Fused Deposition Modelling in Industry 4.0

Abstract

The fourth Industrial Revolution stands for the current trends of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies - which comes with a considerable amount of opportunities as most manufacturers attempt to stay ahead of the competition. One of the possibilities is the addition of FDM printing - one of the types of additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing. Currently, FDM printing techniques are not fully industrialized. There is a significant need for human labor. Therefore, there was a need for a solution - on how to integrate FDM printing techniques in a production line by applying the core design principles of industry 4.0. The final design includes and modular systems with high interconnectivity allowing cyber-physical systems to interact through the smart factory. This project consists of a chapter with an analysis including a company analysis and competitors analysis, the section about FDM printing and industry 4.0 and trend analysis. The ideation phase includes brainstorm sessions, CF session, and decision-making phase. From these ideas, two concepts were developed. In the chapter conceptualization, these two Concepts were tested with three products suitable for 3D printing. Two workflows were made to test these concepts. The most beneficial concept is concluded in physical prototypes - which supports the four pillars of industry 4. The chapter embodiment includes the design with its features including; positioning, continuous printing, automatic refill, temperature control, movement control, quality check and a fitting digital system. Parts of the design were tested with a focus on temperature control, movement control, and positioning. Physical models were built to test positioning and movement control. These steps were evaluated and design drivers from these tests were added to the final design.