Aerospace Model Maker System

The proposed Sanders Aerospace ModelMaker (AMM) system provides an innovative rapid prototyping method of fabricating aerospace wind tunnel test models that dramatically increases instrumentation effectiveness with reduced complexity, cost and construction time. The AMM uses an in-situ layered deposition process to build ceramic test models that withstand high temperatures and have fully integrated sensor instrumentation interconnectivity features. The process uses a novel variation of proven low temperature, co-fired ceramics (LTCC) technology employed successfully by the microelectronics industry. The AMM system enables layered fabrication with CNC precision, accuracy, surface smoothness, and high fidelity scale test models of up to eighteen inches. The finite layer resolution allows detailed, high fidelity construction. Composite fabrication enables the body core, low thermal conductivity outer surface, sensor interconnect wiring, and hollow cavity structures as an integral model. The integrated instrumentation wiring can be used to form temperature sensing thermocouples by coating the model with nickel (the thermocouple is formed at the junction of the wire and the nickel) or used in pairs of conductors to connect resistive thermal detectors (RTD's) at up to 128 selected test points. The AMM will revolutionize the aerospace wind tunnel test model construction process and reduce model cost, complexity, and construction time.