scholarly journals A Miniature 3D Printed On-Off Linear Pneumatic Actuator and Its Demonstration into a Cartoon Character of a Hopping Lamp

Actuators ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Christian L. Nall ◽  
Pranav A. Bhounsule
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
Pneumatic Actuator ◽  
Stroke Length ◽  
Pneumatic Actuators ◽  
Peak Output Power ◽  
Piston Head ◽  
Cartoon Character ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Selective Placement

Although 3D printing has been extensively used to create passive machines and mechanisms, 3D printing of actuators is a relatively new concept. 3D printing of actuators allows greater customization, accelerates the design and development, and consequently saves time and money. We present the design and fabrication of a 3D printed, miniature size, double-acting, On-Off type, linear pneumatic actuator. The actuator has an overall length of 8 cm, a bore size of 1.5 cm, and a stroke length of 2.0 cm. The overall weight is 12 gm and it generates a peak output power of 2 W when operating at an input air pressure of 40 psi ( 275 . 79 kPa). This paper demonstrates novel methods to solve the challenges that arise during fabrication that include: (1) chemical post-processing to achieve airtight sealing and a smooth surface finish, (2) strategic placement of a metallic part within 3D printed plastic for higher strength, (3) design of an airtight seal between the cylinder and piston head, (4) chemical bonding of printed parts using adhesive, and (5) use of a lubricant to reduce friction and improve force generation. The power-to-weight ratio of our actuator is comparable to that of high-end commercial actuators of similar size. The utility of the actuator is demonstrated in a series of jumping experiments with the actuator and by incorporating the actuator into a hopping robot inspired by Disney/Pixar Luxo lamp. We conclude that 3D printed pneumatic actuators combine the high power of pneumatics with the low weight of plastics, and structural strength through the selective placement of metal parts, thus offering a promising actuator for robotic applications.

scholarly journals DESIGN, MANUFACTURING AND PROBLEM ANALYSIS OF AN ENTIRELY FDM 3D PRINTED LINEAR PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR

2020 ◽  
pp. 98-105
Author(s):  
Martin Varga ◽  
Filip Filakovský
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Pneumatic Actuator ◽  
Problem Analysis ◽  
Pneumatic Actuators ◽  
Manufacturing Plants ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
Machine Shops ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Linear Actuators

Urgency of the research. Currently, manufacturing of pneumatic components is reserved only to well-equipped manufacturing plants and machine shops. The ability to reliably manufacture pneumatic components on a FDM 3D printer would enable the creation of low-cost custom-made pneumatic actuators with novel properties. This, in turn, could increase the speed and lower the cost of development of prototypes that use pressure air as their power source. Target setting. Today cost-effective 3D printers can be found both in manufacturing plants and small machine shops andhobbyist workshops. Hawing the possibility to make reliable pneumatic components like pneumatic actuators on such machines could be beneficial and lead to opening new applications for them. Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. Currently most research on using additive manufacturing to construct a pneumatic actuator focuses mainly on bellows type actuators. Research on 3d printing of classical pneumatic actuators is scarce and often presents a rough overview of the design process and immediately presenting a functional prototype without focusing and studying the design hurdles thoroughly. Uninvestigated parts of general matters defining. Parts for firm pneumatic actuators manufactured by FDM 3D printing exhibit properties that have detrimental effects on the optimal working of such actuators. The question is on the magnitude of these effects whether these effects can be tolerated and how to design such a firm pneumatic actuator without the need to postprocess all the components. The research objective. The aim of these research was to manufacture an early prototype of full plastic 3d printed not postprocessed linear actuators and make a preliminary analysis of encountered problems therefore pointing the way for further research in this field. The statement of basic materials. The analysis consists of an attempt to manufacture a simple prototype of full plastic 3d printed linear actuators without the use of postprocessing techniques and establishing a baseline for further research. Conclusions. In this paper the design of three iterations of FDM 3D printed pneumatic cylinders are presented. The problems arising from not using any postprocessing on either of the parts and using only 3d printed parts for the construction is also discussed. In the final chapter the design hurdles for the design and manufacturing of such an actuator are presented..

scholarly journals GEOMETRY AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF A 3D-PRINTED TITANIUM MICROSTRUCTURE

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 104-108
Author(s):  
Luboš Řehounek ◽  
Petra Hájková ◽  
Petr Vakrčka ◽  
Aleš Jíra
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Uniaxial Compression ◽  
Elastic Moduli ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
Porous Structures ◽  
Compression Tests ◽  
Local Material ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Titanium Microstructure

Construction applications sometimes require use of a material other than construction steel or concrete – mainly in cases, where strength to weight ratio needs to be considered. A suitable solution to this problem are structures manufactured using the 3D printing process, as they have a very good strength to weight ratio (i.e.: Ti-6Al-4V – σ<sub>ult</sub> = 900 MPa and ρ = 4500 kg/m<sup>3</sup>). Trabecular structures are porous structures with local material characteristics identical to their commonly manufactured counterparts, but due to their geometry, they have different global mechanical properties and are suited for special applications. We designed and manufactured six variants of these structures and subjected them to uniaxial compression tests, nanoindentation tests and subsequently evaluated their differences and elastic moduli. The values of global moduli E are in the range of 2.55 GPa – 3.55 GPa for all specimens.

scholarly journals Development of a 3D Printed Double-Acting Linear Pneumatic Actuator for the Tendon Gripping

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2528
Author(s):  
Ivan Grgić ◽  
Vjekoslav Wertheimer ◽  
Mirko Karakašić ◽  
Željko Ivandić
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Fused Deposition Modeling ◽  
Testing Machine ◽  
Pneumatic Actuator ◽  
Tensile Testing Machine ◽  
Laboratory Equipment ◽  
Testing Procedures ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
3D Printed

The lack of standardization in tissue testing procedures results in a variety of custom-made devices. In the case of the determination of the mechanical properties of tendons, it is sometimes necessary to adapt the existing laboratory equipment for conducting experiments when specific commercial equipment is not applicable to solve issues such as proper gripping to prevent tendon slipping and rupturing, gripping control and manoeuvrability in case of tendon submerging and without contamination of the testing liquid. This paper presents the systematic development, design, and fabrication using 3D printing technology and the application of the double-acting linear pneumatic actuator to overcome such issues. It is designed to do its work submerged in the Ringers’ solution while gripping the tendon along with the clamps. The pneumatic foot valve unit of the Shimadzu AGS-X tensile testing machine controls the actuator thus preventing Ringers’ solution to be contaminated by the machine operator during specimen set-up. The actuator has a length of 60 mm, a bore of 50 mm, and a stroke length of 20 mm. It is designed to operate with an inlet pressure of up to 0.8 MPa. It comprises the cylinder body with the integrated thread, the piston, the piston head, and the gripper jaw. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) has been used as the 3D printing technique, along with polylactic acid (PLA) as the material for 3D printing. The 3D printed double-acting linear pneumatic actuator was developed into an operating prototype. This study could open new frontiers in the field of tissue testing and the development of similar specialized devices for medical purposes.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION OF OPTIMUM ADDITIVE TECHNOLOGIES DESIGN FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE TAKE-OFF WEIGHT INCREASE

2020 ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
Sven Maricic ◽  
Iva Mrsa Haber ◽  
Ivan Veljovic ◽  
Ivana Palunko
Keyword(s):  
Additive Manufacturing ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
Goal Function ◽  
Manufacturing Technology ◽  
Generative Design ◽  
Additive Manufacturing Technology ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Lift Off ◽  
The Right

The aim of this paper is to investigate the possibility of drone optimization by selecting and testing the best material suitable for additive manufacturing technology and generative design approach, i. e. shape optimization. The use of additive manufacturing technology enables the creation of models of more complex shapes that are difficult or impossible to produce with conventional processing methods. The complex and unconventional design of the drone body can open up many possibilities for weight reduction while maintaining the strength of the drone body. By using 3D printing in addition to FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis, and generative design it can identify areas of the drone body that are overdrawn, allowing it to either lift off material or simply change the design at these areas. Choosing the right material for this application is crucial in order to optimise the mechanical properties of the material with weight, material cost, printability and availability of the material and the 3D printing method, while at the same time reducing environmental pollution. The goal is to reduce the drone mass by 15–20 % using generative design tools. Mass is an important segment when prototyping a drone. If the drone is too heavy, more lift power is needed to keep the drone in the air, so the propellers have to turn faster and use more energy. Consequently, the reduction of drone mass should increase the take-off weight. In this article 5 commercial drones of similar characteristics are compared with the final proposal of our 3D printed drone (Prototype 1). The rotor distance between the drones, the weight of the electric motor and the take-off weight are compared. The goal was to produce a prototype with a big rotor distance-to-weight ratio, and take-off weight bigger than observed drones have. The defined goal function was optimized in order to evaluate characteristics of 12 different 3D printed materials. Following properties: ultimate strength, stiffness, durability, printability of the material, and required bed and extruder temperature for printing were taken in consideration to select optimal material. Polycarbonate proved to be the best choice for 3D printing UAVs

Biodegradable 3D Printed Polymer Microneedles for Transdermal Drug Delivery

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Luzuriaga ◽  
Danielle R. Berry ◽  
John C. Reagan ◽  
Ronald A. Smaldone ◽  
Jeremiah J. Gassensmith
Keyword(s):  
Drug Delivery ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Transdermal Drug Delivery ◽  
Fused Deposition Modeling ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Modeling Software ◽  
Deposition Modeling ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Microfabrication Technique ◽  
Mechanical Strengths

Biodegradable polymer microneedle (MN) arrays are an emerging class of transdermal drug delivery devices that promise a painless and sanitary alternative to syringes; however, prototyping bespoke needle architectures is expensive and requires production of new master templates. Here, we present a new microfabrication technique for MNs using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing using polylactic acid, an FDA approved, renewable, biodegradable, thermoplastic material. We show how this natural degradability can be exploited to overcome a key challenge of FDM 3D printing, in particular the low resolution of these printers. We improved the feature size of the printed parts significantly by developing a post fabrication chemical etching protocol, which allowed us to access tip sizes as small as 1 μm. With 3D modeling software, various MN shapes were designed and printed rapidly with custom needle density, length, and shape. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that our method resulted in needle tip sizes in the range of 1 – 55 µm, which could successfully penetrate and break off into porcine skin. We have also shown that these MNs have comparable mechanical strengths to currently fabricated MNs and we further demonstrated how the swellability of PLA can be exploited to load small molecule drugs and how its degradability in skin can release those small molecules over time.

Biomimetic Design of 3D Printed Tissue-engineered bone Constructs

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Liu ◽  
Shifeng Liu ◽  
Yunzhe Li ◽  
Peng Zhou ◽  
Qian ma
Keyword(s):  
Tissue Engineering ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Bionic Design ◽  
Material Interfaces ◽  
Precise Control ◽  
Cell Printing ◽  
Biomimetic Scaffolds ◽  
3D Printed

Abstract:: Surgery to repair damaged tissue, which is caused by disease or trauma, is being carried out all the time, and a desirable treatment is compelling need to regenerate damaged tissues to further improve the quality of human health. Therefore, more and more research focus on exploring the most suitable bionic design to enrich available treatment methods. 3D-printing, as an advanced materials processing approach, holds promising potential to create prototypes with complex constructs that could reproduce primitive tissues and organs as much as possible or provide appropriate cell-material interfaces. In a sense, 3D printing promises to bridge between tissue engineering and bionic design, which can provide an unprecedented personalized recapitulation with biomimetic function under the precise control of the composition and spatial distribution of cells and biomaterials. This article describes recent progress in 3D bionic design and the potential application prospect of 3D printing regenerative medicine including 3D printing biomimetic scaffolds and 3D cell printing in tissue engineering.

scholarly journals Design of a 3D-printed hand prosthesis featuring articulated bio-inspired fingers

2020 ◽  
pp. 095441192098088
Author(s):  
Juan Sebastian Cuellar ◽  
Dick Plettenburg ◽  
Amir A Zadpoor ◽  
Paul Breedveld ◽  
Gerwin Smit
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Hand Prosthesis ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Pinch Force ◽  
Actuation System ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Energy Dissipated ◽  
Dual Material

Various upper-limb prostheses have been designed for 3D printing but only a few of them are based on bio-inspired design principles and many anatomical details are not typically incorporated even though 3D printing offers advantages that facilitate the application of such design principles. We therefore aimed to apply a bio-inspired approach to the design and fabrication of articulated fingers for a new type of 3D printed hand prosthesis that is body-powered and complies with basic user requirements. We first studied the biological structure of human fingers and their movement control mechanisms in order to devise the transmission and actuation system. A number of working principles were established and various simplifications were made to fabricate the hand prosthesis using a fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printer with dual material extrusion. We then evaluated the mechanical performance of the prosthetic device by measuring its ability to exert pinch forces and the energy dissipated during each operational cycle. We fabricated our prototypes using three polymeric materials including PLA, TPU, and Nylon. The total weight of the prosthesis was 92 g with a total material cost of 12 US dollars. The energy dissipated during each cycle was 0.380 Nm with a pinch force of ≈16 N corresponding to an input force of 100 N. The hand is actuated by a conventional pulling cable used in BP prostheses. It is connected to a shoulder strap at one end and to the coupling of the whiffle tree mechanism at the other end. The whiffle tree mechanism distributes the force to the four tendons, which bend all fingers simultaneously when pulled. The design described in this manuscript demonstrates several bio-inspired design features and is capable of performing different grasping patterns due to the adaptive grasping provided by the articulated fingers. The pinch force obtained is superior to other fully 3D printed body-powered hand prostheses, but still below that of conventional body powered hand prostheses. We present a 3D printed bio-inspired prosthetic hand that is body-powered and includes all of the following characteristics: adaptive grasping, articulated fingers, and minimized post-printing assembly. Additionally, the low cost and low weight make this prosthetic hand a worthy option mainly in locations where state-of-the-art prosthetic workshops are absent.

3D-printed Futures of Manufacturing, Social Change and Technological Innovation in China and Singapore: The Ghost of a Massless Future?

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Heemsbergen ◽  
Angela Daly ◽  
Jiajie Lu ◽  
Thomas Birtchnell
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
First Century ◽  
Global Knowledge ◽  
Law And Technology ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Political Economic

This article outlines preliminary findings from a futures forecasting exercise where participants in Shenzhen and Singapore considered the socio-technological construction of 3D printing in terms of work and social change. We offered participants ideal political-economic futures across local–global knowledge and capital–commons dimensions, and then had them backcast the contextual waypoints across markets, culture, policy, law and technology dimensions that help guide towards each future. Their discussion identified various contextually sensitive points, but also tended to dismiss the farthest reaches of each proposed ideal, often reverting to familiar contextual signifiers. Here, we offer discussion on how participants saw culture and industry shaping futures for pertinent political economic concerns in the twenty-first century.

scholarly journals A Novel Approach for a Faster Prototyping of Winter Sport Equipment Using Digital Image Correlation and 3D Printing

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Martino Colonna ◽  
Benno Zingerle ◽  
Maria Federica Parisi ◽  
Claudio Gioia ◽  
Alessandro Speranzoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Digital Image Correlation ◽  
Digital Image ◽  
Sport Activity ◽  
Image Correlation ◽  
Topological Optimization ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Sport Equipment ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
3D Printed

The optimization of sport equipment parts requires considerable time and high costs due to the high complexity of the development process. For this reason, we have developed a novel approach to decrease the cost and time for the optimization of the design, which consists of producing a first prototype by 3D printing, applying the forces that normally acts during the sport activity using a test bench, and then measuring the local deformations using 3D digital image correlation (DIC). The design parameters are then modified by topological optimization and then DIC is performed again on the new 3D-printed modified part. The DIC analysis of 3D-printed parts has shown a good agreement with that of the injection-molded ones. The deformation measured with DIC are also well correlated with those provided by finite element method (FEM) analysis, and therefore DIC analysis proves to be a powerful tool to validate FEM models.

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