Selective Inkjet Head Maintenance for Additive Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In additive manufacturing using inkjet heads, noticeable deposition streaks occur due to maintenance interruptions, which affect the surface quality and accuracy of built objects, particularly when maintenance is performed during long continuous operations.
Innovation Solution
A building apparatus and method that reduces maintenance downtime by selectively maintaining only a portion of the inkjet heads at a time, allowing for continuous operation and minimizing the impact of maintenance on deposition streaks, with the maintenance unit performing cleaning or nozzle checks on one inkjet head at a time, and rotating the target inkjet heads to ensure frequent maintenance of frequently used heads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If maintenance is performed on all inkjet heads simultaneously during building operation, then the reliability of inkjet head operation is improved, but the productivity of building operation deteriorates due to long stop time
Solution Approach 1:
The maintenance operation is segmented into multiple phases, with each phase dedicated to maintaining a specific inkjet head. Instead of stopping all inkjet heads simultaneously for maintenance, the system performs maintenance on one inkjet head at a time while other inkjet heads continue to operate, thereby reducing the overall stop time and maintaining building productivity.
2Productivity
If maintenance interval is extended to reduce maintenance frequency, then the productivity is improved, but the manufacturing precision deteriorates due to noticeable deposition streaks
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs maintenance on inkjet heads in advance before significant performance degradation occurs. By monitoring usage and performing maintenance proactively on individual heads during natural pauses in their operation cycles, the system prevents deposition streaks before they become noticeable, maintaining surface quality without requiring frequent full-system maintenance stops.
3Manufacturing precision
If maintenance is performed frequently to prevent deposition streaks, then the manufacturing precision is improved, but the productivity deteriorates due to increased maintenance interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The maintenance strategy applies local quality by treating each inkjet head individually rather than uniformly. Each inkjet head receives maintenance based on its specific usage pattern and condition, allowing the system to maintain high surface quality for heavily used heads while reducing maintenance frequency for less used heads, thereby optimizing the balance between precision and productivity.
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 effectively reduces the occurrence of noticeable deposition streaks, maintaining high accuracy and quality in built objects by minimizing the time required for each maintenance operation and ensuring that frequently used inkjet heads are properly maintained.
Implementation Method 1
an object is built by additive manufacturing by building up a plurality of layers of ink formed by inkjet heads
Data Source
AI summary
A building apparatus configured to build an object includes inkjet heads serving as a plurality of ejection heads, a scanning driver, and a maintenance unit configured to perform a maintenance of the inkjet head. The scanning driver allows a plurality of inkjet heads to perform at least a main scanning operation and allows the inkjet head to perform the main scanning operation multiple times until building of the object is completed. The maintenance unit performs the maintenance of the inkjet head in an interval between two successive main scanning operations and performs the predetermined maintenance for only part of a plurality of inkjet heads in each maintenance. Hence, building with high accuracy is performed more appropriately.