Laser-sintering technology enables companies to build highly integrated and very complex hardware directly from electronic data, eliminating tooling and other secondary operations - and one company leading the way with this technology is at AUVSI to give technical demonstrations.
Electro Optical Systems (EOS) is on booth 250, where it is displaying plastic and metal parts made in their laser-sintering systems.
"Weight optimization, different applications and flexibility in payload are critical to the design of UAVs," says Udo Behrendt, EOS key account manager aerospace. The EOS system promises great flexibility. "The aircraft industry also uses low-volume components in production lots ranging from one part to several thousands."
One company at AUVSI has found the system beneficial. "Plastics laser-sintering enabled us to manufacture aircraft components for a micro air vehicle as a cost-effective substitute for carbonfiber parts," says Jim Williams, president of Paramount PDS (booth 337). "The parts have already been tested in flight and are in production," he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
