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Oct 07, 2023


RESEARCHERS 3D PRINT MOON ROVER WHEEL PROTOTYPE WITH NASA

(Nanowerk News) Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, in collaboration with NASA, are taking additive manufacturing to the
final frontier by 3D printing the same kind of wheel as the design used by NASA
for its robotic lunar rover, demonstrating the technology for specialized parts
needed for space exploration. The additively manufactured wheel was modeled on
the existing, light-weight wheels of the Volatiles Investigating Polar
Exploration Rover, or VIPER, a mobile robot NASA plans to send in 2024 to map
ice and other potential resources at the south pole of the moon. The mission is
intended to help determine the origin and distribution of the moon’s water and
whether enough could be harvested from the moon’s surface to support people
living there. In just a few days, ORNL researchers used powder bed printing to
create this lunar rover wheel based on a NASA design. (Image: Carlos Jones,
ORNL) While the prototype wheel printed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration
Facility, or MDF, at ORNL will not actually be used on the NASA Moon mission, it
was created to meet the same design specifications as the wheels made for NASA’s
VIPER. Additional testing is planned to validate the design and fabrication
method before using this technology for future lunar or Mars rovers or
considering it for other space applications, such as large structural
components. Additive manufacturing can reduce energy use, material waste and
lead time, while enabling design complexity and the tailoring of material
properties. MDF is at the forefront of this effort, developing the technology
for over a decade for a wide range of applications in the clean energy,
transportation and manufacturing sectors. MDF researchers printed the rover
wheel prototype at ORNL in Fall 2022. A specialized 3D printer used two
coordinated lasers and a rotating build plate to selectively melt metal powder
into the designed shape. Typical metal powder bed systems operate in steps: In a
machine the size of a cabinet, they rake a layer of powder over a stationary
plate. Then a laser selectively melts a layer before the plate lowers slightly
and the process repeats. The printer used for the rover wheel prototype is large
enough for a person to enter and is unique in its ability to print large objects
while the steps occur simultaneously and continuously, said Peter Wang, who
leads MDF development of new laser powder bed fusion systems. “This dramatically
increases the production rate with the same amount of laser power,” he said,
adding that deposition occurs 50% faster. “We’re only scratching the surface of
what the system can do. I really think this is going to be the future of laser
powder bed printing, especially at large scale and in mass production.” Wang and
project team members recently published a study, found here, analyzing the
scalability of the technology for printing components like electric motors.
Although the machine is unique, a key to the success of the project was
researchers’ expertise in process automation and machine control. They used
software developed at ORNL to “slice” the wheel design into vertical layers,
then balance the workload between the two lasers to print evenly, achieving a
high production rate, leveraging a computational technique recently submitted
for patent protection. The prototype wheel, one of the first parts produced by
the system, demonstrates the value of interagency collaboration. “The project
with NASA really propelled the technology forward,” said Brian Gibson, the
researcher who led the rover wheel project for ORNL, calling it a milestone. “It
was great to connect a capability with a developing need, and the team was
excited to be making a prototype component with space exploration applications.”
Additive manufacturing allows fine design details, such as wavy tread on a domed
shape, to be incorporated into the prototype lunar wheel. (Image: Carlos Jones,
ORNL) Made of a nickel-based alloy, the prototype wheel is about 8 inches wide
and 20 inches in diameter – much larger than typical parts printed with metal
powder bed systems. Making it required the ability to print small geometric
features spread over a large work area. Additive manufacturing enabled greater
complexity in the rim design without added cost or manufacturing difficulty,
Gibson said. In comparison, the four VIPER wheels that will churn through moon
dust next year required multiple manufacturing processes and assembly steps.
VIPER’s 50-piece wheel rim is held together with 360 riveted joints. The
manufacturing process required complicated and time-intensive machining in order
to meet the mission’s rigorous requirements. If NASA testing proves the
3D-printed prototype to be as robust as conventionally built wheels, future
rovers could instead use a single printed wheel rim, which took ORNL 40 hours to
manufacture. Through the project, ORNL and NASA engineers also explored printing
precise design features, such as angled sidewalls, a domed shape and wavy tread
to increase the wheel’s stiffness. These characteristics are difficult to
incorporate in the current VIPER wheel design using traditional fabrication
methods. Despite enabling a more complex spoke pattern and spoke locking
features to the wheel, 3D printing simplified and reduced the cost of the wheel
design and made final assembly easier. “A lot of these wheel features were put
in just to highlight what you can do with additive manufacturing,” said Richard
Hagen, a mechanical design engineer for NASA and additive manufacturing lab
manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “It lets you easily implement
design features that are hard to implement with traditional tooling or even a
traditionally machined part.” ORNL’s ability to print large objects demonstrates
the potential of additive manufacturing technology for producing much larger
rover wheels for both lunar and Martian missions, Hagen said. A challenge is
that the specialized printer only builds with certain materials – in this case,
a nickel-based alloy – so the 3D-printed wheel is 50% heavier than the aluminum
VIPER wheel, while printed at a similar thickness. NASA plans to test the
3D-printed wheel’s performance on a rover either in the rock yard at NASA’s
Johnson Space Center or in a giant “sandbox” of simulated lunar rocks and soil
at a contracted test facility. Evaluators will assess the wheel’s
maneuverability, pivoting resistance, sideways slippage, slope climbing and
other performance metrics. Hagen said additive manufacturing offers the
advantage of rapid design updates in response to testing. It can also
incorporate more complexity, such as a suspension system, without adding weak
points. Hagen said crewed research stations placed on the moon as part of the
agency’s Artemis Program will need off-planet manufacturing capability. “Being
able to build parts in space for repairs will be important, because you just
can’t take enough spares,” he said. “Powder, pellets or filament for printing
are a lot easier to pack and would allow for more flexibility.” “Additive
manufacturing offers the flexibility that if you have the feedstock, you could
make any replacement part you need, whether in space or on Earth,” Gibson said.
This is a reason additive manufacturing has generated significant interest for a
range of replacement needs, from rapidly manufactured tooling to hard-to-source
castings and forgings. For space exploration and habitation, 3D printers could
eventually use local material from the moon or Mars as a feedstock.

Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Note: Content may be edited for style and
length)

Check out our primer on 3D printers for beginners and professionals as well as
our overview of the best repositories for free and downloadable 3D printing
models and design files.

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