Study Of 3D Food Printing Key Technologies

In recent years. with the rapid development of technology and the rapid development of economy, industries gradually reach a highly industrialized stage. Food processing industry has also been benefiting from the rapid progress of industrialization. A well-known novel technology,3D printing, has been applied to various areas and achieved fruitful results.3D printing food has more scientific ingredients and has richer flavors. Besides,3D printing food it is also popular by its exquisite looks; The 3D food printer is small in size, fast in speed and easy in operation, so it is widely used in cake shops, in restaurants and in families. However, the 3D food printing is a new technology, it still needs to be explored in depth.In this paper key technology of 3D food printing is studied in detail. Moreover, we designed a prototype for experiments. The 3D food printer is an intelligent machine system of food processing, which integrated with Internet technology, rapid prototyping technology and robotics. In design, we adopted the triangular parallel manipulator structure as the main part of mechanical motion device in 3D food printer. In food extrusion, as the food materials are complicated and various, we used the pusher extrusion device, the hydraulic driving device and the pneumatic extrusion device. In the process of food printing, we kept the nozzle and the bottom plate heated by the automatic temperature control of closed loop, which combined of switch control and fuzzy control; In 3D modeling and slice processing, we adopted an operability and customized method combined with digital image processing to software development.Based on the above we proposed, we designed a prototype of 3D food printer for experiments. In system, our prototype supports print different food materials, include jam, butter, chocolate, pastry, salad and etc. The size error of printed food is less than 0.5 percent to expectation. We can operate slice and modeling function by "3D food printing slice" and "sketchpad" apps.