3D Printing System

• US 20170165915A1
• Filed: 02/24/2017
• Published: 06/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyco Electronics Company Limited (TE Connectivity Limited), TE Connectivity Corporation (TE Connectivity Ltd. (United Kingdom))
• Original Assignee: Tyco Electronics Company Limited (TE Connectivity Limited), TE Connectivity Corporation (TE Connectivity Ltd. (United Kingdom))
• Inventors: Xin, Liming, Zhang, Dandan, Yi-Lu, Roberto Francisco, Liu, Yun, Deng, Yingcong, Hu, Lvhai
• Granted Patent: US 10,603,838 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/106 using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/112 using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/232 for motion along the axis orthogonal to the plane of a layer
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/236 for motion in a direction within the plane of a layer
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/241 for rotary motion
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/245 Platforms or substrates support structures intended to be sacrificed after manufacture B29C64/40
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 40/00 Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling

Abstract

A 3D printing system is disclosed. The 3D printing system has a print head and a positioning platform. The positioning platform supports and positions a product printed by the print head. The positioning platform is movable with respect to the print head in a first direction, a second direction, and a third direction perpendicular to each other. The positioning platform is also rotatable with respect to the print head about at least two of the first, second, and third directions.

Claims

1. A 3D printing system, comprising:

a print head; and

a positioning platform supporting and positioning a product printed by the print head, the positioning platform movable with respect to the print head in a first direction, a second direction, and a third direction perpendicular to each other and rotatable with respect to the print head about at least two of the first, second, and third directions.

2. The 3D printing system of claim 1, further comprising a movement device rotating the positioning platform about at least one direction.

3. The 3D printing system of claim 2, wherein the print head is stationary and the movement device moves the positioning platform in the first direction, the second direction and the third direction and rotates the positioning platform about at least two of the first, second, and third directions.

4. The 3D printing system of claim 3, wherein the movement device is a robot having at least five degrees of freedom.

5. The 3D printing system of claim 4, wherein the movement device rotates the positioning platform about the first direction, the second direction, and the third direction.

6. The 3D printing system of claim 4, wherein the robot is a planar articulated robot, a six-axis robot, a Cartesian coordinate robot, a serial robot, a parallel robot, or a serial-parallel robot.

7. The 3D printing system of claim 2, further comprising a robot moving the print head in at least one direction and rotating the print head about at least one direction.

8. The 3D printing system of claim 7, wherein the robot has at least three degrees of freedom.

9. The 3D printing system of claim 8, wherein the robot moves the printing head in the first direction, the second direction, and the third direction.

10. The 3D printing system of claim 8, wherein the robot is a planar articulated robot, a six-axis robot, a Cartesian coordinate robot, a serial robot, a parallel robot, or a serial-parallel robot.

11. The 3D printing system of claim 7, wherein the movement device is a spherical movement device.

12. The 3D printing system of claim 11, wherein the positioning platform is mounted on the spherical movement device and the spherical movement device rotates the positioning platform about the first direction and the second direction.

13. The 3D printing system of claim 12, wherein the spherical movement device has a first rotation drive with an output shaft rotating about the first direction and a second rotation drive with an output shaft rotating about the second direction.

14. The 3D printing system of claim 13, wherein the spherical movement device has a first link with a first end connected to the output shaft of the first rotation drive, a second link with a first end pivotally connected to the positioning platform and an opposite second end pivotally connected to a second end of the first link, and a third link with a first end connected to the output shaft of the second rotation drive and an opposite second end pivotally connected to the positioning platform.

15. The 3D printing system of claim 14, wherein each of the first link, the second link, and the third link is shaped as a quarter-arc.

16. The 3D printing system of claim 14, wherein a first pivotal axis at a joint of the first link and the second link, a second pivotal axis at a joint of the second link and the positioning platform, a third pivotal axis at a joint of the third link and the positioning platform, an first axis of the output shaft of the first rotation drive, and a second axis of the output shaft of the second rotation drive intersect at a same point.

17. The 3D printing system of claim 16, wherein the same point is located at a geometric center of the positioning platform.

18. The 3D printing system of claim 17, wherein the first rotation drive is mounted on a first vertical mounting plate mounted on a base and the second rotation drive is mounted on a second vertical mounting plate mounted on the base.

19. The 3D printing system of claim 7, wherein the movement device is a second robot having at least two degrees of freedom.

20. The 3D printing system of claim 8, further comprising a material supply unit mounted on the robot providing a material deposited by the print head to form the product.

21. The 3D printing system of claim 8, further comprising a material supply unit spaced apart from the robot providing a material deposited by the print head to form the product.

22. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein the product is entirely formed by the 3D printing system.

23. The 3D printing system of claim 1, wherein a blank is previously formed as one portion of the product by non-3D printing, and another portion of the product is formed on the blank by the 3D printing system.

24. The 3D printing system of claim 7, wherein the movement device and the robot are mounted on a base.