CN112477121A - 3D printing system and 3D printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

Translated fromChinese

本发明公开了一种3D打印系统及3D打印方法。3D打印系统包括：容器，用于容纳待固化材料，容器具有第一中心轴；曲面发光装置，包括呈曲面的发光面，发光面围绕容器的至少部分外周设置；转动驱动装置，与容器连接，用于驱动容器以第一中心轴为轴转动；以及数据处理器，与曲面发光装置以及转动驱动装置电连接，数据处理器能够根据目标打印物的切片信息，向曲面发光装置提供发光控制信息，以及向转动驱动装置发送转动控制信息。根据本发明实施例的3D打印系统，减少打印过程中对容器转动的次数，甚至在曲面发光装置的发光面围绕容器的整个外周设置时，无需对容器进行转动，从而提高3D打印的效率。

The invention discloses a 3D printing system and a 3D printing method. The 3D printing system includes: a container for accommodating the material to be cured, the container has a first central axis; a curved light-emitting device, including a curved light-emitting surface, the light-emitting surface is arranged around at least part of the outer circumference of the container; a rotation driving device is connected with the container, is used to drive the container to rotate around the first central axis; and a data processor, which is electrically connected to the curved light-emitting device and the rotation driving device, and the data processor can provide light-emitting control information to the curved light-emitting device according to the slice information of the target printed matter, And send the rotation control information to the rotation drive device. According to the 3D printing system of the embodiment of the present invention, the number of rotations of the container during the printing process is reduced, and even when the light-emitting surface of the curved light-emitting device is arranged around the entire periphery of the container, the container does not need to be rotated, thereby improving the efficiency of 3D printing.

Description

3D printing system and 3D printing method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of three-dimensional (3D) printing, in particular to a 3D printing system and a 3D printing method.

Background

3D printing is one of rapid prototyping technologies, which is a technology for constructing an object by using a digital model file as a base and using a powder-like metal, plastic, resin and other bondable or curable materials in a layer-by-layer printing, etching or curing manner.

The 3D printing technology can be roughly classified into Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Stereolithography (SLA), Digital Light Processing (DLP), and the like according to a molding principle. The digital light processing molding 3D printing is a technology for curing photosensitive resin by adopting digital projection.

In the case of a computer simulating a 3D object, the shape of the object is calculated from a number of different angles, and the resulting 2D image is then input to a slide projector. The projector projects a planar two-dimensional image into a container containing a photosensitive resin. By rotating the container, a plurality of planar two-dimensional images can cover the whole peripheral surface of the container, and a complete 3D printing body is obtained after the photosensitive resin is cured. In the prior art, the container rotates for multiple times, and multiple plane two-dimensional images are mutually connected, so that the surface quality of a printed body is rough.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a 3D printing system and a 3D printing method, which improve printing efficiency and printing quality.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a 3D printing system, which includes: a container for containing a material to be solidified, the container having a first central axis; the curved surface light-emitting device comprises a light-emitting surface which is a curved surface, and the light-emitting surface is arranged around at least part of the periphery of the container; the rotation driving device is connected with the container and is used for driving the container to rotate by taking the first central shaft as a shaft; and the data processor is electrically connected with the curved surface light-emitting device and the rotation driving device, and can provide light-emitting control information for the curved surface light-emitting device and send rotation control information to the rotation driving device according to the section information of the target printed matter.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a 3D printing method for printing a target printed product by the 3D printing system according to any one of the foregoing first aspects, the 3D printing method including: adding a material to be solidified into a container, and obtaining multilayer virtual slices of a target printed product, wherein the target printed product is provided with a second central axis parallel to the first central axis of the container, the multilayer virtual slices are sequentially nested from the second central axis to the outer peripheral side of the target printed product, the virtual slices coincident with the second central axis are cylindrical slices, and the virtual slices nested at the periphery of the cylindrical slices are cylindrical slices; obtaining slice information of the corresponding virtual slice according to the expansion pattern of each layer of virtual slice; acquiring light-emitting control information and rotation control information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice according to slice information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice; controlling the curved surface light-emitting device to radiate light to the material to be solidified in the container through the light-emitting control information, and controlling the rotation driving device to drive the container to rotate by taking the first central shaft as a shaft through the rotation control information so as to solidify the material to be solidified and obtain an entity slice corresponding to the virtual slice; and sequentially forming a plurality of layers of solid slices corresponding to the plurality of layers of virtual slices from the outer periphery side of the first central axial container to obtain the target printed product.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a 3D printing system, including: a container for containing a material to be solidified, the container having a first central axis; the curved surface light-emitting device comprises a curved surface light-emitting surface, and the light-emitting surface is arranged around the whole periphery of the container; and a data processor electrically connected to the curved surface light emitting device, the data processor being capable of providing light emission control information to the curved surface light emitting device according to the cut information of the target printed matter.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a 3D printing method for printing a target printed product by the 3D printing system according to any one of the foregoing third aspects, the 3D printing method including: adding a material to be solidified into a container, and obtaining multilayer virtual slices of a target printed product, wherein the target printed product is provided with a second central axis parallel to the first central axis of the container, the multilayer virtual slices are sequentially nested from the second central axis to the outer peripheral side of the target printed product, the virtual slices coincident with the second central axis are cylindrical slices, and the virtual slices nested at the periphery of the cylindrical slices are cylindrical slices; obtaining slice information of the corresponding virtual slice according to the expansion pattern of each layer of virtual slice; acquiring light-emitting control information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice according to slice information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice; controlling the curved surface light-emitting device to radiate light to the material to be cured in the container through the light-emitting control information, so that the material to be cured is cured, and obtaining an entity slice corresponding to the virtual slice; and sequentially forming a plurality of layers of solid slices corresponding to the plurality of layers of virtual slices from the outer periphery side of the first central axial container to obtain the target printed product.

According to the 3D printing system and the 3D printing method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the curved surface light-emitting device is used for providing the light-emitting control information for the material to be solidified in the container, the curved surface light-emitting device can simultaneously irradiate a wider peripheral surface of the container relative to the plane projection device, the area of the peripheral surface of the container for receiving the light-emitting control information at each moment is increased, the rotating frequency of the container in the printing process is reduced, and even when the light-emitting surface of the curved surface light-emitting device is arranged around the whole periphery of the container, the container does not need to be rotated, so that the 3D printing efficiency is increased. In addition, adopt curved surface illuminator can shine the wider global of container simultaneously, avoided carrying out the phenomenon that the surface quality that the projection handing-over produced to a plurality of planar projection when adopting planar projection device is coarse, improved the quality that 3D printed.

Drawings

Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments thereof, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof, and which are not to scale.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a top view configuration of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a curved light-emitting device in a 3D printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a top view configuration of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a top view configuration of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a top view configuration of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system provided in accordance with yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a 3D printing method provided in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating a top view of a 3D printing system according to another embodiment of the invention;

fig. 14 is a flowchart of a 3D printing method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Features and exemplary embodiments of various aspects of the present invention will be described in detail below, and in order to make objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. The following description of the embodiments is merely intended to provide a better understanding of the present invention by illustrating examples of the present invention.

It is noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions.

It will be understood that when a layer, region or layer is referred to as being "on" or "over" another layer, region or layer in describing the structure of the component, it can be directly on the other layer, region or layer or intervening layers or regions may also be present. Also, if the component is turned over, one layer or region may be "under" or "beneath" another layer or region.

The embodiment of the invention provides a 3D printing system, wherein a material to be solidified is added into a container, and a target printed matter is finally obtained through selective layered solidification of the material to be solidified.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 2 is a schematic top view of the 3D printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The3D printing system 100 includes acontainer 110, a curved surfacelight emitting device 120, arotation driving device 130, and adata processor 140.

Thecontainer 110 is used for containing a material M1 to be solidified, and thecontainer 110 has a first central axis CA 1. Alternatively, thecontainer 110 is a hollow cylindrical container, and the first central axis CA1 extends in the axial direction of the cylinder. Thecontainer 110 may be made of a light-transmitting material, for example, thecontainer 110 is a glass to facilitate light transmission.

The curvedlight emitting device 120 includes a light emitting surface LS having a curved surface, the light emitting surface LS being disposed around at least a portion of the periphery of thecontainer 110.

Therotation driving device 130 is connected to thecontainer 110, and therotation driving device 130 is used for driving thecontainer 110 to rotate around the first central axis CA 1.

Thedata processor 140 is electrically connected to the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 and therotation driving device 130, and thedata processor 140 can provide light emission control information to the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 and transmit rotation control information to therotation driving device 130 according to the cut information of the target printed product.

In the related art, a planar light source may be used as a light curing light source of the 3D printing system, for example, a planar projector is used as the light curing light source, and at any time, the planar projector projects a planar two-dimensional image into the container, so that in order to project the planar two-dimensional image to cover the entire circumference of the container, a large number of two-dimensional images are required to be sequentially arranged along the circumferential direction of the container, and if the number of two-dimensional images is reduced, each two-dimensional image is required to cover a wider angle in the circumferential direction of the container, and a significant distortion phenomenon of printed products may occur. When a planar light source is used as a photocuring light source of a 3D printing system, conversion between a two-dimensional image generated by the planar light source and a curved-surface image projected on a circumferential curved surface of a container needs to be considered in the calculation process of 3D printing, so that the calculation complexity is improved, and conversion errors are easy to generate.

According to the3D printing system 100 of the embodiment of the invention, the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 is used for providing the light emitting control information to the material M1 to be solidified in thecontainer 110, the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 can simultaneously irradiate a wider circumferential surface of thecontainer 110 relative to the plane projection device, the circumferential surface area of thecontainer 110 for receiving the light emitting control information at each moment is increased, the number of times of rotation of thecontainer 110 in the printing process is reduced, even when the light emitting surface LS of the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 is arranged around the whole periphery of thecontainer 110, thecontainer 110 does not need to be rotated, and therefore the 3D printing efficiency is improved. The curved surfacelight emitting device 120 can irradiate a wider circumferential surface of thecontainer 110 at the same time, so that the phenomenon of rough surface quality caused by projection and handover of a plurality of planar projections when a planar projection device is adopted is avoided, and the quality of 3D printing is improved. In the embodiment of the invention, the curved surface image provided by the light emitting surface LS does not need to be subjected to projection conversion between the plane image and the curved surface image, so that the distortion problem caused by errors in the projection conversion can be avoided, the printing quality of the target printing object in the circumferential direction is improved, and the possibility of poor edges is reduced.

Optionally, the 3D printing system further comprises astage 150, thestage 150 comprising amounting surface 151. Therotation driving device 130 and thedata processor 140 are connected to thestage 150. Optionally, at least a portion of therotation driving device 130 is exposed to themounting surface 151, the bottom of thecontainer 110 is connected to therotation driving device 130, so that therotation driving device 130 can drive thecontainer 110 to rotate, the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 is mounted on themounting surface 151 of thestage 150, and the light emitting surface LS is perpendicular to themounting surface 151. The electrical connection between thedata processor 140 and the curved light-emitting device 120 and therotation driving device 130 can be realized by signal lines, or can be realized by wireless communication. In this embodiment, thedata processor 140 is connected to thestage 150, and in other embodiments, thedata processor 140 may be disposed apart from thestage 150, the curved light-emitting device 120, therotation driving device 130, and the like, for example, integrated in another computer, and the physical position thereof may be adjusted according to actual needs.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a curved light-emitting device in a 3D printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In some embodiments, the curved light-emitting device 120 includes aflexible display panel 121, and thedisplay panel 121 includes a plurality of light-emitting elements PX arranged in an array on the light-emitting surface LS. Thedisplay panel 121 may be a self-luminousflexible display panel 121, and by using its flexible bendable characteristic, the light emitting surface LS of thedisplay panel 121 can be disposed around at least a portion of the periphery of thecontainer 110, and when the periphery of thecontainer 110 is in other shapes, theflexible display panel 121 can also be bent into a shape matching the periphery of the container, so that the shape plasticity of the light emitting surface LS is improved, thecontainer 110 in various shapes can be conveniently matched, and the universality and adjustability are improved. By utilizing the self-luminous property of the light emitting element PX, the material M1 to be cured in the container can be illuminated with sufficient intensity, and the amount of light received at each position in the circumferential direction of the material M1 can be individually controlled by the light emitting state of the corresponding light emitting element PX, thereby improving the precision of 3D printing.

Alternatively, the light emitting element PX is an ultraviolet light emitting element, for example, the light emitting element PX emits light having a wavelength of 355 nm to 420 nm, and generates ultraviolet light to near ultraviolet light. When the light emitting element PX is an ultraviolet light emitting element, it can be used for curing and 3D printing of the material M1 to be cured, which has high sensitivity to ultraviolet light.

The light emitting element PX is a visible light emitting element, for example, the light emitting element PX emits light having a wavelength of 380 nm to 780 nm, and generates visible light. When the light-emitting element PX is a visible light-emitting element, it can be used for curing and 3D printing of the material M1 to be cured, which has high sensitivity to visible light.

The material M1 to be cured, such as acrylate or other photosensitive synthetic resin, can be irradiated by a light emitting device PX capable of emitting light of a corresponding wavelength band according to the sensitivity of the material M1 to light of a certain wavelength band, so as to ensure the wide adaptability of the 3D printing system to the material M1 to be cured.

The Light Emitting element PX may be a Light Emitting Diode (LED) or an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED). Optionally, the light emitting element PX comprises a sub-millimeter light emitting diode (Mini-LED), a Micro light emitting diode (Micro-LED), a sub-millimeter organic light emitting diode (Mini-OLED), or a Micro light emitting diode (Micro-OLED). As used herein, "micro" light emitting diodes, "sub-millimeter" light emitting diodes, and other "micro" devices, "sub-millimeter" devices refer to the size of light emitting diodes and devices, in some embodiments the term "micro" refers to the size of devices on the scale of 1 micron to 100 microns, and the term "sub-millimeter" refers to the size of devices on the scale of 100 microns to 1000 microns.

In some embodiments, the light emitting surface LS is a whole or partial cylindrical surface, the light emitting surface LS is disposed coaxially with thecontainer 110, and distances from points of the light emitting surface LS to the outer wall of thecontainer 110 are equal, so that the light emitting surface LS can output uniform light to each position in the circumferential direction of thecontainer 110, uniformity of light at each position when each slice is printed is ensured, and thus quality of molding each slice is improved, and printing quality of the obtained target printed matter is improved.

In the present embodiment, thedisplay device 120 includes asingle display panel 121, and thedisplay panel 121 is disposed around a portion of the circumference of thecontainer 110. However, the arrangement of thedisplay device 120 may not be limited to the above example.

Fig. 4 and 5 are a schematic perspective view and a schematic top view of a 3D printing system according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention. In some optional embodiments, the number of thedisplay panels 121 is at least two, and at least twodisplay panels 121 are sequentially spliced along the circumferential direction of thecontainer 110. In the present alternative embodiment, thedisplay device 120 includes threedisplay panels 121, and the threedisplay panels 121 are sequentially spliced along the circumferential direction of thecontainer 110. Through the mode of setting that adopts two at leastdisplay panel 121 concatenations, can be according to the design needs for light emitting area LS surroundscontainer 110's wider global, with the area of improving the global illumination ofcontainer 110 at the same moment, be convenient for further improve 3D printing efficiency and target printed matter surface quality.

In some of the above embodiments, the cross section of the light emitting surface LS perpendicular to the first central axis CA1 is disposed around a part of the outer circumference of thecontainer 110, i.e. the light emitting surface LS is disposed circumferentially around a part of the outer circumference of thecontainer 110, for example 180 degrees around the circumference of thecontainer 110. The angle of the light emitting surface LS around the circumference of thecontainer 110 can be set according to the actual design requirements, and can be any angle between 0 and 360 degrees.

With continued reference to fig. 1 and fig. 2, in some embodiments, a cross section of the light emitting surface LS perpendicular to the first central axis CA1 includes a first end E1 and a second end E2 opposite to each other, and a connection line from the first end E1 to the first central axis CA1 and a connection line from the second end E2 to the first central axis CA1 form a predetermined included angle θ, where the predetermined included angle θ may be greater than 0 and less than or equal to 360 degrees. In this embodiment, the preset included angle θ is 180 degrees, so that after thecontainer 110 is rotated 2 times, the light emitting surface LS sequentially and completely irradiates 360 degrees of thecontainer 110.

Fig. 6 and 7 are a schematic perspective view and a schematic top view of a 3D printing system according to yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, thedisplay device 120 includes asingle display panel 121, and thedisplay panel 121 is disposed around a portion of the circumference of thecontainer 110. A cross section of the light emitting surface LS perpendicular to the first central axis CA1 includes a first end E1 and a second end E2 opposite to each other, a connection line from the first end E1 to the first central axis CA1 and a connection line from the second end E2 to the first central axis CA1 form a preset included angle θ, in this embodiment, the preset included angle θ is 60 degrees, so that after thecontainer 110 is rotated for 6 times, the light emitting surface LS sequentially and completely irradiates 360 degrees of thecontainer 110.

Optionally, the positive integral multiple of the preset included angle θ is equal to 360 degrees, so that after thecontainer 110 is rotated for an integral number of times, the light-emitting surface LS sequentially and completely irradiates 360 degrees of thecontainer 110, which facilitates configuration of the rotation angle of thecontainer 110 in each step rotation.

In some of the embodiments described above, the light emitting face LS circumferentially surrounds a portion of the periphery of thecontainer 110. However, the correspondence relationship between the light emitting surface LS and the outer periphery of thecontainer 110 may not be limited thereto.

Fig. 8 and 9 are a schematic perspective view and a schematic top view of a 3D printing system according to yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention. In the present exemplary embodiment, a cross section of the light emission surface LS perpendicular to the first central axis CA1 is provided around the entire circumference of thecontainer 110, i.e., the light emission surface LS surrounds the entire circumference of thecontainer 110 in the circumferential direction. At this moment, in the 3D printing process, when forming each section, 360 degrees periphery tocontainer 110 can be shone simultaneously to light emitting surface LS, no longer need rotatedrive arrangement 130drive container 110 and rotate when forming each section for printing speed is faster, and the concatenation of illumination projection is not needed at all in the formation of each section, and the sliced surface quality of each layer is higher, makes the target printed matter quality that obtains more stable.

In some of the foregoing embodiments, the length of the light emitting surface LS along the first central axis CA1 is equal to or greater than the length of thecontainer 110 along the first central axis CA1, so that the height of the light emitting surface LS along the first central axis CA1 can cover the depth of the material M1 to be solidified in thecontainer 110, and the span of the light emitting surface LS on the first central axis CA1 during the illumination process at each moment is equal to or greater than the depth of the material M1 to be solidified, so that the height of each slice along the first central axis CA1 direction, that is, the height of the target printed matter at the position, thereby improving the printing efficiency.

Fig. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system according to yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention. Unlike the previous embodiments, in the present embodiment, the length of the light emitting surface LS along the first central axis CA1 is smaller than the length of thecontainer 110 along the first central axis CA 1. The3D printing system 100 may also include alifting device 160. Thelifting device 160 is connected to at least one of thecontainer 110 and the curvedlight emitting device 120, and thelifting device 160 can drive one of thecontainer 110 and the curvedlight emitting device 120 to move relative to the other along the first central axis CA 1. For example, in the embodiment, thelifting device 160 is mounted on the mountingsurface 151 of thestage 150, the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 is connected to thelifting device 160, and thelifting device 160 can drive the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 to move along the first central axis CA1, so that the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 is lifted relative to thecontainer 110. Alternatively, thelifting device 160 is electrically connected to thedata processor 140, and thedata processor 140 can transmit lifting control information to thelifting device 160 according to the cutting information of the target printed product. By providing thelifting device 160, when the length of the light emitting surface LS along the first central axis CA1 is smaller than the length of thecontainer 110 along the first central axis CA1, the solid printing of the target printed matter along the entire height of the first central axis CA1 direction can still be realized, the required area of the light emitting surface LS in thelight emitting device 120 is saved, and the manufacturing cost of the 3D printing system is reduced to a certain extent.

It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, thelifting device 160 is connected to the curved light-emittingdevice 120 as an example, however, in some alternative embodiments, thecontainer 110 may be directly or indirectly connected to thelifting device 160, so that thelifting device 160 can drive thecontainer 110 to move along the first central axis CA1 relative to the curved light-emittingdevice 120. Alternatively, thelifting device 160 may also be connected to therotational drive device 130, for example, thelifting device 160 is connected to thecontainer 110 via therotational drive device 130, or therotational drive device 130 is connected to thecontainer 110 via thelifting device 160. When thecontainer 110 is directly or indirectly connected with thelifting device 160, when the length of the light emitting surface LS along the first central axis CA1 is smaller than the length of thecontainer 110 along the first central axis CA1, the solid printing of the entire height of the target printed matter along the first central axis CA1 is still achieved, and the required area of the light emitting surface LS in thelight emitting device 120 is saved.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a 3D printing method for printing a target printed product by using the3D printing system 100 according to any one of the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a 3D printing method provided according to an embodiment of the present invention, the 3D printing method including steps S110 to S160.

In step S110, a material M1 to be solidified is added in thecontainer 110. The material to be cured M1 is, for example, an acrylate or other photosensitive synthetic resin. When the light emitted from the light emitting surface LS is ultraviolet light, the material to be cured M1 may be made of an ultraviolet light sensitive resin, and when the light emitted from the light emitting surface LS is visible light, the material to be cured M1 may be made of a visible light sensitive resin.

In step S120, a multilayer virtual slice of the target printed product is acquired. Wherein the target printed matter has a second central axis parallel to the first central axis CA1 of thecontainer 110, and the plurality of layers of virtual slices are nested in order from the second central axis toward the outer peripheral side of the target printed matter, wherein the virtual slices overlapping with the second central axis are columnar slices, and the virtual slices nested at the outer periphery of the columnar slices are cylindrical slices.

In step S130, slice information of the corresponding virtual slice is obtained from the expansion pattern of each layer of virtual slices.

In step S140, light emission control information and rotation control information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice are acquired from slice information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice.

In step S150, the curved-surfacelight emitting device 120 is controlled by the light emitting control information to radiate light to the material M1 to be solidified in thecontainer 110, and therotation driving device 130 is controlled by the rotation control information to drive thecontainer 110 to rotate around the first central axis CA1, so that the material M1 to be solidified is solidified, and a solid slice corresponding to the virtual slice is obtained.

As described above, the multilayer virtual slice includes a columnar slice overlapping the second central axis and a cylindrical slice nested at the outer periphery of the columnar slice. In forming the solid slices, the solid slices also correspondingly include a center slice that coincides with the first central axis CA1 and peripheral slices that are nested on the outer periphery of the center slice, where the center slice corresponds to the columnar slice and the peripheral slices correspond to the cylindrical slice.

When a plurality of solid slices are formed, a center slice is first formed. When the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 radiates light to the material M1 to be solidified in thecontainer 110, the center of the container, that is, the first central axis CA1 is the focus of the radiated light, so that the energy at the first central axis CA1 preferentially reaches the solidification threshold of the material M1 to be solidified, and therefore, the material M1 to be solidified at the first central axis CA1 is solidified first, and a central slice is obtained. The central slice can be used as a solidification core, so that the peripheral slices formed later are solidified on the periphery of the central slice layer by layer.

In some embodiments, to ensure that the center slice is formed at the first central axis CA1 and to avoid the center slice from being formed at other locations of the container, a local inhibition curing technique may be applied to the other locations of the container. For example, the curing of the curing material M1 is suppressed by means of oxygen suppression, light suppression, oil surface suppression, or the like at other positions of the container. In this case, oxygen inhibition means that a high-concentration oxygen diffusion surface is formed at the solidification boundary surface, and the solidified material M1 is not solidified at the surface where oxygen is present in a large amount. Specifically, for example, oxygen passages are dispersedly arranged on the circumferential side wall of thecontainer 110, oxygen can be introduced into the container through the oxygen passages, and when the central slice is formed, the oxygen diffusion concentration of thecontainer 110 from the circumferential side wall to the first central axis CA1 is controlled so that the oxygen concentration is low at the first central axis CA1, and the central slice can be ensured to be formed at the first central axis CA 1. The central slice is used as a solidification core, so that the peripheral slices formed later are solidified on the periphery of the central slice layer by layer. The light inhibition means that the curing material M1 at the other position is inhibited from curing by irradiating the other position of the container with light having a shorter wavelength than the irradiation light. The oil level suppression, that is, the provision of an oil level layer at other positions of the container, is such that the solidified material M1 in the vicinity of the oil level layer does not solidify.

In forming a solid slice, a spatial rectangular coordinate system may be established at theprinting system 100, where the z-axis is parallel to the first central axis CA1 and the x-axis and the y-axis are a pair of orthogonal directions within a plane perpendicular to the first central axis CA 1.

A cross section of the light emitting surface LS perpendicular to the first central axis CA1 includes a first end E1 and a second end E2 opposite to each other, and a connection line from the first end E1 to the first central axis CA1 and a connection line from the second end E2 to the first central axis CA1 form a predetermined included angle θ, and the predetermined included angle θ may be greater than 0 and equal to or less than 360 degrees. The energy density function of the radiation during curing when forming each solid slice is as follows:

in the above equation, INT is a rounding function. Ω the angular speed of the step of rotating the container, which is equal to the ratio of the angle of rotation to the curing time, wherein the angular speed Ω varies with the curing time. I is a threshold exponential function representing the material to be cured M1. Alpha is the absorption coefficient of the material M1 to be solidified for generating wave band light on the light emitting surface LS. Dc is the key dose of light that determines the degree of cure of the material M1 to be cured. r is the size of the radius of the slice,

indicating that the radius r is a function of theta.

In the related art, a planar light source may be used as the light curing light source of the 3D printing system, for example, a planar projector is used as the light curing light source, at any time, the planar projector projects a planar two-dimensional image into the container, and in order to enable the projection to cover the entire circumference of the container, a large number of two-dimensional images are required to be sequentially arranged along the circumference of the container, wherein an angle of the circumference of the container covered by each two-dimensional image needs to be obtained through projection conversion from the planar two-dimensional image to a circumferential curved surface of the container, so that when the planar light source is used for 3D printing, a variable of a "preset projection conversion angle" is required in an energy density function of radiation light, the "preset projection conversion angle" is an angle corresponding to the projection of each planar two-dimensional image after the planar two-dimensional image is projected onto the circumference of the container, and the numerical value of, The distance between the plane light source and the container is complex, and higher difficulty and load are brought to the calculation process in 3D printing. In this embodiment, the light source providing light curing is the curvedlight emitting device 120, and the angle of the light emitting surface LS around the circumference of thecontainer 110, that is, the preset included angle θ, is a real angle around the circumference of thecontainer 110, and the angle is obtained without projection transformation, so that the difficulty of the calculation process of 3D printing is reduced, the load of a related processor is reduced, and the printing process is performed quickly. Meanwhile, the image in the preset included angle theta range provided by the light emitting surface LS does not need to be subjected to projection conversion between the plane image and the curved surface image, and the distortion problem caused by errors in the projection conversion can be avoided, so that the printing quality of the target printed matter in the circumferential direction is improved, and the possibility of poor edge is reduced.

In step S160, a plurality of layers of solid slices corresponding to the plurality of layers of virtual slices are sequentially formed from the first center axis CA1 toward the outer periphery of thecontainer 110, and the target printed product is obtained.

According to the 3D printing method of the embodiment of the invention, the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 is used for providing the light emitting control information to the material M1 to be solidified in thecontainer 110, the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 can simultaneously irradiate a wider circumferential surface of thecontainer 110 relative to the plane projection device, the circumferential surface area of thecontainer 110 for receiving the light emitting control information at each moment is increased, the number of times of rotation of thecontainer 110 in the printing process is reduced, and even when the light emitting surface LS of the curved surfacelight emitting device 120 is arranged around the whole periphery of thecontainer 110, thecontainer 110 does not need to be rotated, so that the 3D printing efficiency is improved. The curved surfacelight emitting device 120 can irradiate a wider circumferential surface of thecontainer 110 at the same time, so that the phenomenon of rough surface quality caused by projection and handover of a plurality of planar projections when a planar projection device is adopted is avoided, and the quality of 3D printing is improved. The angle of the light emitting surface LS around the circumference of thecontainer 110 does not need to be obtained through projection transformation, the difficulty of the 3D printing calculation process is reduced, the load of a related processor is reduced, and the printing process is convenient to carry out quickly. The curved surface image provided by the light emitting surface LS does not need to be subjected to projection conversion between the plane image and the curved surface image, and the problem of distortion caused by errors in projection conversion can be avoided, so that the printing quality of the target printed matter in the circumferential direction is improved, and the possibility of poor edges is reduced.

The embodiment of the invention also provides another 3D printing system, wherein the material to be solidified is added into the container, and the material to be solidified is selectively solidified in a layering manner, so that the target printed matter is finally obtained.

Fig. 12 is a schematic perspective view of a 3D printing system according to another embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 13 is a schematic top view of the 3D printing system according to another embodiment of the present invention. The3D printing system 200 includes acontainer 210, a curvedlight emitting device 220, and adata processor 240.

Thecontainer 210 is used for containing a material M1 to be solidified, and thecontainer 210 has a first central axis CA 1'. The curvedlight emitting device 220 includes a light emitting surface LS 'having a curved surface, the light emitting surface LS' being disposed around the entire circumference of thecontainer 210. Thedata processor 240 is electrically connected to the curved surfacelight emitting device 220, and thedata processor 240 can provide light emission control information to the curved surfacelight emitting device 220 according to the cut information of the target printed product.

According to the3D printing system 200 of the embodiment of the present invention, the curvedlight emitting device 220 is used to provide the light emitting control information to the material M1 to be solidified in thecontainer 210, wherein the light emitting surface LS' is disposed around the entire periphery of thecontainer 210, without rotating thecontainer 210, so that the3D printing system 200 does not include a rotation driving device, the 3D printing efficiency is improved, and the cost of the3D printing system 200 is saved. The light emitting surface LS' is disposed around the entire periphery of thecontainer 210, so that a phenomenon of rough surface quality caused by projection and handover of a plurality of planar projections when a planar projection apparatus is used is avoided, and the quality of 3D printing is improved. The curved surface image provided by the light emitting surface LS does not need to be subjected to projection conversion between the plane image and the curved surface image, and the problem of distortion caused by errors in projection conversion can be avoided, so that the printing quality of the target printed matter in the circumferential direction is improved, and the possibility of poor edges is reduced.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a 3D printing method, which prints a target printed product by using the3D printing system 200 according to any one of the foregoing embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart of a 3D printing method according to another embodiment of the present invention, the 3D printing method including steps S210 to S260.

In step S210, a material M1 to be cured is added in thecontainer 210. The material to be cured M1 is, for example, an acrylate or other photosensitive synthetic resin. When the light emitted from the light emitting surface LS 'is ultraviolet light, the material to be cured M1 may be made of an ultraviolet light sensitive resin, and when the light emitted from the light emitting surface LS' is visible light, the material to be cured M1 may be made of a visible light sensitive resin.

In step S220, multilayer virtual cut pieces of a target printed product having a second central axis parallel to the first central axis CA 1' of thecontainer 210 are acquired, the multilayer virtual cut pieces being nested in order from the second central axis toward the outer peripheral side of the target printed product, the virtual cut pieces overlapping the second central axis being columnar cut pieces, and the virtual cut pieces nested in the outer periphery of the columnar cut pieces being cylindrical cut pieces.

In step S230, slice information of the corresponding virtual slice is obtained from the expansion pattern of each layer of the virtual slice.

In step S240, light emission control information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice is acquired from slice information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice.

In step S250, the curved surfacelight emitting device 220 is controlled by the light emitting control information to radiate light to the material M1 to be cured in thecontainer 210, so that the material M1 to be cured is cured, and a solid slice corresponding to the virtual slice is obtained.

In step S260, a plurality of layers of solid slices corresponding to the plurality of layers of dummy slices are formed in order from the first center axis CA 1' toward the outer periphery of thecontainer 210, and the target printed product is obtained.

According to the 3D printing method provided by the embodiment of the invention, in the forming process of each slice, the light emitting surface LS' simultaneously irradiates light to the whole periphery of thecontainer 210, and thecontainer 210 does not need to be rotated in the printing process, so that the 3D printing efficiency is improved, the projection handover in the forming process of each slice is avoided, and the 3D printing quality is improved. The light emitting surface LS surrounds the entire periphery of thecontainer 110, reducing the difficulty of the calculation process of 3D printing, thereby reducing the load of the associated processor and facilitating the rapid progress of the printing process. The curved surface image provided by the light emitting surface LS does not need to be subjected to projection conversion between the plane image and the curved surface image, and the problem of distortion caused by errors in projection conversion can be avoided, so that the printing quality of the target printed matter in the circumferential direction is improved, and the possibility of poor edges is reduced.

In accordance with the above-described embodiments of the present invention, these embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise embodiments disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. The invention is limited only by the claims and their full scope and equivalents.

Claims (14)

1. A3D printing system, comprising:

a vessel for containing a material to be solidified, the vessel having a first central axis;

the curved surface light-emitting device comprises a curved surface light-emitting surface, and the light-emitting surface is arranged around at least part of the periphery of the container;

the rotation driving device is connected with the container and is used for driving the container to rotate by taking the first central shaft as an axis; and

and the data processor is electrically connected with the curved surface light-emitting device and the rotation driving device and can provide light-emitting control information for the curved surface light-emitting device and send rotation control information to the rotation driving device according to the slice information of the target printed matter.

2. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein the light emitting surface is disposed coaxially with the container, and wherein points of the light emitting surface are equidistant from an outer wall of the container.

3. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein a cross section of the light emitting face perpendicular to the first central axis is disposed around an entire periphery of the container.

4. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein a cross section of the light emitting face perpendicular to the first central axis is disposed around a portion of a periphery of the container.

5. The 3D printing system of claim 4, wherein a cross section of the light emitting surface perpendicular to the first central axis includes a first end and a second end that are opposite to each other, a connection line from the first end to the first central axis and a connection line from the second end to the first central axis form a preset included angle, and a positive integer multiple of the preset included angle is equal to 360 degrees.

6. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein a length of the light emitting face along the first central axis is equal to or greater than a length of the container along the first central axis.

7. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein a length of the light emitting face along the first central axis is less than a length of the container along the first central axis, the 3D printing system further comprising:

and the lifting device is connected with at least one of the container and the curved surface light-emitting device and can drive one of the container and the curved surface light-emitting device to move relative to the other one along the first central axis direction.

8. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein the curved lighting device comprises a flexible display panel including a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in an array on the light emitting face.

9. The 3D printing system of claim 8, wherein the light emitting element is an ultraviolet light emitting element; or

The light emitting element is a visible light emitting element.

10. The 3D printing system of claim 8, wherein the light emitting element comprises a sub-millimeter light emitting diode, a micro light emitting diode, a sub-millimeter organic light emitting diode, or a micro light emitting diode.

11. The 3D printing system of claim 8, wherein the number of the display panels is at least two, and at least two of the display panels are sequentially spliced along a circumferential direction of the container.

12. A 3D printing method for printing a target print by the 3D printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, the 3D printing method comprising:

adding the material to be solidified into the container,

acquiring a plurality of layers of virtual slices of the target printed product, wherein the target printed product has a second central axis parallel to the first central axis of the container, the plurality of layers of virtual slices are nested in sequence from the second central axis to the outer periphery of the target printed product, the virtual slices coincident with the second central axis are cylindrical slices, and the virtual slices nested at the outer periphery of the cylindrical slices are cylindrical slices;

obtaining slice information of the corresponding virtual slice according to the expansion pattern of each layer of virtual slice;

acquiring light-emitting control information and rotation control information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice according to slice information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice;

controlling a curved surface light-emitting device to radiate light to the material to be solidified in the container through the light-emitting control information, and controlling a rotation driving device to drive the container to rotate by taking the first central shaft as a shaft through the rotation control information so as to solidify the material to be solidified and obtain an entity slice corresponding to the virtual slice;

and sequentially forming a plurality of layers of the solid slices corresponding to the plurality of layers of the virtual slices from the first central axis to the outer periphery of the container to obtain the target printed product.

13. A3D printing system, comprising:

a vessel for containing a material to be solidified, the vessel having a first central axis;

the curved surface light-emitting device comprises a curved surface light-emitting surface, and the light-emitting surface is arranged around the whole periphery of the container; and

and the data processor is electrically connected with the curved surface light-emitting device and can provide light-emitting control information to the curved surface light-emitting device according to the section information of the target printed product.

14. A 3D printing method for printing a target print by the 3D printing system according to claim 13, the 3D printing method comprising:

adding the material to be solidified into the container,

acquiring a plurality of layers of virtual slices of the target printed product, wherein the target printed product has a second central axis parallel to the first central axis of the container, the plurality of layers of virtual slices are nested in sequence from the second central axis to the outer periphery of the target printed product, the virtual slices coincident with the second central axis are cylindrical slices, and the virtual slices nested at the outer periphery of the cylindrical slices are cylindrical slices;

obtaining slice information of the corresponding virtual slice according to the expansion pattern of each layer of virtual slice;

acquiring light-emitting control information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice according to slice information corresponding to each layer of virtual slice;

controlling a curved surface light-emitting device to radiate light to the material to be cured in the container through the light-emitting control information, so that the material to be cured is cured, and obtaining an entity slice corresponding to the virtual slice;

and sequentially forming a plurality of layers of the solid slices corresponding to the plurality of layers of the virtual slices from the first central axis to the outer periphery of the container to obtain the target printed product.

Images