3D printer
AssigneeSignify Holding B.V.
InventorsHendrikus Hubertus Petrus Gommans, Marc Andre De Samber, Shahin Mahdizadehaghdam, Vladimir Ossin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A 3D printer extruder unit (1) comprising a printing nozzle (2), a first temperature sensor (3), a second temperature sensor (4), and a processing unit (5) communicatively connected to the first temperature sensor (3) and the second temperature sensor (4). The processing unit (5) is configured to receive a sensor data from the first temperature sensor (3) and the second temperature sensor (4), compare the sensor data to a predefined threshold data and generate one or more of an alert and a control instruction for controlling one or more printing parameters of a 3D printer.
Claims13
A 3D printer extruder unit for a 3D printer comprising:
- a printing nozzle configured for receiving a printing material and depositing said printing material, the printing nozzle comprising a nozzle opening,
- a first temperature sensor arranged at or near the printing nozzle and configured for measuring a first temperature of printing material deposited by the printing nozzle at a first position,
- a second temperature sensor arranged at or near the printing nozzle and configured for measuring a second temperature of printing material deposited by the printing nozzle at a second position, and wherein the first position is different from the second position, and
- a processing unit communicatively connected to the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor and configured to:
- receive a sensor data from the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor, wherein the sensor data comprises the first temperature and the second temperature,
- compare the sensor data to a predefined threshold data, and
- generate, based on the comparison between the sensor data and the predefined threshold data, one or more of an alert and a control instruction for controlling one or more printing parameters of a 3D printer,
- wherein, during a 3D printing process, the first temperature sensor is located in a position downstream of the nozzle opening such as to enable collecting sensor data indicative of a temperature of the latest deposited layer completed by the 3D printer extruder unit, and the second temperature sensor is located in a position upstream of the nozzle opening such as to enable collecting sensor data indicative of a temperature of a layer while the layer is being deposited or already deposited by the 3D printer extruder unit;
- and
- wherein the processing unit is configured to modulate a controlled temperature of the 3D printer, wherein the controlled temperature is one or more of a nozzle temperature, an ambient temperature, or a build plate temperature, and
- compare the sensor data to the modulation of the controlled temperature to estimate a noise level and/or improve a signal to noise ratio of the sensor data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.