Single Extruder Multi-Manifold Nozzle for 3D Printing Color Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current three-dimensional object printers have limited color capability due to high viscosity of extruded thermoplastic materials, making it difficult to mix different colors, and require complex configurations with multiple extruders that often result in surface breaks and limited resolution.
Innovation Solution
A new extruder configuration with multiple manifolds and nozzles, each connected to a separate heater, allows for the independent extrusion of different thermoplastic materials through a faceplate with apertures, enabling more flexible and precise control over color formation without mixing the materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple extruders are used to produce different colors, then color range is improved, but device complexity increases greatly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple extrusion systems into a single integrated extruder assembly. Multiple heaters are mounted on a common support structure with a shared manifold and nozzle system, allowing multiple colors to be extruded through one unified device rather than requiring separate extruders for each color.
Solution Approach 2:
The single extruder configuration is designed to perform multiple functions by accommodating different colored thermoplastic materials through a shared extrusion pathway. The manifold system allows each heater to independently feed different colors to the same nozzle, making the device universal for multi-color printing operations.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate extruders are used for different colors, then color capability is improved, but surface breaks occur
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple color streams into a single nozzle exit point, the patent ensures continuous material flow and seamless layer deposition. The shared extrusion pathway eliminates the transitions and breaks that occur when switching between separate extruders, maintaining surface continuity across color boundaries.
3Adaptability or versatility
If filament splicer is used to create multi-color filament, then color variety is improved, but resolution is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the heating and material preparation functions into separate independent units (multiple heaters) while maintaining a unified extrusion output. Each heater can independently process different colored filaments with precise temperature control, allowing for higher resolution printing compared to a single spliced filament approach where all colors share one heating zone.
4Manufacturing precision
If different colors are alternated from one layer to another, then surface breaks are avoided, but color flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables continuous multi-color extrusion within the same layer by maintaining active heating and material flow from multiple heaters simultaneously. This allows colors to be deposited in any pattern within a layer without interrupting the extrusion process or alternating between layers, providing superior color flexibility while maintaining surface continuity.
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 configuration enhances the color range and flexibility in forming objects by allowing independent control of each nozzle, preventing surface breaks and improving resolution, while maintaining the unique properties of each extruded material.
Implementation Method 1
Many extruders are fed extrusion material filaments that are melted or softened to form the thermoplastic material
Implementation Method 2
Some of these technologies use extruders that soften or melt extrusion material, such as ABS plastic, into thermoplastic material and then emit the thermoplastic material in a predetermined pattern
Implementation Method 3
After each layer of the three-dimensional printed object is formed, the thermoplastic material cools and hardens to bond the layer to an underlying layer of the three-dimensional printed object
Data Source
AI summary
An additive manufacturing system has a plurality of manifolds in an extruder. Each manifold is connected to at least one nozzle of the extruder so the at least one nozzle extrudes thermoplastic material through a corresponding aperture in a faceplate mounted to the extruder. A plurality of valves is configured between each manifold and each nozzle connected to the manifold so the nozzles connected to a manifold extrude thermoplastic material from the manifold selectively. The faceplate is also configured for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the faceplate so different orientations of the nozzles and the apertures of the faceplate can be obtained. The different manifolds of the extruder enable a plurality of thermoplastic materials having different properties to be extruded simultaneously so the materials can join to one another while the materials are at an elevated temperature.