Objective
This project is aimed at developing the technology for a prototype machine for producing 3D shapes from a series of 2D laser cut laminations. The concept of the machine is that a high average power industrial laser will be used to cut sheet steels at high speeds but with minimal distortion. The main technical developments required, above and beyond current state of the art laser cutting machines will be: 1) Development of software to produce digitised information for each lamination, directly from CAD data. 2) The development of work handling and tooling for the manipulation and relocation of laminations to extreme levels of accuracy. 3) A novel process for joining of complex sheet steel laminations into 3-D objects. 4) Design of tooling to incorporate advantages of process. A prototype machine will incorporate these features into a package capable of automated production, and it will produce metallic tooling with dramatically reduced lead-times.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
EAW - Exploratory awardsCoordinator
CV4 9HE Coventry - West Midlands
United Kingdom