JPH0483632A - Liquid level control mechanism for resin storage tank in apparatus for forming three-dimensional shape - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the position of the height of a liquid level in a storage tank and obtain a liquid level control mechanism for the resin storage tank in a three- dimensional shape forming apparatus, which enhances the accuracy of a three- dimensional shape to be formed, by providing a supplementary resin supplying means adapted to supply a resinous agent in a resin supplementing tank into the resin storage tank and providing a suction port or an overflow part on one side wall of the resin storage tank. CONSTITUTION:An overflow part 7 consists of an edge 9 whereat one side wall of a storage tank 2 is formed in a position somewhat lower than the top end part 2a of the storage tank, and a resin reservoir 10 provided outside the storage tank. The tip of the edge is located in a position corresponding to the position of a predetermined height of a liquid level. Thereupon, the liquid is always allowed to overflow the part of the edge 9, thereby preventing the displacement of the liquid level from being caused by the surface tension of a resinous agent A. Further, by constantly supplying a predetermined amount of the resinous agent A from a resin supplementing tank 8 into the storage tank 2, the resinous agent A in the storage tank 2 is always allowed to overflow the overflow part 7. Thus, the position of the height of the liquid level in the storage tank 2 is always controlled to the position of a predetermined height.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention A. Industrial Field of Application The present invention is a three-dimensional shape forming device that forms a three-dimensional shape based on an arbitrarily designed three-dimensional image by irradiating a liquid curable resin with an exposure beam. In particular, the present invention relates to the fII mechanism on the liquid surface side of the resin storage tank in which the liquid photocurable resin agent is stored.

B3 Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a cured resin layer with a pattern corresponding to the shape of a decomposition plane that is decomposed in one direction of an arbitrarily designed stereoscopic image by irradiating the surface of a liquid photocurable resin with a light beam. Next, a liquid photocurable resin agent is placed on the cured resin layer, and the liquid surface of the liquid photocurable resin agent is irradiated with a beam again to stack the cured resin layers one after another. In a three-dimensional shape forming apparatus that forms an arbitrary three-dimensional shape by laminating layers, a replenishment resin supply means is provided to supply the resin agent stored in the replenishment resin tank to the resin storage tank, and the resin agent overflowing from the resin storage tank is provided. is collected into the replenishment resin tank via a suction port or an overflow part provided on one side of the resin storage tank.

C0 Prior Art Conventionally, methods have been proposed for forming articles of desired shapes by irradiating a liquid curable resin with a predetermined exposure beam. has been done.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of a main part of a three-dimensional shape forming apparatus using the above-described forming method. That is, this device 51 has a stage 53 formed on a horizontal plate in a resin storage tank 52 in which a liquid curable resin agent A that is cured by irradiation with ultraviolet light is stored, and this stage 53 is arranged vertically. It is equipped with an elevator mechanism 54 that is moved. Further, above the storage tank 52, a beam scanner 55 is provided which condenses and irradiates the exposure beam B onto the liquid surface of the liquid photocurable resin agent A. Exposure and scanning of the liquid surface by the beam scanner 55 and movement of the stage 53 by the elevator mechanism 54 are controlled by a modeling controller 56.

In order to form a predetermined three-dimensional shape using the three-dimensional shape forming apparatus configured in this way, first, the elevator mechanism 5
4 as shown by the solid line in the same figure, and its stage 5
3 moves to the initial position where the liquid photocurable resin agent A is located at a predetermined thickness.

Next, the exposure beam B scans the liquid surface.

This scanning is performed using a pattern corresponding to each of the planes (hereinafter referred to as "resolved planes") that are divided into many planes in one direction of an arbitrarily designed three-dimensional image.

When such scanning of the light beam B is performed, the light beam B
The portion of the liquid photocurable resin agent A that has been irradiated is cured, and a cured resin layer is formed into a sheet having the same shape as the decomposition plane in the liquid surface. Each time the formation of one cured resin layer is completed, the stage 53 is moved downward by the elevator mechanism 54 at a predetermined pitch.
That is, it moves downward with a pinch corresponding to the resolution pinch when the stereoscopic image is resolved into a large number of resolution planes in one direction. Then, the liquid photocuring resin agent A is supplied so as to flow onto the cured resin layer in a thickness equivalent to one pitch, and the light beam B is scanned for the next resolution plane to form another cured resin layer. It is formed. Note that at this time, the cured resin layer is bonded to the previous cured resin layer.

By sequentially laminating new cured resin layers on the cured resin layer formed in this way, the large number of stacked cured resin layers forms a desired three-dimensional shape.

Therefore, according to such a three-dimensional shape forming method, a three-dimensional shape can be formed based on an arbitrarily designed three-dimensional image.

D1 Problem to be Solved by the Invention By the way, in the three-dimensional shape forming apparatus described above, the portion of the liquid surface of the storage tank in which the liquid photocurable resin agent is irradiated with the exposure beam is cured; The spot diameter of the light beam irradiated onto the surface is determined by the distance between the objective lens and the liquid surface. Therefore, if the liquid level height position of the storage tank changes easily, the spot diameter of the light beam will change, which will deteriorate the reproducibility of the curing position of the liquid photocurable resin, making it difficult to form the three-dimensional shape with high precision. I won't be able to do that.

The height position of the liquid level in the storage tank easily changes when the liquid temperature changes or the liquid itself decreases after repeated processing.

Furthermore, when the storage tank itself is enlarged or when the end point depth is made shallow by narrowing the spont, strict liquid level height position control is required.

However, until now, no mechanism has been developed that specifically controls the height position of the liquid level in the storage tank.

Therefore, the present invention provides a liquid level control wj mechanism for a resin storage tank in a three-dimensional shape forming apparatus that controls the liquid level height position of the storage tank using a simple method and improves the precision of the three-dimensional shape to be formed. In order to achieve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention irradiates a light beam onto the liquid surface of a liquid photocurable resin agent and generates a three-dimensional image in one direction, which is arbitrarily designed. A cured resin layer is formed in a pattern corresponding to the shape of the decomposed plane, and then a liquid photocurable resin is placed on top of the cured resin layer, and the liquid surface of the liquid photocurable resin is beamed again. In a three-dimensional shape forming device that sequentially laminates cured resin layers by irradiation to form an arbitrary three-dimensional shape, the resin agent stored in the replenishment resin tank is supplied to the resin storage tank. A replenishment resin supply means is provided, and the resin agent overflowing from the resin storage tank is collected into the replenishment resin tank via a suction port or an overflow portion provided on one side of the resin storage tank.

F1 action The present invention provides that the resin agent in the replenishment resin tank is constantly supplied to the resin storage tank by the replenishment resin supply means, and the resin agent overflowing from the resin storage tank is removed from the resin agent provided on one side of the storage tank. By collecting the resin into the replenishment resin tank through the suction port or overflow part, the amount of resin in the resin storage tank can be kept constant and the height of the liquid level can be kept constant.

G. Embodiments Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing the configuration of two examples of resin storage tanks for explaining a liquid level height control mechanism of resin storage tank 2 in three-dimensional shape forming apparatus 1 according to the present invention. That is, a resin storage tank 2 that stores a liquid photocurable resin agent A that is cured by irradiation with ultraviolet light is placed on a base 3 that has a liquid level level adjustment mechanism 3a, and the resin temperature can be set. A heater 4 for this purpose is wound around the outer circumference of the heater 4 and attached thereto.

This heater 4 is controlled by a temperature controller 6 based on temperature information of the liquid resin agent A detected by a temperature sensor 5, and maintains the resin temperature in the storage tank 2 at a predetermined temperature.

The resin storage tank 2 is equipped with an elevator mechanism (not shown here) that moves a horizontal plate-shaped stage in the vertical direction. A beam scanner is provided that irradiates the liquid surface of the photocurable resin agent A with condensed light. and,
As with the conventional apparatus, the exposure by the beam scanner, the scanning of the liquid surface, the movement of the elevator, etc. are controlled by the modeling controller, and a predetermined decomposition plane can be formed by irradiating the light beam.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment of the present invention, at least one portion of the storage tank 2 is provided with an overflow portion 7. This overflow part 7 is for collecting excess resin agent A that overflows into a replenishment resin tank 8, which will be described later, in order to adjust the height position of the liquid level.

That is, the overflow portion 7 is formed of an edge 9 formed in an example of the storage tank 2 at a position slightly lower than the upper end portion 2a of the storage tank, and a resin reservoir 10 provided outside the edge 9. The edge tip position is set to a position corresponding to a predetermined liquid level height position.

Note that the resin agent A is a material with a very high viscosity and a large surface tension coefficient, so even though it is heated with the heater 4 to lower its viscosity, as shown in FIG. 2 (B), Until the resin agent spills out from the storage tank 2, the liquid level height position is displaced to some extent due to surface tension. Therefore, in strictly controlling and adjusting the height position of the liquid level, the displacement width of the liquid level height position up to this overflow becomes a big problem.

Therefore, in the present invention, the edge 9 of the overflow portion 7
As shown in FIG. 2(A), by forming the tip 9a at an acute angle and by always allowing the liquid level to overflow from this edge 9, the displacement of the liquid level due to the surface tension of the resin agent A can be reduced. Prevent occurrence.

Next, the resin agent A that overflowed in the overflow portion 7 and was led to the resin reservoir 10 is led to the replenishment resin tank 8 via the recovery pipe 11. This replenishment resin tank 8 is for collecting excess resin agent A overflowing from the storage tank 2.

Further, a supply pipe 13 is attached to the replenishment resin tank 8 for supplying the resin agent A to the storage tank 2 via a supply pump 12. The other end of this supply pipe 13 is led to the storage tank 2. This supply pipe 13 is for constantly supplying the resin agent A into the storage tank 2. That is, by constantly supplying a predetermined amount of the resin agent A from the replenishment resin tank 8 to the storage tank 2, the resin agent A in the storage tank 2 is always caused to overflow from the overflow part 7, and the liquid in the storage tank 2 is This is to always control the surface height position to a predetermined height position.

In addition, if a filter 14 is provided in the middle of this supply pipe 13 as shown in FIG. 3, when the resin agent A is supplied to the storage tank 2, dirt such as unnecessary hardened material in the resin agent A can be removed. be able to.

Furthermore, a liquid level height detector 15 using a laser may be provided to monitor and adjust the liquid level height position. This detector 15 irradiates the liquid surface with a laser from a laser tube 16 and detects the incident angle of the reflected light using a line sensor 17 to detect the height position of the liquid surface. Then, based on the detection signal, the adjustment rod 18, which is partially submerged in the liquid, is inserted or removed to change the volume inside the storage tank 2 and adjust the amount of overflow from the overflow part 7. The surface height position can be adjusted.

Next, in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, instead of the overflow part 7 in the first embodiment, a suction port 21 for sucking the overflowing resin agent A by the direct suction pump 20 is used as a storage part in the recovery pipe 11. It is installed at the tank side end. That is, this suction port 21 is provided at one or several locations at a predetermined liquid level height position, and the resin agent A collected by direct suction from this suction port 21 is guided to the replenishing resin tank 8.

Furthermore, in this example as well, a liquid level height detector 15 using a laser is provided to monitor and adjust the liquid level height position, and the suction pump 20 and replenishment pump 12 are controlled by the detection signal from this detector 15. The liquid level height position may be adjusted by

As described above, according to the present invention, the height position of the liquid level can be kept constant by actively variably adjusting the height position of the liquid level.

H0 Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, the resin agent in the replenishment resin tank is constantly supplied to the resin storage tank by the replenishment resin supply means, and the resin agent overflowing from the resin storage tank is kept on one side of the storage tank. By collecting the resin into the replenishment resin tank through the suction port or overflow part provided in the resin storage tank, the amount of resin in the resin storage tank can be kept constant and the height of the liquid level can be kept constant.

Therefore, it is possible to maintain an appropriate liquid level height position in the storage tank by a simple method, and it is possible to improve the accuracy of the three-dimensional shape formed by making the beam spot diameter of the irradiated light beam accurate.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing a first embodiment of a liquid level position control mechanism of a resin storage tank in a three-dimensional shape forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2(B) is an enlarged sectional view of the main part showing the edge part of
is an enlarged sectional view of a main part showing a comparative example. FIG. 3 is a sectional view schematically showing a modified example in which a filter mechanism and a laser detection mechanism are added to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a sectional view schematically showing the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a sectional view schematically showing a conventional three-dimensional shape forming apparatus. 1... Three-dimensional shape forming device 2... Resin storage layer 7... Overflow section 8... Replenishment resin tank 9... Edge 11... Recovery pipe 12... Supply pump 13... Supply Pipe 21...suction port

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light beam is irradiated onto the liquid surface of the liquid photocurable resin to form a cured resin layer with a pattern corresponding to the shape of a decomposition plane that is decomposed in one direction of an arbitrarily designed stereoscopic image, and then the cured resin layer is cured. A liquid photocurable resin is placed on top of the resin layer, and the liquid surface of the liquid photocurable resin is irradiated with a beam again to stack the cured resin layers one after another to create an arbitrary three-dimensional shape. In a three-dimensional shape forming device that forms a shape,
A replenishment resin supply means is provided for supplying the resin agent stored in the replenishment resin tank to the resin storage tank, and the resin agent overflowing from the resin storage tank is removed through a suction port or an overflow part provided on one side of the resin storage tank. A liquid level control mechanism of a resin storage tank in a three-dimensional shape forming apparatus, wherein the liquid is collected in the replenishing resin tank.