Car Bumper
Car bumpers are a moulded shell with wiring and other devices embedded. The normal manufacturing process involves clipping a separate wiring harness to the inside of the shell to connect the lighting and sensors. This project was a concept study carried out to assessed the feasibility of producing car bumpers complete with wiring automatically.
Frequency Selective Shielding
Q5D has the only process capability that can work at large scale on aerospace components. Frequency selective shielding has many applications from cleaning hand-held or wi-fi signals to stealth technology. The shielding is made using a conductor patterned with a repeating motif. Multiple layers may be stacked in in order to improve performance. Current methods of manufacturing use metal foils or printed electronics. Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) is one such technique, but is requires highly expensive materials loaded with [...]
Aircraft Interior
Manufacturing seats and cabin interiors for commercial aircraft is highly labour intensive. The range of customisation required from airline customers and the variation in seat dependent on both aircraft type and position of seat within the fuselage, means that seats have to be made by hand because of the very low batch numbers. Q5D was asked to evaluate a redesign of one product (a stowage box) and were given four key aims: Use a standard blow moulded polymer core [...]
Embedded Heating
This aerospace customer wanted to investigate methods to create heating tracks on complex composite surfaces. Many aircraft surfaces need to be heated to prevent the formation of ice which can change the aerodynamic properties of a part and in extreme instances cause instability of the aircraft. More and more aircraft components are made from non-metallic parts for strength and lightness, and these can be difficult to de-ice. Q5D was able to demonstrate a method of applying and curing silver [...]
Electric Vehicle Battery Management System
Enabling robotic assembly of the final product is one of the key advantages of Q5D's approach. With our machines integrating wiring into the component parts and assemblies, the final product can be assembled by machine as well. Q5D has been working with an manufacturer to create components that become functional when plugged into their vehicles. One area of development is the battery management system of an electric vehicle (EV). All EVs use battery management systems to join together the [...]
Near Field Communication
Near Field Communication of all kinds needs an antenna. In this instance the customer was seeking a way of simplifying the supply chain. The existing part requires a 5-step manufacturing process, with an injection moulding, and a stamped metal part glued together. The conductor is then being cut and spring contacts spot welded onto the tracks. Q5D was able to demonstrate how a single bare wire could be laid onto the injection moulded part despite the complex surface. With [...]
