Their latest Innovation Sprint Smart Structures challenge, the first in a series of America Makes Innovation Sprint competitions, called on organizations to utilize 3D printing to produce smart structures. The winner of the challenge was a team of students from Virginia Tech’s Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems (DREAMS) Lab, who developed a 3D printed wing section that demonstrates the possibility of fabricating parts with integrated sensing and actuation. The DREAMS Lab team consisted of undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with one electrical and computer engineer as well.
Their winning submission, which was entitled the “Smart Wing Project,” showcased the possibility of integrating mechatronic devices into a 3D printed wing in a single process, which would be extremely helpful for the production of a remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA). Essentially, the DREAMS Lab students would simply pause the 3D printer and place the components into the wing’s pockets before resuming the process. The Virginia Tech team was able to implement a number of smart structures into the 3D printed wing, including embedded actuation, strain sensing, temperature sensing, and two different antennas. The project has positive implications for the US Department of Defense’s plan to deploy additive manufacturing systems that would enable in-field production of replacement, spare, and innovative products.“Our goal is to use additive manufacturing to directly fabricate mechatronic devices – products that can both move, and have on-board sensing to detect and control that movement,” said Chris Williams, associate professor of mechanical engineering and DREAMS Lab director. “To demonstrate our progress toward this goal, we 3-D printed a multimaterial wing with a control surface – that is the flap of the wing – that is both adjusted and controlled by embedded actuators and sensors.”
As a reward for their innovative work with 3D printed smart structures, America Makes has awarded Virginia Tech with silver-level membership to the institute for a year, which has a value worth $15,000. This means that the university’s faculty will now be eligible to compete in various America Makes project calls, and also utilize their extensive network to develop future collaborations and 3D printing projects. All in all, the DREAMS Lab’s submission for the Innovation Sprint Smart Structures challenge will help carry our current manufacturing technologies to the level needed for the intelligent products of the future. Discuss further in the Dreams Lab Wins 3D Printing Contest forum over at 3DPB.com.
[Source: Virginia Tech]