FIT World Premieres
March 1, 2020
Star tracker bracket for Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)
Rocket engine fluid manifold for Ariane 6
FIT Additive Manufacturing Group recently showcased its state-of-the-art of additive manufacturing (AM) solutions featuring real use cases with partners such as Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), ArianeGroup, HAUNI Group and more.
"FIT showcased the latest AM technologies as well as post-processing technologies that allow users to create 3D printed components differently, less costly, faster and with better quality," said a company spokesperson. Examples included an additive alternative to copper injection molding, an AM solution for the economic production of metal parts, a solution for innovating the construction industry and computer-assisted solutions to reduce engineering and development costs.
In close collaboration with TAI, FIT developed an innovative star tracker bracket that holds an optical device for controlling and steering the exact position of a satellite in orbit. Currently, such a bracket consists of 56 different and a total of 360 individual parts. An integrated cooling circuit prevents it from deformation by the heat of the sunbeams, which would make the exact positioning of the satellite impossible. It also has to withstand 20 G acceleration force in all directions during rocket launch. The additive redesign led to a significant reduction of component complexity as well as a weight reduction of 50%. The very hard requirements of the European standards and guidelines for the aerospace industry were fully met.
Ariane 6 is modular, flexible and competitive and will be an optimum launch solution for commercial and institutional customers for the 2020 time frame. This new launcher-developed by ArianeGroup and its European industrial partners-combine proven solutions with innovation to address the changing needs of the market. Based on the reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) approach, the overall goal is to achieve production costs that are 40% to 50% lower than those of Ariane 5. FIT and ArianeGroup are currently developing a cost-effective solution based on Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) for the serial manufacture of the rocket engine fluid manifold in Ariane's Vulcain 2 rocket engine. Due to this comprehensive solution, the two main benefits-higher performance and clear cost reduction in regards to the serial manufacturing of the component-will be achieved.
For more information contact:
FIT Additive Manufacturing Group
www.fit.technology
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