A 3D printing system includes a tank containing a liquid photopolymer resin. The tank includes an optically transparent window through which light is configured to pass. A heat exchanger is connected to the tank and is configured to cool the liquid polymer resin. A transducer is connected to the tank. The transducer is configured to emit an acoustic wave toward the optically transparent window.

Apparatus for facilitating automated removal of a printed part from a 3D printer's print bed includes a print surface applied to the print bed, wherein the print surface has properties which change with temperature, affecting adhesion to the printed part. Cycling the temperature of the print bed enables adhesion of the part to the print bed during printing and release of the part from the print bed upon completion of the print. The print bed may be oriented vertically or at an incline to the horizontal to enable gravitational forces to pull the printed part away from the print bed upon completion of the print. Peltier devices or other cooling mechanisms may be provided to facilitate cooling of the print bed for release of the part. In certain embodiments, the print bed is configured to provide mechanical part removal to automatically dislodge the printed part from the print bed.

A powder bed fusion apparatus in which an object is built in a layer-by-layer manner. The apparatus has a build sleeve and a build platform for supporting a powder bed, the build platform lowerable in the build sleeve. A processing plate is coupled to an upper end of the build sleeve. The apparatus further has a doser for dosing powder and a recoater for spreading the dosed powder across the processing plate to the powder bed. A heater is provided for heating the powder bed. An active cooling device having a cooling element and/or cooling channel is to form, in use, an active thermal barrier to conduction of heat from the build sleeve through the processing plate.

An apparatus for production of a water-soluble shell for holding a filling substance, having a tank filled with a melt of a shell material, wherein the shell material contains a polymer and is water-soluble and is solid under standard conditions, and a male mold movably arranged in the region of the tank and automatically lowerable into the melt and withdrawable from the tank in order to form a water-soluble shell. The invention also relates to a corresponding process and to a corresponding shell and to a corresponding portion pack for use as a washing or cleaning agent.

A device for producing a water-soluble shell for receiving a filling substance, the device having a basin which is filled with a melt of a shell material, wherein the shell material is polymer-containing and water-soluble and solid under normal conditions, and a male mold which is movably arranged in the region of the basin, can be automatically submerged into the melt and can be removed from the basin in order to form a water-soluble shell optionally abutting the male mold. The invention also relates to a corresponding method and a corresponding shell and a corresponding portion for use as a washing or cleaning agent.

A drive unit for a molding machine for longitudinally displacing a movable first machine component relative to a second machine component, includes a rotationally drivable spindle mounted in a linear movement-locking manner on the second machine component, a spindle nut arranged in a rotational movement-locking manner on the first machine component for positive-locking engagement with the spindle, and a fluid chamber which at least adjoins the spindle and/or the spindle nut, and contains a lubricant. A temperature control element for controlling the temperature of the lubricant is arranged in and/or on the fluid chamber at least in areas.

A 3D printing system includes a tank containing a liquid photopolymer resin. The tank includes an optically transparent window through which light is configured to pass. A heat exchanger is connected to the tank and is configured to cool the liquid polymer resin. A transducer is connected to the tank. The transducer is configured to emit an acoustic wave toward the optically transparent window.

A three-dimensional printer (100) having a means for cooling (124) the uppermost surface of a material bed in a region immediately before a deposited layer of material (e.g. powder) at the uppermost surface is separated from a protective sheet (116). The protective sheet (116) provides a physical barrier between the deposited layer of material and a thermal print head (114) during printing. The separation of the protective sheet from the material bed may occur to create a distribution gap for a new layer of powder to be deposited (118). The cooling means may facilitate separation of the protective sheet from the deposited layer, and especially from the portion of that layer that has been heat-treated in the preceding printing pass. The cooling means may be an actively cooled surface on a separator that formed part of the print head.

An additive manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a product. The apparatus includes a container for holding a radiation-curable liquid, a build platform having a build surface for holding a product being manufactured during a manufacturing process, a radiation source for providing hardening radiation to selectively solidify radiation-curable liquid in the container by exposure to form the product. The build platform is movable relative to the container in a predetermined direction. The apparatus further includes a temperature element that is integrated in the building platform with the purpose of generating or removing heat from the build surface and/or the product, and a controller for causing the temperature element to generate or remove heat from the build surface and/or the product until the product releases from the build surface. A corresponding method, and a build platform are also provided.

The present invention relates to a method for producing thermosetting components from two or more semifinished composite-material products with textile fibre reinforcement and matrix material, wherein the semifinished composite-material products are fully consolidated, with the exception of local regions, and are brought into contact at the partially consolidated (gelled) regions (201, 211, 221, 241) such that the matrix material of the partially consolidated regions (201, 211, 221, 241) bonds and the regions joined together in this way are subsequently fully consolidated. Furthermore, a device which is suitable for producing the semifinished composite-material products is disclosed.