Advanced Manufacturing

technology essay
ALI BASIM S ALNASSER

MSc Advanced Mechanical Engineering

UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX | 2018-2019
Content

INTRODUCTION 2

DRAWINGS OF THE PRODUCT & COMPONENT PARTS 3

DRAWINGS OF THE PRODUCT 3

COMPONENT PARTS 5

MATERIALS USED 7

MANUFACTURING PROCESSES 8

MANUFACTURING FACILITIES & PROTECTION 11

PROTECTION OF THE PRODUCT 11

MARKET RESEARCH AND COST ANALYSIS 12

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 12

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION STRATEGY 13

CONCLUSION 13

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Introduction

The Quadcopter is the product that this report will review its manufacturing, marketing and material
selection processes. The quadcopter is designed to carry “GoPro” cameras known for photographing
dangerous sports such as climbing and racing.

a flying quadcopter is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard, earning their alternate name as
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Quadcopter s are robots typically remotely controlled by a pilot

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 Drawings of the product & component parts

Drawings of the product

Top view Bottom view

Front view ISO view

Dimension

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4
component parts

arm

Figure: 1 Figure: 2
Figure 1 shows the arms of the quadcopter, which is hollow from the inside to reduce the weight
while maintaining strength. The internal cavity in figure 2 is also used as a path for the electric
wiring of the engines. The quadcopter needs four identical arms.

Propellers

Figure: 3 Figure: 4
The quadcopter propellers are one complete piece and contain two Propellers that are both
Opposite and opposite. The quadcopter needs four identical propellers.

leg
The leg of the quadcopter and its function
enable the quadcopter to stand on the ground.

Figure: 3

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 Electronic, batterry & cam holder body/casing

Figure:
This part is the center of the quadcopter, which is the case of the control panel and battery and
the camera holder, in addition to linking the arms and legs.
1- Control panel and battery room. Cover is removable
2- Motor wire exit slot
3- Camera mounting plate
4- Screws to install the camera by pressing

motor

Figure:
Motor to rotate the propellers. It contains tow part the motor and the holder

Other components

Electronic unite Battery Weirs

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 Materials used

Arms will be printed with the 3D printer. The arms are designed in a sophisticated geometrical
manner to give the hands a flexible, light weight and strength at the same time

There are several options for printing this part, three materials were selected for comparison and to
select the best material. The characteristics that meet the needs such as the strength and Heat
resistance. The quadcopter is designed to carry high-end cameras for extreme scenes such as sports
and natural phenomena.

ABS, Nylon and PET/PETG are all good option to manufacture printing parts with. But the material
that corresponds to all the requirements is PET/PETG where it is stable and shockproof, but it
requires a heated print bed, is relatively expensive, and quite heavy.

Propellers, Electronic, battery & cam holder body/casing and Motor holder will be manufacture by
the injection method. Polypropylene is the material used to meet the requirements.

Because the geometry of the engine holder makes it weak, it is decided to make it with aluminum

part material
arm PET/PETG
Propeller Polypropylene
Electronic, battery & cam holder body/casing Polypropylene
Motor holder aluminium

Motor, electronics, battery and wire will be purchased from a supplier, which is easier than
manufacturing them in the workshop.

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 manufacturing processes

Arm & leg

Production

These pieces will be printed in the 3D printer because of its complex shape and the restrictions
imposed by traditional manufacturing on what can be made are generally not relevant for
additive manufacturing. Since components are constructed one layer at a time, design
requirements such as draft angles, undercuts and tool access do not apply, when designing parts
to be 3D printed

3D printing takes time. It can take up to several hours to print a small sized part of sufficient
quality, but it is OK to achieve the desired result due to engineering design, which provides
flexibility, strength and light weight

For the information, some commercial quadcopter manufacturers are using 3D printing. For
example, Southern Californian company Blue Robotics uses 3D printing for their submarine
quadcopters. Their creations are open source, the digital blueprints are available for everyone
who wants a 3D printed quadcopter

An example of complex quadcopter arms manufactured by 3D printer.

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Propellers

Production
There are many companies that sell propellers of different sizes and prices vary between 0.5 to 4
pounds, but this piece will be manufactured with the rest of the pieces by injection method.
Injection moulding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material
into a mould. Material for the part is fed into a heated barrel, mixed (Using a helical shaped
screw), and injected into a mould cavity, where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the
cavity. This diagram below shows the process.

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Electronic, batterry & cam holder body/casing

Production
These pieces will be manufactured in two different ways where it is composed of three pieces.
Piece number 2 & 1 will manufactured by injection modeling. The third (3) piece will be
manufactured by cutting press machine (hydraulic/pneumatic cutter press) for plastic sheet.

Motor holder

Production
These pieces must be of a high level of strength and durability and therefore will be made of
aluminum. For high volume production these would be die cast from aluminum by injecting
molten aluminum into a high pressure mould. This diagram below shows the process

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 manufacturing facilities & protection
Prosses Machine Quantity Price/pound
1 Quadcopter body & motor holding Battenfeld 2 40000
injection moulding TM2100/1000 - 210
tonnes
2 Down cover hydraulic cutting press HG-C30T 25-05t 1 5000
hydraulic cutter
3 Quadcopter arms & legs printing INTAMSYS Funmat 4 30000
PRO HT
4 Electronic parts & motors assembly Hand make
5 All assembly Hand make
6 Quality control
7 packaging

protection of the product

this quadcopter a unique design that we have invested both time and money in developing
especially the arm design. therefore, we want to protect the design so that no one else can copy it,
we should apply for design protection, so no one can manufacture and sell a product that infringes
our design protection.

Also, the product is containing components that are subcontracted and the payment is received,
thus it must be an agreement with the subcontractor document that all components must arrive on
time and produced within the given dimension. the information of the components must be kept
confidential and it cannot be sheared with other parties and the subcontractor should know their
restriction regarding sharing the information. Lastly, any violation of the agreed term the
subcontractor will be subjected to legal action.

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 Market research and Cost analysis
The quadcopter market is technologically innovative and fast-growing. Part of that growth is since
the quadcopter market actually cuts across several market sectors. A recent report from Goldman
Sachs predicts that the total spending on quadcopter s worldwide will be over $100 billion by the
year 2020. The defense sector remains the largest area of spending and is expected to spend a total
of over $70 billion on quadcopter s between 2016 and 2020. The second biggest area of spending, at
$17 billion, will be the consumer market (members of the public buying their quadcopter s from DJI
and other major manufacturers).However, the commercial quadcopter market is quickly expanding
in 2018. Two industries dominate the projected spend with 80% share. The first, construction, is the
biggest industry sector at $11 billion USD, covering a very wide area of work including inspection,
maintenance, surveying and mapping.

Assuming the sale of 300 pieces per month for the first year the sales value will be £ 162000 for the
first year as the price of the plane is £ 45.

in the second-year profits will be used to intensify advertising and raise the price of the piece from
45 to 50 pounds and sales are expected to increase 80% over the first year.

In the third year the product will be developed as it is expected that the cameras with the wide-
format will change its shape and size and therefore must be redesigned with the same price and the
sale of the old model with 45 pounds

Sales in the third year are expected to increase by 20% because of competitors who achieve the
same goals as the aircraft

But because of the design rights on the product it is difficult to be new products with the same light
weight and hardness

business management software

“ProofHub” is the software that responsible to manage the business financial activity and it can be
operated on several platforms. It gives full control over the tasks and helps manage the project. The
manufacturing cost per piece is £ 15, the price is high compared to other aircraft due to the use of
printing style for the arm and the legs.

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 Environmental protection strategy
Most of the decision that our company make is based on the environmental concern. Therefore, the
materials that selected are PET/PETG and Polypropylene, both materials are recyclable including the
packaging. Besides, our company will have an environmental policy to teach our staff and employee
for environmental effects of their product and the measure they are taking to accomplish it.

Conclusion
this essay was written to document the exploring quadcopter and its manufacturing process, in
addition to sales analysis. The manufacturing process of the product was discussed in detail to
produce the strong and accurate product. Al so, the selected material for the quadcopter was
chosen with consideration to the environment, recycling, price and easy manufactured. The
electronic component, packaging and other parts of the quadcopter were best for the company to
purchase it from subcontractor. Because it will be cheaper than manufacture them in our workshop
as we do not have electronics manufacturing machines. The quadcopter will be packaged in a
paperboard. user manual will be provided inside the box. the customers must assemble the product
by their self.

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 References

Chatwin, C. (2018). Lecture 2-4: Manufacturing Technology.

Todd, Robert H.; Allen, Dell K.; Alting, Leo (1994). Manufacturing Processes Reference Guide.
Industrial Press, Inc.

Ashby, M. F. (2009) Materials and the environment: Eco-Informed material choice

Wittmann-group.com. (2018). WITTMANN BATTENFELD. [online] Available at:

http://www.wittmann-group.com/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2018].

Toptal Finance Blog. (2018). Commercial Drones Are Revolutionizing Business Operations. [online]
Available at: https://www.toptal.com/finance/market-research-analysts/drone-market [Accessed 6
Dec. 2018].

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