Technion-Israel Tech’s 3D printed drone completes its first test flight

China3D printingNet June 29th, students and employees from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have successfully completed the first test flight of A3TB (Active Aeroelastic Aircraft Test Bench), an experimental device used to study aircraft dynamics and wing flexibility .The drone is completely3D printing, And won the student project competition at the 60th Israel Aerospace Science Annual Conference in March. A two-month test flight took place after May 15th.


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3D printingThe aircraft is in its first test flight. Picture from Technion.

Design modern aircraft

When designing a modern aircraft, there are many factors to consider, such as fuel consumption and harmful emissions. Generally, reducing the weight of the aircraft itself can bring huge economic and environmental benefits, but simply removing certain components is not always feasible. Conversely, gravity can be counteracted by design choices, such as a larger wingspan to reduce drag and increase lift. However, longer wings may cause bending and structural tremors, so control mechanisms need to be established during simulation and flight test.


A3TB

During the test flight, the possibility of a crash is very high, so the test bench should be reproducible and quite cheap. A3TB is like that, just3D printingThe machine can be produced in a short time. It weighs 10kg, but has a wingspan of 3m, allowing the team to evaluate its performance during flight, so that control and stabilization mechanisms can be designed based on real flight data.

Professor Daniella Raveh, the researcher who led the project, said: “Successful flight marks the starting point of extensive research, testing and design programs. Compared with aircraft made of composite materials or metals, the concepts we have developed and the3D printingThe possibility of printing the entire aircraft on board provides a great degree of freedom for the design of the aircraft and has a huge cost advantage. Since this is a test aircraft that is expected to crash at some point, these features allow many improvements to be made without significant investment. “

The test flight in May showed that the current design is capable of maneuvering at sea levelflight.
Professor Raveh concluded: “The team is currently working on an automatic control mechanism that will be installed on the second-generation aircraft A3TB-G2 in the next few months. We hope to report more interesting results in the near future. “



Professor Daniella Raveh and students. Picture from Technion.

In recent years, we have seen more and more additive manufacturing used in the aerospace field. Earlier this year, BAE Systems signed a memorandum of understanding with Renishaw in the United Kingdom to improve the manufacturing process of fighter jet systems.This collaboration aims to use industrial metals3D printingTo improve performance, reduce costs and speed up the production of aircraft systems.Elsewhere, the aerospace company ArianeGroup announced that it has successfully tested its first complete3D printingCombustion chamber. From May to June this year, the cabin underwent a total of 14 fire tests on the P8 test bench at the Lampoldshausen test facility at the DLR German Aerospace Center.

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