The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation in Germany has partnered with the European Union's 'CassaMobile' project to develop a mobile factory that uses 3D printing technology to customize the special parts to the user's location. This will greatly shorten the user. Waiting time, and flexible production capabilities.
Rafael Admitz, project manager of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that the idea of a mobile factory comes first from the special needs of users. For example, patients with leg fractures go to the hospital. Surgery, the surgeon needs a bone drill template suitable for different patients in order to optimally place the screws, and it may take a week to customize such a bone drill template. If a mobile factory is opened to the hospital, the local processing can be greatly shortened. Patient waiting time.
Such mobile factories are not designed to produce batch products, but to customize products for special needs, so they can be designed to be small, so that the entire production unit can be loaded into a freight car, opened to any place where it is needed, and processed nearby. Meet the most urgent needs of users.
At the heart of the mobile factory is the 3D printer, Admitz said, using 3D printing technology, it is now possible to make many complex parts based on different materials. IPA has developed two printing processes using polyamide. In the production of parts, As a bulk printing material, amide is first filled with a supporting material in the place where the printing material is not needed, and then treated with a solvent. In this way, a three-dimensional free form structure can be created. The camera can monitor the entire printing process and help real-time error correction. , thereby reducing the scrap rate.
Mobile factories have less demand for buildings and infrastructure, and have broad application prospects. For example, in the earthquake-stricken areas, on-site production of parts that are urgently needed for disaster relief and reconstruction can also be carried out in small-scale production in areas where construction plants are expensive.
