Above photo: Abdul Reda Abul Hassan, Executive Director of Rail Projects Planning & Development at the Rails Agency and Chair of the Dubai 3D Printing Strategy Implementation Committee at the RTA/ Credit: Dubai Government media office
The committee responsible for the implementation of Dubai 3D
Printing Strategy at the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has launched
new 3D printing initiatives geared towards implementing various RTA
projects using this high technology. The move is part of the ‘Smart City’
initiative of the Dubai Government.
The ‘Dubai
3D Printing Strategy’ aims to make Dubai a leading hub of 3D printing
technology by 2030. One of its targets is to have 25% of Dubai’s buildings
3D-printed by 2030. The Strategy expects to reduce labour by 70%, cost by 90%,
and time by 80% in the different sectors, including construction, medical
products (3D printed teeth, bones, artificial organs and medical and surgical
devices and hearing aids) and consumer products (household items, optics,
fashion jewellery, children’s games and fast food).
The RTA intends to use 3D printing technology for a range of
projects such as a pedestrian bridge, bus stop, and marine transport station.
Abdul Reda Abul Hassan, Executive Director of Rail Projects Planning &
Development at the Rails Agency and Chair of the Dubai 3D Printing Strategy
Implementation Committee at the RTA, said, "Using 3D printing technology
in implementing these projects will help developing innovative methods capable
of contributing effectively to promoting Dubai as the smartest city; a global
hub for tourists, visitors, investors and businessmen and a leading financial,
tourism and service centre in the world.”
“The 3D printing technology is advancing at a rapid pace
across the world and RTA is strongly inclined to be a forerunner in this
generation of technology. It seeks to optimally utilize the technology by
applying the world’s best practices of public transport industry and associated
infrastructure,” he added.
In March this year, the Dubai Electricity & Water
Authority (DEWA) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 27 with GE Additive to
collaborate on 3D printing, additive manufacturing and digital technologies for
the forthcoming ‘Industrial Internet’.
The Dubai Health Authority is has been utilising 3D
printing in medical care. In September, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) announced that
doctors had saved the life of a sixty-year-old Omani woman who suffered from a
cerebral aneurysm, with assistance from a state-of-the-art custom 3D-printed
model of the patient’s brain dilated arteries to help plan the complex surgery.
Due to the complexity and rarity of the patient’s case the
doctors needed a 3D model that would allow them to understand exactly how to
reach the arteries in a safe manner. Without the 3D model the surgery would
have taken longer and the risk would have been higher.
Last December, DHA’s doctors successfully removed a tumour
from a patient’s kidney with the help of a custom 3D-printed organ to help plan
the surgery. A Dubai resident recently received the region’s first-ever fully
3D-printed prosthetic leg, an innovation that could reduce the prices of
prosthetics by 50%.
3D printing of
aircraft parts by Emirates
Emirates (the airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is
wholly owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai) has
announced the use of cutting-edge 3D printing technology to manufacture
components for its aircraft cabins. The airline is using Selective Laser
Sintering (SLS), a new and innovative 3D printing technique to produce video
monitor shrouds. Recently Emirates also completed 3D printing, certification
and installation of aircraft cabin air vent grills for onboard trials.
Emirates has worked with 3D Systems, a US based 3D printing
equipment and material manufacturer and services provider, and UUDS, a European
aviation Engineering and Certification Office and Services Provider based in
France, to successfully print the first batch of 3D printed video monitor
shrouds using 3D Systems’ Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology
platform.
This technology uses lasers to bind together powdered
plastic into the required shape defined by a 3D model, as opposed to laying material
in layers in the Fusion Deposition Modelling (FDM) technique, which is normally
used for printing aircraft 3D parts.
The material used to print Emirates’ Video Monitor Shrouds
is a new thermoplastic developed by 3D Systems – Duraform® ProX® FR1200 – with
excellent flammability resistance properties and surface quality suitable for
commercial aerospace business applications.
One of the major advantages of using the SLS technique is
the reduced weight of printed components combined with optimisation of the
strength of the parts produced. Video monitor shrouds that are 3D printed using
the SLS technique can weigh between 9% and 13% lighter than components
manufactured traditionally or through the FDM technique. This could potentially
enable significant reductions in fuel emissions and costs when consolidated
over the entire fleet of Emirates aircraft.
Additionally, with the SLS technique it is possible to print
more than one component at a time when compared with other 3D printing methods.
This leads to quicker per-part production times and lesser wastage of raw
materials used for production.
Emirates’ 3D printed video monitor shrouds have undergone a
range of structural, durability, flammability and chemical tests and are also
in the process of receiving EASA certification for airworthiness for aircraft
interior cabin parts. On receiving EASA certification the video monitor shrouds
will be installed on select aircraft in the Emirates fleet and will be tracked
over the following months for data collection as part of tests for on board
durability and wear and tear.
Emirates has also worked with UUDS to develop 3D printed
aircraft cabin air vent grills that have received EASA certification and have
already been installed on aircraft for onboard trials in late October
2017.
Ahmed Safa, Emirates Senior Vice President-
Engineering Support Services said, “The technology we use has the potential to
deliver cabin parts with reduced weight without compromising on structural
integrity or cosmetic appeal.”
Using 3D printing will also enable Emirates to conduct more
efficient inventory management for thousands of aircraft cabin interior
components. With the airline being able to print components on demand within a
smaller timeframe, it will no longer have to hold a large inventory of spare
components or have to go through long wait times for replacement
components.
Emirates will evaluate the performance and durability of the
3D printed air vent grills and video monitor shrouds before further roll out
across its fleet. The airline will also continue to pursue other opportunities
for introducing 3D printed components across its operations.
