Variable-Width Nozzle with Active Gate for 3D Printing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing extrusion-based 3D printing technologies face challenges in accurately depositing materials with high volumes of metallic or ceramic particles due to uncontrolled leakage and reduced retraction influence, especially when using pellets, which affects dosing accuracy and precision in creating metal or ceramic parts.
Innovation Solution
A 3D printing system employing a variable-width nozzle with an actively controlled gate, allowing for axial rotation and rectangular opening, which controls the nozzle opening in one dimension while the other dimension remains fixed, to prevent material leakage and enhance precision and surface quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If pellets are used as build material in extrusion-based 3D printing, then material versatility and dosing flexibility are improved, but material leakage increases and dosing accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A gate mechanism is introduced as an intermediary component between the heated chamber and the nozzle. This gate acts as a controlled mediator that regulates material flow, preventing uncontrolled leakage while maintaining the benefits of pellet-based extrusion. The gate is positioned to closely bound the molten material in the nozzle, ensuring precise dosing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the opening parameters of the gate to control material flow. By adjusting the gate opening size and position, the system can precisely control the amount of material extruded, maintaining dosing accuracy while using versatile pellet materials. The gate opening is controlled based on extrusion path length and cross-section area.
2Device complexity
If traditional fixed nozzle is used, then device simplicity is maintained, but material leakage cannot be prevented and surface quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The nozzle system is transformed from a static fixed structure to a dynamic system with a movable gate. The gate can be opened and closed, and its position can be adjusted dynamically during the printing process. This dynamic capability allows the system to prevent material leakage while maintaining relatively simple device architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The gate serves as an intermediary element within the nozzle system that actively controls material flow. By introducing this controllable intermediary, the system can prevent harmful material leakage without requiring a complete redesign of the entire nozzle structure, thus balancing complexity control with leakage prevention.
3Productivity
If standard extrusion path is used, then printing speed is maintained, but dosing precision deteriorates due to uncontrolled material flow
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback control by monitoring the gate opening position and adjusting it based on the required extrusion parameters. The control system calculates the appropriate gate opening based on extrusion path length and cross-section area, and continuously adjusts the gate position to maintain precise dosing while keeping printing speed high.
Solution Approach 2:
The gate opening is pre-calculated and positioned before material extrusion begins. By determining the appropriate gate opening size and position in advance based on the extrusion path parameters, the system ensures precise dosing from the start of each extrusion operation, maintaining both speed and precision.
4Ease of operation
If nozzle opening is not controlled, then ease of operation is maintained, but surface finish quality deteriorates due to leakage and uncontrolled deposition
Solution Approach 1:
The gate-controlled nozzle system automatically regulates material flow without requiring manual intervention. The system self-adjusts the gate opening based on programmed parameters, maintaining ease of operation while significantly improving surface finish quality by preventing leakage and ensuring controlled material deposition.
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 solution improves dosing accuracy and reduces printing time by allowing for wider extrusion paths and finer detail printing, while ensuring a smoother surface finish and maintaining precision in material deposition, even with high-loaded MIM or CIM materials.
Implementation Method 1
The material in pellet form can be extruded by means of mechanical propulsion (plunger or auger (feed-screw) type) or by hydraulic or air pressure through a heated chamber, in which they are melted
Implementation Method 2
The nozzle incorporates an actively controlled 'gate', which controls the nozzle opening in one dimension
Implementation Method 3
The resulting program allows the additive manufacturing apparatus to build up the part layer by layer by using one or more additive manufacturing techniques (e.g. selective laser sintering, powder/binder jetting, stereolithographic processes or extrusion-based techniques)
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
A three-dimensional printing system comprising a print head vertically arranged above a build platform, said print head having a variable-width nozzle with a rectangular opening having a size, a means of moving said print-head and a means for extruding pellets through said variable-width nozzle to provide a molten ribbon vertically above said build platform, said pellets comprising at least one polymer, said extrusion means incorporating a heated chamber before said nozzle and said variable-width nozzle incorporating an actively controlled gate; and a three-dimensional printing process, said process comprising the steps of: extruding pellets through a rectangular variable-width nozzle incorporating an actively controlled gate to provide a molten ribbon vertically above a build platform to provide a body, said pellets comprising at least one polymer.