Optomec Aerosol Jet 5-axis
Aerosol Jet 5 Axis System, printing antennas and sensors on three cell phone inserts.
Optomec, a 3D printed metal and electronics company, and a host of its development partners have been awarded a NextFlex Contract Award.
It will see Optomec contribute to a $3 million project which aims to deliver multiple systems for printing 3D sensors, 3D antenna, and other 3D electronics. Helping Optomec and NextFlex to promote the widespread adoption of Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) will be Lockheed Martin, Binghamton University, General Electric Company, Intrinsiq Materials, and the University of Maryland.
NextFlex is the USA’s FHE Manufacturing Institute and is committed to investing in innovation to deliver FHEs, a new class of lightweight, low-cost, flexible and efficient devices for the Internet of Things (IoT), medical, robotics, and communication industries.
“Optomec is committed to supporting industries’ growing need to deploy smart, connected devices that take advantage of data and cloud computing advances to improve performance and lower cost throughout the product life cycle,” said Dave Ramahi, Optomec CEO. “We are very excited to be part of this important project and to be working with our NextFlex partners to accelerate the development of FHE-enabled products.”
Optomec will take part in the ‘Conformal Printing of Conductor and Dielectric Materials onto Complex 3D Surfaces’ project, which is valued at $3.1m – the total cost-shared value of five Contract Award projects to date is $45 million. The aim of the project is to make easier the printing of conductor and dielectric materials on complex 3D surfaces, advancing tooling, software and printing processes to achieve it. Optomec’s contribution will firstly include the delivery of two Pilot Line systems to the NextFlex Technology Hub in San Jose, California, and the using of Optomec Aerosol Jet 5-axis printing platforms in New York. Additionally, Aerosol Jet 5-axis systems will be made available to several team member facilities.
Lockheed Martin, the project lead will deliver conformal sensors, 3D antenna structures and non-planer circuit routing demonstrators, enabled by advanced tool path generation software. With this software it has been made possible for Lockheed to print at resolutions down to 10 microns onto 3D surfaces using Aerosol Jet 5x systems.
