An apparatus changes the temperature of thermoplastic material in an extruder head to reduce the time for producing an object. The apparatus includes a cooling device located near the one or more nozzles of the extruder head to change the temperature of the thermoplastic material extruded by the extruder head. The apparatus cools the thermoplastic material to enhance the formation of exterior object features. A heater can also be positioned near the nozzle zone to heat the thermoplastic material to reduce the time for raising the viscosity of the thermoplastic material for forming interior regions of the object.

A high altitude balloon. A plurality of layers of coextruded extrudate are formed in a seamless sheet in a shape that defines a balloon envelope. Delaminator layers may be interposed between two or more of the layers of extrudate.

A gear box for a reciprocating kneader. A primary rotational gear is attached to a gear box primary shaft and rotates in concert therewith. A secondary rotational gear is engaged with the primary rotation gear and rotates therewith. A secondary shaft is attached to the secondary rotational gear and rotates therewith. A primary oscillation gear is attached to the gear box primary shaft and rotates therewith. A secondary oscillation gear is rotationally engaged with the primary oscillation gear and rotates on the secondary shaft. An eccentric is coupled to the secondary oscillation gear and rotates in concert therewith. A yoke is engaged with the eccentric and oscillates on an axis perpendicular to the secondary shaft in response to the lobe. The gearbox secondary shaft moves along its axis in concert with yoke oscillation. A housing is pivotally attached to the yoke and pivotally attached to a casing at a casing.

A method of operating an additive manufacturing system feeds solid extrusion material into a heater using a slip clutch coupled to an actuator of a mechanical driver to supply thermoplastic material into a manifold in an extruder head. The method sets a speed of the actuator so the actuator operates at a rotational speed that is slightly greater than the rotational speed of the mechanical mover. This method helps maintain the pressure of the thermoplastic material in the manifold of the extruder head in a predetermined range no matter how many nozzles are opened in the extruder head.

An extruder assembly has a frame with upstream and downstream ends. A barrel assembly on the frame has a passage. At least one material advancing component resides at least partially within the passage and is configured to be turned around an operating axis to thereby cause material to be conveyed from a passage inlet to a passage outlet. A drive assembly turns the at least one material advancing component around its operating axis and has a motor on the frame situated so that at least a part of the motor is in lengthwise overlapping relationship with the barrel assembly. The drive assembly is configured to turn the one material advancing component around its operating axis at a speed of at least 300 rpm.

A foam forming device has an inlet, an outlet and a longitudinal axis that leads from the inlet to the outlet. The foam forming device has a plurality of surface pairs. Each surface pair has two opposing surfaces. The surfaces delimit a foaming space at least to some extent. At least one of the surfaces of the surface pairs is an adjustable surface whose orientation relative to the longitudinal axis can be adjusted. The first surface pair and the second surface pair are off-set from one another along the periphery of the foaming space. Also disclosed is a foam extrusion apparatus having a foam forming device.

A puller apparatus has a path through which an extrusion travels downstream from an outlet of an extruder and upper and lower extrusion puller members that define a portion of the path. At least one of the extrusion puller members is a drive member to provide forward motion to an extrusion. A mounting arm is moveably mounted to the puller apparatus at a mounting location. The mounting arm has a first portion on one side of the mounting location and a second portion on an opposed side of the mounting location. The upper extrusion puller member is mounted to the first portion of the mounting arm. The mounting arm is movable from a lowered position in which the upper extrusion puller member is positioned to engage an extrusion in the path and a raised position in which the upper extrusion puller member is spaced upwardly from the lowered position.

A twin-screw extruder is provided in which screws have different rotational speeds depending on the process of treating the raw material and in which degradation of the raw material is less likely to occur.

Twin-screw extruder 1 has two screws 3, 5 that extend in parallel to each other. Each screw 3, 5 has cylindrical upstream screw 31 and downstream screw 35, wherein upstream screw 31 has shaft hole 315 that extends in longitudinal direction X and screw flight 316 on an outer circumferential surface thereof, and downstream screw 35 includes large diameter portion 353 having screw flight 357 on an outer circumferential surface thereof and small diameter shaft portion 351 that has a smaller diameter than large diameter portion 353, wherein small diameter shaft portion 351 of downstream screw 35 is inserted into shaft hole 315 of upstream screw 31. Upstream screw 31 and downstream screw 35 can be independently rotated. Twin-screw extruder 1 further includes upstream rotating mechanism 84 that rotates upstream screws 31 of two screws 3, 5, and downstream rotating mechanism 83 that rotates downstream screws 35 of two screws 3, 5.

A high-altitude balloon manufacturing apparatus. The apparatus includes one or more extruders and one or more extrusion dies in fluid communication with the extruders. Each extrusion die is shaped to define one or more connector channels and one or more layering channels. The connector channels define extrudate flow paths between the layering channels.

An interchangeable unit adapted to couple to a computer numerical control (CNC) machine is disclosed comprising a holder that couples to a spindle of the CNC machine, a controller, wherein said controller is configured to receive the rotational speed of the spindle as an input, and a material processing unit, wherein said material processing unit executes a first function in response to a first rotational speed range of the spindle and executes a second function in response to a second rotational speed range of the spindle.