Clear Ink Compensation in 3D Molding to Prevent Stains
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current molding devices face challenges in accurately calculating the clear ink compensation amount, leading to excessive layering and overcuring issues, which result in stains and warping of molded objects due to uniform ink ejection and inadequate UV curing control.
Innovation Solution
A molding device with separate ejection means for color and clear inks, allowing adjustable clear ink compensation based on impact frequency and color concentration, and a light source with variable illuminance to control UV curing, ensuring appropriate layer thickness and preventing overcuring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a predetermined amount of clear ink is uniformly ejected together with color ink, then layering thickness can be maintained, but excessive layering occurs depending on color ink concentration causing stains on the molded object
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by varying the clear ink ejection amount based on the color concentration at different positions. The control unit adjusts the clear ink amount dynamically: higher concentration areas receive less clear ink while lower concentration areas receive more clear ink, ensuring uniform layering thickness without excessive layering that causes stains.
2Manufacturing precision
If clear ink compensation amount is calculated for each ejected color ink, then appropriate compensation can be achieved, but the total time required for forming the molded object becomes longer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-storing the relationship between color ink concentration and corresponding clear ink compensation amounts in a lookup table. During the molding process, the control unit simply retrieves the appropriate compensation amount from the stored data based on the detected color concentration, rather than calculating it in real-time, thus maintaining high precision while ensuring fast processing speed.
3Shape
If the flattening roller performs flattening on excessively layered ink, then the surface can be smoothed, but the excessive ink adheres to the flattening roller and causes stains on the molded object
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by preventing excessive layering from occurring in the first place through dynamic clear ink compensation adjustment. By matching the clear ink amount to the color ink concentration before the flattening process, the ink layer is kept within appropriate thickness limits, eliminating the root cause of flattening roller contamination and subsequent stains.
4Manufacturing precision
If ink dots are formed through multi-pass method, then higher definition can be achieved, but earlier ink dots are overcured by repeated UV irradiation causing warping and stains
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic action by dividing the UV curing process into multiple passes with different irradiation amounts. In the multi-pass ejection method, the UV light irradiation is also performed in multiple passes, with the irradiation amount being reduced for passes that re-irradiate previously cured areas. This periodic curing approach ensures that earlier ink dots receive less cumulative UV exposure, preventing overcuring while maintaining high definition through multiple passes.
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
The solution enables precise clear ink compensation and controlled UV curing, preventing excessive layering and overcuring, thus maintaining object quality and reducing stains, while allowing for efficient operation by adjusting the clear ink amount and UV exposure accordingly.
Implementation Method 1
irradiate the ink dot formed by the ink droplet with light by a light source
Data Source
AI summary
A molding device includes a color inkjet head that ejects a color ink, and a clear inkjet head that ejects a clear ink. The color ink is ejected from the color inkjet head and layered to color and form a molded object, and the clear ink is ejected from the clear inkjet head to compensate the layering amount of the color ink. The molding device includes an input part that inputs the compensation amount of the clear ink such that the impact frequency of the clear ink becomes low at a place where the impact frequency of the color ink in coloring and forming the molded object is high, and the impact frequency of the clear ink becomes high at a place where the impact frequency of the color ink is low for each layer forming the molded object.