Researchers 3D print moon rover wheel prototype with NASA

Oct 07, 2023 (Nanowerk Information) Researchers on the Division of Vitality’s Oak Ridge Nationwide Laboratory, in collaboration with NASA, are taking additive manufacturing to the ultimate frontier by 3D printing the identical sort of wheel because the design utilized by NASA for its robotic lunar rover, demonstrating the expertise for specialised components wanted for area exploration. The additively manufactured wheel was modeled on the present, lightweight wheels of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, a cellular robotic NASA plans to ship in 2024 to map ice and different potential sources on the south pole of the moon. The mission is meant to assist decide the origin and distribution of the moon’s water and whether or not sufficient could possibly be harvested from the moon’s floor to assist individuals dwelling there. In only a few days, ORNL researchers used powder mattress printing to create this lunar rover wheel based mostly on a NASA design. (Picture: Carlos Jones, ORNL) Whereas the prototype wheel printed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, at ORNL won’t truly be used on the NASA Moon mission, it was created to fulfill the identical design specs because the wheels made for NASA’s VIPER. Further testing is deliberate to validate the design and fabrication methodology earlier than utilizing this expertise for future lunar or Mars rovers or contemplating it for different area purposes, corresponding to massive structural elements. Additive manufacturing can cut back power use, materials waste and lead time, whereas enabling design complexity and the tailoring of fabric properties. MDF is on the forefront of this effort, growing the expertise for over a decade for a variety of purposes within the clear power, transportation and manufacturing sectors. MDF researchers printed the rover wheel prototype at ORNL in Fall 2022. A specialised 3D printer used two coordinated lasers and a rotating construct plate to selectively soften steel powder into the designed form. Typical steel powder mattress techniques function in steps: In a machine the scale of a cupboard, they rake a layer of powder over a stationary plate. Then a laser selectively melts a layer earlier than the plate lowers barely and the method repeats. The printer used for the rover wheel prototype is massive sufficient for an individual to enter and is exclusive in its capability to print massive objects whereas the steps happen concurrently and constantly, mentioned Peter Wang, who leads MDF growth of recent laser powder mattress fusion techniques. “This dramatically will increase the manufacturing fee with the identical quantity of laser energy,” he mentioned, including that deposition happens 50% sooner. “We’re solely scratching the floor of what the system can do. I actually suppose that is going to be the way forward for laser powder mattress printing, particularly at massive scale and in mass manufacturing.” Wang and challenge workforce members lately printed a examine, discovered right here, analyzing the scalability of the expertise for printing elements like electrical motors. Though the machine is exclusive, a key to the success of the challenge was researchers’ experience in course of automation and machine management. They used software program developed at ORNL to “slice” the wheel design into vertical layers, then steadiness the workload between the 2 lasers to print evenly, reaching a excessive manufacturing fee, leveraging a computational approach lately submitted for patent safety. The prototype wheel, one of many first components produced by the system, demonstrates the worth of interagency collaboration. “The challenge with NASA actually propelled the expertise ahead,” mentioned Brian Gibson, the researcher who led the rover wheel challenge for ORNL, calling it a milestone. “It was nice to attach a functionality with a growing want, and the workforce was excited to be making a prototype part with area exploration purposes.” Additive manufacturing permits nice design particulars, corresponding to wavy tread on a domed form, to be included into the prototype lunar wheel. (Picture: Carlos Jones, ORNL) Fabricated from a nickel-based alloy, the prototype wheel is about 8 inches huge and 20 inches in diameter – a lot bigger than typical components printed with steel powder mattress techniques. Making it required the flexibility to print small geometric options unfold over a big work space. Additive manufacturing enabled better complexity within the rim design with out added value or manufacturing issue, Gibson mentioned. As compared, the 4 VIPER wheels that may churn via moon mud subsequent 12 months required a number of manufacturing processes and meeting steps. VIPER’s 50-piece wheel rim is held along with 360 riveted joints. The manufacturing course of required sophisticated and time-intensive machining so as to meet the mission’s rigorous necessities. If NASA testing proves the 3D-printed prototype to be as strong as conventionally constructed wheels, future rovers might as an alternative use a single printed wheel rim, which took ORNL 40 hours to fabricate. By way of the challenge, ORNL and NASA engineers additionally explored printing exact design options, corresponding to angled sidewalls, a domed form and wavy tread to extend the wheel’s stiffness. These traits are tough to include within the present VIPER wheel design utilizing conventional fabrication strategies. Regardless of enabling a extra complicated spoke sample and spoke locking options to the wheel, 3D printing simplified and diminished the price of the wheel design and made closing meeting simpler. “A number of these wheel options had been put in simply to spotlight what you are able to do with additive manufacturing,” mentioned Richard Hagen, a mechanical design engineer for NASA and additive manufacturing lab supervisor at NASA’s Johnson House Middle in Houston. “It allows you to simply implement design options which might be arduous to implement with conventional tooling or perhaps a historically machined half.” ORNL’s capability to print massive objects demonstrates the potential of additive manufacturing expertise for producing a lot bigger rover wheels for each lunar and Martian missions, Hagen mentioned. A problem is that the specialised printer solely builds with sure supplies – on this case, a nickel-based alloy – so the 3D-printed wheel is 50% heavier than the aluminum VIPER wheel, whereas printed at the same thickness. NASA plans to check the 3D-printed wheel’s efficiency on a rover both within the rock yard at NASA’s Johnson House Middle or in an enormous “sandbox” of simulated lunar rocks and soil at a contracted check facility. Evaluators will assess the wheel’s maneuverability, pivoting resistance, sideways slippage, slope climbing and different efficiency metrics. Hagen mentioned additive manufacturing affords the benefit of speedy design updates in response to testing. It could possibly additionally incorporate extra complexity, corresponding to a suspension system, with out including weak factors. Hagen mentioned crewed analysis stations positioned on the moon as a part of the company’s Artemis Program will want off-planet manufacturing functionality. “Having the ability to construct components in area for repairs shall be essential, since you simply can’t take sufficient spares,” he mentioned. “Powder, pellets or filament for printing are rather a lot simpler to pack and would enable for extra flexibility.” “Additive manufacturing affords the pliability that if in case you have the feedstock, you would make any substitute half you want, whether or not in area or on Earth,” Gibson mentioned. It is a cause additive manufacturing has generated important curiosity for a variety of substitute wants, from quickly manufactured tooling to hard-to-source castings and forgings. For area exploration and habitation, 3D printers might ultimately use native materials from the moon or Mars as a feedstock.