10
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 3RD AUGUST, 2014
ENERGY
RESEARCH
Additive manufacturing (AM)
, commonly known as
“3D printing,” is one of the most exciting and potentially
transformative technologies in use today. This process,
which allows users to fabricate three dimensional objects
from computer generated 3D models, is becoming rapidly
adopted by organisations and individuals worldwide. It is
estimated by 2016 that the AMmarket will be worth US$3.1
billion and US$5.2 billion by 2020.
Leading online technology publication TechRepublic,
says 3D printing “is destined to transform almost every
major industry and change the way we live, work, and play
in the future.” In a more succinct summation of its impact,
the Harvard Business Review headlined an article on the
topic “3D Printing Will Change the World.”
And what of Trinidad and Tobago?
Faced with an increasingly pressing need to diversify
the economy and energise sectors outside of oil and gas,
manufacturing has for some time now been seen as an
industry with great potential. Guided by this drive to support
the development of local manufacturing, the Department of
Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing of the Faculty
of Engineering (MME) at The UWI St Augustine Campus,
has acquired a 3D printer, specifically a fused deposition
modeling (FDM) machine.
The goal is to give regional manufacturing a competitive
boost by encouraging the adoption of new technologies and
to educate a new generation of manufacturing engineers
and innovators skilled in their use. And the acquisition
of the FDM machine is another stage in an ongoing
process designed not so much to transform our existing
manufacturing industry as it is to giving it the vital injection
needed to vault onto the global marketplace.
The future of manufacturing
“We should be innovative. We should be creative.
We should promote entrepreneurship,” says Dr. Boppana
V. Chowdary, Programme Coordinator, Manufacturing
Engineering, at UWI, in his office in the MME
Department.
A native of India, not only is Dr. Chowdary UWI
St Augustine’s chief evangelist and strategist for local
manufacturing, he may be the expert most singularly
focused on the topic in Trinidad and Tobago.
“My philosophy is very simple,” he says. “For any
nation, if you have a strong manufacturing base, that is the
backbone of your country. That can sustain your forever,
despite what is happening in other sectors. Manufacturing
is evergreen.”
Since joining the Faculty of Engineering in 2003,
Dr. Chowdary has worked to carve out a space for
manufacturing engineering on the campus, with the goal of
creating a university-centred national and regional resource
for the development of the manufacturing industry. The
purchase of the new FDM machine by the Faculty was a
result of his advocacy.
The 3D printer, a Fortus 400mc manufactured by
Stratasys, cost approximately TT$1.25 million. It is a rapid
prototyping (RP) technology, meaning that it can create 3D
objects primarily for prototyping purposes (for example,
plastic models of machine parts) although in some cases
it can produce functional models. There are 3D printers
that can produce a wide array of fully functional items but
these models can cost up to three and four times the price
of UWI’s new FDM machine.
Nevertheless, Dr. Chowdary has identified several
potential opportunities for functional models that can
be manufactured by the machine, several of which are on
display at the department’s Computer Numerical Control
(CNC) Laboratory (the lab houses computer controlled
manufacturing machines). Many of them are student
projects. These include highly complex medical models like
human skulls and other bones, smartphone faces and even
functional spanners.
“Although we can only manufacture certain functional
items, we can still perform a lot of miracles,” Dr. Chowdary
explained. “We are dependent on markets in the US and
Europe for somany items. And an item that costs $10 we are
paying almost $100 per item, as well as the four weeks for
delivery. The medical models used in instructing students
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; cadavers are not
readily available. Why can’t we make them ourselves?”
But even as a prototyping technology, the FDM
machine can generate economy activity and meet some
demand for manufactured goods. We live in a world of
machines. Indeed, tool use is one of the characteristics that
mark us as a species. In our daily lives we either use or come
into contact with so many implements and devices that we
take their function for granted. But many of them and their
An
ew
d
imension
to local manufacturing
Department of MME acquires 3D printer
B y J o e l H e n r y
“For example, a patient
with a bone fracture could
potentially have the bone
scanned, have the scan
converted into a 3D image,
have that image printed,
and provide him with the
necessary prosthetic before
he leaves the doctor’s office.”
FEMUR CAD MODEL
FEMUR 3D PRINTED MODEL
