US 12,330,370 B2
3D printing system for preparing a three-dimensional object
Stephen Shields, The Woodlands, TX (US); Daniele Tammaro, Zürich (CH); Ulla Trommsdorff, Zürich (CH); and Claudio Walker, Winterthur (CH)
Assigned to Sulzer Management AG, Winterthur (CH)
Appl. No. 17/270,500
Filed by Sulzer Management AG, Winterthur (CH)
PCT Filed Aug. 26, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/072702
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 23, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/043660, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 5, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 18191777 (EP), filed on Aug. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0331389 A1, Oct. 28, 2021
Int. Cl. B29C 64/209 (2017.01); B29C 64/295 (2017.01); B29C 64/321 (2017.01); B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B33Y 30/00 (2015.01); B33Y 40/00 (2020.01); B29K 105/04 (2006.01)
CPC B29C 64/209 (2017.08) [B29C 64/295 (2017.08); B29C 64/321 (2017.08); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); B33Y 40/00 (2014.12); B29K 2105/048 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A three-dimensional printing system for preparing a three-dimensional object made at least partially of an expanded polymer, comprising:
a printer configured to prepare an expandable polymer melt and deposit a strand of expandable, expanding or expanded polymer onto a surface, the printer comprising:
a feed section at an upstream end of the printer,
a heating section,
a pressurizing section,
a blowing agent supply line arranged downstream of the heating section and the pressurizing section,
a mixing section,
a cooling section, and
a terminal printing head section at a downstream end of the printer including a die configured to deposit the strand of the expandable, expanding or expanded polymer onto the surface,
the mixing section and the cooling section being arranged downstream of: the feed section, the heating section, and the pressurizing section,
the blowing agent supply line having at least one discharge end connected with at least one of: the pressurizing section, the mixing section and the cooling section,
the cooling section being a tubular section, which comprises a tube, and a Peltier element, a resistance heater, a heat exchanger or cooling fins disposed on an outer wall of the tube, and
the pressurizing section comprising a piston compressor, a screw compressor or a gear compressor.