ON-ORBIT COMPOSITE FILAMENT FORMING DEVICE FOR SPACE 3D PRINTING

Abstract

An on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing includes a constant tension unwinding module, a replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module, a melt preheating chamber, a curved channel impregnation chamber, a variable aperture resin recovery device, a heat protective housing, a convective cooling device, a traction device, and a winding device. The replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module wraps a resin filament on a surface of a carbon fiber by circumferential rotation and is provided with an active unwinding reel placed on a circular rail centered on the carbon fiber; the melt preheating chamber is used for melting resin to wrap the surface of the fiber, and is equipped with a lifting device for automatic opening and closing; the curved channel impregnation chamber is formed with a wedge-shaped high-pressure impregnation zone by mutual extrusion of upper and lower pressure blocks, thereby improving the quality of fiber impregnation.

Claims

1. An on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing, comprising a constant tension unwinding module, a replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module, a melt preheating chamber, a curved channel impregnation chamber, a variable aperture resin recovery device, a heat protective housing, a convective cooling device, a traction device, and a winding device arranged sequentially, wherein the melt preheating chamber, the curved channel impregnation chamber, and the variable aperture resin recovery device are located in the heat protective housing; the replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module comprises at least one active unwinding reel placed on a circular rail centered on a carbon fiber; a first metal scraper opening and closing mechanism, a second metal scraper opening and closing mechanism, and a third metal scraper opening and closing mechanism are provided sequentially inside the variable aperture resin recovery device; a circumferential heating resistor is provided in a housing of the variable aperture resin recovery device, and a lateral push device is provided at an upper part of the housing.

2. The on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing according to claim 1, wherein a mechanical lifting device is provided above the melt preheating chamber and connected to an upper cavity of the melt preheating chamber; a plurality of first heating resistors are provided in the melt preheating chamber.

3. The on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing according to claim 1, wherein the curved channel impregnation chamber comprises a channel top plate, an upper pressure block, a lower pressure block, and a channel bottom plate from top to bottom, wherein the upper pressure block and the lower pressure block extrude each other to form a wedge-shaped high-pressure impregnation zone, and a plurality of channel heating resistors are placed in the upper pressure block and the lower pressure block to maintain an internal temperature of a channel; a primary lifting device is connected to the channel top plate to lift a whole upper part of the channel, and a secondary lifting device is connected to the upper pressure block to press a melted filament to form the channel.

4. The on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing according to claim 1, wherein the first metal scraper opening and closing mechanism, the second metal scraper opening and closing mechanism, and the third metal scraper opening and closing mechanism have a same structure and an opening and closing diameter in a range of 0 mm-1.5 mm, and diameters of openings of the first metal scraper opening and closing mechanism, the second metal scraper opening and closing mechanism and the third metal scraper opening and closing mechanism decrease sequentially along a direction of movement of a filament in a process of filament forming, wherein a plurality of rotating blades are provided inside the first metal scraper opening and closing mechanism, tail ends of the plurality of rotating blades are respectively connected to first rotating shafts and second rotating shafts allowed to slide in corresponding rails, the first rotating shafts are jointly connected to a rotary connecting rod, a rotation of the rotary connecting rod is configured to drive the first rotating shafts to move in slide rails, and the second rotating shafts also move in the corresponding slide rails due to constraints of movement conditions, thereby driving the plurality of rotating blades to rotate, and realizing opening and closing functions.

5. The on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing according to claim 1, wherein an opening and closing controllable filament mold nozzle is provided at a front end of the variable aperture resin recovery device to control a formation of a recovered filament and a storage of a recovered resin.

6. The on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing according to claim 1, wherein a fan is provided on the convective cooling device to provide convection.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module.

[0018] FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a melt preheating chamber.

[0019] FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a curved channel impregnation chamber.

[0020] FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a variable aperture resin recovery device.

[0021] FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a first metal scraper opening and closing mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0022] The present invention will be further illustrated below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the following specific embodiments are only used for describing the present invention, rather than limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that the terms front, rear, left, right, upper, and lower used in the following description refer to the directions in the drawings, and the terms inside and outside refer to a direction toward or away from a geometric center of a specific component separately.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides an on-orbit composite filament forming device for space 3D printing. The forming device includes a constant tension unwinding module 1, a replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module 2, a melt preheating chamber 3, a curved channel impregnation chamber 4, a variable aperture resin recovery device 5, a heat protective housing 6, a convective cooling device 7, a traction device 8, and a winding device 9 arranged sequentially.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, the replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module 2 includes an active unwinding reel 201. The melt preheating chamber 3 includes a mechanical lifting device 301 and a heating resistor 302. The curved channel impregnation chamber 4 includes a primary lifting device 401, a secondary lifting device 402, and a heating resistor 403. The variable aperture resin recovery device 5 includes a first metal scraper mechanism 501, a second metal scraper mechanism 502, a third metal scraper mechanism 503, a circumferential heating resistor 504, a lateral push device 505, a connecting rod 506, rotating blades 5011, first rotating shafts 5012, second rotating shafts 5013, and an opening and closing connecting rod 5014.

[0025] A top of each metal scraper mechanism is connected to the lateral push device 505 through the connecting rod 506.

[0026] The first metal scraper opening and closing mechanism 501, the second metal scraper opening and closing mechanism 502, and the third metal scraper opening and closing mechanism 503 have a same structure and an opening and closing diameter in a range of 0-1.5 mm, and the diameters of openings of the metal scraper mechanisms decrease sequentially along a direction of movement of a filament in the process of filament forming. A plurality of rotating blades 5011 are provided inside the first metal scraper opening and closing mechanism 501, tails ends of the rotating blades are respectively connected to the first rotating shafts 5012 and the second rotating shafts 5013 capable of sliding in corresponding rails, the first rotating shafts 5012 are jointly connected to the rotary connecting rod 5014, rotation of the rotary connecting rod 5014 can drive the first rotating shafts 5012 to move in the slide rails, and the second rotating shafts 5013 also move in the corresponding slide rails due to the constraints of movement conditions, thereby driving the rotating blades 5011 to rotate relative to themselves, and realizing opening and closing functions.

[0027] Meanwhile, this embodiment provides a specific process for filament fabrication using the aforementioned on-rail composite filament forming device:

[0028] The objective in this embodiment is to fabricate a continuous carbon fiber reinforced PEEK composite filament having a diameter of 1.3 mm.

[0029] The heat protective housing 6 is opened. The mechanical lifting device 301 in the melt preheating chamber, the primary lifting device 401 in the curved channel impregnation chamber, and the secondary lifting device 402 in the curved channel impregnation chamber are controlled to rise. The diameters of the metal scrapers 501, 502, and 503 of the variable aperture resin recovery device are adjusted to 5 mm. A carbon fiber is threaded out from the constant tension unwinding module 1, and passes through the replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module 2, the melt preheating chamber 3, the curved channel impregnation chamber 4, the variable aperture resin recovery device 5, and the convective cooling device 7 sequentially to the traction device 8. The mechanical lifting device 301 and the primary lifting device 401 are controlled to fall, the heat protective housing 6 is closed, and the threading of the carbon fiber is completed.

[0030] Temperatures of the heating resistor 302 in the melt preheating chamber, the heating resistor 403 in the curved channel impregnation chamber, and the circumferential heating resistor 504 in the variable aperture resin recovery device are set to 360 C. The diameters of the metal scrapers 501, 502, and 503 of the variable aperture resin recovery device are adjusted to 1.7, 1.5, and 1.3 mm, respectively. The secondary lifting device 402 is controlled to fall, the convective cooling device 7 is turned on, and two resin filaments are pulled out from the active unwinding reel 201 of the rotary wrapping module and fixed to the carbon fiber. The speed of the traction device 8 is set to 10 mm/s, and the speed of the replaceable resin filament rotary wrapping module 2 is set to 10 r/min.

[0031] The technical means disclosed by the solutions of the present invention are not limited to these disclosed in the above embodiments, and further include technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features.