flight

Shaping the Future of Flight

Aurora Flight Sciences: Shaping the Future of Flight in Civil & Military Aerial Vehicles

Aurora Flight Sciences in Manassas, VA has been developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for both the civil and military markets for nearly three decades. However, with advancing customer needs and requirements, its research and development center is utilizing Stratasys® 3D printing technology more frequently for production parts and tooling to help bring new innovations to unmanned flight.

Recently, engineers at Aurora and Stratasys embarked on an ambitious project: to build a jet-powered, thrust vectoring, blended wing body, remotely piloted aircraft.

”Our goal with this project was to show the aerospace industry how quickly you can go from designing and building to flying a 3D printed jet-powered aircraft.” Dan Campbell – Aurora Flight Sciences

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This case study is courtesy of our strategic technology partner, Stratasys.

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Aircraft Cabin Interior

Aircraft Cabin Interior Capabilities Overview

Optimize aircraft cabin interior parts like the overhead bin divider, the PSU filler panel, the NSFSB sign housing, the literature pocket, the class divider, the seat centre console, the seat components, the seat compartments doors, the armrest escutcheon, the equipment holder, the seat backshell reinforcements and the cabin branding panel with Additive Manufacturing.

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These use cases are courtesy of our manufacturing strategic partner AM Craft.

AM Craft OVERHEAD DIVIDER

Interior Overhead Divider

Aircraft Interior Overhead Bin Divider

Redesign from traditional honeycomb construction to additive manufacturing.

IMPROVEMENTS

  • Nearly 0-waste manufacturing, no leftovers or dependency on raw material minimum order quantity
  • Significantly reduced lead time for the end-customer
  • Simple and economical reconfiguration for other MSNs / Clients
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This case study is courtesy of our manufacturing strategic partner AM Craft.

AM Craft Capabilities Overview

Aircraft Interior Seating

Cabin Interior Components: Improvements in Business Economy Seat

Improvements of cabin interior components with Additive Manufacturing.

MIDDLE CONSOLE

  • Extensive Consolidation: from 450 sheet metal components to 5 polymer components.

BACKREST SHELL BRACKETS

  • Reduction of assembly time – consolidated from 10 sheet metal components to 1 polymer component.

LEG REST

  • From metal to polymer: optimizing utilization – consolidated from 40+ metal sheet components to 2 polymer components.

CABLE MANAGEMENT PLATE

  • Simpler Assembly: mount cable management is streamlined with labelled and correctly angled channels to make less errors for the cable installation.
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This case study is courtesy of our manufacturing strategic partner AM Craft.

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Re-engineering of Labyrinth Cage for Oil & Gas

Re-engineering of Labyrinth Cage in Additive Manufacturing (AM) for Oil & Gas Service

The team worked closely with the customer making precise measurements of the external dimensions of the old cage by a high-resolution 3D scanner, to ensure that after the manufacturing, the new part will fit perfectly in the valve. 3D Energy analyzed the process data and improved the design taking advantages of AM technology to include features not possible to have in traditional way. With the support of Paradigm3D, the complete cycle needed less than 3 weeks, from design to the 3D printed part, including test on specimens to guarantee quality. The customized & characterized labyrinth cage with high rangeability, precise control for all process conditions, cost 18% less than the traditional part. Now customer has the digitalized version of their part, repairable.

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This case study was developed by us together with 3D Energy, our strategic consultant in Oil & Gas and our technology partner Eplus 3D.