Function Integration in Additive Manufacturing: Design and Realization of an LPBF Built Compressed Air Motor

Abstract

We present a compressed air motor, completely built by laser powder bed fusion. To highlight the fully functional integration by additive manufacturing, the rotor, stator, bearings, turbine, gas inlet and outlet were all built in a single print job. The material used was Inconel 718, and the motor was 44 mm tall and 12 mm in diameter. With the rotation axis of the motor in print in the direction of the laser powder bed fusion process, no build supports are needed, and thus the rotor and stator are fully moveable against each other. Plain bearings were used to position the rotor inseparably inside the stator, with a bearing gap of 0.2 mm, resulting in stable rotation. The idle rotation speed of the motor was measured with a digital laser measuring device as a function of air pressure and inlet size. With linear behavior between the rotation speed and gas pressure of up to 5.5 bar, the motor can be easily controlled. With varying gas inlet sizes, the idle rotation speed of the compressed air motor is also varied. A maximum rotation speed of 90,000 rpm was achieved at 1.5 mm gas inlet size and 3 bar gas pressure.