Homogenous Mixing of Two Materials in an Integrated Pellet Metering System
Author
Tindula, Christian Stefan
0000-0002-4059-358X
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
UTA’s LAMMA Lab has created a pellet 3D printer by attaching a Massive
Dimension Pellet Extruder head to the end of a Kuka 6 degree of freedom robotic arm. The
printer must have constant access to two pellet reservoirs and be able to print a two-material
structure or a mixture of the materials. A batching system was created that distributes
pellets using a lead screw conveyor to an enclosed metering plate. When the weight of the
pellets distributed to the plate is equal to the specified weight of the batch, the conveyor
stops, and the enclosure shifts moving the entire batch into the pellet extruder head. A
mixed batch is created by alternating small pulses of the lead screws of the materials
desired in the mixture. The mixed batch is not uniform but will allow for a granulate batch
blender to be added below the batching system.