SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND METHODS FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING

• US 20170151704A1
• Filed: 09/09/2016
• Published: 06/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Go, Jamison, Hart, Anastasios John
• Granted Patent: US 10,562,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/0023 combined with printing or marking
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/02 Small extruding apparatus, e.g. handheld, toy or laboratory extruders
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/05 Filamentary, e.g. strands
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/266 Means for allowing relative movements between the apparatus parts, e.g. for twisting the extruded article or for moving the die along a surface to be coated
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/2886 of fibrous, filamentary or filling materials, e.g. thin fibrous reinforcements or fillers
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/865 Heating
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 48/873 in the direction of the stream of the material
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/118 using filamentary material being melted, e.g. fused deposition modelling [FDM]
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/209 Heads; Nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/295 Heating elements
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/321 Feeding
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 Processes of additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes

Abstract

Printing devices and methods are provided that utilize high throughput extrusion to generate a printer material, such as a three-dimensional object. High-throughput extrusion systems in accordance with the present disclosure volumetrically pre-heat an extruded filament to a desired pre-heat temperature, and then either maintain or heat the extruded filament to a desired melt temperature prior to having the filament extruded out of the system and onto a surface, such as a build platform. By pre-heating the filament prior to heating it to the temperature at which it is excluded, it helps increase the throughput of the system. Likewise, by doing the heating volumetrically, it further helps increase the throughput of the system. Various embodiments of devices and methods typically used for printing in conjunction with the disclosed high throughput systems are also provided for in the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A high-throughput extrusion system, comprising:

an extruder;

a pre-heater in fluid communication with the extruder; and

a liquefier in fluid communication with the pre-heater,

wherein the extruder is configured to advance a filament through the pre-heater and the liquefier towards a build platform,

wherein the pre-heater is configured to volumetrically raise a temperature of filament received from the extruder to at least a desired pre-heat temperature, and

wherein the liquefier is configured to maintain or raise the temperature of the filament that passed through the pre-heater to at least a desired melt temperature prior to the filament exiting the liquefier, towards a build platform.

2. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 1, further comprising:

a gantry; and

a cart having the liquefier coupled thereto,

wherein the gantry is configured to move the cart in an X-Y plane to position the liquefier to one or more target X-Y coordinates in the X-Y plane.

3. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 2, wherein the gantry is an H-frame gantry.

4. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 2, further comprising:

a build platform towards which the filament is extruded after it exits the liquefier, the build platform being configured to be positioned on one or more Z coordinates along a Z-axis that interests the X-Y plane,

wherein the gantry and build platform are configured to operate together such that filament extruded by the extruder through the liquefier is extruded onto one or more target X-Y-Z coordinates.

5. A printer for printing three-dimensional objects, the printer comprising the high-throughput extrusion system of claim 4.

6. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 1, wherein the pre-heater and the liquefier are disposed within a housing of a single heating unit.

7. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 1, wherein the extruder is a nut feed extruder, the extruder further comprising a rotatable feed nut having one or more internal engagement features that are configured to engage one or more complementary mating external engagement features disposed on the filament advanced by the extruder to impart a force on the one or more complementary mating external engagement features and advance the filament through the pre-heater and the liquefier towards a build platform upon rotation of the feed nut.

9. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 7, further comprising a threaded filament having one or more external threads that are complementary to the one or more internal engagement features of the rotatable feed nut such that the one or more internal engagement features are configured to impart a force on the one or more external threads to advance the filament towards a build platform upon rotation of the feed nut.

10. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 9,

wherein the threaded filament comprises a first material that melts when it is heated to the desired melt temperature and a second material that remains solid or less viscous than the first material when they are heated to the desired melt temperature.

11. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 7, wherein the internal engagement features of the feed nut and the external engagement features of the filament comprise one or more complementary geometric configurations selected from the group consisting of:

mating periodic textures, triangles, rectangles, and threads.

12. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 7, wherein the extruder comprises a die configured to generate one or more engagement features on an exterior of filament advanced by the extruder.

13. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 1, wherein the pre-heater further comprises a transmitter configured to transmit radiation or current to a filament that is to be advanced by the extruder such that a temperature of the filament is raised to the desired pre-heat temperature in a substantially uniform manner across a volume of the filament.

14. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 1, wherein the pre-heater is selected from the group consisting of an infrared (IR) heater and an electrically-assisted heater.

15. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 1, further comprising a controller configured to adjust at least one of power supplied to the pre-heater, power supplied to the liquefier, and force applied to a feed nut of the extruder to modify at least one of the desired pre-heat temperature, the desired melt temperature, and a feed rate of the extruder based on received real-time parameters of the system, the real-time parameters including at least one of the following parameters:

(1) an extrusion force applied by the extruder on the filament advanced by the extruder;

(2) the feed rate of the extruder;

(3) a temperature of the filament prior to the filament entering the pre-heater;

(4) a temperature of the filament prior to the filament entering the liquefier; and

(5) a temperature of the filament prior to or concurrently with the filament exiting the liquefier, towards a build platform.

8. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 8, wherein the rotatable feed nut is configured to advance a filament towards a build platform by rotating about an axis along which the filament is fed into the feed nut, the feed nut having internal engagement features formed thereon that are configured to engage with the filament such that the feed nut applies force to the filament along the feed axis.

16. A method for printing, comprising:

extruding a filament to a first chamber of a printing device;

volumetrically heating the filament to a desired pre-heat temperature while the filament is at or advancing through the first chamber;

advancing the filament to a second chamber of the printing device;

maintaining or heating the filament to a desired melt temperature while the filament is at or advancing through the second chamber; and

extruding the filament towards a build platform when the filament is at or exceeds the desired melt temperature.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

positioning the second chamber at one or more target X-Y coordinates with respect to the build platform so that the filament that is extruded towards the build platform when the filament is at or exceeds the desired melt temperature is extruded towards the one or more target X-Y coordinates.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising positioning a build platform along a Z-axis to adjust a location of where the melted filament is extruded relative to the build platform.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein extruding a filament to a first chamber of a printing device further comprises rotating a feed nut of an extruder of the printing device such that one or more internal threads of the feed nut engages one or more external threads located on the filament.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising generating the one or more external threads located on the filament.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

observing one or more parameters related to at least one of extrusion of the filament and the interaction of the filament with the build platform; and

adjusting at least one of the desired pre-heat temperature, pre-heat power, the desired melt temperature, and a feed rate of the extruding step in response to the one or more observed parameters.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more observed parameters comprise at least one of:

(1) an extrusion force applied to the filament during the extruding step;

(2) a feed rate of the filament during the extruding step;

(3) a temperature of the filament prior to the filament entering the first chamber;

(4) a temperature of the filament prior to the filament exiting the second chamber;

(5) a temperature of the filament upon exit from the second chamber; and

(6) a temperature of the filament in the vicinity of its interaction with the build platform.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising extruding additional filament that is volumetrically heated to a desired pre-heat temperature and heated to a desired melt temperature onto the filament that is extruded towards a build platform when the filament is at or exceeds the desired melt temperature to print a three-dimensional object.

24. A high-throughput extrusion system, comprising:

an extruder including a feed nut, the feed nut being configured to advance a filament towards a build platform by rotating about a feed axis along which the filament is fed into the feed nut, and the feed nut having one or more internal engagement features formed thereon that are configured to engage with the filament such that the feed nut applies force to the filament along the feed axis.

25. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, further comprising a pre-heater in fluid communication with the extruder, the pre-heater being configured to receive filament from the extruder and volumetrically raise a temperature of the filament to at least a desired melt temperature prior to the filament exiting the pre-heater at a distal end thereof.

26. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, further comprising a liquefier in a fluid communication with the extruder, the pre-heater being configured to receive filament from the extruder and raise a temperature of the filament to at least a desired melt temperature prior to the filament exiting the liquefier at a distal end thereof.

27. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, further comprising:

a pre-heater in fluid communication with the extruder and configured to receive filament from the extruder; and

a liquefier in fluid communication with the pre-heater and configured to receive filament from the pre-heater,

wherein the pre-heater is configured to volumetrically raise a temperature of the filament received from the extruder to at least a desired pre-heat temperature, and

wherein the liquefier is configured to maintain or raise the temperature of the filament that passed through the pre-heater to at least a desired melt temperature prior to the filament exiting the liquefier at a distal end thereof towards a build platform.

28. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, wherein the extruder comprises a die configured to generate one or more engagement features on an exterior of filament advanced by the extruder.

29. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, wherein the one or more internal engagement features are substantially perpendicular to the feed axis when they engage the filament.

30. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, wherein the one or more internal engagement features are configured to engage one or more complementary engagement features formed on an outer surface of the filament.

31. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, further comprising a threaded filament having one or more external threads that are complementary to the one or more internal engagement features of the feed nut such that the one or more internal engagement features are configured to impart a force on the one or more external threads to advance the filament through the extruder upon rotation of the feed nut.

32. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 31,

wherein the threaded filament comprises a first material that melts when it is heated to the desired melt temperature and a second material that remains less viscous than the first material when they are heated to the desired melt temperature, and

wherein the second material is more conductive than the first material.

33. The high-throughput extrusion system of claim 24, wherein the one or more internal engagement features of the feed nut and one or more external engagement features of the filament comprise one or more complementary geometric configurations selected from the group consisting of:

mating periodic textures, triangles, rectangles, and threads.