Airbus THOR
Airbus THOR (Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality) - a prototype, unmanned aerial vehicle designed and built at Airbus. The machine is the first airplane in the world, the elements of the airframe structure were made in 3D printing technology. History
New opportunities for creating aircraft components, which spatial printing technology provides, is already used in aviation. In the Airbus A350XWB construction, approximately 2,700 plastic components are produced using 3D printing. The next step is the production of metal elements using this technology. Thanks to this solution, the amount of production waste is minimized, it saves energy needed to remove unnecessary material using machining, as well as reduces the amount of equipment used to produce various elements. One of the stages of perfecting the spatial printing technology in the aviation industry is the unmanned small aircraft THOR project. 50 of its elements were made in 3D technology, only two electric engines driving the plane and the control system were made using traditional methods. The construction of the whole, together with the production of airframe elements, took 4 weeks for specialists from Airbus. In November 2015, THOR rose to the air for the first time. He was presented for the first time during the Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung Berlin in 2016. Construction
THOR was built in a high-wing system with a T-shaped tail. Two electric engines propel two blades propellers. Fixed undercarriage with front support. Elements of the airframe structure were made of polyamides. Bibliography
wiki
Comments
Post a Comment