Renishaw AM technology supports hypersonic engine development
In a recent case study, Renishaw, headquartered in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, UK, highlighted the use of its Additive Manufacturing technology in the development of a hypersonic aerospace propulsion system.
Innovative 3D Manufacturing, a rapid prototyping company based in Franklin, Indiana, USA, was approached by Velontra, a start-up developing a low-cost hypersonic propulsion system for the aerospace market, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Velontra needed a way to produce rapid prototypes of its propulsion systems while also reducing resource use, meeting quality requirements and manufacturing tolerances, and keeping costs down.
“Compact hypersonic propulsion systems are highly sought after by space companies, so, to remain competitive, we must develop parts quickly,” explained Joel Darin, CTO of Velontra. “In aerospace, we know that the best way to learn is by doing things, particularly if you want to be the first to launch a new technology.”
“Innovation also requires people to keep making iterations of an idea and testing it until it works. Take the Wright brothers – lots of other people across the world wanted to take the first successful flight. The brothers built a test tunnel to try their aircraft over and over again, which resulted in success. We take the same attitude when developing our products,” added Darin.
While the team understood the benefits of Additive Manufacturing for this application, Velontra had no in-house expertise to develop a process within the intended timeline, so it reached out to Innovative 3D Manufacturing.
Innovative 3D Manufacturing recently upscaled its facility and operates multiple Renishaw RenAM 500Q multi-laser Additive Manufacturing machines. This enabled the company to rapidly produce part iterations for Velontra.
As well as the propulsion system, Velontra has collaborated with Innovative 3D Manufacturing to prototype and produce other bespoke parts, such as a ramjet prototype and afterburner hardware. By using AM, Velontra, in partnership with Innovative 3D Manufacturing, can develop complex yet lightweight parts, send designs to its partner and receive prototypes the next day, reducing development cycles.
“We’ve worked with Velontra since its inception to share our expertise on designing for AM in the aerospace industry,” stated Chris Beck, Operations Manager and owner of Innovative 3D Manufacturing. “By helping Velontra to understand the importance of designing geometries for AM, choosing the optimal part thickness and selecting the right materials, Velontra’s engineers have been able to develop and refine their propulsion system. By using the RenAM 500Q, a multi-laser metal AM system, we have been able to print prototypes at a much faster rate, while leveraging the machine’s on-board sieving capabilities, making the entire process more efficient and reducing part turnaround.”
The RenAM 500Q is a Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) AM machine that features four 500 W lasers that can access the entire powder bed surface simultaneously, enabling users to make use of the entire build plate, thereby boosting productivity. The machine also features automated powder and waste handling systems that enable consistent process quality, reduce operator intervention time, and ensure high standards of system safety.
Darin shared, “By using AM technology we’ve been able to produce a propulsion system that is powerful, yet small, and anything but tame. We recently conducted tests of the Bronco using the wind tunnel at Purdue University, Indiana, and saw positive results. We plan to further our use of Additive Manufacturing to continue developing and improving the Bronco.”
Tests at Purdue University’s wind tunnel simulated speeds of over Mach 4.5 and an altitude of 100,000 ft. Results demonstrated that the Bronco could deliver thrust at greater than Mach 5, over five times the speed of sound and Velontra states that this makes the engine the first of its kind.
Article: Inside Nikon’s metal AM strategy
Part 2: Scaling industrial production in Long Beach
| Read now |
“The Innovative 3D Manufacturing team have been an amazing collaborator as always. Chris and the team do all they can to deliver the quality parts we need as quickly as possible,” continued Darin. “On one occasion we sent a part design file on Monday afternoon, 24 hours later he drove to meet us halfway to deliver a part we needed – his support is incredible. We have also been impressed with the speed and quality of the Renishaw AM systems that the team uses to deliver quality parts, but at the affordable production cost we require to keep the costs of the propulsion system down.”
Velontra aims to integrate the Bronco hypersonic propulsion system into small vehicles to make them supersonic for commercial and industrial use. The company also plans to build an unmanned spaceplane that can be used as a platform for launching satellites.
