3D Printing Bed Lift and Resin Heating for Smooth Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional 3D printing apparatuses using photopolymers are time-consuming due to the extensive movement of the bed up and down, and they produce sculptures with rough outer surfaces as new layers are stacked on completely cured layers.
Innovation Solution
The method involves continuously lifting the bed within the partial thickness range of a unit shaping layer during light exposure, heating the liquid resin to reduce viscosity, and intermittently lifting the bed in steps to stabilize layer formation, using a 3D printing apparatus with a transparent resin tank, a movable bed, an image light emitter, and a controller to control the lifting process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the bed is moved up to a certain height to fill liquid resin and then moved down to form layers, then the resin can be properly filled and cured, but the process takes considerable time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-fills the resin tank with liquid photopolymer resin before the printing process begins. This eliminates the need to repeatedly move the bed up to fill resin during printing, as the resin is already available in the tank. The bed only needs to move within a limited range to form layers, significantly reducing movement time and increasing productivity.
2Productivity
If new unit shaping layers are sequentially stacked on completely cured layers, then the sculpture is formed layer by layer, but the outer surface becomes rough
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a heater that maintains the liquid photopolymer resin at a temperature of 20°C to 40°C throughout the printing process. This dynamic temperature control keeps the resin in a low-viscosity state, allowing it to smoothly flow and fill gaps between layers as they are formed. The continuous heating ensures that each new layer bonds smoothly to the previous layer, producing a smooth outer surface while maintaining efficient layer-by-layer formation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces the time required to form sculptures and produces smooth surfaces by allowing the liquid resin to rapidly permeate and cure between layers without the need for extensive bed movement.
Implementation Method 1
the liquid resin is heated while forming the unit shaping layer, so that the liquid resin can have low viscosity and thus rapidly permeate a space between the bottom plate and the previously formed unit shaping layer
Implementation Method 2
a resin tank having a transparent bottom plate and filled with a liquid photopolymer resin to be cured by exposure to light
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for 3D printing using a photopolymer. An aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for 3D printing using a photopolymer, which can shorten time taken in forming a sculpture body. To this end, the method of 3D printing using a photopolymer, which forms a sculpture body using a liquid photopolymer resin filled in a resin tank having a transparent bottom plate, wherein the sculpture body is stacked to form layers on a bed, comprises lifting up the bed with respect to the bottom plate of the resin tank within an at least partial thickness range of a unit shaping layer and forming the at least partial thickness range of the unit shaping layer during a layer image light for the unit shaping layer is being emitted.