Aeroswift，金属3D打印机开发项目backed by the South African government, has successfully completed the fabrication of a large scale component. Over half a meter tall, this titanium frame for a UAV was made to showcase the Aeroswift system’s capabilities.
The component made its first public appearance in 2018, but now the company has revealed details of how it worked with American software developerAltairto optimize the design.
Making of the world’s largest metal 3D printer
Founded in 2011, Aeroswift has the ambitious aim of developing and marketing the world’s largest metal 3D printer of its kind. Leveraging laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology, the Aeroswift system is reportedly capable of building parts up to 2m long, 0.6 m wide and 0.6 mm tall, at print speeds “up to ten times faster than other commercially available laser-based systems.” It is co-developed by specialists from aviation manufacturerAerosudand the南非科学与工业研究理事会（CSIR）
该机器在2016年制作了第一个演示零件，到2017年春季，它正在为airplane giants Boeing and Airbus.
（CSIR）在比勒陀利亚。通过CSIR照片。
优化航空航天的3D打印
Occupying just a portion of the Aeroswift system’s potential volume, the dimensions of the latest UAV frame are 542 x 542 x 141 mm. To align with a specific set of requirements specified by the development team, Aeroswift design engineers employed Altair’s Inspire “simulation-driven” design software.
方面的设计团队指定的萤火虫e the symmetrical placement of UAV motors, high stiffness to combat impact failure, a thrust-to-weight ratio of 2:5:1 across a flight time of 15 minutes, suitable dimensions and some aesthetic aspects. First, primitive volumes were used to outline the basic structure of the frame, then Altair Inspire was used to run a finite element analysis (FEA) of the design. After generating a baseline topology, the team then optimized features to ensure essential part connections were maintained. The finished piece is a lightweight, sturdy frame. According to Jacobus Prinsloo, Operations Manager at ADC Aeroswift, the team were “very pleased with the results.”
“Using Altair Inspire,” adds Prinsloo, “we could set up a process that helped us to achieve a topologically optimized UAV frame showing even better results than the benchmark.”
“Without Altair and their tools, we would not have been able to leverage the full potential of additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry.”
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特色图显示了Aeroswift的3D打印无人机框架。通过Aeorswift的照片
