I-Corps: Thermoforming Radio Dishes

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括有效制造高精度无线电天线。 这将使地面站的经济制造，使更广泛地采用卫星通信和空间防御。异形金属板用于包括汽车和航空航天在内的多个行业。这里开发的快速制造工艺比传统的板材成形工艺使用更少的能源。如果应用于其他航空航天和汽车应用，它将有可能大大降低这些制造过程的能耗和成本。可调模具的敏捷能力允许从设计到物理产品的快速转换。这使得精益创新不受高模具和非经常性工程成本的阻碍。这个I-Corps项目进一步开发了一种制造高精度弯曲金属板的新技术。这些面板可用于射电望远镜和通信碟形天线或汽车和飞机机身。该技术使用感应加热快速有效地将扁平铝坯料加热到高温。感应线圈利用电动势将面板压入可调模具中。然后，模具形状可以快速改变以形成不同形状的另一个面板。使用可调模具节省了为每个独特的反射器段加工高精度模具的成本。这使得射电望远镜的理想离轴配置成为可能。可调模具还可以轻松校正回弹和其他系统性成形误差。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project includes building to efficiently manufacture high accuracy radio antennas. This would enable economical fabrication of ground stations to enable wider adoption of satellite communication and space defense. Shaped metal panels are used in several industries including automotive and aerospace. The rapid manufacturing process developed here uses significantly less energy than conventional sheet forming processes. If applied to other aerospace and automotive applications, it will potentially greatly reduce the energy consumption and cost of these manufacturing processes. The agile abilities of the adjustable mold allow for rapid conversion from a design to a physical product. This allows for lean innovation that is not encumbered by high tooling and non-recurring engineering costs.This I-Corps project further develops a new technology for manufacturing high-accuracy curved metal panels. These panels can be used for radio telescopes and communication dishes or automobile and aircraft bodies. The technology uses induction heating to quickly and efficiently bring a flat aluminum blank to high temperature. The induction coil presses the panel into an adjustable mold using electromotive force. The mold shape can then change quickly to form another panel of a different shape. Using an adjustable mold saves the cost of machining a high precision mold for each unique reflector segment. This enables the ideal, off-axis configuration for radio telescopes. The adjustable mold also allows for easy correction of springback and other systematic forming errors. It can also correct for mold wear and other effects inherent in high volume production.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.