3D-Printed Machine Elements and Mechanical Devices

A special issue of Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This special issue belongs to the section "Machine Design and Theory".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 9416

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: dynamics; vibration and damping; smart materials and structures; computational and experimental mechanics; mechatronics and structural control; structural acoustics; impact and wave propagation; structural health monitoring; composite structures; machine design; 3D printing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of Technology and Management, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, 4900-348 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Interests: dynamics; energy; computational and experimental mechanics; rheology; thermal analysis; smart materials and structures; machine design; computational and experimental fluid mechanics; heat transfer; particle image velocimetry

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Guest Editor
1. Mechanical Engineering, School of Science and Technology, Instituto Superior Politécnico Gaya, 4400-103 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
2. SMILE.TECH Robótica Lda, 4400-436 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Interests: robotics; joint design; CNC; 3D modeling; FDM 3D printing; non-cartesian kinematics; motion control; instrumentation; artificial vision; control architectures

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Guest Editor
Department of Telecommunications and Mechatronics Engineering, Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, 36420-000 Ouro Branco, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Interests: hybrid vehicles; fluid power; machine design; vibration; tribology; computational mechanics; mechatronics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Machine elements are key components for the development of mechanical devices in numerous fields of engineering, which today face stringent design challenges to meet the demand for increased system performance, customization, aesthetics, and light weight with cost-effective solutions. Additive manufacturing and 3D printing technologies are rapidly changing machinery engineering as we classically know it, allowing for greater creativity and freedom in machine design innovation and maintenance. The effective benefits of far-reaching design freedom in terms of geometry and materials open up answers to many new complex technical questions and scientific uncertainties that go beyond basic design and functional knowledge and require engineering skills and scientific analysis.

This Special Issue aims to bring together theoretical studies or applied work on the integrated use of state-of-the-art software tools for digital machine design, engineering, and manufacturing used to design and manufacture advanced 3D-printed machine elements and mechanical devices that exploit spatial design freedom, advanced materials, and unconventional manufacturing processes. Submissions should make a visible contribution to the state of the art and may include advances in fundamental theories, computational techniques, additive manufacturing materials and techniques, specialized 3D printing hardware, experimental testing (material, element, and system level), and engineering use case studies. The technologies developed can be used to replace or redesign conventional machine elements in maintenance engineering, or to develop entirely new monolithic mechanical design concepts for critical subsystems or devices that require less assembly and component integration. Topics include but are not limited to the following research themes on 3D printing technologies:

  • 3D digital scanning and modeling;
  • Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing;
  • Complex shapes and lattice designs;
  • Topology and shape optimization;
  • 3D printing pre-processing and workflow;
  • Design for manufacturing and assembly;
  • Printing materials and printing systems;
  • Simulation of additive manufacturing processes;
  • Printing of metal or carbon-fiber composites;
  • Multimaterial printing;
  • Multiscale and multiphysics material models;
  • Nonlinear material and geometric behavior;
  • Viscoelasticity and damping;
  • Sensing, multifunctionality, and 4D printing;
  • Noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH);
  • Thermomechanical analysis;
  • Fatigue and concentrated stresses;
  • Tribological behavior;
  • Power losses and machine heating;
  • Print quality, material properties, and post-processing;
  • Ecodesign and sustainability issues.

Dr. César M. A. Vasques
Dr. Adélio M. S. Cavadas
Dr. Fernando A. V. Figueiredo
Dr. Tarsis P. Barbosa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • additive manufacturing
  • digital 3D models
  • print materials
  • 3D printing equipment
  • mechanical design
  • engineering analysis
  • design for manufacturing
  • additive manufacturing simulation
  • machine elements
  • mechanical devices

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 6857 KiB  
Article
A 3D-Printed Continuously Variable Transmission for an Electric Vehicle Prototype
by Marcos R. C. Coimbra, Társis P. Barbosa and César M. A. Vasques
Machines 2022, 10(2), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10020084 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3930
Abstract
This paper aims to present the design of a new 3D-printed continuously variable transmission (CVT) developed for an electric vehicle prototype competing in Shell Eco-marathon electric battery category, a world-wide energy efficiency competition sponsored by Shell. The proposed system is composed of a [...] Read more.
This paper aims to present the design of a new 3D-printed continuously variable transmission (CVT) developed for an electric vehicle prototype competing in Shell Eco-marathon electric battery category, a world-wide energy efficiency competition sponsored by Shell. The proposed system is composed of a polymeric conic geared friction wheel assembled in the motor axle and directly coupled to the rear tire of the vehicle. The conical shape allows to implement a continuous variation of the geared friction wheel diameter in contact with the tire. The motor with the geared friction wheel was mounted over a board with linear bearings, allowing the speed ratio to change by moving the board laterally. A computational simulation model of a prototype electric vehicle with the proposed 3D-printed CVT was created in Matlab/Simulink environment to obtain the traction force in the geared friction wheel and also to analyze the vehicle performance. The simulation results demonstrated possibilities of increasing vehicle speed range output and available torque in the rear traction wheel. Also, it is shown with the simulated model that the designed CVT consumes 10.46% less energy than a fixed transmission ratio, demonstrating the CVT concept’s potential for battery consumption reduction. Lastly, a 3D-printing slicing software with an optimization algorithm plug-in was used to determine the best printing parameters for the conic geared friction wheel based on the tangential force, maximum displacement and safety factor. When compared to the original part with a 100% infill density, the optimized solution reduced the component mass by about 12% while maintaining safe mechanical resistance and stiffness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D-Printed Machine Elements and Mechanical Devices)
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Review

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20 pages, 6609 KiB  
Review
A Review of Lightweight Design for Space Mirror Core Structure: Tradition and Future
by Changhao Zhang and Zongxuan Li
Machines 2022, 10(11), 1066; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10111066 - 11 Nov 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4108
Abstract
With the continuous improvement of the imaging quality requirement of the space optical system, the large-aperture mirror becomes the research focus. However, the increase of the aperture will increase the whole weight which results in high launch cost and degrades the mirror surface [...] Read more.
With the continuous improvement of the imaging quality requirement of the space optical system, the large-aperture mirror becomes the research focus. However, the increase of the aperture will increase the whole weight which results in high launch cost and degrades the mirror surface figure accuracy. Therefore, the lightweight design method of the mirror structure is of great importance. In recent years, many space telescope system schemes have demonstrated the progress of the structural lightweight design of mirrors, such as Spitzer, SOFIA, JWST, etc. This article reviews the main content and innovations of the research on the structural designs of mirrors including conventional machining designs and topology optimization structures. Meanwhile, some emerging designs (e.g., lattices and Voronoi structures) considering additive manufacturing (AM) are also introduced. Several key elements of different structural design approaches for lightweight mirrors are discussed and compared, such as material, lightweight ratio, design methods, surface figure, etc. Finally, future challenges, trends, and prospects of lightweight design for mirrors are discussed. This article provides a reference for further related research and engineering applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D-Printed Machine Elements and Mechanical Devices)
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