Student Competition: Rapid Additive Manufacturing of Electrically Integrated Drone Arms
Abstract
A team composed of engineering undergraduate students from the University of Illinois at Chicago intends to compete in the ARL HBCU/MI Undergraduate Student Design Competition. The team addresses the elimination of wire bundles present in arms of small UAVs by proposing two possible designs, both using additive manufacturing technologies, that are adaptable to field-production techniques. The first design utilizes a dual extrusion head 3D printer to print highly conductive graphene-based layers concurrently with ABS or PLA plastic. In said design, the graphene layers replace the wire bundle whereas the ABS/PLA provides structural support. The resulting arm is a single piece, and integrated connectors are embedded to allow power transmission from the central hub to the arm and arm to the motor. The second design consists of a milled circuit board, which replaces the wire bundles, and 3D printed structural material on the substrate of the circuit board. The 3D printed support material completes the quadcopter arm and electrically insulates the circuit board traces. Both designs eliminate copper wires, minimize assembly time, minimize user intervention, and focus on structural rigidity of the arm while reducing overall weight.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1910191
Entities
People
- Jonathan Komperda
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of Illinois at Chicago