The overall goal of the proposed program is the development of a conceptual design for a self contained, portable Micro Factory to machine prismatic parts in remote locations. The portable Micro Factory is specifically designed to support the needs of the U.S. Navy to produce micro scale parts in remote locations without supporting services. The conceptual design will build on the existing body of research in micro machines and Micro Factories. It will select the best ideas from the research for machining, metrology, component holding, material transfer, cleaning/de-burring and system control. A key focus of the conceptual design will be the modular workstation concept. Each workstation will be designed to easily plug and play 0x9D with the factory. A primary goal will be the ability of the user to quickly reconfigure the factory with new workstation arrangements and new workstation capabilities to meet the changing needs of production. A related goal is the portability of the entire factory. The design will create a factory that is fully portable and capable of operating in remote locations without any supporting services, i.e. diesel in and parts out 0x9D
Benefit: The need for micro/meso machining technology is becoming increasingly clear as the development of many new products is focused on significantly smaller product envelopes. Some countries are already moving rapidly to embrace this new technology. Japan in particular has been a leader in micro/meso manufacturing research and is believed to have approximately 20 companies working on commercialization of various aspects of the technology. Currently there exists a window of opportunity for the U.S. to play a leading role in the development of this new technology. Micro/meso machining and the Micro Factory are clearly keys to the future competitiveness of U.S. industry. The technology is particularly important to the U.S. Navy as it moves toward miniature weapons systems and unmanned vehicles. The Micro Factory program can be a significant impetus toward commercialization of the existing U.S. micro/meso machining research and development programs.
Keywords: micro-metrology, micro-metrology, precision, ultra-high-speed spindle, micro-factory, micro-machine, Air bearings, fluidic, table-top
