Abstract
Part cooling is essential in 3D printing to ensure proper solidification of extruded material (e.g., PLA, PETG, ABS), particularly for materials requiring rapid cooling to maintain dimensional accuracy, minimize stringing, and prevent sagging. Traditional cooling methods rely on mechanical fans and often require complex ducting to optimize airflow around the nozzle, ensuring consistent cooling across different printing orientations and speeds. As 3D printers become faster and use higher accelerations, reducing the weight of these hotends is becoming more important.
This disclosure presents a novel fanless part cooling system for 3D printers using ultra-high voltage (10 kV – 50 kV) to generate an ionic wind. The system consists of a thin wire emitter or an array of spiked probes, paired with a thicker curved wire collector arranged radially around the nozzle. The design directs an ionic jet toward the nozzle, providing cooling without bulky or moving parts, reducing hotend weight, and enabling a more compact cooling solution.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Mahmood, Sharaf, "Fanless Part-Cooling System for a 3D Printer Hotend Using Ionic Coronal Discharge (“Ionic Wind”)", Technical Disclosure Commons, (March 09, 2025)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/7872