SBIR Phase I: Additive Manufacturing in Construction

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于可获得适用于全尺寸建筑建造的添加剂制造(3D打印)工艺。建筑业代表着美国经济中的关键纽带。建筑建设几乎影响到所有经济部门，特别是制造业、交通运输、能源、消费品和家用电器以及房地产。简单地说，建筑可能是最基本的经济刺激措施。然而，建筑业的实践几乎看不到改变了几乎所有其他行业的技术革命。因此，建筑业产生了大量的材料和财务浪费，其生产率在过去几十年里一直在稳步下降。添加制造是创建定制产品的最有效和最具成本效益的方法，其中建筑物是迄今为止最有价值和最广泛购买的。定制越来越多地推动着今天的需求？S消费者。建筑中的添加剂制造可以减少成本和材料浪费，同时通过将许多孤立的工业活动整合到一个高度灵活和高效的制造流程中来提供无与伦比的设计自由和推动创新，该流程直接服务于个别层面的行业专业人员和客户。该项目的智力优势来自于添加剂制造改变设计和制造的巨大潜力。从广义上讲，建议的构建方法旨在使普通消费者能够接触到数字建筑设计的复杂性、效率和自由。第一阶段的研究将用于扩大和开发一种新的大规模添加剂制造工艺，并评估实物产品作为建筑部件的性能。拟议的方法可能也会潜在地影响其他类型的大规模制造，包括航空航天和汽车。我们的技术植根于对自然界中创造形式的过程的观察。自然界中的结构由于其非凡的效率和复杂的形式，长期以来一直吸引着科学家和工程师。3D打印现在允许我们制造类似效率和复杂程度的产品，以反映我们对自然的观察。我们相信，如果自然有机体的天才能够应用于我们建造住所、提供交通、设计基础设施或建设城市的方式，由此产生的创新可能会深刻地、非常确切地塑造我们社会的发展方式，并改变我们与自然界的关系。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in the availability of an additive manufacturing (3D printing) process suitable for full-scale building construction. The construction industry represents a critical nexus in the American economy. Building construction impacts nearly every economic sector, particularly manufacturing, transportation, energy, consumer products and appliances, and real estate. Simply, a building is perhaps the most essential economic stimulus there is. Yet, the practice of building has seen little of the technological revolution that has transformed virtually every other industry. As a result, the construction industry produces significant material and financial waste, and its productivity has steadily declined over the past several decades. Additive manufacturing is the most efficient and cost-effective approach to creating custom products, of which buildings are by far the most valuable and most widely purchased. Customization is increasingly driving demand by today?s consumers. Additive manufacturing in construction could reduce costs and material waste while providing unparalleled design freedom and driving innovation through the consolidation of many isolated industrial activities into one highly flexible and efficient manufacturing process, which directly serves industry professionals and clients at an individual level.The intellectual merit of this project stems from the vast potential of Additive Manufacturing to transform design and making. In a broad sense, the proposed method of construction aims to make the complexity, efficiency, and freedom of digital architectural design accessible to the average consumer. Phase I research will serve to scale and develop a new large-scale additive manufacturing process, and to evaluate the performance of the physical products in their functions as building components. The proposed method may potentially impact other types of large-scale manufacturing as well, including aerospace and automotive. Our technology is rooted in observations of the processes in which forms are created in the natural world. Structures in nature have long fascinated scientists and engineers, due to their remarkable efficiency and complex forms. 3D printing now allows us to manufacture products of similar efficiency and complexity which reflect our observations of nature. We believe that if the genius of natural organisms can be applied to the way we create shelter, provide transportation, design infrastructure, or construct cities, the resulting innovations could profoundly, and very literally, shape the way our societies develop, and transform our relationship with the natural world.