Heated Nozzle Assembly for a Three-Dimensional Printer Head Including a Plurality of Heater Segments

A three-dimensional printer, comprising:

• one or more controllers;
• a control circuit in electronic communication with the one or more controllers, wherein the control circuit is powered by voltage from the one or more controllers;
• and
• a print head including a heated nozzle assembly, wherein the heated nozzle assembly comprises:
• a shank defining a feed end and a first internal flow passage, wherein the feed end is fluidly coupled to the first internal flow passage;
• a nozzle tip defining a discharge end of the nozzle including a second internal flow passage;
• a shank barrel coupled to the shank that includes the second internal flow passage and a body portion, wherein the second internal flow passage of the shank barrel is fluidly coupled to the first internal flow passage of the shank and the body portion of the shank barrel defines a plurality of heater segments that are disposed along the body portion of the shank barrel that are thermally isolated from one another, and wherein a bottom heater segment is located directly adjacent to the discharge end of the nozzle and a top heater segment is disposed furthest away from the discharge end of the nozzle, and wherein the heated nozzle assembly includes heat diffusion length based on an input velocity of a filament received by the feed end and a heat diffusion time;
• and
• a plurality of heating elements in electronic communication with the control circuit, wherein the plurality of heating elements each correspond to one of the plurality of heater segments disposed along a length of the body portion of the shank barrel, wherein the heating elements are each configured to heat a corresponding heater segment to a predefined temperature, and wherein the control circuit activates or deactivates one or more of the plurality of heating elements, and wherein the control circuit activates only the bottom heating element when the three-dimensional printer is at zero print speed and the heat diffusion length is equal to a height of the bottom heater segment measured from the discharge end of the nozzle, and wherein the control circuit activates each of the plurality of heating elements when the three-dimensional printer is at a maximum print speed the heat diffusion length is equal to a height of the top heater segment.