Thermal analysis of novel heat-sink fins for FDM 3D printer liquefier

Abstract

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is the most affordable 3D printing process available in the market. Plastic wire filaments are fed inside the extruder and heated by a heating coil to heat the plastic sufficient to have a consistent flow. The filament within the extruder must remain solid at room temperature for it to act as a plunger for the part of the filament being melted near the nozzle. A uniform thermal distribution must be maintained for the sake of the filament’s consistent flow rate. The extruder will face both mechanical and thermal load. Proper heat dissipation is critical because it directly affects the performance of the extruder and thereby impacts the product produced. Since the extruder head should be compact and resilient to thermal loads, the designing of heat fins with minimum material and maximum surface area is important. This paper presents a finite element numerical analysis of the heat transfer in the filament extruder of a 3D printer with multiple novel cooling fin design configurations. The analysis was done using Ansys Workbench and the novel fins showed promising results.