scholarly journals Inexpensive Piezoelectric Elements for Nozzle Contact Detection and Build Platform Leveling in FFF 3D Printers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Simpson ◽  
Simon Khoury
Keyword(s):  
Output Voltage ◽  
Contact Detection ◽  
Test Duration ◽  
Electronic Circuits ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
Nozzle Height ◽  
A Value ◽  
Piezoelectric Elements ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
Contact Sensor

Inexpensive piezoelectric diaphragms can be used as sensors to facilitate both nozzle height setting and build platform leveling in FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) 3D printers. Tests simulating nozzle contact are conducted to establish the available output and an output of greater than 8 Volts found at 20 ºC, a value which is readily detectable by simple electronic circuits. Tests are also conducted at a temperature of 80 ºC and, despite a reduction of greater than 80% in output voltage, this is still detectable. The reliability of piezoelectric diaphragms is investigated by mechanically stressing samples over 100,000 cycles at both 20 ºC and 80 ºC and little loss of output over the test duration is found. The development of a nozzle contact sensor using a single piezoelectric diaphragm is described.

scholarly journals Inexpensive Piezoelectric Elements for Nozzle Contact Detection and Bed Levelling in FFF 3D Printers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Simpson ◽  
Simon Khoury
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Print Quality ◽  
Contact Detection ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
Nozzle Height ◽  
Piezoelectric Elements ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
Better Than

Inexpensive piezoelectric diaphragms can be used as sensors to facilitate both nozzle height setting and bed levelling in FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) 3D printers. A variety of probes have been developed by the authors and others to utilize piezoelectric diaphragms both under the build stage and in the printer head. The reliability, repeatability and sensitivity of these probes has been investigated along with such practical considerations as usability in different environments, the functional life of piezoelectric diaphragms in this use and what improvement to print quality may be obtained. A probe using a piezoelectric diaphragm has been developed and released as an open source product, this probe as well as kits for making probes are available and are proving reliable. The conclusion is that piezoelectric diaphragms are equal to or better than other technologies used for nozzle probing.

scholarly journals Inexpensive Piezoelectric Elements for Nozzle Contact Detection and Bed Levelling in FFF 3D Printers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Simpson ◽  
Simon Khoury
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Print Quality ◽  
Contact Detection ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
Nozzle Height ◽  
Piezoelectric Elements ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
Better Than

Inexpensive piezoelectric diaphragms can be used as sensors to facilitate both nozzle height setting and bed levelling in FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) 3D printers. A variety of probes have been developed by the authors and others to utilize piezoelectric diaphragms both under the build stage and in the printer head. The reliability, repeatability and sensitivity of these probes has been investigated along with such practical considerations as usability in different environments, the functional life of piezoelectric diaphragms in this use and what improvement to print quality may be obtained. A probe using a piezoelectric diaphragm has been developed and released as an open source product, this probe as well as kits for making probes are available and are proving reliable. The conclusion is that piezoelectric diaphragms are equal to or better than other technologies used for nozzle probing.

scholarly journals MTouch: An Automatic Fault Detection System for Desktop FFF 3D Printers Using a Contact Sensor

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Aidala ◽  
Zachary Eichenberger ◽  
Nickolas Chan ◽  
Kyle Wilkinson ◽  
Chinedum Okwudire
Keyword(s):  
Detection System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Raspberry Pi ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
Hall Effect Sensor ◽  
Cost System ◽  
Contact Probe ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
Contact Sensor

Desktop fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers have been growing in popularity among hobbyist and professional users as a prototyping and low-volume manufacturing tool. One issue these printers face is the inability to determine when a defect has occurred rendering the print unusable. Several techniques have been proposed to detect such defects but many of these approaches are tailored to one specific fault (e.g., filament runout/jam), use expensive hardware such as laser distance sensors, and/or use machine vision algorithms which are sensitive to ambient conditions, and hence can be unreliable. This paper proposes a versatile, reliable, and low-cost system, named MTouch, to detect millimeter-scale defects that tend to make prints unusable. At the core of MTouch is an actuated contact probe designed using a low-power solenoid, magnet, and hall effect sensor. This sensor is used to check for the presence, or absence, of the printed object at specific locations. The MTouch probe demonstrated 100% reliability, which was significantly higher than the 74% reliability achieved using a commercially available contact probe (the BLTouch). Additionally, an algorithm was developed to automatically detect common print failures such as layer shifting, bed separation, and filament runout using the MTouch probe. The algorithm was implemented on a Raspberry Pi mini-computer via an Octoprint plug-in. In head-to-head testing against a commercially available print defect detection system (The Spaghetti Detective), the MTouch was able to detect faults 44% faster on average while only increasing the print time by 8.49%. In addition, MTouch was able to detect faults The Spaghetti Detective was unable to identify such as layer shifting and filament runout/jam.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Circularity of Recycled PLA Filaments for 3D Printers

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 8967
Author(s):  
Victor Gil Muñoz ◽  
Luisa M. Muneta ◽  
Ruth Carrasco-Gallego ◽  
Juan de Juanes Marquez ◽  
David Hidalgo-Carvajal
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
Circular Loop ◽  
Material Supply ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Circular Economics ◽  
High Level ◽  
Additional Value

The circular economy model offers great opportunities to companies, as it not only allows them to capture additional value from their products and materials, but also reduce the fluctuations of price-related risks and material supply. These risks are present in all kind of businesses not based on the circular economy. The circular economy also enables economic growth without the need for more resources. This is because each unit has a higher value as a result of recycling and reuse of products and materials after use. Following this circular economics framework, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) has adopted strategies aimed at improving the circularity of products. In particular, this article provides the result of obtaining recycled PLA filament from waste originating from university 3D FFF (fused filament fabrication) printers and waste generated by “Coronamakers” in the production of visors and parts for PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) during the lockdown period of COVID-19 in Spain. This filament is used in the production of 3D printed parts that university students use in their classes, so the circular loop is closed. The obtained score of Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) of this material has been calculated, indicating its high level of circularity.

scholarly journals Bonding widths of Deposited Polymer Strands in Additive Manufacturing

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 871
Author(s):  
Cheng Luo ◽  
Manjarik Mrinal ◽  
Xiang Wang ◽  
Ye Hong
Keyword(s):  
Polymer Melt ◽  
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ◽  
High Viscosity ◽  
Numerical Results ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Nozzle Height ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Cross Sectional Profile ◽  
Sectional Profile

In this study, we explore the deformation of a polymer extrudate upon the deposition on a build platform, to determine the bonding widths between stacked strands in fused-filament fabrication. The considered polymer melt has an extremely high viscosity, which dominates in its deformation. Mainly considering the viscous effect, we derive analytical expressions of the flat width, compressed depth, bonding width and cross-sectional profile of the filament in four special cases, which have different combinations of extrusion speed, print speed and nozzle height. We further validate the derived relations, using our experimental results on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), as well as existing experimental and numerical results on ABS and polylactic acid (PLA). Compared with existing theoretical and numerical results, our derived analytic relations are simple, which need less calculations. They can be used to quickly predict the geometries of the deposited strands, including the bonding widths.

scholarly journals Flexible Temperature Sensor Integrated with Soft Pneumatic Microactuators for Functional Microfingers

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Konishi ◽  
Akiya Hirata
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Temperature Sensor ◽  
Output Voltage ◽  
Temperature Sensors ◽  
Seebeck Effect ◽  
Temperature Sensing ◽  
Bending Test ◽  
Contact Detection ◽  
Dissimilar Metals

Abstract The integration of a flexible temperature sensor with a soft microactuator (a pneumatic balloon actuator) for a functional microfinger is presented herein. A sensor integrated with a microactuator can actively approach a target for contact detection when a distance exists from the target or when the target moves. This paper presents a microfinger with temperature sensing functionality. Moreover, thermocouples, which detect temperature based on the Seebeck effect, are designed for use as flexible temperature sensors. Thermocouples are formed by a pair of dissimilar metals or alloys, such as copper and constantan. Thin-film metals or alloys are patterned and integrated in the microfinger. Two typical thermocouples (K-type and T-type) are designed in this study. A 2.0 mm × 2.0 mm sensing area is designed on the microfinger (3.0 mm × 12 mm × 400 μm). Characterization indicates that the output voltage of the sensor is proportional to temperature, as designed. It is important to guarantee the performance of the sensor against actuation effects. Therefore, in addition to the fundamental characterization of the temperature sensors, the effect of bending deformation on the characteristics of the temperature sensors is examined with a repeated bending test consisting of 1000 cycles.

scholarly journals Modeling the Producibility of 3D Printing in Polylactic Acid Using Artificial Neural Networks and Fused Filament Fabrication

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 3219
Author(s):  
Mohammad Saleh Meiabadi ◽  
Mahmoud Moradi ◽  
Mojtaba Karamimoghadam ◽  
Sina Ardabili ◽  
Mahdi Bodaghi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Polylactic Acid ◽  
Production Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
Artificial Neural ◽  
End Use ◽  
Artificial Neural Network Ann ◽  
Part Thickness

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a highly applicable material that is used in 3D printers due to some significant features such as its deformation property and affordable cost. For improvement of the end-use quality, it is of significant importance to enhance the quality of fused filament fabrication (FFF)-printed objects in PLA. The purpose of this investigation was to boost toughness and to reduce the production cost of the FFF-printed tensile test samples with the desired part thickness. To remove the need for numerous and idle printing samples, the response surface method (RSM) was used. Statistical analysis was performed to deal with this concern by considering extruder temperature (ET), infill percentage (IP), and layer thickness (LT) as controlled factors. The artificial intelligence method of artificial neural network (ANN) and ANN-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) were further developed to estimate the toughness, part thickness, and production-cost-dependent variables. Results were evaluated by correlation coefficient and RMSE values. According to the modeling results, ANN-GA as a hybrid machine learning (ML) technique could enhance the accuracy of modeling by about 7.5, 11.5, and 4.5% for toughness, part thickness, and production cost, respectively, in comparison with those for the single ANN method. On the other hand, the optimization results confirm that the optimized specimen is cost-effective and able to comparatively undergo deformation, which enables the usability of printed PLA objects.

scholarly journals Effects of Filament Diameter Tolerances in Fused Filament Fabrication

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Cardona ◽  
Abigail H Curdes ◽  
Aaron J Isaacs
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ◽  
Fused Filament Fabrication ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Extrusion Rate ◽  
Filament Diameter ◽  
Printing Quality ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
And Control

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is one of the most popular additive manufacturing (3D printing) technologies due to the growing availability of low-cost desktop 3D printers and the relatively low cost of the thermoplastic filament used in the 3D printing process. Commercial filament suppliers, 3D printer manufacturers, and end-users regard filament diameter tolerance as an important indicator of the 3D printing quality. Irregular filament diameter affects the flow rate during the filament extrusion, which causes poor surface quality, extruder jams, irregular gaps in-between individual extrusions, and/or excessive overlap, which eventually results in failed 3D prints. Despite the important role of the diameter consistency in the FFF process, few studies have addressed the required tolerance level to achieve highest 3D printing quality. The objective of this work is to develop the testing methods to measure the filament tolerance and control the filament fabrication process. A pellet-based extruder is utilized to fabricate acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filament using a nozzle of 1.75 mm in diameter. Temperature and extrusion rate are controlled parameters. An optical comparator and an array of digital calipers are used to measure the filament diameter. The results demonstrate that it is possible to achieve high diameter consistency and low tolerances (0.01mm) at low extrusion temperature (180 °C) and low extrusion rate (10 in/min). 

State Feedback Controller Using Pole Placement Method for Linear Buck Converter to Improve Overshoot and Settling Time

2015 ◽  
Vol 793 ◽  
pp. 211-215
Author(s):  
Mazwin Mazlan ◽  
Noor Haqkimi ◽  
Chanuri Charin ◽  
Nur Fairuz ◽  
Nurul Izni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Output Voltage ◽  
State Feedback ◽  
Input Voltage ◽  
Buck Converter ◽  
Pole Placement ◽  
Electronic Circuits ◽  
Solution Approach ◽  
Placement Method ◽  
Lqr Controller ◽  
Step Down

Switched mode DC-DC converters are electronic circuits which convert a voltage from one level to a higher or lower level voltage. This paper presents a new solution approach to controller and observer controller of DC-DC Buck converter. The designs in this paper of DC-DC Buck converter is input voltage 20V step down to 12V output voltage. For control the system simulation investigation into development of controller and observer controller using MATLAB Simulink® software. The simulation develops of the controller and observer controller with mathematical model of DC-DC Buck converter. This paper also providing LQR controller to compare the performance of the system. Finally, the performance output voltage of DC-DC Buck converter is analyzed in terms of time response, overshoot and steady state error.

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