Design for additive manufacturing in the context of CubeSat primary structures

Walker, Scott and Dumitrescu, Adrian (2018) Design for additive manufacturing in the context of CubeSat primary structures. In 69th International Astronautical Congress (IAC). Curran Associates, Inc. pp. 9491-9506 .

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of additive manufacturing (AM) on the design, structural performance, manufacturing process and cost of CubeSat primary structures. The motivation of the paper isto arrive at a structure that can outperform classic CubeSat designs, at a lower production cost thatrelies on a shorter manufacturing time. Small satellites are intended to be an affordable alternative to fullscale satellites for Universities to design and build, and more recently they have become a way to attractcommercial revenue as part of constellations. As a result, a more affordable and well performing structurecan lead to more Universities taking up small satellite projects and to more profit on the commercial side.The paper first analyzes the performance of a regular CubeSat structure produced through SubtractiveManufacturing (SM) at the University of Southampton. Having gathered the baseline data, the paperinvestigates various gridded structures which will replace the classic cutouts on the CubeSat sides. Gridded structures have the advantage of requiring far less effort and resources in the cleanup phase, after themetal 3D printing takes place, because their gaps can be small enough to not need support structures.They also offer the potential for an improved structural performance over the regular triangular cutouts.The gridded structures shall be put under various loading scenarios in ANSYS and then they shall beintegrated in the CubeSat structure for further dynamic analysis. The paper shall arrive at an optimaltype of gridded structure both from a performance and a manufacturing standpoint. The paper will thenanalyze various ways to split the structure, since 3D printing allows for the CubeSat to be manufacturedout of fewer parts instead of the usual six. This can lead to a more monolithic structure that can offerbetter performance and weight saving capabilities. This investigation will also be performed with anawareness of the importance of access for systems integration. Finally, the best combination between agrid type and a cube partition shall be further tested and optimized. The cell size of the grid can bevaried along with the wall thickness, all within the printing capabilities of the metal 3D printer at theUniversity of Southampton.

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