3D Concrete Printing Guide Legs for Smooth Lateral Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional 3D concrete printing methods result in irregularities and uneven surfaces due to the application of individual layers, requiring additional smoothing processes, and there is a risk of material runoff from upper layers to lower layers, leading to bulging lateral surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A device with guide legs, actuated by multiple degrees of freedom, is used to smooth and shape the lateral surfaces of building materials during deposition, allowing for precise control of surface quality and preventing material runoff.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If additive manufacturing is used to deposit building material layer by layer, then productivity and design freedom are improved, but surface irregularities and unevenness occur requiring additional post-processing
Solution Approach 1:
The guide legs perform preliminary smoothing action on the building material layers immediately after deposition, before the material fully hardens. This preliminary action prevents surface irregularities from developing and eliminates the need for subsequent post-processing operations, thereby maintaining both high productivity and surface quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide legs act as an intermediary element between the material dispensing unit and the final component. They contact and smooth the deposited material layers, mediating the transition from rough additive layers to smooth finished surfaces without requiring removal of the formwork system.
2Manufacturing precision
If formwork systems are used to produce concrete components, then smooth surfaces are achieved, but construction and dismantling complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the essential smoothing function from the complex formwork system. Instead of using an entire formwork structure, only the necessary guide legs with smoothing surfaces are retained and integrated directly into the material dispensing unit, eliminating the need for separate formwork construction and dismantling while maintaining surface quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide legs serve multiple functions: they guide the deposited material, smooth the surface, and prevent material runoff. By integrating these functions into a single component that moves with the material dispensing unit, the invention eliminates the need for separate formwork systems while achieving the same surface quality results.
3Productivity
If material is deposited in individual layers, then additive manufacturing is enabled, but lateral surface irregularities and valleys occur at layer interfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The guide legs continuously contact and smooth the deposited material as it is being laid down layer by layer. This continuous action ensures that each layer interface is immediately smoothed, preventing the formation of valleys and irregularities. The useful action of smoothing continues throughout the entire deposition process, maintaining lateral surface uniformity while preserving additive manufacturing efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for additive manufacturing of a component includes a material dispensing unit for depositing a building material and an actuator assembly which is designed to move the material dispensing unit over a work surface in order to deposit the building material layer by layer in predetermined print paths. The device has at least one first guide leg which is designed to shape a first surface of the one or more layers of building material deposited by the material dispensing unit. The at least one first guide leg is displaceable and driven by a first actuator, in at least one translational degree of freedom (x, y, z) relative to the material dispensing unit. The at least one first guide leg is driven by a second actuator so as to be pivotable relative to the material dispensing unit in at least one rotational degree of freedom (dx, dy, dz).