Trimodal Universal Portable Adaptive Control

The Navy suffers from long lead times to obtain replacements for broken, worn, or otherwise failed parts. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers the potential to reduce supply-chain issues through shipboard manufacturing of replacement parts on an as-needed basis. However, modular control systems are needed to mitigate environmental effects on AM machines as well as the effects that AM machines have on their environment. These controls will be installed to reduce safety and integration risks and increase the use of AM equipment for both shipboard and shoreside Naval facilities. Based on the demonstration of feasibility in Phase I detailed in the Phase I Final Report, the Phase II effort will develop, test, and integrate mature prototypes of the Trimodal Universal Portable Adaptive Control (TUPAC) system with commercially available AM equipment with the delivery of four systems at the end of Phase II for at-sea demonstrations on Navy platforms. To mature these systems in the early development stages of Phase II, the TUPAC prototypes will be tested according to relevant MIL and UL2904 standards. When deployed the TUPAC system will: (1) mitigate the harmful effects of shock, vibration, and ship motion, (2) provide local temperature and humidity (TH) control, (3) filter out harmful ultrafine particle (UFP) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, and (4) mitigate local electromagnetic interference (EMI) and noise sources, thus, expanding utility of AM equipment both in shipboard and land-based naval applications.