Compliant Mechanism - Activity 2

Compliant guiding elements are used in industrial and space applications, where high reliability, accuracy and demanding requirements against contamination are needed. The high complexity of compliant mechanisms (CoMes) currently require extremely sophisticated and expensive manufacturing methods.

The use of Additive Manufacturing could however allow for the development of space compliant mechanisms with a higher design freedom, leading to the novel manufacturing of complex geometries complaint for new space applications. Shorter manufacturing times and monolithic designs, would also lead to shorter lead and assembly times.

Funded by GSTP, a Compliant Rotation Reduction Mechanism (CRRM) was manufactured from titanium using powder based selective laser melting technology and additive manufacture techniques throughout.