Aerospace actuator manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

This paper presents a case study of an aerospace actuator manufactured by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) in which the design, the material selection and the topological optimization of the actuator are performed to take advantage of the possibilities given by the AM process. First, different electromagnetic configurations are studied for the application of the actuator, and between the options analysed, the configurations that best fulfil the specifications are selected to analyse an initial mechanical layout. With these mechanical layouts, one machine topology is chosen regarding the weight and the complexity of fabrication of the preliminary mechanical solutions presented for each motor configuration. Then, different materials are analysed, and the material which best suits the requirements is selected, considering that this material is thought to have mechanical and electromagnetic function, so its properties must be good enough for both functions. Finally, the mechanical pre-design is done and the mechanical topological optimization method is applied to this pre-design to obtain the final solution. With the method described, a simpler mounting structure is achieved, reducing the assembly parts to only four, and, reducing 25.67 % the weight in the final design comparing with the previous design that is in use.