Tech Briefs Magazine - November 2023 - 42

Mechanical &
Fluid Systems
The resistive element then provides a
force feedback that manages the dynamic
behavior of the total system or structure.
The damping force feedback can be
a tensile or compressive force, or both.
Purely tensile force has advantages for
packaging and connection alignment flexibility
while combined tensile/compression
forces have the advantage of providing
damping over a complete vibratory cycle.
This innovation can be readily applied
to existing structures and incorporated
into any given design as the connecting element
is easily affixed to displacing points
within the structure and the resistive element
to be located in available space or a
convenient location. The resistive element
can be supplied by any one of either hydraulic,
pneumatic, or magnetic forces.
As such the innovation can provide a
wide range of damping forces, a linear
damping function and/or an extended dynamic
range of attenuation, providing
broad flexibility in configuration size and
functional applicability. NASA-built prototypes
have been shown to be highly effective
on a 170-foot-long wind turbine blade
in test beds at the University of Maine.
NASA is actively seeking licensees to
commercialize this technology. Please
contact NASA's Licensing Concierge at
Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov
or call at 202-358-7432 to initiate licensing
discussions. For more information, visit
https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/
MFS-TOPS-125.
Manufacturing Rotational Mechanisms with
Integrated Sensors
A new system could enable engineers to rapidly prototype devices with rotating parts,
like turbines or motors, while incorporating sensing directly into the designs.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
I
ntegrating sensors into rotational
mechanisms could make it possible
for engineers to build smart hinges
that know when a door has been
opened, or gears inside a motor that
tell a mechanic how fast they are rotating.
MIT engineers have now developed
a way to easily integrate sensors
into these types of mechanisms,
with 3D printing.
Even though advances in 3D printing
enable rapid fabrication of rotational
mechanisms, integrating sensors
into the designs is still notoriously
difficult. Due to the complexity of the
rotating parts, sensors are typically embedded
manually, after the device has
already been produced.
However, manually integrating sensors
is no easy task. Embed them inside
a device and wires might get tangled
in the rotating parts or obstruct
their rotations, but mounting external
sensors would increase the size of
a mechanism and potentially limit its
motion.
Instead, the new system the MIT researchers
developed enables a maker
to 3D print sensors directly into a
mechanism's moving parts using conductive
3D printing filament. This gives
devices the ability to sense their angular
position, rotation speed, and direction
of rotation.
With their system, called MechSense,
a maker can manufacture rotational
mechanisms with integrated sensors in
just one pass using a multi-material 3D
printer. These types of printers utilize
42
MIT researchers created a system that enables makers to incorporate sensors directly into rotational
mechanisms with only one pass in a 3D printer. This gives rotational mechanisms like the gears inside a
motor the ability to sense their angular position, rotation speed, and direction of rotation. (Image:
Courtesy of the researchers. Edited by MIT News)
multiple materials at the same time to
fabricate a device.
To streamline the fabrication process,
the researchers built a plugin for the
computer-aided design software SolidWorks
that automatically integrates sensors
into a model of the mechanism,
which could then be sent directly to the
3D printer for fabrication.
MechSense could enable engineers to
rapidly prototype devices with rotating
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parts, like turbines or motors, while incorporating
sensing directly into the designs.
It could be especially useful in creating
tangible user interfaces for
augmented reality environments, where
sensing is critical for tracking a user's
movements and interaction with objects.
" A lot of the research that we do in
our lab involves taking fabrication methods
that factories or specialized institutions
create and then making then accesTech
Briefs, November 2023

https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/MFS-TOPS-125 http://www.techbriefs.com

Tech Briefs Magazine - November 2023

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