We've reported on how 3D printing is being used extensively in the design of custom medical equipment and dental implants. The Urbee, a hybrid vehicle designed by KOR EcoLogic, hit our radar screen because it was one of the first automobile body prototypes built using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology from Stratasys. We've even followed the advances in 3D printing with everything from food to custom swimwear.
Now there's a report of the world's first "printed" aircraft designed and built by engineers at the University of Southampton, in England. The Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft (SULSA, as it's called) is an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) project developed under the watchful eyes of university professors Andy Keane and Jim Scanlan, both from Southampton's Computational Engineering and Design Research group. The electric-powered aircraft, with a wingspan of two meters and a top speed of nearly 100 miles per hour, successfully completed its first test flight earlier this month.
The Southampton team initiated the SULSA project because it believes 3D printing technology like SLS has immense potential for the aerospace industry. Specifically, the team says the technology allows designers to create shapes and structures that would normally involve more costly, traditional manufacturing techniques, while also allowing for highly tailored aircraft to go from concept to first flight in a matter of days instead of months.
The fact that SLS 3D printing technology doesn't require expensive tooling is another bonus. The professors involved in the SULSA project say SLS technology enables aircraft designers to experiment with radical changes to the shape and scale of aircraft models without the burden of incurring additional cost.
The Southampton team got a boost from 3T RPD, an additive manufacturing specialist that contributed its expertise, as well as its nylon Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology. The SULSA research team 3D-printed the entire four-part structure of UAV, including its main fuselage, rudder fins, nose cone, and two outer wings using an EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser sintering machine. The team then fitted the pieces together in a snap-fit assembly process, which means the aircraft was put together without tools, and within a matter of minutes.
The SULSA unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has a four-part structure that was produced using SLS 3D printing technology.
While SULSA is clearly more of a test project and hardly a full-scale commercial aircraft, universities are not alone in exploring how 3D printing can change aircraft design and manufacturing. Commercial aircraft vendors are well underway experimenting with 3D printing (or additive manufacturing as some call it) to produce both prototypes and production parts.
In fact, EADS, the European defense and aerospace company best known for its Airbus brand, has been using additive manufacturing technology to create various production-ready components for its aircraft, including landing-gear brackets. According to various reports, EADS is said to have its eye on a bigger goal -- creating a wing of an airliner using 3D printing. With all the advances in this area, it doesn't seem that far-fetched to me.
I think it would be a good idea to develop one or more types of 3D printing machines for use at any future, permanent settlement on the Moon or Mars. It's not like you can order a badly needed part once you're there, so make it!
To David12345: You raise a good point about the advantages of full-scale aircraft. Reynolds numbers (which define the relationship between viscous forces and momentum forces) rise when momentum goes up, so there's a stability advantage as the size of a scale model grows larger. The bottom line is that a plane with a two-foot wingspan is a lot more likely to crash than one with a 25-foot wingspan.
Yes, Bees can do it. Nature still has many things to show us. I am thinking along similar lines with regards to future integrated 3D manufacturing. I can envision a new breed of 3D building machine that incorporates the FDM and/or SLS process along with laying in strands of resin coated carbon fibers to enhance strength via internal layers.
I would be inclined to agree with David12345. There would have to be some serious advances in order to have a comfort level 3D printing a full-scale model of an aircraft wing. But given the way things are advancing, I'm not so sure that's out of the realm of possibility, and I absolutely think you are all right about the possibilities around prototyping.
Yes, the primary barriers to constructing human-scale aircraft prototypes are the build-chamber dimensions and material costs. In 1997 my senior-design team designed and fabricated an electric, dual-rotor, ducted-fan engine for radio-control aircraft, using multiple additive-manufacturing technologies that our campus has in-house. We even filled the photopolymer-fabricated rotors with carbon composite to improve their strength (there were limited AM materials at the time). The only reason that we did not fabricate an entire plane then was the associated cost.
It is unfortunate that these technologies are still "in their infancy" fourteen years later; but, with the institution of ASTM standards, they will certainly gain momentum. As they do, prices will drop and larger machines will come online.
As for the potential to incorporate internal structures, that is a focus of our current research work.
Low stressed components such as interior panels may be a better fit; although, I don't know how the economics of 3D printing Nylon compares to an aluminum or oak low volume injection mold with ?ABS?
Clearly, this appears to have a good niche for prototyping. The structural strength, and UV durability, of Nylon is managable with a model plane.
Of course, the loads are higher with full scale aircraft. I am skeptical that this would be the best choice. Even the wind loading of a tip, or other skin component over the airframe, may exceed the strength or toughness of an unfilled Nylon (particularly, after hygroscopic absorbsion in a hot wet tropic environment, or freezing in the sub-zero temperatures at altitude). Those plastics would also require an opaque paint to protect them from UV degradation.
I agree with your comments, however if we look at general issues like basic shape, wisnd behavior, regular stresses on the palane in a wind tunnel, then this type of prototyping can be very helpful. After main weak points are established, the actual design can begin. I think that 3-d printing is a super idea and will be more and more popular when the pricing is reduced.
I think you're right on the money, Chuck. As you can see from this plane, it's no where near full size--more like a test model and I could definitely picture it as a stand-in for a Hollywood film clip.
As for using the technology to produce prototypes, I think there's huge potential there. Since as Ivan pointed out, building and designing aircraft wings are such a complex and highly intricate process, especially using composite materials, it would seem to me to be a great way to produce scale models very quickly and serve as a learning/exploratory exercise.
It would be interesting to see the largest models that could be built using this technology. Seems like it would be a great methodology for Hollywood movies, where model planes must be built in duplicates because so many of them crash. Using 3D printing, it would seem like the Holywood producers could have a new model on the runway with its propeller spinning shortly after the first one crashes. Same goes for the aircraft industry: This would be a great way to build prototypes and test new concepts.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
16 
