Fast Prototyping Techniques Research Articles

Evaluation of the Mechanical Properties of PLA Material Used For 3D Printing Solar E-Hub Component

The advent of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies revolutionized design and production processes across various industries. In renewable energy, AM enabled new possibilities for optimizing solar e-hub (solar energy harvesting module) configurations, enhancing efficiency and performance. This study examined critical considerations such as material selection, durability, and cost-effectiveness in solar hub development. This fast-prototyping technique was controlled by computer-aided design (CAD) software like CREO Parametric 7.0 and Creality Slicer 4.8. Experimental results indicated that PLA (Polylactic acid) materials exhibited superior strength, with an impact energy of 4.8 Joules. The deformation study revealed that the maximum load of 22 MPa aligned with the ultimate tensile strength of PLA, and a hardness test result of 83.1 HRF featured its exemplary hardness properties. These findings advanced the understanding of using AM to investigate mechanical behaviours of PLA materials and optimize solar e-hub configurations for portable device applications, promoting sustainable energy solutions and the adoption of renewable energy technologies. In addition, the successful implementation of this approach will enable the renewable energy sectors to minimize the carbon foot-prints towards helping the global net-zero emissions by aligning the circular economy approach.

FEM MODEL OF AN UNDERWATER VEHICLE THRUSTER PROPELLER

Propulsion research has been done within the context of the project for the design and optimisation of the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). CFD and FEM simulations that took the undersea vehicle's properties into consideration supported the whole project. Optimising the semi-open duct for horizontal propellers—a quantifiable system that offered controllability and propulsion in a horizontal plane—was one of the goals. It was required to examine the construction of propellers with nozzles and contra-rotating propellers, as well as the numerical approach of propeller design, in order to build a model for this work. Theoretical solutions were presented to it, one of which included operating the examined propeller close to an underwater vehicle. Additionally, first qualitative studies of a streamlined system with a semi-open duct and contra-rotating propellers were performed. Making a choice on the ROVs duct shape was made possible by the findings acquired. An actual propeller model was created using the SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) fast prototyping technique. This meant that the propeller's FEM model, which was based on the load determined by the CFD model, had to be verified. The features of the investigated ROV, the theoretical foundation for propeller design for the situations under analysis, and the outcomes of CFD and FEM simulations are all included in this paper.

Fused Deposition Modelling of Polymeric Auxetic Structures: A Review.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques have recently attracted the attention of scientists for the development of prototypes with complex or particular geometry in a fast and cheap way. Among the different AM processes, the Fused Deposition Modelling process (FDM) offers several advantages in terms of costs, implementation features and design freedom. Recently, it has been adopted to realise auxetic structures, which are characterised by negative Poisson ratio, enhanced mechanical properties, and a higher compression resistance than conventional structures. This review outlines the use of AM processes, in particular FDM, to design and obtain auxetic structures, with the final aim to exploit their applications in different fields. The first part of this work presents a brief classification of auxetic structures and materials. Subsequently, a summary of additive manufacturing processes is presented, focusing on the use of FDM and its limitations. Finally, the studies on the use of additive manufacturing to produce auxetic structures are shown, evidencing the potential of the concurrent combination of a fast prototyping technique such as FDM and the characteristics of polymer- and/or composite-based auxetic structures. Indeed, this new technological field opens the possibility of realising novel structures with integrated smart behaviour, multifunctional properties, compression resistance, and a tailored microstructure and shape.

Design and Analysis of Steam Turbine Rotor Blade

Abstract: A steam turbine is a tool that extracts thermal electricity from pressurized steam and makes use of it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. The steam turbine offers the better thermodynamic performance with the aid of the usage of a couple of levels inside the growth of steam. The levels are characterized by using the manner of strength extraction from them is considered as impulse or reaction mills. On this work the parameters of steam turbine blade various and evaluation is carried out for electricity, existence and warmth switch fees. The varied parameters are the ratio of x-axis distance of blade profile with the aid of chord length and ratio of maximum peak of blade profile in y-path to the chord period. The three-D modeling is executed by way of using Catia software program. The Ansys software is used for static, thermal analysis, subsequently concluded the best design and material (haste alloy, chrome steel, inconel 600) for steam turbine blade, after steam turbine blade imported the stl record 1:2 ratio in to 3-d printing we carried out fast prototyping technique. Keywords: Steam Turbine, Thermal Energy, Impulse Turbine, Reaction Turbine, Static Analysis, Thermal Analysis

Engineering human-in-the-loop interactions in cyber-physical systems

Abstract Context: Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) are gradually and widely introducing autonomous capabilities into everything. However, human participation is required to accomplish tasks that are better performed with humans (often called human-in-the-loop). In this way, human-in-the-loop solutions have the potential to handle complex tasks in unstructured environments, by combining the cognitive skills of humans with autonomous systems behaviors. Objective: The objective of this paper is to provide appropriate techniques and methods to help designers analyze and design human-in-the-loop solutions. These solutions require interactions that engage the human, provide natural and understandable collaboration, and avoid disturbing the human in order to improve human experience. Method: We have analyzed several works that identified different requirements and critical factors that are relevant to the design of human-in-the-loop solutions. Based on these works, we have defined a set of design principles that are used to build our proposal. Fast-prototyping techniques have been applied to simulate the designed human-in-the-loop solutions and validate them. Results: We have identified the technological challenges of designing human-in-the-loop CPSs and have provided a method that helps designers to identify and specify how the human and the system should work together, focusing on the control strategies and interactions required. Conclusions: The use of our approach facilitates the design of human-in-the-loop solutions. Our method is practical at earlier stages of the software life cycle since it allows domain experts to focus on the problem and not on the solution.

React‐on‐Demand (RoD) Fabrication of Highly Conductive Metal–Polymer Hybrid Structure for Flexible Electronics via One‐Step Direct Writing or Printing

AbstractAs a fast prototyping technique, direct writing of flexible electronics is gaining popularity for its low‐cost, simplicity, ultrahigh portability, and ease of use. However, the latest handwritten circuits reported either have relative low conductivity or require additional post‐treatment, keeping this emerging technology away from end‐users. Here, a one‐step react‐on‐demand (RoD) method for fabricating flexible circuits with ultralow sheet resistance, enhanced safety, and durability is proposed. With the special functionalized substrate, a real‐time 3D synthesis of silver plates in microscale is triggered on‐demand right beneath the tip in the water‐swelled polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) coating, forming a 3D metal–polymer hybrid structure of ≈7 µm with one single stroke. The as‐fabricated silver traces show an enhanced durability and ultralow sheet resistance down to 4 mΩ sq−1 which is by far the lowest sheet resistance reported in literatures achieved by direct writing. Meanwhile, PVA seal small particles inside the film, adding additional safety to this technology. Since neither nanomaterials nor a harsh fabrication environment are required, the proposed method remains low cost, user friendly, and accessible to end users. With little effort, the RoD approach can be extended to various printing systems, offering a particle‐free, sintering‐free solution for high‐resolution, high‐speed production of flexible electronics.

Commentary on Some Recent Theses Relevant to Combating Aging: June 2016.

Since the first implantation of a cardiac pacemaker numerous efforts have been made to develop miniature implantable power devices, which would be able to run continuously for long periods of time without the need for replacement. In this context enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) represent an attractive alternative, as they work at body temperature, are light and easy to miniaturise. Additionally, enzymatic biofuel cells can generate energy from the metabolites already present in physiological fluids, and produce waste products that naturally occur in the human body. With a view to improving the biocompatibility of such devices, the use of highly porous gold (hPG) as a non-toxic high surface area alternative to the carbon nanotube based materials currently used was here investigated. The process for directly depositing hPG onto conductive surfaces was further developed to improve the stability of the deposited hPG films. The possibility of depositing these films on a range of different materials was also investigated. In particular it was shown that hPG films could also be deposited on very low cost materials, such as graphite composites. It was also demonstrated that these hPG electrodes exhibited potential for the direct electro-oxidation of aldehyde group containing sugars. The potential use of hPG electrodes as abiotic glucose sensors was consequently investigated and found to give stable amperometric responses between 0 and 50 mM, with a strong glucose dependant response even at the lowest concentration investigated of 0.5 µM. However, since hPG electrodes were found to be susceptible to a large degree of interference and fouling in biological solutions, the use of glucose oxidase (GOx) on hPG electrodes was investigated in order to increase the specificity and stability of such electrodes in biological systems. A rapid and simple technique for the direct and functional deposition of GOx onto hPG was developed without using foreign electron mediators. These hPG-GOx electrodes were found to act as glucose sensors with extremely high sensitivity (22.7 µA mM-1 cm-2), and a linear response to glucose in a range of between 50 μM and10 mM. Finally EBFCs that exhibit continuous flow through were developed using fast prototyping techniques that employ 3D printed moulds. These EBFCs employed hPG-GOx electrodes coupled with hPG and laccase electrodes in order to generate power from glucose. The continuous and stable power production from a flow through EBFC for up to 30 days was subsequently demonstrated for the first time, with a peak power output of approximately 2 µW.

Rapid application prototyping for hardware modular spiking neural network architectures

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are well suited for functions such as data/pattern classification, estimation, prediction, signal processing and robotic control applications. Whereas the real-world embedded applications are often multi-functional with orthogonal or contradicting functional requirements. The EMBRACE hardware modular SNN architecture has been previously reported as an embedded computing platform for complex real-world applications. The EMBRACE architecture employs genetic algorithm (GA) for training the SNN which offers faster prototyping of SNN applications, but exhibits a number of limitations including poor scalability and search space explosions for the evolution of large-scale, complex, real-world applications. This paper investigates the limitations of evolving real-world embedded applications with orthogonal functional goals on hardware SNN using GA-based training. This paper presents a novel, fast and efficient application prototyping technique using the EMBRACE hardware modular SNN architecture and the GA-based evolution platform. Modular design and evolution of a robotic navigational controller application decomposed into obstacle avoidance controller and speed and direction manager application subtasks is presented. The proposed modular evolution technique successfully integrates the orthogonal functionalities of the application and helps to overcome contradicting application scenarios gracefully. Results illustrate that the modular evolution of the application reduces the SNN configuration search space and complexity for the GA-based SNN evolution, offering rapid and successful prototyping of complex applications on the hardware SNN platform. The paper presents validation results of the evolved robotic application implemented on the EMBRACE architecture prototyped on Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA interacting with the player-stage robotics simulator.

Fast prototyping of paper-based microfluidic devices by contact stamping using indelible ink

Here we present a fast and cheap prototyping technique for the realisation of paper-based microfluidic devices simply by using a stamp and indelible ink. The proposed mechanism involves contact stamping of indelible ink to laboratory filter paper using a PDMS stamp, which defines the microfluidic structure. It is a cleanroom and washing steps-free method which provides a reproducible method for the production of functional paper-based microfluidic devices in a single step in less than 10 s. The method is fully characterised and the concept has been applied, as a proof-of-principle, for the realisation of a low-cost colorimetric glucose sensor.

Microfluidics based phantoms of superficial vascular network

Several new bio-photonic techniques aim to measure flow in the human vasculature non-destructively. Some of these tools, such as laser speckle imaging or Doppler optical coherence tomography, are now reaching the clinical stage. Therefore appropriate calibration and validation techniques dedicated to these particular measurements are therefore of paramount importance. In this paper we introduce a fast prototyping technique based on laser micromachining for the fabrication of dynamic flow phantoms. Micro-channels smaller than 20 µm in width can be formed in a variety of materials such as epoxies, plastics, and household tape. Vasculature geometries can be easily and quickly modified to accommodate a particular experimental scenario.

Integration of a zero dead-volume PDMS rotary switch valve in a miniaturised (bio)electroanalytical system

This work features the design, fabrication and characterisation of a miniaturised electroanalytical lab on a chip that allows the performance of a complete bioassay, from the capture of magnetic particles through their functionalisation and sample incubation to the detection of electroactive reaction products. The system is built using mainly polymeric materials such as PMMA and PDMS and fast prototyping techniques such as milling and moulding. The system also includes a set of microelectrodes, photo-lithographed on a silicon chip. The novelty lies in the design of the rotary microvalve, which contains a microreactor so that various reaction and incubation steps can be carried out in isolation from the detection event with zero dead volume. This avoids contamination and fouling of the electrodes by proteins or other organic matter, and extends the useful lifetime of the detector. The system operation is demonstrated by a model example, consisting in the functionalisation of streptavidin-coated magnetic particles with biotinylated beta-galactosidase over periods ranging from 5 to 15 min, at which point the particles saturate. Although the system is intended for the development of enzyme-based electrochemical bioassays, the concept of its rotary microreactor can be applied more broadly.

Miniaturization and Geometry Optimization of a Polymer-Based Rectilinear Ion Trap

The fabrication, operation, and characterization of a polymer-based rectilinear ion trap mass analyzer is discussed. A novel, fast prototyping technique, stereolithography (SLA)-based fabrication, traditionally reserved for end use production parts and to fabricate master molds for rubber products, is applied here as a tool to create precise, arbitrary geometries. Taking full advantage of the SLA methodology, an open corner, polymer-based ion trap has been fabricated and tested. The use of a custom resin, Nanoform 15120 (DSM Somos, New Castle, DE), has resulted in a polymer with high heat deflection temperature and greater structural stability at higher temperatures and lower capacitance. The mass analyzer was mounted in a polymer holder and tested in a custom vacuum system using modified LCQ Duo (Thermo Fisher Corp.) electronics. The resolution, mass/charge range, and MS/MS capabilities were examined using electrospray ionization as well as atmospheric pressure chemical ionization. In the course of this study, three traps of different sizes were fabricated, beginning with a "full size" device measuring 10 x 8 x 50 mm. The next two traps were scaled down by linear factors of a half and a third. SLA is shown to allow fabrication of light, small rectilinear ion traps, which are less expensive and have the same performance as traditional machined devices of the same size. In addition, smaller traps can be built just as easily, and they show unit mass resolution to mass 300, tandem mass spectrometry capabilities, and low power consumption.

Fault tolerant solid state mass memory for space applications

In this paper, an innovative fault tolerant solid state mass memory (FTSSMM) architecture is described. Solid state mass memories (SSMMs) are particularly suitable for space applications and more in general for harsh environments such us, for example, nuclear accelerators or avionics. The presented FTSSMM design has been entirely based on commercial off the shelf (COTS) components. In fact, cost competitive and very high performance SSMMs cannot be easily implemented by using space qualified components, due the technological gap and very high cost characterizing these components. In order to match the severe reliability requirements of space applications a COTS-based apparatus must be designed by using suitable system level methodologies (Kluth, 1996 and Fichna, 1998). In the proposed architecture, error-correcting codes are used to strengthen the commercial dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, while the system controller has been designed by applying suitable fault tolerant design techniques. Different from other proposed solutions, our architecture fully exploits the reconfiguration capabilities of Reed-Solomon (RS) codes, discriminates between permanent and transient faults reducing the use of spare elements, and provides dynamic reconfiguration and graceful degradation capability, i.e., the FTSSMM performances are gracefully reduced in case of permanent faults, maintaining part of the system functionality. The paper shows the FTSSMM design methodology, the architecture, the reliability analysis, some simulation results, and a description of its implementation based on fast prototyping techniques.

Tailored fibre placement to minimise stress concentrations

Abstract Flexible production equipment able to take advantage of fibre composite anisotropic properties can improve quality, strength-to-weight characteristics, and reduce costs. A fibre placement technique known as tailored fibre placement (or technical embroidery) has been investigated. Components containing stress concentrations in the form of circular holes were tested in tension. The load cases included an open hole, single- and double-bolt loading. Tailored fibre placement shows excellent potential for local reinforcement of a basic material by yielding large improvements in the strength-to-weight characteristics of composite structures. In addition, in its existing form it is also an exceptional fast prototyping technique.