CN114147965A

CN114147965A - 3D printing method, device and system, and control method and device

Info

Publication number: CN114147965A
Application number: CN202111448838.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 于清晓; 赖永辉; 付寒梅; 汪超
Original assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Current assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Priority date: 2021-11-25
Filing date: 2021-11-25
Publication date: 2022-03-08

Abstract

The application discloses 3D printing method, equipment, system and control method and device, 3D printing apparatus include energy radiation system and a plurality of shaping station, wherein, each the shaping station includes respectively: the system comprises a Z-axis system and a container for containing materials to be solidified, wherein the energy radiation system comprises a moving mechanism and at least one energy emitting device. On one hand, the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to move on the printing surface and radiate energy to the printing surface in the moving process so as to form the material to be solidified on the printing surface, so that the forming efficiency is effectively improved, and meanwhile, the printing precision can be ensured; on the other hand, the use efficiency of the energy radiation system is effectively improved by the aid of the multiple forming stations, 3D components on other forming stations are printed by means of adjusting waiting time of the forming stations, and accordingly printing efficiency of the printing equipment is improved.

Description

3D printing method, device and system, and control method and device

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of 3D printing, in particular to a 3D printing method, 3D printing equipment, a 3D printing system, a control method and a control device.

Background

3D printing is a technique for building objects by layer-by-layer printing from powdered metal, plastic, resin, etc. printing materials based on digital model files, which shape the printing material by radiant energy during printing.

The photocuring printing equipment radiates energy to the photocuring material through a device capable of providing light energy, so that the photocuring material on a printing surface is cured and molded, but the existing photocuring printing equipment still needs to be improved in workpiece manufacturing efficiency. Taking SLA (Stereo light curing forming) printing equipment as an example, in some embodiments, the SLA printing equipment adopts a point laser mode, and radiation energy of laser light in a radiation focusing range to different positions on a printing surface is realized by adjusting a galvanometer according to a pre-planned scanning path, so that scanning forming of 3D printing each layer of graphics is completed in a form of point-to-line and line-to-surface of a cured light curing material, but the point-to-point scanning mode has low scanning efficiency and affects the workpiece making efficiency. Although the printing efficiency can be improved to a certain extent by the surface exposure printing device, taking a DLP (Digital Light processing, DLP for short) printing device as an example, in some embodiments, the DLP printing device projects an image with brightness onto a printing surface in a surface exposure manner, so that a printing material on the printing surface is formed according to the projected image, but the surface exposure printing device has a limited finished product width due to energy attenuation based on a projection distance, and simultaneously, when the projection distance is increased and a projection image is enlarged, each pixel in the image is enlarged, so that the forming accuracy is also reduced. Therefore, how to guarantee the printing efficiency while considering the printing precision is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently by those skilled in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the related art, an object of the present application is to provide a 3D printing method, a 3D printing apparatus, a 3D printing system, a control method and a control device, so as to overcome the technical problems in the related art that both printing efficiency and printing precision cannot be considered.

In order to achieve the above and other related objects, a first aspect of the disclosure provides a 3D printing method for a 3D printing apparatus, where the 3D printing apparatus includes an energy radiation system and a plurality of forming stations, where each forming station includes: the printing method comprises the following steps of: enabling the moving mechanism to drive at least one energy emitting device to move along a printing surface in the container in the current forming station, and radiating energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image in the moving process so as to obtain a pattern curing layer on a component platform of the forming station; when the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station, enabling the current forming station to enter an adjusting state, and enabling the moving mechanism to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to the next forming station; wherein the adjustment state comprises: coating the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container, and/or adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container, and/or driving the component platform to move to the next forming height; repeating the above steps based on the setting position of each forming station, so as to respectively accumulate the pattern curing layer on the component platform of each forming station during the circulation of the at least one energy emitting device through each forming station, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

A second aspect of the present disclosure provides a 3D printing apparatus including: a plurality of forming stations, each said forming station including respectively: a container for holding a material to be cured; a Z-axis system disposed in correspondence with the container, the Z-axis system comprising:

the component platform is positioned in the container in the printing operation and used for accumulating and attaching the pattern curing layer by layer to form a corresponding 3D component; the Z-axis driving mechanism is connected with the component platform and used for adjusting the height of the component platform in the Z-axis direction under an adjusting state; an energy radiation system located above or below the container, comprising: a moving mechanism for moving along the printing surface in each container; the energy emitting device is arranged on the moving mechanism and used for radiating energy to the material to be solidified in the corresponding container according to the corresponding slice image in the process of moving along the printing surface in a radiation state so as to solidify and shape the material to be solidified; and the control device is connected with the Z axis system and the energy radiation system and used for controlling the Z axis system and the energy radiation system in a printing operation so as to accumulate the pattern curing layer on the component platform of each forming station based on the 3D printing method according to the first aspect of the application, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

A third aspect of the disclosure provides a control method for a 3D printing apparatus, where the 3D printing apparatus includes an energy radiation system and a plurality of forming stations, where each forming station includes: the Z-axis system and the container for containing the material to be solidified, the energy radiation system comprises a moving mechanism and at least one energy emitting device, the Z-axis system comprises a component platform, and the control method comprises the following steps: controlling the moving mechanism to drive at least one energy emitting device to move along a printing surface in the container in the current forming station, so that the at least one energy emitting device radiates energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image in the moving process, and thus obtaining a pattern curing layer on a component platform of the forming station; when the fact that the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station is detected, enabling the current forming station to enter an adjusting state, and controlling the moving mechanism to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to the next forming station; wherein the adjustment state comprises: coating the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container, and/or adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container, and/or driving the component platform to move to the next forming height; and repeating the steps based on the setting position of each forming station so as to sequentially and respectively accumulate the pattern curing layers on the component platform of each forming station during the circulation of the at least one energy emitting device through each forming station, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

A fourth aspect of the present disclosure provides a control apparatus for a 3D printing device, the control apparatus including: the interface unit is used for being in data connection with a Z axis system and an energy radiation system in the 3D printing equipment; a storage unit for storing at least one program; and the processing unit is used for calling the at least one program to coordinate the storage unit and the interface unit to control the 3D printing device to realize the control method according to the third aspect of the application.

A fifth aspect of the present disclosure provides a 3D printing system, including the control apparatus of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a plurality of 3D printing devices, wherein each of the 3D printing devices respectively includes: a container for holding a material to be cured; a Z-axis system disposed in correspondence with the container, the Z-axis system comprising: the component platform is positioned in the container in the printing operation and used for accumulating and attaching the pattern curing layer by layer to form a corresponding 3D component; the Z-axis driving mechanism is connected with the component platform and is used for adjusting the height of the component platform in the Z-axis direction under the control of the control device; an energy radiation system located above or below the container, comprising: a moving mechanism for moving along the printing surface in each container under the control of the control device; and the energy emitting device is arranged on the moving mechanism and used for radiating energy to the material to be solidified in the corresponding container according to the corresponding slice image in the process of moving along the printing surface under the control of the control device so as to solidify and shape the material to be solidified.

In summary, on one hand, the energy emitting device is driven by the moving mechanism to move on the printing surface and radiate energy to the printing surface in the moving process, so that the material to be solidified on the printing surface is molded, the molding efficiency is effectively improved, and the printing precision can be ensured; on the other hand, the use efficiency of the energy radiation system is effectively improved, 3D components on other forming stations are printed by using the adjusting waiting time of the forming stations, and therefore the printing efficiency of the printing equipment is improved.

Other aspects and advantages of the present application will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. Only exemplary embodiments of the present application have been shown and described in the following detailed description. As those skilled in the art will recognize, the disclosure of the present application enables those skilled in the art to make changes to the specific embodiments disclosed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as it is directed to the present application. Accordingly, the descriptions in the drawings and the specification of the present application are illustrative only and not limiting.

Drawings

The specific features of the invention to which this application relates are set forth in the appended claims. The features and advantages of the invention to which this application relates will be better understood by reference to the exemplary embodiments described in detail below and the accompanying drawings. The brief description of the drawings is as follows:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an embodiment of an arrangement of energy emitting devices according to the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an arrangement of energy emitting devices according to the present application in another embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an arrangement of energy emitting devices according to the present application in yet another embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a simplified structural diagram of a moving mechanism according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a moving mechanism according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a moving mechanism in accordance with the present application in a further embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a printing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present application is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and capabilities of the present application will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure.

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that describe several embodiments of the application. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes in the module or unit composition, electrical, and operation may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments of the present application is defined only by the claims of the issued patent. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application.

Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, information, or parameters in some instances, these elements or parameters should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element or parameter from another element or parameter. For example, the first radiation range may be referred to as the second radiation range, and similarly, the second radiation range may be referred to as the first radiation range, without departing from the scope of the various described embodiments. The first radiation range and the second radiation range are both describing one radiation range, but they are not the same radiation range unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Depending on context, for example, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …". Similar considerations also include "first forming station" and "second forming station" and the like.

Also, as used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, species, and/or groups, but do not preclude the presence, or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, species, and/or groups thereof. The terms "or" and/or "as used herein are to be construed as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Thus, "A, B or C" or "A, B and/or C" means "any of the following: a; b; c; a and B; a and C; b and C; A. b and C ". An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or operations are inherently mutually exclusive in some way.

As described in the background, on the one hand, the energy radiation devices in current 3D printing apparatuses have a contradiction between printing efficiency and printing accuracy, i.e., the laser spot scanning method has a low printing efficiency, and the entire web is exposed by the surface, which in turn reduces the printing accuracy. On the other hand, in some current embodiments, the 3D printing apparatus generally has only one forming station, and after printing one layer, it is necessary to wait for operations such as spreading, component platform moving, and liquid level adjustment to be completed, and then print the next layer, and due to the influence of fluidity of the printing material, it is necessary to wait for the leveling of the printing material. During the waiting time, the energy radiation device does not radiate energy, reducing printing efficiency.

In view of this, the present application provides a 3D printing method, which can improve printing efficiency and ensure printing quality.

It should be understood that 3D printing is one of the rapid prototyping techniques, which is a technique for building objects by layer-by-layer printing using bondable printable material, such as powdered metal or plastic, based on a digital model file. When printing, the digital model file is firstly processed to realize the import of the 3D component model to be printed to the 3D printing device. And printing the obtained real object, namely the 3D component based on the 3D component model. Here, the 3D component model includes, but is not limited to, a 3D component model based on a CAD component, which is, for example, an STL file, and the control device performs layout and layer cutting processing on the imported STL file. The 3D component model can be imported into the control device via a data interface or a network interface. The solid part in the imported 3D member model may be any shape, wherein the solid part is a part for characterizing the 3D member structure, and the solid part may include teeth, spheres, houses, teeth, or any shape with a preset structure. Wherein the preset structure includes but is not limited to at least one of the following: cavity structures, structures containing abrupt shape changes, and structures with preset requirements for profile accuracy in solid parts, etc.

In a photo-curing 3D printing device, the printing material is typically a photo-curing material. 3D printing apparatus carries out the mode of layer by layer exposure solidification and the accumulation each solidified layer to photocuring material through energy radiation system and prints the 3D component, and concrete photocuring rapid prototyping technique's theory of operation does: the light curing material is used as raw material, under the control of the control device, the energy radiation system irradiates and carries out layer-by-layer exposure or scanning according to the slice image of each slice layer, and the slice image and the resin thin layer in the radiation area are cured after photopolymerization reaction, so that a thin layer section of the workpiece is formed. After one layer is cured, the worktable moves one layer thick, and a new layer of light-cured material is coated on the surface of the resin which is just cured so as to carry out cyclic exposure or scanning. And (3) firmly bonding the newly cured layer on the previous layer, repeating the steps, and stacking the layers one by one to finally form the whole product prototype, namely the 3D component. The photo-curable material generally refers to a material that forms a cured layer after being irradiated by light (such as ultraviolet light, laser light, etc.), and includes but is not limited to: photosensitive resin, or a mixture of photosensitive resin and other materials. Such as ceramic powders, pigments, etc.

The 3D printing method is performed by a 3D printing device, which may be a dot scanning based printing device, such as an SLA printing device; alternatively, the 3D printing device may also be a surface exposure based printing device, such as a DLP printing device, an LCD printing device, or the like.

The 3D printing device may be a top projection printing device or a bottom projection printing device. In addition, since it usually takes longer for the adjustment state of the top projection printing apparatus, the effect of the 3D printing method in the application of the top projection printing apparatus to improve the printing efficiency is more significant compared with the prior art. Of course, the 3D printing method in the present application does not exclude the bottom projection printing apparatus, because in some embodiments, the bottom projection printing apparatus also needs to perform liquid level adjustment, component platform movement, and the like in an adjustment state, and thus, the method can also be applied to the bottom projection printing apparatus in theory. In some embodiments, the top projection may also be referred to as top exposure, top projection exposure, upper projection; the bottom projection may also be referred to as bottom exposure, bottom projection. In a top-projection printing apparatus, an energy radiation system is located above a container, and the energy radiation system radiates energy to the container located below the energy radiation system, i.e., downward projection; in the printing apparatus based on the top exposure, the Z-axis driving mechanism is used for controllably moving and adjusting the position of the component platform along the Z-axis direction so as to form a printing reference surface between the upper surface of the component platform and the liquid level of the printing material in the container. In a bottom-projection printing apparatus, an energy radiation system is located below the container, and the energy radiation system radiates energy to the bottom surface of the container located above it, i.e., upward projection.

Based on different working states executed by the 3D printing device, the working state (i.e. in the printing operation) can be divided into a radiation state and an adjustment state, in which the 3D printing device makes preparations for executing a printing task, including but not limited to adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container, uniformly coating the material to be solidified on the surface in the container, moving the member platform to the next forming height, moving the member platform to separate the solidified layer on the member platform from the liquid level of the material to be solidified, and the like. For example, for a top-projection printing apparatus, in some embodiments, after each layer is printed, the material to be cured needs to be coated on the printing surface in the container, and the component platform needs to be lowered by a height equal to the thickness of the printing layer, and after a certain number of layers are printed, the liquid level in the container needs to be adjusted so that the liquid level can be maintained at the desired printing height; as another example, for a bottom projection printing apparatus, in some embodiments, the component platform is moved upward after each layer is printed to peel the cured layer from the bottom inside the container. In the radiation state, the 3D printing device enables the energy radiation system to work so as to radiate energy to the material to be solidified on the printing surface to enable the material to be solidified and formed. Usually, the printing surface is also called a printing reference surface, which is determined according to a radiation plane calibrated by the energy radiation system.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus in an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the 3D printing apparatus includes: an energy radiation system 11, a plurality of forming stations, and a control device 15. Wherein each forming station comprises a container 121 and a Z-axis system 124, the energy radiation system 11 comprises at least one energy emitting device 112 and a moving mechanism 111 for driving the at least one energy emitting device to move, and the Z-axis system comprises a component platform 1241.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 8, which is a schematic diagram of a printing method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in the figure, in step S110, the moving mechanism drives at least one energy emitting device to move along the printing surface in the container in the current forming station, and in the moving process, energy is radiated to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image, so as to obtain a pattern cured layer on the component platform of the forming station.

Specifically, in the printing process of the 3D printing apparatus, the moving mechanism drives at least one energy emitting device to move along a printing surface in the container in the current forming station, and in the moving process, energy is radiated to the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image. It should be understood that the slice image is a cross-sectional layer image (i.e., a pattern cured layer) obtained by slicing the 3D printing model layer by layer according to the printing thickness.

Taking the example that the 3D printing apparatus includes three forming stations, when printing the first layer of pattern-cured layer at each forming station, first, the moving mechanism drives at least one energy-emitting device to move along the printing surface of the container in the first forming station, and in the moving process, according to the first layer of slice image in the 3D model corresponding to the first forming station, the energy is radiated to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface, so as to obtain the pattern-cured layer corresponding to the first layer of slice image on the component platform of the first forming station.

In step S120, when the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station, the current forming station enters an adjustment state, and the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to move to a next forming station; wherein the adjustment state comprises: coating the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container, and/or adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container, and/or driving the component platform to move to the next forming height.

Continuing with the example that the 3D printing apparatus includes three forming stations, after obtaining the first layer of the pattern cured layer at the first forming station, the first forming station needs to enter an adjustment state to prepare for curing of the next layer, for example, coating the material to be cured on the printing surface in the container so that the material to be cured is uniformly located on the printing surface; and/or adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container to enable the printing surface to be positioned below the ideal forming height; and/or the driving component platform moves to the next forming height, and the like, and under the adjusting state of the first forming station, the moving mechanism can drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to the second forming station for working.

In step S130, the above steps are repeated based on the setting position of each forming station, so as to respectively accumulate the pattern cured layer on the component platform of each forming station during the circulation of the at least one energy emitting device through each forming station, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

In an exemplary embodiment, the energy emitting device sequentially traverses each of the forming stations based on the set position of each forming station, thereby radiating energy to a printing surface within the container according to the corresponding slice image at each of the forming stations during the traversal, respectively, to build up the patterned cured layer by layer on the component platform to obtain the corresponding 3D component.

Taking the example that the 3D printing apparatus includes three forming stations as an example, after the radiation state at the second forming station is completed, the second forming station may enter the adjustment state, and the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to move to the third forming station for working. After the radiation state of the third forming station is finished, the third forming station can be made to enter the adjusting state, and the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to return to the first forming station, at this time, the first forming station should be finished or is about to finish the adjusting state, after the first forming station finishes the adjusting state, the moving mechanism continues to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move along the printing surface in the container in the first forming station, and the steps in S110-S120 are repeated until the printing task of each forming station is finished.

The 3D printing models printed by different molding stations can be the same or different, for example, batch printing of the same product can be realized through different molding stations, and printing of different products can also be realized through different molding stations. Generally, when batch printing of the same product is realized through different forming stations, in some embodiments, because the number of the slice layers corresponding to each forming station is the same, in the whole printing process, each layer of printing relates to each forming station, that is, when a pattern cured layer of a certain forming station is printed, other forming stations also need to print the pattern cured layer, and generally, the situation that the printing task of a certain forming station is completed earlier than that of other forming stations does not exist; when different products are printed through different forming stations, in some embodiments, because the number of slicing layers corresponding to each forming station may be different, in printing of the next several layers, the 3D member of a certain forming station(s) is/are finished, but the 3D members of other forming stations are not finished yet, and at this time, only unfinished forming stations can be printed by skipping over the finished forming stations.

In an exemplary embodiment, since the energy emitting device is moved in the radiation state, the energy radiation system needs to start to radiate energy to the printing surface at a proper position after reaching a certain forming position, otherwise, if delay occurs, the built pattern curing layer has deviation, and the printing precision is affected.

For this purpose, in an embodiment, each forming station has an initial printing position, and when it is detected that at least one energy emitting device reaches the initial printing position, the energy emitting device is enabled to radiate energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the slice image corresponding to the forming station and the corresponding printing layer. In this case, each shaping station can comprise a detection device, which can detect whether at least one energy-emitting device has reached an initial printing position. In a possible embodiment, the detection means may for example comprise a sensor, such as a photoelectric sensor or the like, which may be arranged in the vicinity of the container and is used to detect whether the movement mechanism has passed the initial printing position. Here, the initial printing position represents a position at which the at least one energy emitting device can start to radiate energy to the printing surface in a certain forming station, and the position is usually located at a position on one side in the container.

In other embodiments, it can also be determined by means of a detection device whether the energy-emitting device has left the last forming station. Specifically, since the 3D printing apparatus in this embodiment includes a plurality of forming stations but only one energy radiation system, it can be determined that the energy radiation system is not located at another forming station by detecting that the energy radiation system is located at one forming station, and thus the other forming stations can enter the adjustment state. For example, when the printing sequence is the first forming station, the second forming station, and the third forming station, after printing of a layer of the first forming station is completed, the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to move to the second forming station, and when it is detected that the at least one energy emitting device reaches the initial printing position of the second forming station, the first forming station may enter the adjustment state at the same time, and the at least one energy emitting device starts to radiate energy to the printing surface in the container of the second forming station according to the corresponding slice image.

In another exemplary embodiment, since parameters such as the moving speed of the moving mechanism, the size of the printing surface of each forming station, and the position of each forming station are known, the travel distance of the moving mechanism can be calculated through the parameters, so as to judge the position of at least one energy emitting device, and thus judge whether the energy emitting device leaves a forming station and/or arrives at another forming station.

Here, the plurality of forming stations may be 2 forming stations, or more than 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and the like, and the number of forming stations may be determined according to an adjustment time required for each forming station to be in an adjustment state and a radiation time required for a radiation state, so that in the process of performing a radiation operation through each forming station, when a radiation operation of a last forming station is completed, a first forming station has completed the adjustment and printing of a next layer may be started, thereby more optimally improving the working efficiency of the printing apparatus. For example, if the adjustment state of each molding station takes 20 seconds on average and the irradiation state of each molding station at the time of printing a cured layer takes 5 seconds, about 4 molding stations may be provided. It should be noted that the adjustment state time of each forming station in each layer may be different, for example, in the adjustment state of some layers, only the height of the component product table needs to be adjusted, in the adjustment state of other layers, the liquid level height of the material to be solidified in the container needs to be adjusted, and the like, so that the time required for the adjustment state may also be changed.

The container 121 is used for containing a printing material to be cured (referred to as a material to be printed or a material to be cured), and in the photocuring printing apparatus, the material to be printed is a photocuring material. The light-curable material includes any liquid or powder material that is easily light-cured, and examples of the liquid material include: a photocurable resin liquid, or a resin liquid doped with a mixed material such as ceramic powder or a color additive. The materials of the container include but are not limited to: glass, plastic, resin, etc. The volume of the container depends on the type of 3D printing device or the overall breadth of the energy radiation system in the 3D printing device. In some cases, the container may also be referred to as a resin tank. The container may be entirely transparent or only the bottom of the container may be transparent, for example, the container is a glass container, and the container wall is attached with light absorbing paper (such as black film, black paper, etc.) so as to reduce the curing interference of the light-curing material due to light scattering during projection. In some embodiments, for the bottom surface exposure forming printing device, a transparent flexible film for peeling the printed cured layer from the bottom surface of the container is further laid on the inner bottom surface of the container, and the transparent flexible film is, for example, FEP release film which is a hot-melt extrusion casting film made of ultra-high purity FEP resin (fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer) and has excellent non-adhesiveness, high temperature resistance, electrical insulation, mechanical properties, wear resistance and the like.

The materials to be solidified in the containers in different forming stations can be the same material to be solidified or different materials to be solidified.

With continued reference to fig. 1, the Z-axis systems are disposed in one-to-one correspondence with the containers, i.e., each container is equipped with a corresponding Z-axis system. The Z-axis system 124 includes a Z-axis drive mechanism (not shown) and a component platform 1241, and the Z-axis system 124 is movable in the Z-axis direction to drive the component platform 1241 up or down in a print job. The component platform is generally positioned in the container and connected with the Z-axis driving mechanism in the printing operation, and is used for adjusting the distance from the component platform to a printing reference surface under the control of the Z-axis driving mechanism in the printing operation and accumulating the attached curing layers layer by layer to form the 3D component. In the printing apparatus based on the bottom exposure, the Z-axis driving mechanism is used for controllably moving and adjusting the position of the component platform along the Z-axis direction so as to form a printing reference surface between the lower surface of the component platform and the inner lower surface of the container. The component platform is used for adhering the light-cured material on the irradiated printing reference surface to form a pattern cured layer through curing, and the corresponding 3D component is formed after the pattern cured layer is accumulated on the component platform. The Z-axis driving mechanism includes a driving unit and a Z-axis moving unit, the driving unit is configured to drive the Z-axis to move, so that the Z-axis moving unit drives the component platform to move along the Z-axis axially, for example, the driving unit may be a driving motor. The drive unit is controlled by a control instruction. Wherein the control instructions include: the directional commands for indicating the ascending, descending or stopping of the component platform may even include parameters such as rotation speed/rotation speed acceleration, or torque/torsion. This is advantageous for precisely controlling the rising distance of the Z-axis moving unit to achieve precise adjustment of the Z-axis. Here, the Z-axis moving unit includes a fixed rod with one end fixed on the component platform, and an engagement moving assembly fixed to the other end of the fixed rod, wherein the engagement moving assembly is driven by the driving unit to drive the fixed rod to move axially along the Z-axis, and the engagement moving assembly is, for example, a limit moving assembly engaged by a tooth-shaped structure, such as a rack. As another example, the Z-axis moving unit includes: the positioning and moving structure comprises a screw rod and a positioning and moving structure screwed with the screw rod, wherein two ends of the screw rod are screwed with a driving unit, an extending end of the positioning and moving structure is fixedly connected to a component platform, and the positioning and moving structure can be a ball screw. The component platform is a means to attach and carry the formed cured layer. The component platform is used for attaching and bearing the formed cross-section layers (namely pattern cured layers), and the cross-section layers on the component platform are accumulated layer by layer to form the 3D component. In some embodiments, the component platform is also referred to as a component plate.

The energy radiation system is used for projecting an image to the direction of the component platform, and the energy radiated by the energy radiation system can enable the light-cured material on the printing reference surface to be molded in the printing operation. The energy radiation system comprises a moving mechanism and at least one energy emitting device, the moving mechanism can move along a printing surface in the container, the at least one energy emitting device is arranged on the moving mechanism, energy can be radiated into the corresponding container based on the corresponding slice image in the process of moving along the printing surface, and the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container is solidified and molded after receiving the radiation energy.

The plurality of energy emitting devices are arranged to be integrally disposed on the moving mechanism. During the movement of the moving mechanism along the printing surface of the 3D printing device, the plurality of energy emitting devices perform selective radiation processing on the material to be solidified on the printing surface according to the acquired slice image, so that a pattern solidified layer corresponding to the slice image is formed.

In an exemplary embodiment, the stroke range and the moving mode of the moving mechanism are adapted to the setting positions of the plurality of forming stations, so that the radiation range of the energy radiation system covers the printing face width and the printing face length corresponding to each container.

Specifically, the stroke range and the moving mode of the moving mechanism can be determined according to the setting position of each forming station, so that when the moving mechanism moves the energy emitting devices, the total radiation surface formed by each energy emitting device can cover the length and the width of the printing surface in the container, namely, the whole printing surface can be covered by the whole breadth formed by the energy emitting devices. It can be understood that, since the moving mechanism can drive the energy emitting devices to move between different forming stations, in some embodiments, the total radiation surface formed by each energy emitting device only needs to be able to cover the length and width of the corresponding printing surface at each forming station, and the total radiation surface formed by each energy emitting device does not need to cover the length and width of the corresponding printing surface at the adjacent forming station.

It will be appreciated that each energy emitting device has a respective radiation range, the radiation ranges of the energy emitting devices are typically in a partially intersecting or splicing relationship, and the sum of the radiation ranges of all the energy emitting devices is the overall web, so that the overall printing surface can be covered by the overall web formed by the energy emitting devices, and the overall web should be able to cover the individual portions of the printing surface under the movement of the moving mechanism, i.e. the individual portions in both the width and length directions of the printing surface can be irradiated by the overall web.

In an exemplary embodiment, the forming stations are arranged in a straight line, and referring to fig. 5, a simplified structural diagram of a moving mechanism in one embodiment of the present application is shown, wherein the containers 121 in each forming station are arranged in a straight line, and the moving mechanism can drive a plurality of energy emitting devices to move linearly. Here, it is assumed that the first molding station, the second molding station, the third molding station, and the fourth molding station are arranged in this order from the leftmost molding station to the rightmost molding station. The moving mechanism can firstly drive the plurality of energy emitting devices to move from left to right along the printing surface of the first forming station at the first forming station, and selectively solidify the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the first forming station according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the first forming station can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to move to the second forming station, and in the process of moving from left to right, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the second forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the second forming station can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to move to a third forming station, and in the process of moving from left to right, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the third forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; and then, the third forming station can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to move to the fourth forming station, and in the process of moving from left to right, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the fourth forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer. After the radial state of the fourth forming station is finished, the fourth forming station enters an adjusting state, at the moment, the first forming station is required to be already or to be in the adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to move to the first forming station, under the condition that the radiation state of the first forming station is finished, a next layer of printing task is started, namely, a next curing layer is continuously printed on the basis of the just printed pattern curing layer, the radiation to the second forming station, the third forming station and the fourth forming station is finished in sequence, and the steps are repeated so as to accumulate the pattern curing layer by layer on different forming stations, so that corresponding 3D printing components are obtained on different forming stations.

In another exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 6, which is a schematic structural view of a moving mechanism of the present application in another embodiment, as shown, the plurality of forming stations 12 are arranged in a circle, and the moving mechanism can drive the plurality of energy-emitting devices to rotate on one hand, so that the energy-emitting devices can move between different forming stations; and on the other hand, the moving mechanism can drive the plurality of energy emitting devices to move linearly, so that the energy emitting devices can move along the printing surface in the container in each forming station after reaching each forming station. Here, it is assumed that the molding stations arranged clockwise from the uppermost molding station are a first molding station, a second molding station, a third molding station, and a fourth molding station in this order. The moving mechanism can firstly drive the plurality of energy emitting devices to move from left to right along the printing surface of the first forming station at the first forming station, and selectively solidify the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the first forming station according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the first forming station can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to rotate clockwise to move to the second forming station, and in the process of moving from left to right along the printing surface in the container of the second forming station, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the second forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice images to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the second forming station can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to rotate clockwise to move to a third forming station, and in the process of moving from left to right along the printing surface in the container of the third forming station, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the third forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice images to form a pattern solidified layer; and then, the third forming station can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to rotate clockwise to move to the fourth forming station, and in the process of moving from left to right along the printing surface in the container at the fourth forming station, the material to be solidified on the printing surface at the fourth forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer. After the radial state of the fourth forming station is finished, the fourth forming station enters an adjusting state, at the moment, the first forming station is required to be already or is about to finish the adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the energy emitting devices to rotate clockwise to move back to the first forming station, under the condition that the radiation state of the first forming station is finished, a printing task of a next layer is started, namely, a next solidified layer is continuously printed on the basis of the just printed solidified layer of the pattern, the radiation to the second forming station, the third forming station and the fourth forming station is finished in sequence, and the steps are repeated to accumulate the solidified layer of the pattern layer by layer on different forming stations, so that corresponding 3D printing components are obtained on different forming stations.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 7, which is a schematic structural view of the moving mechanism of the present application in yet another embodiment, as shown, the plurality of forming stations (12a,12b,12c,12d,12e,12f) are arranged in an oval shape, and the moving mechanism is required to achieve rotational motion and linear motion at different positions due to the oval arrangement, so that the plurality of energy emitting devices can be driven to rotate and move linearly when the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move between different forming stations; after reaching each forming station, the plurality of energy emitting devices may also be driven in linear motion to move along the print surface within the container in the forming station.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 7, a first forming station 12a, a second forming station 12b, a third forming station 12c, a fourth forming station 12d, a fifth forming station 12e, and a sixth forming station 12f are included. The moving mechanism can firstly drive the plurality of energy emitting devices to move from the left to the right along the printing surface of the first forming station at the first forming station 12a, and selectively solidify the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the first forming station according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the first forming station 12a can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move linearly to the second forming station 12b, and in the process of moving from left to right along the printing surface in the container of the second forming station, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the second forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the second forming station 12b can enter an adjusting state, the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to rotate to the third forming station 12c, and in the process of moving along the printing surface in the container of the third forming station from left to right, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the third forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the third forming station 12c can enter an adjustment state, the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to rotate to the fourth forming station 12d, and in the process of moving along the printing surface in the container of the fourth forming station from left to right, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the fourth forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the fourth forming station 12d can enter an adjustment state, the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move linearly to the fifth forming station 12e, and in the process of moving from left to right along the printing surface in the container of the fifth forming station, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the fifth forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer; then, the fifth forming station 12e can enter an adjustment state, the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to rotate to the sixth forming station 12f, and in the process of moving from left to right along the printing surface in the container of the sixth forming station, the material to be solidified on the printing surface of the sixth forming station is selectively solidified according to the corresponding slice image to form a pattern solidified layer. After the radiation state of the sixth forming station 12f is finished, the first forming station should already or will finish the adjusting state, then the sixth forming station enters the adjusting state, and the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to rotationally move back to the first forming station 12a, when the radiation state of the first forming station is finished, the next layer of printing task is started, namely, the next solidified layer is continuously printed on the basis of the just printed pattern solidified layer, the radiation to the second forming station, the third forming station, the fourth forming station, the fifth forming station and the sixth forming station is finished in sequence, and the steps are repeated so as to accumulate the pattern solidified layers layer by layer on different forming stations, so that the corresponding 3D printing members are obtained on different forming stations.

In one embodiment, with continued reference to fig. 5, as shown, the moving mechanism is disposed outside each container, and the moving mechanism has a beam 1111 that spans across the printing surface of the container, and a plurality of energy emitting devices are arranged to be integrally disposed on the beam 1111, and the moving mechanism further includes: the driving assembly, for example, includes a guide rail 1112 and a slider 1113 disposed on the guide rail 1112, and the guide rail 1112 and the slider 1113 disposed on the guide rail 1112 may be disposed on one side or both sides of the container 121. The beam 1111 is fixed to the slider 1113, thereby moving the plurality of energy emitting devices during the movement of the slider 1113 along the guide 1112. The stroke range of the sliding block 1113 can cover all the forming stations, so that a plurality of energy emitting devices can be driven to work at each forming station.

In another embodiment, the moving mechanism may further include a first moving mechanism and a second moving mechanism, wherein the first moving mechanism may cover all the molding stations by its own stroke range, and the second moving mechanism may cover a single molding station by its own stroke range, the second moving mechanism being provided on the first moving mechanism, whereby the second moving mechanism may move between different molding stations by moving on the first moving mechanism. The plurality of energy emitting devices are integrally arranged on the second moving mechanism in an arrangement mode, so that after the second moving mechanism is driven by the first moving mechanism to reach each forming station, the second moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move along the printing surface of the forming station and radiate energy to the material to be solidified on the printing surface, after the radiation operation of the forming station is completed, the first moving mechanism drives the second moving mechanism to move to the next forming station, and the forming stations are traversed in sequence to complete the printing operation. That is, the first moving mechanism is used for assisting the plurality of energy emitting devices to move between different forming stations, and the second moving mechanism is used for assisting the plurality of energy emitting devices to move along the printing surface at a certain forming station. In a possible embodiment, the first movement mechanism comprises a first guide rail and a first slider, the second movement mechanism comprises a second guide rail and a second slider, the second guide rail is arranged on the first slide block, the second moving mechanism is also provided with a beam which crosses over the printing surface of the container, a plurality of energy emitting devices are arranged on the beam integrally, the beam is fixed on the second slide block, therefore, the second moving mechanism and the plurality of energy emitting devices are driven to synchronously move along the first guide rail to move to the target forming station in the process of the first slide block moving along the first guide rail, then the second slide block moves on the second guide rail to drive the plurality of energy emitting devices to move along the printing surface of the forming station, so that energy is selectively radiated to the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image during the movement to form the material to be solidified on the printing surface into a pattern solidified layer. In other possible embodiments, with continued reference to fig. 6, as shown, the first moving mechanism 1114 may also be a rotary driving mechanism, the second moving mechanism 1115 includes a rail and a slider disposed on the rotary driving mechanism, the second moving mechanism further includes a beam 1116 spanning across the printing surface of the container, and a plurality of energy emitting devices (not shown) are integrally disposed on the beam 1116 in an arrangement, the beam being fixed to the slider, thereby moving the plurality of energy emitting devices during movement of the slider along the rail. The stroke range of the second moving mechanism can cover a single forming station, but the stroke range of the rotary driving mechanism can cover all the forming stations, so that the rotary driving mechanism can drive the second moving mechanism to move to the corresponding forming station, and the second moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to work at each forming station.

Since the plurality of energy emitting devices are operated by radiation during the movement of the moving mechanism, the moving manner and the moving speed of the moving mechanism can be configured according to the operating speeds of the plurality of energy emitting devices in order to mold the material to be cured on the printing surface. For example, when the operating speed of the plurality of energy-emitting devices is fast (i.e., the material to be solidified can be molded in accordance with the acquired slice images in a short time), the moving mechanism may be configured to move continuously at a fast speed; for another example, when the plurality of energy emitting devices operate at a slower speed, the moving mechanism may be configured to move continuously or intermittently at the slower speed, thereby giving the plurality of energy emitting devices sufficient time to shape the material to be solidified on the print surface.

The slice image is the slice image in the 3D model corresponding to the 3D printing device when the 3D printing device selectively solidifies the pattern solidified layer. In one embodiment, the energy radiation system is connected to the control device of the 3D printing apparatus, so that the slice image corresponding to the print job of each layer is sent to the energy radiation system, so that the energy radiation system selectively radiates the material to be solidified on the printing surface according to the slice image, thereby forming the pattern solidified layer corresponding to the slice image.

It should be understood that the selective irradiation means that the corresponding energy emitting device is selected to emit the energy beam or pattern according to the corresponding relationship between the position of each pixel to be printed in the slice image and the position of the irradiation on the printing surface, so as to form a pattern cured layer corresponding to the slice image.

It will be appreciated that different printing apparatuses may have different types of energy emitting devices. For example, in an SLA printing apparatus, its energy emitting device comprises a laser emitter; in the DLP printing apparatus, the energy emitting device thereof includes a DLP light engine; when the 3D printing apparatus is an EBM apparatus, the energy emitting device may be a high-energy electron beam; when the 3D printing apparatus is an LCD apparatus, the energy emitting device may be an LED array light source and an LCD panel.

In an embodiment, the 3D printing apparatus is an SLA printing apparatus, and an energy emitting device of the apparatus includes a laser emitter, a lens group located on an emission light path of the laser emitter, a mirror group located on a light exit side of the lens group, a motor controlling the mirror, and the like, where the laser emitter is controlled to adjust energy of an output laser beam, for example, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam with a preset power and stop emitting the laser beam, and for example, the laser emitter is controlled to increase power of the laser beam and decrease power of the laser beam. The lens group is used for adjusting the focusing position of the laser beam, the galvanometer group is used for controllably scanning the laser beam in a two-dimensional space on the bottom surface or the top surface of the container, the photocuring material scanned by the laser beam is solidified into a corresponding pattern solidified layer, and the swing amplitude of the galvanometer group determines the scanning size of the SLA equipment.

In another embodiment, the 3D printing device is a DLP printing device. In the DLP apparatus, the energy emitting device includes a DMD chip, a controller, and a memory module. Wherein the storage module stores therein a layered image layering the 3D component model. And the DMD chip irradiates the light source of each pixel on the corresponding layered image to the top surface of the container after receiving the control signal of the controller. In fact, the mirror is composed of hundreds of thousands or even millions of micromirrors, each micromirror represents a pixel, and the projected image is composed of these pixels. The DMD chip may be simply described as a semiconductor light switch and a micromirror plate corresponding to the pixel points, and the controller allows/prohibits the light reflected from each of the micromirrors by controlling each of the light switches in the DMD chip, thereby irradiating the corresponding layered image onto the photo-curable material through the transparent top of the container so that the photo-curable material corresponding to the shape of the image is cured to obtain the patterned cured layer.

In yet another embodiment, the 3D printing device is an LCD printing device. Taking a liquid crystal surface light source to cure an LCD as an example, in the LCD printing device, an energy emitting device of the LCD printing device comprises an LCD liquid crystal screen positioned above the container and a light source which is aligned above the LCD liquid crystal screen. And a control chip in the energy emitting device projects the layered image of the slice to be printed to a printing surface through an LCD (liquid crystal display), and the material to be solidified in the container is solidified into a corresponding pattern solidified layer by using a pattern radiation surface provided by the LCD. Examples of the light source include, but are not limited to, a 406nm UV-LED light source, a 355nm UV-LED light source, visible light, and the like, and may be determined according to specific requirements of a printing material in a specific application, for example, visible light may be used as a radiation source for a printing material formed by visible light curing irradiation, and ultraviolet light of a corresponding wavelength band may be used as a radiation source for a printing material formed by irradiation of ultraviolet light of a certain wavelength band.

In view of this, it is understood that the energy radiated by the energy emitting device may in some embodiments be optical energy, such as a laser, LED light source, or the like. Alternatively, each energy emitting device may be further connected to an energy source for receiving energy supplied by the energy source, for example, the energy source may be a laser connected to each energy emitting device through a laser fiber for supplying energy to each energy emitting device.

In an exemplary embodiment, each of the energy emitting devices is arranged in an area array, which may be a lattice-shaped area array formed in a staggered arrangement according to a moving direction of the moving mechanism.

In one exemplary embodiment, the energy emitting device includes laser emission terminals and a galvanometer positioned in an emission path of each laser emission terminal. The vibrating mirror comprises a reflecting mirror surface and a rotating mechanism, wherein the reflecting mirror surface is used for adjusting a light path so as to change the angle of the energy beam emitted by the laser emission terminal, and the reflecting mirror surface is a rhomboid mirror or a single-sided reflecting mirror.

And all laser emission terminals in the energy emission device are arrayed according to the angle range of the energy beams which can be adjusted by the corresponding galvanometers, so that the whole energy radiation system can radiate energy within the width/length of the whole printing breadth without gaps.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 4, which is a schematic diagram of an arrangement of the energy emitting devices in the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the energy emitting devices are staggered into a lattice-shaped surface array according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism (i.e., the direction of arrow a in fig. 4), each point in the points set obliquely in fig. 4 corresponds to an energy emitting device, the energy emitting devices are obliquely arranged to form a unit 112 "', and the units 112"' form a surface array. The arrow b direction is a direction perpendicular to the travelling direction a of the moving mechanism, an included angle between the setting direction of each energy emitting device in each unit 112' ″ and the direction b is a first arrangement included angle theta, and the size of the first arrangement included angle theta is configured to be matched with the moving speed of the moving mechanism, so that the printing success rate is ensured.

In this embodiment, the laser emitted by the laser emitting terminals is in a dot shape, and each laser emitting terminal is controlled to adjust the energy of the output laser beam, for example, the laser emitting terminal is controlled to emit a laser beam with a preset power and stop emitting the laser beam, and for example, the laser emitting terminal is controlled to increase the power of the laser beam and decrease the power of the laser beam. The laser emitted by the laser emitting terminal is used for adjusting the radiation angle of the laser beam through the galvanometer so as to project the laser beam to an ideal position, so that the material to be solidified on the printing surface is molded.

In the moving process of a moving mechanism of the energy radiation system, each galvanometer adjusts the angle of the energy beam emitted by the laser emission terminal according to the moving instantaneous position of the corresponding laser emission terminal, so that the material to be solidified on the printing surface is subjected to selective radiation processing in the process that the energy emission device moves along with the moving mechanism and scans point by point to form a pattern solidified layer corresponding to the slice image. In this process, since the number of the energy emitting devices is plural, each energy emitter performs a scanning operation at the same time, thereby improving printing efficiency.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 2, which is a schematic diagram of an arrangement of energy emitting devices in the present application in another embodiment. As shown, in fig. 2, each oblique line represents an energy emitting device 112', each energy emitting device is controlled to adjust the switching and energy of the output laser beam, and the radiation emitting device includes a line laser, i.e., the laser emitted by the radiation emitting device is a line. It should be understood that in some embodiments, the line laser refracts the point-like laser spot to different positions on a straight line through the rotation of the prism, and the line effect of the line laser is observed by naked eyes under the rapid rotation, and the angle of the line laser is related to the arrangement direction of the radiation emitting device. The direction c in fig. 2 is a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the moving mechanism, and the energy emitting devices are arranged in a line along the direction c. And, the angle between the setting direction of each energy emitting device 112' and the direction c is a second arrangement angle θ, and the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to the second arrangement angle θ.

In another exemplary embodiment, each of the energy emitting devices is arranged in an area array, which may be a matrix-arranged area array formed according to a moving direction of the moving mechanism.

In another exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 3, which is a schematic diagram of an arrangement of the energy emitting devices in the present application in another embodiment. As shown in the figure, the plurality of energy emitting devices form a lattice-shaped area array 112 "arranged in a matrix according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism (i.e. the direction of arrow a in fig. 3), and each energy emitting device in the area array 112" is controlled to adjust the energy of the output energy beam and switch, so that the area array 112 "adjusts the projected breadth according to the slice image. During the movement of the moving mechanism, the surface array 112 ″ forms the material to be solidified on the printing surface in a surface exposure manner to form a pattern solidified layer corresponding to the slice image. In some cases, since the swath of the area array 112 "cannot cover the entire area to be printed in one projection, the area array 112" and the moving mechanism may be configured to: after the moving mechanism moves a preset distance, the surface array 112 ″ radiates energy to the gap between the component platform and the printing surface to perform selective radiation treatment on the material to be solidified in the region, and after the surface array 112 ″ completes the printing task in the region, the moving mechanism continues to move the preset distance again so that the surface array 112 ″ completes the printing task in the next region. The size of the preset distance can be determined according to the size of the area array 112 ″ and the energy of each energy emitting device, so that the printing of the pattern cured layer is complete and the curing degree of each area is average. Alternatively, the area array may be continuously moved and its projected image may be changed based on the position during the movement so that the pattern cured layer corresponding to the slice image is finally formed. In some embodiments, the area array may include a plurality of DLP light engines arranged in an array, and in other embodiments, the area array may also include a plurality of LED light sources and an LCD screen arranged in an array.

It should be understood that, due to the large volume of the energy emitting devices, the staggered arrangement of the energy emitting devices can take into account the problems of installation space and radiation surface. The specific form of the staggered arrangement can be determined according to actual requirements, and may be, for example, a surface array shown in fig. 4, a parallelogram lattice-shaped surface array, a hexagonal lattice-shaped surface array with two sides protruding outwards, a hexagonal lattice-shaped surface array with two sides recessed inwards, or the like.

Here, in order to ensure the printing efficiency, the arrangement of the surface array formed by the energy emitting devices or the arrangement of the surface array formed by the energy emitting devices should be set according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism. For example, to avoid repeated movement of the moving device, the area array is configured such that the web covers at least a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the moving mechanism (e.g., arrow c direction in fig. 2, arrow b direction in fig. 4) so that the printing of a pattern cured layer can be completed during one stroke of the moving mechanism in the current forming station.

In a possible embodiment, during the movement of the moving mechanism, each of the energy emitting devices adjusts the irradiated angle to perform energy irradiation according to the correspondence between the moved instantaneous position and the pixel position in the slice image.

It should be understood that, there is a corresponding relationship between each position point on the printing surface and each pixel point in the slice image, and during printing, each energy emitting device performs selective radiation processing on the material to be solidified according to the slice image and the corresponding relationship to form a pattern solidified layer corresponding to the slice image. Here, since the energy emission device can adjust the emission angle of the energy beam by adjusting the galvanometer, after the energy emission device moves to the corresponding instantaneous position, the radiation angle of the energy emission device can be adjusted to radiate on the printing surface according to the pixel position of each pixel point in the slice image.

In an exemplary embodiment, the energy emitting device is controlled to move from one side of the printing surface to the other side during printing at a certain forming station, and the angle of at least one energy beam emitted by the energy emitting device is adjusted during the movement of the energy emitting device according to the instantaneous position traveled by the energy emitting device to scan the printing surface according to the slice image.

When printing is carried out at a certain forming station, the moving mechanism of the energy radiation system drives the arranged energy emitting devices to integrally move from one side to the other side of the printing surface. During the movement, the radiation range of the individual energy emitting devices of the energy radiation system can cover the entire printing surface. Wherein one side of the printing surface and the other side of the printing surface are in terms of printing length/printing width of the printing surface. Taking the printing surface as a rectangle as an example, if the energy radiation system moves along the printing length direction, the energy radiation system moves from one side of the short edge of the printing surface to the other side of the short edge of the printing surface; if the energy radiation system moves in the printing width direction, it moves from one side of the long side of the printing surface to the other side of the long side of the printing surface.

During the movement of the energy radiation system, adjusting the angle of at least one energy beam emitted by the energy radiation system according to the instantaneous position of the energy radiation system passing through so as to scan on the printing surface according to the slice image.

Wherein the instantaneous position is the position at which the energy radiation system is located at a certain moment during the movement.

In an embodiment, the instantaneous position is determined according to an initial position and a moving speed of the energy radiation system. For example, taking the continuous movement of the energy radiation system as an example, when the time difference from the current time to the start time of the operation is known after the operation of the moving mechanism of the energy radiation system is started, the instantaneous position of the energy radiation system can be determined by the initial position and the moving speed of the energy radiation system.

In another embodiment, the instantaneous position may also be provided by a sensor arranged on the path of movement of the energy radiation system. For example, in the case of an intermittent movement or a continuous movement of the energy radiation system, a displacement sensor is disposed on the moving path of the energy radiation system, and when the energy radiation system reaches the position of a certain sensor, sensing is triggered to determine the instantaneous position of the energy radiation system. In a further embodiment, the instantaneous position can also be provided by a sensor arranged on the energy radiation system. For example, a displacement sensor is provided on the energy radiation system, and the energy radiation system can determine the instantaneous position of the energy radiation system from data provided by the displacement sensor.

Here, the moving mechanism of the energy radiation system moves from one side of the printing surface to the other side, and a plurality of energy emitting devices provided on the moving mechanism move along one side of the printing surface to the other side with the moving mechanism and radiate energy to the printing surface during the movement. During the movement, each energy emitting device can scan the printing surface in the range of energy radiation at a position every time the moving mechanism moves to the position. On this basis, during the movement of the moving mechanism, each energy emitting device adjusts the angle of the emitted energy beam according to the instantaneous position through which it passes, thereby scanning the range that can be irradiated at that instantaneous position. Wherein, the mode of adjusting the angle of the transmitted energy beam can be realized by adjusting a galvanometer in the energy transmitting device.

Because the mobile mechanism and the energy emitting device need to work cooperatively to complete a printing task in the application, if the mobile mechanism moves too fast, the energy emitting device cannot complete a scanning task during the movement; if the moving mechanism moves too slowly, printing efficiency is affected. Therefore, the moving mechanism and the energy emitting device should be configured such that the energy emitting device can print the entire slice image to form the patterned cured layer during the movement of the moving mechanism. For this reason, on one hand, the moving speed of the moving mechanism needs to be reasonably controlled so that the moving speed of the moving mechanism meets the printing speed of each energy emitting device; on the other hand, the radiation positions of the pixel positions in the slice image at the instantaneous positions within the range capable of being scanned by the energy emitting devices need to be determined, so that the printing strategy can be reasonably planned.

In a possible embodiment, each pixel position of the slice image in the range and the corresponding radiation position are firstly determined according to the range which can be scanned by each energy emitting device at the instantaneous position, and then the angle of the energy beam emitted by each energy emitting device at the instantaneous position is adjusted, so that the energy beam is radiated to the determined radiation position.

Specifically, since each pixel in the slice image has a corresponding relationship with each position in the print surface, each pixel position included in the corresponding range mapped in the slice image and each radiation position corresponding to the range in the print surface are determined first based on the radiation range (i.e., the range that can be scanned) of each energy emitting device at the instantaneous position, and each energy beam reflector is made to emit energy to the radiation position based on the pixel position in the slice image at the instantaneous position. Assuming that pixel points needing to be scanned in the slice image are black points and pixel points needing not to be scanned are white points, each energy emitting device adjusts a vibrating mirror according to the black point pixel positions in the range to enable laser beams to project energy to the radiation positions of the black point pixel positions corresponding to the printing surface, so that the material to be solidified on the printing surface forms a pattern solidified layer corresponding to the slice image.

The printing process of the energy radiation system in this embodiment at a certain instantaneous position will be described below by way of an example.

Referring to fig. 2, in the example shown in fig. 2, the direction of arrow c is a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction a of the moving mechanism, and the included angle between the installation direction of each energy emitting device 112' and the direction c is an angle θ (the size of the angle θ matches the moving speed of the moving mechanism, which will be described in detail later).

Here, the irradiation angle may be adjusted by each of the energy emitting devices to manufacture a pattern cured layer perpendicular to the moving direction. Assuming that a straight line in the direction of arrow c needs to be printed in a pattern cured layer (the straight line is not shown), a corresponding pixel range of each scanning range mapped in the slice image is first determined according to the scanning range of each energy emitting device at each instantaneous position during the movement, so as to determine the pixel position of the straight line to be printed in each pixel range, and the pixel position of each straight line corresponds to the radiation position of the printing surface. And in the moving process of the moving mechanism, when the corresponding instantaneous position is reached, controlling each energy emitting device to emit laser beams to the radiation position corresponding to the instantaneous position, and forming the material to be solidified on the printing surface to form the straight line.

In an embodiment, the straight line may be divided into a plurality of line segments according to the radiation range of each energy emitting device, each line segment is configured to be printed by a different energy emitting device, and each line segment is further divided into a plurality of printing points, so that each energy emitting device is controlled to radiate energy to the part of the printing points in the corresponding line segment at different instantaneous positions, thereby completing the printing of the whole straight line after passing through a plurality of instantaneous positions.

In another exemplary embodiment, the energy emitting device is controlled to move from one side of the printing surface to the other side during printing at a certain forming station, and during the movement of the energy emitting device, at least one energy beam is selectively emitted to scan on the printing surface according to the slice image according to the corresponding relation between the instantaneous position traversed by the energy emitting device and the pixel position of the slice image.

When printing is carried out at a certain forming station, the energy emitting device is driven by the moving mechanism to move from one side of the printing surface to the other side. During the movement, the radiation range of the individual energy beam emitters of the radiation device can cover the entire printing surface.

During the movement of the energy radiation system, at least one energy beam is selectively emitted according to the corresponding relation between the passing instantaneous position of the energy radiation system and the pixel position of the slice image so as to scan on the printing surface according to the slice image, namely, each energy emitting device selectively radiates energy according to the corresponding relation between the moved instantaneous position and the pixel position of the slice image.

It should be understood that the radiation position of the energy emitted by each energy emitting device on the printing surface is determined according to the position of each energy emitting device on the printing surface, and each radiation position on the printing surface is corresponding to the pixel position in the slice image.

Therefore, in an embodiment, for example, when the area array in which the energy emitting devices are arranged is formed by surface exposure of the material to be cured on the printing surface, during the movement of the energy emitting devices, the area array may be controlled to project onto the printing surface according to the slice image according to the instantaneous position of the area array formed by the plurality of energy emitting devices and the pixel position of the radiation position of each energy emitting device in the area array mapped in the slice image.

In another embodiment, for example, when a plurality of energy emitting devices of the energy radiation system are staggered to form a lattice-shaped planar array, the energy emitting devices can be controlled to emit energy beams according to the corresponding relationship between the instantaneous position of each energy emitting device and the pixel position of the slice image.

During the movement of the energy radiation system, the energy emission devices selectively emit energy beams according to the instantaneous positions passed by the energy emission devices during the movement, the radiation positions corresponding to the energy emission devices at the instantaneous positions, and the pixel positions mapped by the radiation positions in the slice image. If the pixel point needing to be scanned in the slice image is a black point and the pixel point not needing to be scanned is a white point, when the pixel position of the radiation position corresponding to a certain instantaneous position of an energy emitting device mapped in the slice image is the black point, the energy emitting device is controlled to emit energy beams to a printing surface, and therefore scanning is carried out on the printing surface according to the slice image.

The printing process of the energy radiation system in this embodiment at a certain instantaneous position will be explained below by another example.

Referring to fig. 4, in the example shown in fig. 4, the direction of arrow b is perpendicular to the traveling direction of the moving mechanism. Each cell 112 "' is angled from the b direction by an angle theta, the magnitude of which is configured to match the speed of movement of the movement mechanism.

Here, a pattern cured layer perpendicular to the moving direction can be produced by selective energy irradiation of each of the energy emitting devices. Assuming that a straight line in the direction of arrow b in fig. 4 (i.e., a straight line included in the slice image) needs to be printed in a pattern cured layer, the radiation position of each energy emitting device at each instantaneous position is determined according to each instantaneous position of each energy emitting device during movement, and the radiation position of the pixel position to be printed on the printing surface is determined through the mapping relationship between the radiation position and the pixel position in the slice image. And controlling the corresponding energy emitting device to emit energy to the radiation position when the moving mechanism moves to the corresponding instantaneous position in the process of moving along the working surface.

In one embodiment, the straight line may be divided into a plurality of line segments according to the irradiation range of each energy beam emission group, each line segment being configured to be printed by a different energy beam emission group, and each line segment is further divided into a plurality of printing points, thereby controlling each energy emitting device in the energy beam emission group to emit energy to the corresponding printing point when reaching the corresponding instant position.

In an exemplary embodiment, a radiation range of the energy radiation system within a range of the moving mechanism in a certain forming station is defined as a first radiation range, and a range scanned by the corresponding energy emitting device or a range of the energy beam emitted by the corresponding energy emitting device is defined as a second radiation range, namely, the second radiation range is a range which can be reached by the energy of the single energy emitting device. The first radiation range should cover the printing width and the printing length of the entire printing face so that the pattern cured layer corresponding to the slice image is completely printed in accordance with the acquired slice image. The energy emitting devices are arranged at intervals according to the respective second radiation ranges, so that the second radiation ranges of the energy emitting devices can cover the printing width and the printing length of the whole printing surface after being added.

In an exemplary embodiment, when each of the energy emitting devices is a lattice-shaped surface array formed in a staggered manner according to a moving direction, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a first arrangement included angle between an arrangement direction of each unit in the lattice and a vertical direction of the moving mechanism.

In order to ensure that the energy radiation system selectively radiates energy while continuously moving and to manufacture an appropriate pattern cured layer according to the slice pattern with higher precision, when each energy emitting device is a lattice-shaped surface array which is formed in a staggered arrangement according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a first arrangement included angle between the arrangement direction of each unit in the lattice and the vertical direction of the moving direction. Here, v ═ tan θ · d is satisfied between the moving speed v and the first arrangement included angle θ, where d denotes an emission speed of the energy beam, so that the profile accuracy of the pattern cured layer obtained by irradiation satisfies the design requirement.

In an embodiment, with continued reference to fig. 4, each dot in fig. 4 corresponds to each energy emitting device, and as described above, in the direction of arrow b in fig. 4, i.e. the direction perpendicular to the moving direction a, the energy emitting devices arranged along the same straight line are defined as a unit, where the arrangement direction of each energy emitting device in each unit (i.e. the arrangement direction of each unit in the lattice) presents a straight line, the angle between the straight line and the direction of arrow b is an angle θ, and v ═ tan θ · d is satisfied between the moving speed v and the angle θ, where d represents the emitting speed of the energy beam.

In another exemplary embodiment, when the energy emitting devices are arranged in a linear shape, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a second arrangement angle, wherein the second arrangement angle is an angle between the setting direction and the vertical direction of the moving direction of each energy emitting device.

In order to ensure that the energy radiation system selectively radiates energy while continuously moving and to manufacture an appropriate pattern-solidified layer according to the slice pattern with higher accuracy, when the energy emitting devices are linearly arranged, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a second arrangement angle, wherein the second arrangement angle is an angle between the arrangement direction of the energy emitting devices and the vertical direction of the moving direction. Here, v ═ tan θ · d is satisfied between the moving speed v and the second arrangement angle θ, where d denotes an emission speed of the energy beam, so that the profile accuracy of the pattern cured layer obtained by irradiation satisfies the design requirement.

In an embodiment, with reference to fig. 2, as mentioned above, the direction of the arrow c in fig. 2 is a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the moving mechanism, the angle between the installation direction of the energy emitting device 112' ″ and the direction c is θ, and v ═ tan θ · d is satisfied between the moving speed v and the θ angle, where d represents the emitting speed of the energy beam.

In an exemplary embodiment, for example, in an overhead projection printing apparatus, in order to smooth the liquid level of the material to be cured in the container, a coating mechanism is further provided in each forming station, and the coating mechanism is connected with a control device in the 3D printing apparatus to uniformly coat the material to be cured on the printing surface. In a possible embodiment, the coating mechanism includes, but is not limited to, a scraper, a nozzle, and the like, so as to uniformly coat the photo-curing material on the printing reference surface, thereby reducing the leveling time of the photo-curing material, improving the liquid level flatness, and ensuring the printing quality.

In one embodiment, an application mechanism may span over the container and uniformly apply the photocurable material on the print datum during movement from one side of the container to the other. In a possible embodiment, the coating mechanism comprises guide rails and a coating blade, the guide rails being located on opposite sides of the container and extending forward and backward, the coating blade comprising: both ends set up respectively installation roof beam on the relative both sides guide rail of container, locate scraper main cavity body on the installation roof beam and locating the cutting edge subassembly of scraper main cavity body bottom, wherein, the cutting edge subassembly includes the flexible doctor-bar of being made by soft material.

In a particular embodiment, the application device is arranged at a position below the height of the at least one energy emission device, so that no influence is exerted during operation of the energy radiation system, and after entering the conditioning state, the application device can be operated normally since the energy emission device has now left the forming station.

In an exemplary embodiment, each forming station further comprises a liquid level adjusting mechanism correspondingly connected with each container, and the liquid level adjusting mechanism is connected with a control device of the 3D printing equipment so as to controllably adjust the liquid level height of the material to be solidified in the container in the forming station in the adjusting operation.

In one embodiment, the level adjustment mechanism comprises a mechanism for adjusting the height of the container, i.e. the level of the photocurable material in the container is adjusted by adjusting the height of the container. It will be appreciated that the purpose of adjusting the level height is to bring the distance of the forming surface to the energy radiation system within a desired range, thereby resulting in higher print quality. In a top-projection printing apparatus, the forming surface is usually located uppermost on the liquid surface, so that by adjusting the height of the container, the distance between the liquid surface and the energy radiation system can also be adjusted, and thus the liquid level can be adjusted. Of course, the adjusted liquid level height in the present embodiment does not refer to the height of the liquid surface in the container relative to the bottom surface of the container, since changing only the height of the container does not affect the height of the liquid surface in the container relative to the bottom surface of the container, it can be understood that the changed liquid level height in the present embodiment refers to the height of the liquid surface in the container relative to the horizontal plane on which the printing apparatus is located. In a possible embodiment, a lifting mechanism may be provided at the bottom of the container, such that the lifting mechanism drives the container up or down. The lifting structure may be a screw rod transmission lifting structure, or may be a "liquid level adjusting system" as described in application No. CN2020227710185, which includes a lifting mechanism and a driving mechanism, the lifting mechanism is disposed at the bottom of the container and is used for driving the container to move up and down, the driving mechanism is connected to the lifting mechanism and is used for driving the lifting mechanism when receiving a control instruction to adjust the liquid level position of the material to be molded in the container, wherein the lifting mechanism converts the driving force from the driving mechanism, which is different from the lifting direction, into the driving force in the lifting direction, the "liquid level adjusting system" described in this application corresponds to the liquid level adjusting device in this application, or the lifting structure may also adopt other structures in the prior art to achieve the lifting of the container, and it is not the invention point of this application that the container is driven to lift by what kind of structure, and therefore will not be described in detail herein. In some embodiments, the lifting mechanism may be connected to a fluid level regulation system, such that lifting of the container is controlled by the fluid level regulation system. In other embodiments, the lifting mechanism may also be connected to a control device of the 3D printing apparatus, so as to drive the container to move up and down under the control of the control device.

In another embodiment, the liquid level adjusting mechanism comprises a balancing device, namely, the liquid level height of the light curing material in the container is adjusted by adjusting the volume of the light curing material sunk by the balancing device. The balancing device comprises a balancing block which is not limited in the 3D printing device, namely, the control of the liquid level in the container is realized by the volume of the light-cured material immersed in the container by the balancing block. It should be understood that the weight in 3D printing is a structure that can move up and down in the container, and is usually a regular cuboid or cube structure, so as to facilitate calculation of the change in liquid level when descending, and the volume of the weight is usually determined based on the size of the container. In a possible embodiment, the balancing device may be partially or fully immersed in the photocurable material in the container during printing. The balancing device can be connected with the liquid level adjusting system, so that the lifting is realized under the control of the liquid level adjusting system, and the liquid level is controlled through the volume of the light curing material which is sunk.

In a further embodiment, the liquid level adjusting mechanism comprises a liquid supplementing device, namely, the liquid level height of the material to be solidified in the container is adjusted by conveying or extracting the material to be solidified into the container through the liquid supplementing device. In this case, the material to be solidified can be fed into the container when the liquid level in the container needs to be increased, and can be withdrawn into the container when the liquid level in the container needs to be decreased. In a possible embodiment, the liquid replenishing device can be connected with a liquid level adjusting system, so that the liquid replenishing device can be controlled by the liquid level adjusting system to convey or extract the material to be solidified. In other embodiments, the lifting mechanism may also be connected to a control device of the 3D printing apparatus, so as to transport or extract the material to be solidified under the control of the control device, so as to adjust the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container. In one embodiment, the liquid replenishing device comprises a conveying pipeline and a conveying pump which is arranged on the pipeline and can provide negative pressure or positive pressure, two ends of the conveying pipeline are respectively communicated with a container and a storage device of the material to be solidified, the storage device of the material to be solidified is such as a resin barrel or other containers used for storing the material to be solidified, and the storage device is generally a sealing structure in a non-use state so as to avoid the performance of the material to be solidified from being influenced due to long-term exposure to air. In some cases, a filtering mechanism may be further provided on the conveying pipeline, so as to avoid bringing impurities in the container into a storage device for the material to be solidified when the material to be solidified is extracted from the container of the 3D printing device.

The control device is connected with the energy radiation system and the Z-axis driving system and used for controlling the energy radiation system and the Z-axis driving system in a printing operation so as to accumulate the attached curing layer on the component platform to obtain the corresponding 3D component. The control device 15 is an electronic device including a processor, and the control device may be a computer device, an embedded device, or an integrated circuit integrated with a CPU. For example, the control means may comprise: the device comprises a processing unit, a storage unit and a plurality of interface units. And each interface unit is respectively connected with a device which is independently packaged in 3D printing equipment such as an energy radiation system and a Z-axis connector and transmits data through an interface. The control device further comprises at least one of the following: a prompting device, a human-computer interaction device and the like. The interface unit determines its interface type according to the connected device, which includes but is not limited to: universal serial interface, video interface, industrial control interface, etc. For example, the interface unit includes: USB interface, HDMI interface and RS232 interface, wherein, USB interface and RS232 interface all have a plurality ofly, and the USB interface can connect human-computer interaction device etc.. The storage unit is used for storing files required by 3D printing equipment for printing. The file includes: the CPU runs the required program files and configuration files, etc. The memory unit includes a non-volatile memory and a system bus. The nonvolatile memory is exemplified by a solid state disk or a U disk. The system bus is used to connect the non-volatile memory with the CPU, wherein the CPU may be integrated in the memory unit or packaged separately from the memory unit and connected to the non-volatile memory through the system bus. The processing unit includes: a CPU or a chip integrated with a CPU, a programmable logic device (FPGA), and a multi-core processor. The processing unit also includes memory, registers, etc. for temporarily storing data. The processing unit is an industrial control unit for controlling each device to execute according to time sequence. For example, the control device 15 controls the energy emitting device 112 to radiate energy to the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image when the moving mechanism 111 drives the at least one energy emitting device 112 to move along the printing surface of the container in one forming station, and after the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station, the current forming station enters the adjustment state so as to coat the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container, and/or adjust the liquid level height of the material to be solidified in the container, and/or move the driving member platform to the next forming height for preparation, and simultaneously, the energy radiation system 11 is moved to the next forming station, and the moving mechanism 111 controls the energy emitting device 112 to radiate energy to the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image when the moving mechanism 111 drives the at least one energy emitting device 112 to move along the printing surface of the container in the next forming station, each forming station is traversed in this way, and during the traversal, the pattern cured layer is accumulated on the component platform of each forming station, respectively, so as to obtain the corresponding 3D component.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control device may also be provided independently of the 3D printing apparatus, and based on such understanding, the present application further provides a control device and a control method thereof for controlling a printing job of the 3D printing apparatus. The specific structure of the 3D printing apparatus has been described in detail in the foregoing embodiments, and therefore, the detailed description is omitted here.

In an exemplary embodiment, please refer to fig. 10, which is a schematic structural diagram of a control device in the present application in an embodiment. As shown, the control device 8 includes: an interface unit 81, a storage unit 82, and a processing unit 83.

The storage unit 82 includes a nonvolatile memory, a volatile memory, and the like. The nonvolatile memory is, for example, a solid state disk or a usb disk. The storage server is used for storing at least one program. The interface unit 81 includes a network interface, a data line interface, a circuit interface, and the like. Wherein the network interfaces include, but are not limited to: network interface devices based on ethernet, network interface devices based on mobile networks (3G, 4G, 5G, etc.), network interface devices based on near field communication (WiFi, bluetooth, etc.), and the like. The data line interface includes, but is not limited to: USB interface, RS232, etc. The interface unit is connected with devices which are independently packaged in 3D printing equipment such as the Z-axis system and the energy radiation system and transmit data or drive work through interfaces. The processing unit 83 is connected to the interface unit 81 and the storage unit 82, and includes: a CPU or a chip integrated with a CPU, a programmable logic device (FPGA), and a multi-core processor. The processing unit 83 also includes memories, registers, and the like for temporarily storing data.

The interface unit 81 is configured to perform data communication with a radiation device in the 3D printing apparatus, and is in data connection with a Z-axis system and an energy radiation system in the 3D printing apparatus so as to control the Z-axis system and the energy radiation system to operate. The storage unit 82 is used to store at least one program. Here, the storage unit 82 includes a solid state disk, for example, and stores the at least one program. The processing unit 83 is configured to invoke the at least one program to coordinate the interface unit and the storage unit to execute the control method.

Referring to fig. 9, which is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the control method in the present application, as shown in step S210, the moving mechanism is controlled to drive at least one energy emitting device to move along a printing surface in a container in a current forming station, so that the at least one energy emitting device radiates energy to a material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to a corresponding slice image during the moving process, thereby obtaining a pattern cured layer on a component platform of the forming station.

Specifically, the control device enables the moving mechanism to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move along a printing surface in the container in the current forming station in the printing process of the 3D printing equipment, and radiates energy to the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image in the moving process.

In step S220, when it is detected that the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station, the current forming station is enabled to enter an adjustment state, and the moving mechanism is controlled to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to a next forming station; wherein the adjustment state comprises: coating the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container, and/or adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container, and/or driving the component platform to move to the next forming height.

In some embodiments, each forming station has an initial printing position, and when it is detected that at least one energy emitting device reaches the initial printing position, the energy emitting device is enabled to radiate energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the slice image corresponding to the forming station and the corresponding printing layer. In this case, each shaping station can comprise a detection device, which can detect whether at least one energy-emitting device has reached an initial printing position. In a possible embodiment, the detection means may for example comprise a sensor, such as a photoelectric sensor or the like, which may be arranged in the vicinity of the container and is used to detect whether the movement mechanism has passed the initial printing position. Here, the initial printing position represents a position at which the at least one energy emitting device can start to radiate energy to the printing surface in a certain forming station, and the position is usually located at a position on one side in the container. In other embodiments, it can also be determined by means of a detection device whether the energy-emitting device has left the last forming station. Specifically, since the 3D printing apparatus in this embodiment includes a plurality of forming stations but only one energy radiation system, it can be determined that the energy radiation system is not located at another forming station by detecting that the energy radiation system is located at one forming station, and thus the other forming stations can enter the adjustment state. For example, when the printing sequence is the first forming station, the second forming station, and the third forming station, after printing of a layer of the first forming station is completed, the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to move to the second forming station, and when it is detected that the at least one energy emitting device reaches the initial printing position of the second forming station, the first forming station may enter the adjustment state at the same time, and the at least one energy emitting device starts to radiate energy to the printing surface in the container of the second forming station according to the corresponding slice image. In other possible embodiments, since the parameters of the moving speed of the moving mechanism, the size of the printing surface of each forming station, the position of each forming station and the like are known, the travel distance of the moving mechanism can be calculated through the parameters, so as to judge the position of at least one energy emitting device, and further judge whether the energy emitting device leaves a certain forming station and/or arrives at another forming station and the like.

When the control device detects that at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station, the current forming station can enter an adjusting state, and the moving mechanism is controlled to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to the next forming station.

In step S230, the above steps are repeated based on the setting position of each forming station, so as to sequentially and respectively accumulate the pattern cured layers on the component platform of each forming station during the at least one energy emitting device circularly traverses each forming station, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

Taking the example that the 3D printing apparatus includes three forming stations as an example, after the radiation state at the second forming station is completed, the second forming station may enter the adjustment state, and the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to move to the third forming station for working. After the radiation state of the third forming station is finished, the third forming station can be made to enter the adjusting state, and the moving mechanism drives the at least one energy emitting device to return to the first forming station, at this time, the first forming station should be finished or is about to finish the adjusting state, after the first forming station finishes the adjusting state, the moving mechanism continues to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move along the printing surface in the container in the first forming station, and the steps in S210-S220 are repeated until the printing task of each forming station is finished.

In an exemplary embodiment, in order to facilitate adjustment of the number of forming stations in a practical application, the energy radiation system may be configured to be provided independently of the 3D printing apparatus. Based on such understanding, the present application also provides a 3D printing system including an energy radiation system, a control apparatus as in the respective embodiments corresponding to fig. 10, and a plurality of 3D printing devices.

The 3D printing apparatus includes a container and a Z-axis system, and the specific structures of the container and the Z-axis system have been described in the foregoing embodiments, and therefore are not described herein again. Each 3D printing device represents a forming station, the moving mechanism in the energy radiation system can be controlled by the control device to move along the printing surface in each container, and at least one energy emitting device disposed on the moving mechanism radiates energy to the material to be solidified in the corresponding container according to the corresponding slice image during the movement along the printing surface, so as to solidify and form the material to be solidified.

Referring to fig. 11, which is a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in the figure, the 3D printing apparatus includes a container 121 ' and a Z-axis system 124 ', the Z-axis system 124 ' includes a component platform and a Z-axis driving mechanism, the component platform is located in the container during a printing operation, and is used for accumulating a cured layer of an attachment pattern layer by layer to form a corresponding 3D component; the Z-axis driving mechanism is connected with the component platform and is used for adjusting the height of the component platform in the Z-axis direction under the control of the control device.

In one embodiment, the 3D printing system includes a plurality of 3D printing apparatuses, and during the printing process of the 3D printing system, the control device controls the moving mechanism to move along a printing surface in a container in one of the 3D printing apparatuses, and during the moving process along the printing surface, at least one energy emitting device disposed on the moving mechanism radiates energy to the material to be solidified in the corresponding container according to the corresponding slice image, so as to solidify and shape the material to be solidified on the printing surface. After one layer of the 3D printing equipment is printed, the control device enables the 3D printing equipment to enter an adjusting state, and enables the moving mechanism to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to the next 3D printing equipment so as to radiate energy to the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container in the next 3D printing equipment. And traversing each 3D printing device in the mode, and accumulating the pattern curing layer on the component platform of each 3D printing device in the traversing process to obtain the corresponding 3D component.

The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and utilities of the present application and are not intended to limit the application. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical concepts disclosed in the present application shall be covered by the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. The 3D printing method is used for a 3D printing device, the 3D printing device comprises an energy radiation system and a plurality of forming stations, and each forming station comprises: the printing method comprises the following steps of:

enabling the moving mechanism to drive at least one energy emitting device to move along a printing surface in the container in the current forming station, and radiating energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image in the moving process so as to obtain a pattern curing layer on a component platform of the forming station;

when the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station, enabling the current forming station to enter an adjusting state, and enabling the moving mechanism to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to the next forming station; wherein the adjustment state comprises: coating the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container, and/or adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container, and/or driving the component platform to move to the next forming height;

repeating the above steps based on the setting position of each forming station, so as to respectively accumulate the pattern curing layer on the component platform of each forming station during the circulation of the at least one energy emitting device through each forming station, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

2. The 3D printing method according to claim 1, wherein each of the forming stations has an initial printing position, and when it is detected that at least one energy emitting device reaches the initial printing position, the energy emitting device is caused to radiate energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the slice image corresponding to the forming station and the corresponding printing layer.

3. The 3D printing method according to claim 2, wherein when it is detected that at least one energy emitting device reaches an initial printing position of a certain forming station, it is determined that the at least one energy emitting device leaves a previous forming station.

4. The 3D printing method according to claim 1, wherein whether the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station is determined based on a moving speed of a moving mechanism and a size of a printing surface.

5. The 3D printing method according to claim 1, wherein the energy emitting device includes a laser emitting terminal and a galvanometer; and during the movement, enabling each vibrating mirror to adjust the angle of the energy beam emitted by the laser emission terminal according to the instantaneous position of the movement of the corresponding laser emission terminal.

6. The 3D printing method according to claim 1, wherein the angle irradiated by each energy emitting device is adjusted according to the correspondence between the instantaneous position moved by each energy emitting device and the pixel position in the slice image.

7. The 3D printing method according to claim 1, wherein a stroke range and a moving manner of the moving mechanism are adapted to the setting positions of the plurality of forming stations, so that an irradiation range of the energy irradiation system covers a printing face width and a printing face length corresponding to each container.

8. The 3D printing method of claim 7, wherein each of the forming stations is arranged in a circle, and the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move in a rotation manner between different forming stations and to move in a linear manner along a printing surface in the container in one forming station, and returns to a position of a first forming station after radiation of a last forming station is completed.

9. The 3D printing method according to claim 1, wherein when the energy emitting device is plural, each of the energy emitting devices is arranged in an area array or a line.

10. The 3D printing method according to claim 9, wherein the area array shape includes: a matrix-like area array formed according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism, or a lattice-like area array formed in a staggered manner according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism.

11. The 3D printing method according to claim 9, wherein when each energy emitting device is a lattice-shaped surface array formed in a staggered manner according to a moving direction of the moving mechanism, a moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a first arrangement included angle, wherein the first arrangement included angle is an included angle between an arrangement direction of each unit in the lattice and a vertical direction of the moving direction; when the energy emitting devices are arranged in a linear shape, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a second arrangement included angle, wherein the second arrangement included angle is an included angle between the setting direction of each energy emitting device and the vertical direction of the moving direction.

12. A3D printing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of forming stations, each said forming station including respectively:

a container for holding a material to be cured;

a Z-axis system disposed in correspondence with the container, the Z-axis system comprising:

the component platform is positioned in the container in the printing operation and used for accumulating and attaching the pattern curing layer by layer to form a corresponding 3D component;

the Z-axis driving mechanism is connected with the component platform and used for adjusting the height of the component platform in the Z-axis direction under an adjusting state;

an energy radiation system located above or below the container, comprising:

a moving mechanism for moving along the printing surface in each container;

the energy emitting device is arranged on the moving mechanism and used for radiating energy to the material to be solidified in the corresponding container according to the corresponding slice image in the process of moving along the printing surface in a radiation state so as to solidify and shape the material to be solidified;

a control device connected with the Z axis system and the energy radiation system for controlling the Z axis system and the energy radiation system in a printing operation so as to accumulate the pattern cured layer on the component platform of each forming station based on the 3D printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

13. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each forming station further comprises a coating mechanism correspondingly straddling each container for moving from one side of the container to the other side in the adjustment state and uniformly coating the material to be solidified on the printing reference surface during the movement.

14. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each forming station further comprises a level adjustment mechanism correspondingly coupled to each container for adjusting a level of material to be solidified in the container in the forming station in an adjusted state.

15. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the range of travel and the manner of movement of the moving mechanism are adapted to the set positions of the plurality of forming stations such that the radiation range of the energy radiation system covers the print swath width and print swath length corresponding to each container.

16. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12 or 15, wherein the plurality of forming stations are arranged linearly, and the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move linearly.

17. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12 or 15, wherein the plurality of forming stations are arranged in a circle, and the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move in rotation between the different forming stations and drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move in a linear motion along a printing surface inside the container in one forming station.

18. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12 or 15, wherein the plurality of forming stations are arranged in an oval, and the moving mechanism drives the plurality of energy emitting devices to move linearly and/or rotationally between different forming stations and to move linearly along a printing surface inside the container in a forming station.

19. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein when the energy emitting device is plural, each of the energy emitting devices is arranged in an area array or a line.

20. The 3D printing device according to claim 19, wherein the area array shape comprises: a matrix-like area array formed according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism, or a lattice-like area array formed in a staggered manner according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism.

21. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein when each of the energy emitting devices is a lattice-shaped surface array formed in a staggered arrangement according to a moving direction of the moving mechanism, a moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a first arrangement included angle, wherein the first arrangement included angle is an included angle between an arrangement direction of each unit in the lattice and a vertical direction of the moving direction; when the energy emitting devices are arranged in a linear shape, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a second arrangement included angle, wherein the second arrangement included angle is an included angle between the setting direction of each energy emitting device and the vertical direction of the moving direction.

22. The 3D printing device according to claim 12, wherein the number of molding units is related to the adjustment time of the adjustment state and the irradiation time of the irradiation state.

23. The 3D printing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each of the forming stations has an initial printing position, and wherein each forming station further comprises a detection device for detecting whether the at least one energy emitting device reaches the initial printing position.

24. A control method is used for a 3D printing device, the 3D printing device comprises an energy radiation system and a plurality of forming stations, wherein each forming station comprises: the Z-axis system and the container for containing the material to be solidified, the energy radiation system comprises a moving mechanism and at least one energy emitting device, the Z-axis system comprises a component platform, and the control method comprises the following steps:

controlling the moving mechanism to drive at least one energy emitting device to move along a printing surface in the container in the current forming station, so that the at least one energy emitting device radiates energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface according to the corresponding slice image in the moving process, and thus obtaining a pattern curing layer on a component platform of the forming station;

when the fact that the at least one energy emitting device leaves the current forming station is detected, enabling the current forming station to enter an adjusting state, and controlling the moving mechanism to drive the at least one energy emitting device to move to the next forming station; wherein the adjustment state comprises: coating the material to be solidified on the printing surface in the container, and/or adjusting the liquid level of the material to be solidified in the container, and/or driving the component platform to move to the next forming height;

and repeating the steps based on the setting position of each forming station so as to sequentially and respectively accumulate the pattern curing layers on the component platform of each forming station during the circulation of the at least one energy emitting device through each forming station, thereby obtaining the corresponding 3D component.

25. The control method according to claim 24, wherein when the energy emitting device is plural, each of the energy emitting devices is arranged in an area array or a line; wherein the area array shape includes: an area array formed in a matrix arrangement according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism, or a lattice-shaped area array formed in a staggered arrangement according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism; when each energy emitting device is a lattice-shaped surface array which is formed according to the moving direction of the moving mechanism and is arranged in a staggered mode, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a first arrangement included angle, wherein the first arrangement included angle is an included angle between the arrangement direction of each unit in the lattice and the vertical direction of the moving direction; when the energy emitting devices are arranged in a linear shape, the moving speed of the moving mechanism is related to a second arrangement included angle, wherein the second arrangement included angle is an included angle between the setting direction of each energy emitting device and the vertical direction of the moving direction.

26. The control method according to claim 24, wherein each of the forming stations has an initial printing position, and when it is detected that at least one energy emitting device reaches the initial printing position, the energy emitting device is controlled to radiate energy to the material to be cured coated on the printing surface in accordance with the slice image corresponding to the forming station and the corresponding printing layer.

27. The control method according to claim 26, wherein when it is detected that at least one energy emitting device reaches an initial printing position of a certain forming station, it is judged that the at least one energy emitting device leaves a previous forming station.

28. The control method according to claim 24, wherein it is determined whether the at least one energy emitting device is away from the current forming station based on a moving speed of a moving mechanism and a size of a printing surface.

29. A control device, for a 3D printing apparatus, the control device comprising:

the interface unit is used for being in data connection with a Z axis system and an energy radiation system in the 3D printing equipment;

a storage unit for storing at least one program;

a processing unit for calling the at least one program to coordinate the storage unit and the interface unit to control the 3D printing apparatus to implement the control method according to any one of claims 24 to 28.

30. A3D printing system, comprising:

the control device of claim 29;

a plurality of 3D printing devices, wherein each 3D printing device includes:

a container for holding a material to be cured;

the Z-axis driving mechanism is connected with the component platform and is used for adjusting the height of the component platform in the Z-axis direction under the control of the control device;

an energy radiation system located above or below the container, comprising:

a moving mechanism for moving along the printing surface in each container under the control of the control device;

and the energy emitting device is arranged on the moving mechanism and used for radiating energy to the material to be solidified in the corresponding container according to the corresponding slice image in the process of moving along the printing surface under the control of the control device so as to solidify and shape the material to be solidified.