Three-dimensional printing head

• US 9,738,030 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2015
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Limited (Cal-Comp Electronics Public Company Limited), Kinpo Electronics Incorporated (Cal-Comp Electronics Public Company Limited), XYZprinting, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Limited (Cal-Comp Electronics Public Company Limited), Kinpo Electronics Incorporated (Cal-Comp Electronics Public Company Limited), Zyzprinting Incorporated
• Inventors: Lee, Yang-Teh, Tang, Yi-Chin
• Primary Examiner(s): OCHYLSKI, RYAN M
• Application Number:
  US14/619,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20160193778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 923 Days
• 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 59/026 of layered or coated substantially flat surfaces
• 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 64/364 Conditioning of environment
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2031/767 Printing equipment or accessories therefor
• 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 three-dimensional printing head includes a housing (100), a fusing module (200) arranged in the housing (100), and a heat dissipation module (300). The fusing module (200) is disposed in the housing (100) and includes a feeding tube (210) with both ends open. A feeding inlet (211) for receiving a filament material (20) is at one end of the feeding tube (210), a supplying nozzle (220) is at the other end of the feeding tube (210), and multiple fins (212) are formed outside of the feeding tube (210). A heater (230) is disposed at the supplying nozzle (220) to heat the same for melting the filament material (20). The heat dissipation module (300) includes a fan (310) arranged in the housing (100), and the fan (310) has an inlet side (311) and an outlet side (312) opposite thereto. The outlet side (312) is arranged toward the fusing module (200).

Claims

1. A three-dimensional printing head, comprising:

a housing (100);

a fusing module (200) disposed in the housing (100), the fusing module (200) including a feeding tube (210), a feeding inlet (211) for receiving a solid filament material (20) at one end of the feeding tube (210), a supplying nozzle (220) being disposed at the other end of the feeding tube (210), a plurality of fins (212) being formed outside of the feeding tube (210), a heater (230) being disposed at the supplying nozzle (220) for heating the supplying nozzle (220) to melt the filament material (20);

a heat dissipation module (300) including a fan (310) disposed in the housing (100), the fan (310) including an inlet side (311) and an outlet side (312) opposite thereto, the outlet side (312) being disposed toward the fins(212) of the fusing module (200),

wherein the heat dissipation module (300) includes an air leading cover (320), and the air leading cover (320) includes an air outlet side (321) and an air inlet side, the air outlet side (321) faces the plurality of the fins (212), and the air inlet side faces the fan (310);

wherein the air leading cover (320) is disposed between the plurality of fins (212) and the fan (310) to directly contact the outlet side (312) of the fan (310) and the plurality of fins (212), and

wherein the plurality of fins (212) cover the air outlet (321) of the air leading cover (320) so that the fan supplies air flowing only to the fins (212) but not to the supplying nozzle (220) for dissipating heat from only the feeding tube (210) and preventing heat transfer from the supplying nozzle (220) to the feeding tube (210) so that the feeding tube (210) is prevented from being overheated, and the solid filament material is hereby prevented from being softened early in the feeding tube (210) before being fed into the supplying nozzle (220),

wherein the feeding tube (210) and the supplying nozzle (220) are made of different metallic materials.

2. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein an area of the air outlet (321) is corresponding to an area of the fins (212).

3. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein the housing (100) includes an air inlet (101), and the air inlet (101) is disposed corresponding to the inlet side (311) of the fan (310).

4. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein the housing (100) includes an air outlet (102), and the fins (212) are disposed between the air outlet (102) and the outlet side (312) of the fan (310).

5. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein the feeding tube (210) and the supplying nozzle (220) are assembled with each other.

6. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein the heater (230) is inserted into the supplying nozzle (220).

7. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein the housing (100) includes a tube joint (110) disposed corresponding to the feeding inlet (211).

8. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein a hook 120 is protrudingly disposed on an outer surface of the housing (100), the hook (120) is provided for hooking a carrier (10), and the carrier (10) is disposed at a movable platform and is movable on the movable platform.

9. The three-dimensional printing head of claim 1, wherein the specific heat of the supplying nozzle (220) is higher than the specific heat of the feeding tube (210).