ICAT Playdate: Cerberus: Multi-Nozzle Printing in Motion 3D Printed Ceramic Partitions for Evaporative Cooling

Term: Spring 2024

Date:  February 23rd, 2024

Time: 8:30am - 9:30am

Location: Community Assembly in the Creativity + Innovation District Living-Learning Community

Instructor: Phyllis Newbill

Presented By: Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT)

Description:

Especially when printing at scale, additive manufacturing technologies (often referred to as 3D printing) suffer from long build (production) times. For extrusion-based processes, this stems from the throughput limitations of a single nozzle; material can only be deposited so quickly before encountering the physical limitations of polymer flow. To overcome these challenges, the team has created a novel deposition tool that simultaneously extrudes material from multiple nozzles (dubbed “Cerberus” referencing a mythical 3-headed dog). With this tool, multiple copies of the toolpath are constructed at the same time, making it well-suited for serialized production of small components and especially periodic structures (e.g., fabrics and textiles) that can take advantage of the copies. In conjunction with a robotic workcell consisting of an industrial robotic arm and conveyor belt, the team has used the tool to produce multiple large-scale sheets of performance fabrics. Among these are prototype fog harvesting meshes designed to collect drinking water for water scarce communities around the world. Generally, Cerberus combines the advantages of 3d printing and conventional fabric looms: it has the potential speed of a loom, with the geometric precision of a 3d printer to produce highly refined textiles for numerous industry applications.

Speakers: 

Prof. Brook Kennedy

Prof. Dr. Chris Williams

Dr. Joseph Kubalak

Nathaniel Root

Katie Dingler