodiments and conditions as such.

[0023] In the following description, ordinal expressions such as first, second, etc. are equivalent to each other and are for explaining independent objects, and it should be understood that there is no main / sub or master / slave meaning in that order.

[0024] The above-mentioned objects, features, and advantages will become clearer through the following detailed description related to the accompanying drawings, so that those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can easily implement the technical idea of the present invention.

[0025] Each feature of various embodiments of the present invention can be partially or wholly combined or combined with each other, and various technical linkages and drives are possible as fully understood by those skilled in the art. Each embodiment can be implemented independently of each other or implemented together in a correlation relationship.

[0026] Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram showing the operation process of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] The three-dimensional printer 1000 of the present invention is a top-down printer that applies resin onto a manufacturing platform while the blade reciprocates in the left-right direction and stacks structures. In the present invention, the three-dimensional printer 1000 is basically used to produce dental products (for example, small products such as dentures and dental prostheses). However, due to the characteristics of the top-down three-dimensional printer, it is also possible to produce structures that are somewhat large and heavy in size.

[0029] Referring to FIG. 1, the three-dimensional printer 1000 includes a base plate 110, a vat portion 130 fixed to one region of the base plate 110, a photocuring portion 120 disposed on one side of the vat portion 130 for curing the highly viscous resin accommodated in one region of the vat portion 130 from above, a manufacturing platform 140 on which the resin cured by the photocuring portion 120 is stacked layer by layer, and a blade portion 150 composed of a pair of blades for applying or recovering the highly viscous resin. At this time, the three-dimensional printer may further include a display portion 160 disposed in one region of the base plate 110 for observing and controlling all operations of the three-dimensional printer.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 1, the base plate 110 is a configuration that means the upper end surface of the three-dimensional printer, and a plurality of configurations can be arranged. For example, a display device for displaying a screen for controlling the three-dimensional printer can be arranged in one region of the base plate 110. Also, a linear actuator for controlling the vertical distance of the photocuring portion 120 for curing the resin can be arranged on the base plate 110.

[0031] The bat part 130 is a vat that contains a high-viscosity resin. Here, the resin of the present invention is a highly viscous substance containing zirconia (ZrO2). Although the viscosity of the resin varies depending on the content of zirconia (ZrO2), it is preferably understood that the viscosity is extremely high compared to a resin that does not contain zirconia (ZrO2). The resin in this specification may be called a photocurable resin or a photopolymerizable material.

[0032] On the other hand, since the three-dimensional printer 1000 of the present invention is suitable for making dental products, the zirconia (ZrO2) particles used are characterized in that particles in a tetragonal (square, hexahedron) form and particles in a cubic (cube, regular hexahedron) form are mixed and produced. At this time, when light passes through zirconia with many particles in the tetragonal (square, hexahedron) form, a lot of light scattering occurs (hereinafter, "because the light is diffused horizontally"), so the transparency decreases.

[0033] Conversely, when light passes through particles in the cubic (cube, regular hexahedron) form, the light passes straight through without scattering (hereinafter, also referred to as "because the light is diffused vertically"), so it appears more transparent, and it is characterized by having excellent aesthetics. Thereby, a material containing more cubic-form particles than tetragonal-form particles has high transparency and can embody a state similar to natural teeth, so it is suitable as a dental material.

[0034] The photocuring unit 120 is configured to cure a high-viscosity photocurable resin housed within the vat unit 130, and is disposed to extend vertically on one side of the vat unit. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the photocuring unit 120 includes a linear actuator 121 (hereinafter also referred to as a "fixed shaft") disposed on one side of the vat unit 130, a support block 122 fixed to the fixed shaft and reciprocating in the X-axis direction (hereinafter referred to as the "vertical direction"), and an optical lens 123 disposed above the manufacturing platform 140 and irradiating ultraviolet (UV) light downward in a region corresponding to the manufacturing platform 140.

[0035] Further, the photocuring unit 120 can further include a servo motor or a stepping motor whose position value is transmitted from a computing device via a network communication network. Thereby, the support block 122 of the photocuring unit can linearly move in the vertical direction along the side surface of the fixed shaft 121.

[0036] The manufacturing platform 140 is configured such that a solid material in which a liquid photocurable resin is cured by a photopolymerization reaction (hereinafter also referred to as a "degradation reaction") by a UV laser beam or a patterned ultraviolet image (DLP) irradiated from above is laminated. At this time, an optical path, which is a path for irradiating a UV LED, is formed between the manufacturing platform 140 and the optical lens 123.

[0037] The blade unit 150 is configured to operate so as to flatten the material only in one direction while being inclined by a predetermined angle to the left and right, and is composed of a pair of tilt blades. Here, the pair of tilt blades are composed of right-angled triangular blades having a tilted form such that the surfaces of the blades facing each other are symmetric with respect to each other, and a heating member for heating a high-viscosity resin is included on the edge surface inclined at a predetermined angle. A more detailed description thereof will be given later.

[0038] Also, it is preferable to understand that the blade part 150 is fixed to the blade transfer block and moved in the Y-axis direction. The blade transfer block is configured to fix the blade part 150, and is fastened to a chain fastened to a gear part disposed on one side of the base plate 110 and can move in the Y-axis direction.

[0039] On the other hand, in the present invention, the blade part 150 may be referred to as a "tilted blades part". A more detailed description of the blade part 150 will be described later with reference to FIG. 5.

[0040] FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing the inside of the first vat part of the vat part for a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention projected. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the vat part for a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0041] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the vat part 130 may include a first vat part 131 and a second vat part 132.

[0042] The first vat part 131 is configured to include a piston member 170 that pushes out the resin stored in the resin storage space 380 for storing the resin to the upper part through at least one hole formed in the lid part. More specifically, the piston member 170 may include a plate-shaped support part 171 having the same cross-sectional area as the area of the first vat part 131, and a drive shaft 172 connected to the lower end part of the support part 171 and configured to reciprocate the support part 171. At this time, a motor for controlling the movement of the drive shaft 172 may be further connected and disposed at the lowermost end part of the drive shaft 172, but it is preferably understood that it is omitted for convenience of explanation.

[0043] In the present invention, the resin accommodation space 380 refers to the upper region of the support portion 171 of the first vat portion 170, that is, the space between the support portion 171 and the lid portion 133. Since the method of supplying the resin accommodated in the resin accommodation space 380 of the present invention is a method of filling the resin accommodation space 380 before the user of the 3D printer 1000 fastens the lid portion 133, a separate resin supply pump or a resin supply portion other than the vat portion can be omitted, and the structure of the printer can be simplified.

[0044] Further, the lid portion 133 can have a multilayer structure including a base portion 133-1 fixed to the wall surface of the first vat portion 131 and a variable portion 133-2 disposed and slid on the upper portion of the base portion.

[0045] Further, the base portion 133-1 is disposed at the same height as the upper end surface of the wall body disposed between the first vat portion 131 and the second vat portion 132. Here, the wall body is an interface surface disposed between the first vat portion 131 and the second vat portion 132, and is formed lower than the height of the outer casing of the vat portion 150 and functions as a DLP focal length. At this time, the base portion 133-1 is formed smaller than the cross-sectional area of the first vat portion 131, whereby a rectangular hole can be formed between the wall body and the base portion 133-1. Here, the hole is configured such that the resin accommodated in the resin accommodation space 380 can be ejected to the outside by the movement of the piston member 170. The dimensions of the hole are shown to be less than half of the cross-sectional area of the first vat portion 131, but can be easily changed in design according to the embodiment.

[0046] FIG. 4a is a cross-sectional view of a vat portion for a 3D printer according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4b is a planar exemplary view of a lid portion according to another embodiment of the present invention. The vat portion shown in FIG. 4a differs only in the form of the lid portion disposed on the side of the first vat portion in FIG. 3, and the remaining configurations are substantially the same, so duplicate descriptions are omitted.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 4a, a lid portion 433 having a plurality of holes formed therein may be disposed on the upper portion of the first vat portion 133-1. Through the plurality of fine holes formed in the lid portion 433, a high-viscosity resin can be ejected upward as the piston member 170 reciprocates.

[0048] As shown in FIG. 4b (i), the lid portion 433 may be in a form in which a plurality of holes formed side by side and elongated are formed, or as shown in FIG. 4b (ii), may be in a mesh form in which a plurality of square holes are formed. At this time, the lid portion can be formed of the same material as the material of the vat portion 130, and for example, can be made of aluminum, stainless steel, or iron.

[0049] On the other hand, although the lid portion 433 according to another embodiment has been described as being composed of one layer, in order to be able to filter foreign substances contained in the resin that is recycled into the resin storage space 480 by the blade of the 3D printer of the present invention, a filter layer can be further disposed at the lower end portion of the lid portion 433. At this time, the filter layer may be a mesh net having holes of a size smaller than the holes formed in the lid portion.

[0050] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a blade according to an embodiment of the present invention cut in the Y-axis direction. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation process of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 7a and 7b are exemplary views showing the operation process of a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0051] In step S100, after filling the resin storage space 380 of the first vat portion 131 with a high-viscosity resin, the resin is ejected upward using the piston member 170. At this time, it is preferably understood that the resin is manually filled by the user.

[0052] Next, in step S200 (hereinafter also referred to as the "primary planarization step"), the resin discharged from the first vat portion 131 is moved to the second vat portion 132 side by the first blade 151 and filled on the upper part of the manufacturing platform 140. At this time, the manufacturing platform 140 descends by a height for manufacturing one layer, and the upper end surface of the resin filled on the manufacturing platform 140 is primarily planarized by the first blade 151.

[0053] More specifically, in the primary planarization step S200, the first blade 151 descends, the second blade 152 rises while the material is supplied, and the surface of the material is planarized. At this time, as shown in 1 and 2 of FIG. 7a, the planarization by the first blade 151 is performed while the DLP focal length is fixed to the wall surface disposed between the first vat portion 151 and the second vat portion 152 when the blade portion 150 moves to the second vat portion 152 side, and while moving to the second vat portion 152 side, it passes through the surface of the resin filled on the upper part of the manufacturing platform 140.

[0054] At this time, the first blade 151 moves while applying the resin through an edge surface having a predetermined angle, and the second blade 152 can rise to the height of the crankshaft 157 and have a height separated from the upper end portion of the material so as not to be related to the material application. Here, since the edge surface of the first blade 151 forms an acute angle with respect to the horizontal direction, it can move while wrapping all the resin. On the other hand, due to the characteristics of the photocurable resin having a high viscosity, the resin filled on the manufacturing platform 140 in the 2 - step of FIG. 7a may not be filled with an amount for manufacturing one layer, such as generating bubbles even when the blade slides and applies. Therefore, for the manufacturing accuracy, it may be an amount slightly more than the amount for curing one layer. In other words, the purpose of the primary planarization step S200 (hereinafter also referred to as the "primary blade step") is to apply several hundreds of μm of resin in order to cure and laminate layers of several tens of μm.

[0055] Next, in step S300 (hereinafter also referred to as the "blade height change step"), as shown in 3 of FIG. 7a, the first blade 151 that has undergone the primary flattening operation is lifted upward, and the second blade 152 is lowered downward so that after the primary flattening operation, the remaining resin is reapplied to the space that has not yet been filled in the primary blade process and the remaining resin is recovered. At this time, the second blade 152 is set to descend to the height of the upper end surface of the wall body disposed between the first vat portion 151 and the second vat portion 152. That is, the wall body can be understood as the DLP focal length of the blade. At this time, it can be understood that the first blade 151 maintains a height that is raised to such an extent that there is no interference with the resin.

[0056] Also, in step S300, the manufacturing platform 140 will rise by a height such that the upper end surface of the layer cured and laminated in step S200 is parallel to the upper end surface of the wall body.

[0057] To explain the movement of the blade in more detail, referring to FIG. 5, when the first blade 151 rises and the second blade 152 descends, the moving shaft 156 moves linearly in the vertical direction by the crankshaft 157. At this time, the moving shaft 156 is characterized in that it is moved by a spring 155 disposed inside the lower end portion of the moving shaft 156. When the moving shaft 156 moves in the vertical direction, a block 154 surrounding the lower end portion of the moving shaft disposed at the lower end portion moves the height adjustment form 153 disposed at the lower end portion in the vertical direction to move the first and second blades 151, 152 in the vertical direction.

[0058] Next, in step S400 (hereinafter also referred to as the "second flattening step"), the second blade 152 whose position has descended downward moves toward the first vat portion 131 while secondarily applying the material and recovering the residual resin. At this time, the final height of the resin filled in the upper part of the manufacturing platform 140 may be a height at which one layer can be manufactured. In this way, by secondarily blading the upper end surface of the resin in step S400 as in 4 of FIG. 7a, a highly finished layer can be manufactured in five steps.

[0059] 6 to 10 of FIG. 7b are exemplary diagrams showing that the same procedure as described above is repeated to manufacture the second layer, and redundant explanations are omitted.

[0060] On the other hand, in a pair of blades of the present invention, by disposing the heating member 158 on the edge surface, there is an effect that the fluidity of the resin can be temporarily increased in the process of applying or recovering the high-viscosity resin. Therefore, in step S200 where the heating member 158 of the first blade 151 performs primary blading, the temperature of the resin touching the edge surface is temporarily increased, and the high-viscosity resin can be easily moved to the second vat portion 132 side. Moreover, in step S400 where the heating member 158 of the second blade 152 performs secondary blading, the resin touching the edge surface is temporarily heated and effectively bladed, so that the material can be effectively recovered and the manufacturing completion degree of the structure can be improved.

[0061] The heating member 158 disposed on the edge surfaces of the blades 151 and 152 may be a plate-shaped heat conductor as shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, for the sake of understanding, the thickness of the heating member 158 is shown thick, but it is preferably understood as being in the form of a very thin conductor plate or wire substantially.

[0062] In this way, in the present invention, the material can be effectively supplied and recovered in the process of blading the high-viscosity resin by the pair of tilt blades 151 and 152 including the heating member 158.

[0063] The present invention can simplify the structure of a printer that handles higher-viscosity resin by applying a vat that stores materials supplied and recovered using a piston member 170 to a 3D printer.

[0064] In the present invention, blades 151 and 152 that intersect along the moving direction can minimize bubbles generated on the surface of the material by temporarily raising the high-viscosity resin and performing blade operations.

[0065] In the present invention, since the two blades 151 and 152 are tilted in different directions to apply and recover the material, it is not necessary to provide a separate material recovery unit, so the structure is simplified and the productivity of the 3D printer 1000 can be improved.

[0066] In the present invention, when the first blade 151 applies the material and the second blade 152 reapplies and recovers the material, the supply and recovery of the material occur at once when the upper end surface of the material makes one round trip of the two blades, so the production speed of the product can be improved.

[0067] Also, the present invention can improve market competitiveness by minimizing failures in product production.

[0068] Therefore, in the present invention, by sequentially operating a blade for applying the material and a blade for recovering the residual resin remaining after curing, the problem of the high-viscosity resin adhering to the back surface of the blade falling onto the already laminated material layer during the photopolymerization reaction and curing higher than the normal height can be solved. This can prevent the problem of cracks occurring due to the collision between the already cured material layer and the blade, thereby maximizing the success rate of production.

[0069] The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to these embodiments, and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not for limiting the technical idea of the present invention, but for explanation. The scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by such embodiments. Therefore, the embodiments described above should be understood as illustrative and non-limiting in all respects. The protection scope of the present invention should be interpreted by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the equivalent scope should be construed as being included in the scope of rights of the present invention.

Claims

1. A first vat portion having a resin accommodation space and including a piston member that pushes out the resin accommodated in the resin accommodation space upward through at least one hole formed in a lid portion; A second vat portion disposed on one side of the first vat portion and including a manufacturing platform that supports a structure manufactured using the resin supplied from the first vat portion; and A wall body lower than the height of the outer casing of the vat portion is disposed as a boundary surface between the first vat portion and the second vat portion, A blade portion having a fixed DLP focal length on the upper end surface of the wall body and reciprocating between one side and the other side of the vat portion; and further including The blade portion includes a first blade and a second blade having blade edge surfaces inclined by a predetermined angle in directions symmetric to each other, A heating member for heating the resin applied or collected during the blade process of the blade portion is disposed along the longitudinal direction of the edge surface of the blade portion, a vat for a 3D printer for handling high-viscosity resin.

2. A first vat portion having a resin accommodation space and including a piston member that pushes out the resin accommodated in the resin accommodation space upward through at least one hole formed in a lid portion; A second vat portion disposed on one side of the first vat portion and including a manufacturing platform that supports a structure manufactured using the resin supplied from the first vat portion; and The lid portion is formed in a multilayer structure including a base portion and a variable portion disposed on and slidable on the upper portion of the base portion, a vat for a 3D printer for handling high-viscosity resin.

3. The piston member Is formed in a plate shape having the same cross-sectional area as the area of the first vat portion, and a support portion that supports the resin accommodated in the resin accommodation space; A drive shaft connected to the lower end of the support portion and raising and lowering the support portion to the height of the lower end surface of the lid portion, and a vat for a three-dimensional printer for handling high-viscosity resin according to claim 1.

4. The first blade supplies the resin discharged from the hole onto the manufacturing platform provided in the second vat portion. The second blade collects the residual resin applied and cured by the first blade into a hole formed above the first vat portion, and a vat for a three-dimensional printer for handling high-viscosity resin according to claim 1.

5. The lid portion is formed in a multi-layer structure including a base portion and a variable portion disposed on and slidable on the upper portion of the base portion, and a vat for a three-dimensional printer for handling high-viscosity resin according to claim 1.

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