Enhancing Temperature Control in 3D Bioprinting: A Comprehensive Study on PID Control Strategies

Although sharing common processing stages, bioprinting diverges significantly from conventional 3D printing by utilizing biological products such as cells, demanding precise temperature control to preserve cell viability and function. This article underscores the critical need for meticulous temperature regulation within a printer head to ensure optimal printability of biomaterials. The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller model to develop and refine temperature regulation within the thermal environment of a 3D printer. During temperature measurements, thermal sensor noise contributed to some variation in the response. However, the implemented PID controller effectively maintained the temperature within the required biological range, exhibiting rapid and consistent responses. The heated bed (or build plate) and extruder nozzle demonstrated response times of approximately 200 seconds and 130 seconds, respectively. The findings from this study have significance for advancing bioprinting systems, contributing to the establishment of robust temperature control systems for precise and reliable nanoscale fabrication processes for biomedical applications. These systems aim to mitigate temperature fluctuations that could compromise biocompatibility from and in 3D printing processes, especially in applications focused on constructing scaffolds from polymeric biomaterials embedded with cells sensitive to unwanted thermal variations.